One summer when I was about 17 years old, I was visiting my Uncle’s farm in North Western Iowa, the same farm where my dad grew up. I was exploring one of the old barns when I came across a dusty dirtbike. Excited, I moved all the rusted farm implements and miscellaneous old parts and wheeled it outside. I asked my dad about it, and it turns out that it was his bike from when he was a kid! We rolled it down to the machine shed, coaxed out the mice who had made their home in the air filter, and power washed the decades of dirt away.
We decided to try and get it running again, so we brought it back to St. Louis and got to work. The engine was completely seized from sitting in the barn for 3 decades. We soaked the cylinders with oil for a few days and the pistons eventually freed up. I still remember that feeling of joy when I manually cranked the engine for the first time.
Over the summer, we worked on the bike, tearing down and cleaning up the parts that could be salvaged, and struggling to source parts that needed to be replaced. The main improvements were cleaning the gas tank, replacing the exhaust manifold, completely redoing the wiring harness, tuning the caurberator, timing the engine, and having the metal components chrome plated. Here’s a video of the bike running for the first time!
Eventually, got it fixed up enough so it could be inspected and licensed. Here is a video of my first time riding it.
I wish I had pictures of the tear down and build process. I can’t believe we didn’t take any. At least I have a few of the finished product!
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