The different sounds of yesteryear.

peeps sr
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peeps sr
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 1:04am
Back in the day, when you heard a bike going ya ya ya ya ya , it wasn't because it was hammering through the whoops. It usually meant some poor fucker was getting his nuts rattled by a metal gas tank as his bike was swapping his genitalia side to side before tossing his ass like a bronc rider. Out of all the crashes I had racing, the old fashion tank slappers were the worst. That was some scary shit I tell ya, and the sound even today shivers my timbers
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T-BOND
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T-BOND 5/11/2006 1:49pm
5/11/2006 1:49pm
That is too funny! The sound of those orange tanked TM400's is something Ill never forget. A real loud snarl.
peeps sr
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peeps sr 5/11/2006 1:53pm
5/11/2006 1:53pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
I had a friend who raced a early 70's El Bandido. I witnessed him get in to a tank slapper with that thing one day, and it was brutal how he was tossed off. Old CZ's (69-70) we notable "hospital hopper's" too. But I agree, probably nothing comes close to the Cyclone. So happy I was too young for one of them at the time.
T-BOND
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T-BOND 5/11/2006 2:15pm
5/11/2006 2:15pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
[quote="winn peeples":b103d]I had a friend who raced a early 70's El Bandido. I witnessed him get in to a tank slapper with that thing one day, and it was brutal how he was tossed off. Old CZ's (69-70) we notable "hospital hopper's" too. But I agree, probably nothing comes close to the Cyclone. So happy I was too young for one of them at the time.[/quote:b103d]When you were in one of those lock to lock tank slappers, it was like holding a gernade with the pin pulled. It wasn't a question of if.....but when. You knew there was no way you were going to save it! The shear terror of it all was amazing!
1st turn
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1st turn 5/11/2006 2:31pm
5/11/2006 2:31pm
And it always seemed like slow motion, funny how all the perfect moments went by so fast and the worst situations would just torture you.

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JPT
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JPT 5/11/2006 3:58pm
5/11/2006 3:58pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
[quote="1st turn":a856a]And it always seemed like slow motion, funny how all the perfect moments went by so fast and the worst situations would just torture you.[/quote:a856a]


Oh yeah. Years ago a guy offerred to let me ride his Can-AM, he had just gotten it and was real excited about how fast it was. I ran it up little dirt trail off the pits and was really impressed. That is until I reached up to adjust my glasses, hit a little bump with only one hand on the bars and went into a full on tank slapper. It was one of those slow motion things as I was trying to grab the bar with the other hand. All the time I'm thinking "I'm gonna wreck this guys new bike!", didn't but it was close. People have told me that was a common occurence with those things.

BTW, Welcome. :D
maicobreako 5/11/2006 5:33pm
5/11/2006 5:33pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
[img:310af]http://digilander.libero.it/cuoccimix/cz71-2.jpg[/img:310af]

You had to have big balls to be an Eastern bloc rider back in the day. So big in fact, they straddled the gas tank. For them a tank slapper was akin to 2 weeks in the hands of the KGB. In 71 after a request from the RUssian team CZ added rubber "antislap" pads to the sides of the gas tank. [/img]
bigmaico
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bigmaico 5/11/2006 7:51pm
5/11/2006 7:51pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
The worst tank slapper I ever got into was when I tried my friends 1981 250 husky. being a big bore Maico rider when it hopped I just pined it & let the rear end do it's thing, WRONG it rattled me so hard that I flet like I'd been using a 90 jackhammer with a bent spike!

I've never gotten on another Husky & run like heck when I see on at the Vinatge races :wink:
teggers
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teggers 5/15/2006 9:11pm
5/15/2006 9:11pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
[quote="Mini Elsinore":e74ed]Out of all of my bikes the most wicked sounding of them all was J&B Racer built XR-115 (punched out XR-75) with a quick-rev CDI. "WHOOBAH WHOOBAH WHOOOOOOBAH." Put fear into gray-tank ('74) YZ-80s. Yeah...a four-stroke. Let the flaming begin. 8)[/quote:e74ed]

I had one.
project racer 5/15/2006 9:17pm
5/15/2006 9:17pm
The 74 YZ 80's were based on the GT-80 motor only 72cc. When the '76 YZ 80's came out, they were a full 79cc , 5 speed. End of the XR era.
RetVet
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RetVet 5/16/2006 6:04pm
5/16/2006 6:04pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 5:59pm
[quote="Mini Elsinore":f80f0]

Yup. I switched to YZ's in 1975 (Myerscough Machine), but kept the XR for 'mud races.' The old man finally sold it in '76 to keep me off it---he was an early 4-stroke hater. Even a 'punched out' XR couldn't run with the YZ's in '76 (Ward excepted).[/quote:f80f0]


Yup, Jeff Ward was my hero when I was a little kid growing up. I used to watch him spank everybody on his XR75 out at Saddleback.

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