Have you ever rescued your own old bike?

Perhaps it is true that Chase was  spotted outside HRC in wee hours of the night trying to take his old bike out of the bike locker.  Is this what you are referring to? 😂

No. I have seen a couple after selling. Thought, wow, glad I sold that pile! 

Wouldn’t mind getting my old 07 KTM 525EXC back. 

Yes I have. I had a 1990 cr125 back when I was in middle school I consider it my first real motocross bike. I rode that bike for a few years me and my dad rebuilt it several times and at one point we had the frame powder coated yellow. Sold the bike to I don’t remember who and moved onto newer bikes. Flash forward 10 or so years and I find it on Craigslist all taken apart and in a box but the yellow frame gave it away, go over and meet the guy and he believed it was some sort of special edition because on the frame. It still had the same stickers put on it in the same place when I had it, I was beyond excited to get it back. My dad wanted the bike back from me so he rebuilt it all over again from the frame up and gave it back to me as a gift. It’s in my garage on a stand as a testament to my dad and how much he loved getting me that bike back when I was a kid 

That's a cool story about your dad, they are something special. 

I'd love to and have searched for them a few times but haven't been able to track them down. 

I’m am actually in the process of doing that very thing right now! 

Several years ago I sold a well sorted & extremely clean 2012 RMZ450 because I wasnt riding it much with a new 300SX getting all my attention & could use the $$$ on a vintage project. 
A really great work & riding buddy of mine knew a guy through his church wanting to get into dirt bikes who came and looked at it, all but insulted me with his low-ball offer but ended up buying the bike at the fair price I was asking for it. (I’d already discounted it to my bottom $ since this guy knew my buddy!) personally, I kinda thought the guy was a raging douchebag, but made the deal & moved on, helping my buddy out & getting the price I was happy with.

About a year-ish later my wife saw it (she is a savvy moto-gal, and actually knows my bikes etc!) on Marketplace for DOUBLE what I had sold it to him for and while it was EXACTLY as I’d sold it to him, his description would imply it was straight out of the Suzuki Factory truck & after having been ridden by the Lord almighty hisownself! 

now 3-4 years later…I learned through my original riding buddy, the guy got caught having an affair & imploded his entire existence! The wife got the house, cars, etc in the divorce & because of some other shady financial stuff he had going on, she got his motorcycles too…

My buddy told me last week she wants em out of the garage & willing to take any reasonable offer? I went over and looked at the RMZ with my riding buddy, figured out its mostly just sat since I sold it and has more issues from sitting that being ridden or abused. I told my buddy what I would be willing to pay for it and he was going to see her this weekend at church & visit with her about it. 
I might have my old RMZ back, ironically for much less than his insult offer four-ish years ago! 

We’ll see how things play out very soon! 🤔

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I bought a surfboard in 1980. A few years go by and got rid of it. About 7 years ago I found out it was in somebody's attic. Bought it back, surfed on it a bit. It's now a wall hanger nostalgia decoration. Got my 2000 KTM 400EXC back after being without it for 15 years. The idea of having it back was better than actually having it back. It's gone now.

TM

Sold an ‘01 YZ250 with around 40 hours on it to a friend in ‘03. He rode it a few times and then stored it outside . When I saw that , I bought it back to save it , so I’d call that a rescue. Was a good spare bike for my kids friends on our desert trips. Looks like a total beater still , but only has about 60 hours on it. 

I bought my 1981 YZ250 H back after my friend I sold it to let me know it was available.  It's still in pretty rough shape from the third owner. I had installed an IT250 6-speed transmission in it when I was racing cross-country races with it.

I'd still like to restore it and race AHRMA races with it.

Bought a clapped out 2007 RM250 and restored it. Had it for about a year and traded it in for a brand new KTM FE. The RM went on sale a couple of times during the next 2-3 years with different owners and every time it looked more clapped out. I was really close to buying it back and doing it all over again but i had to prioritize other racing costs.

Yes purchase my 1996 CR250 new in November 95. Sold it in 02 for a because I wanted a new bike. Flash forward 04 or 05  Was outta state on a trip ran into the guy I sold it to at a gas station. Had a few minutes conversation he told me he sold it to a friend of his and he thought it was sitting outside of his friends barn for couple years. Got a phone number made couple calls and got it back in pieces. Should have taken some before pics here it is with my youngest daughter.

All I can say is … DO IT! 

I’ve ridden/raced MX off/on over my entire life (as a fav 0’ rite hobby!) … Many of my all time BEST memories relate to vintage racing! 
Meeting all the other like-minded MX guys from our era & BS’ing about all the cool bikes from our youth is a ridiculously entertaining way to spend a weekend! Oh and there is always the fun & relatively safe actual vintage racing going on too! 

Spiff that ol’ 81 up & hit a vintage event! You will NOT regret it! (Well, except for the financial hole vintage racing can drag you into! 😝) 

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Rescued my first bike, which was still sitting under a tarp at my neighbor's house.  First got the YZ80 in 1986 in Thousand Oaks, CA.  Drove by in 2010 to see if the neighbors still lived there.  He gave it back to me and said Get it out of here.  I worked at YMC at the time and was able to get most of the parts to restore her, minus the Tank, seat, and plastics.  Restored her top to bottom.    

I bought this ‘05 crf450x brand new. I decided to sell it a few years later. I knew 2 guys that were interested in it. Sold it to the first guy who showed up with cash. About a year later he told me he had not ridden much and wanted to sell it. The other guy bought it from him. About a year later he reached out to me and told me it had been stolen from him and asked me to keep an eye out for it. About a year later I saw it for sale on CL. I sent a copy of the ad to him. He got the police involved. It took a little while but eventually the guy forfeited the bike to the police. The owner texted me and told me he was in the middle of moving and had already shipped his truck across the country. I agreed ti meet him at the police impound to transport. When we got there the bike was missing the rear wheel, swing arm, and headlight. We loaded it into my truck. He asked me if I wanted it for free. I said yes, but I’ll pay you for it. I ended up giving him all the money in my wallet. It was about $250. I had an extra swing arm and spare wheels that fit it. Still have it today. Rode it last weekend. It’s a great bike!

the guy i sold my 1983 Honda CR250 still has it in a garage.....he trashed it but i sometimes still think about offering to take it off his hands

Not an mx bike (was with all the bikes happy when i sold them) but I had a Yamaha R6 RJ11 (06), Ive sold it in 2014 with 10k km on it. 12 years later the R6 isnt being built for the streets anymore as it was discontinued in 2021. And a well kept one like mine would be worth at least three times what I sold it for. I WISH I could rescue it. Have two R6 RJ27 (the last generation) now cause its my favourite bike all time, im kinda obsessed with it 😅 but I regret that I sold the first one, its almost impossible nowadays to get a well kept RJ11 here in germany. 

Looks like a 1977 YZ80D. That’s the first new bike that I ever bought.