1970 Salinas Hill Climb
Nov 18, 2011 9:10:21 GMT -6
Post by tpierce on Nov 18, 2011 9:10:21 GMT -6
My street riding days in the early '70's were with Kawasaki H-1's [see My First Cafe]. For the dirt I had a modified Suzuki TS250 Savage. The Santa Cruz Mountains had fire trails that were open to cyclists [you'd get arrested today] and weekends were spent in Hollister camping and riding the trails at the ghost towns around the mines. Salinas hosted a hill climb which I attended [as a spectator]. A friend had a Yankee 500 twin that he rode at the event so I brought my camera. I ended up getting photo's printed in Motorcycle News that summer from the event. The hill was so steep that a rope crew was used to TRY and catch riders/bikes as they would tumble down the hill after a failed attempt.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
A view from the top of the hill.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Here's a rider fighting for traction at the bottom. Most started in second gear and left it there.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Here's the Yankee. It was a 2 stroke 500 with both pistons at TDC at the same time. Lots of torque and a different sound. You can see the rope and "grabber" behind the dirt cloud. The rider had priority in the event of a fall [go figure].
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Like I said, the hill was steep.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
One of my favorite photo's. The CB750 was brand new at the time and this guy tore the hill apart! I just hope it's not a sand cast engine. Those were only made the first year before going to injection molding.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Another shot of the vertical hill. British twin?
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
A view from the top of the hill.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Here's a rider fighting for traction at the bottom. Most started in second gear and left it there.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Here's the Yankee. It was a 2 stroke 500 with both pistons at TDC at the same time. Lots of torque and a different sound. You can see the rope and "grabber" behind the dirt cloud. The rider had priority in the event of a fall [go figure].
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Like I said, the hill was steep.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
One of my favorite photo's. The CB750 was brand new at the time and this guy tore the hill apart! I just hope it's not a sand cast engine. Those were only made the first year before going to injection molding.
By ozarksguzzi at 2011-11-18
Another shot of the vertical hill. British twin?
