We're all different, with different things that get us into our particular interest zone. In my case I stopped racing motocross in 1975 so I'm naturally drawn towards bikes that were made prior to that date. Even though I wasn't racing all that much while I lived overseas from 75-81 I was still very much involved in the sport and still play rode so I can also relate to bikes made during that 75-81 era. Upon my return I dabbled in enduros so those great early to mid 80's enduro machines also have a firm place in my psyche. In 1986 I started getting interested in old bikes which led directly to my 25 year involvement in the VMX movement...Without thinking about it I'd done a full circle and had gone back to my roots.
While I'm still very much interested in the pre '75 and pre '70 classes that define my motocross roots, a little bug in my system has caused me to spread my interest into different areas under the VMX canopy, becoming more and more interested in the pre 65 and pre 60 classes. Even though I was too young to race during these bikes prime time I'm drawn more and more into them to the point that I'm slowly assembling a pre 60 class TriBSA using base equipment from 1958, when I was 7 years old. On the other end of the spectrum I'm slowly and surely getting my 1981 IT250 J ready for some Vinduro fun later in the year. While I've never been very interested in trials competition I've always liked playing around on them down on the farm. As I get older and more physically unable to race MX any more, I look forward to hopefully doing some twinshock trials events on my Maico and Yamaha TY250 trials bikes (once I'm good enough
).
The point I'm attempting to make is that even though our passion and racing roots are fixed on a particular era, venturing into time zones and disciplines that we'd never previously had an interest often present us with fun that we'd never expected. If you've never ridden trials or dirt track, give it a shot and see what you're missing. If you're a pre 75 era racer, why not give Evo or pre 90 a go or if you're a younger racer from that pre 90 era why not build or buy a pre 75/70/75 era bike to experience a bit of ancient history.
As I've said so many times in the past, for our sport to go forward we should never ignore the past. For the older classes to survive younger racers have to pick up the batton. That doesn't mean we desert our prime passion, it's about enlarging the perimeter of that passion.
