Joels RH 250.

[Wombat]

Here's a story from Terry Goods website www.mxworksbike.com I think the Suzuki-philes should read .
It's all about finding and restoring Joel Roberts '72 RH 250.
The bit I've cut and pasted here is Terrys words describing what happened when Joel visited Terrys house to view the machine he hadn't seen since the early '70s.
In fact Joel (and just about everyone else including Roger D) understood the old works bikes had been systematically destroyed by the Factory.
Joel didn't believe the bike had been found and flew to the USA to check it out:

As I came back out, Joel was just letting the clutch out of the RH72 for the first time in over 20 years. I just had to record this moment. He wasted no time in grabbing a handful and was at the other end of the yard in no time. The sound of the open expansion chamber echoing off the houses in the neighborhood was very loud and the neighbors were starting to come out. From the far end of the yard Joel pulled the front end straight up and wheelied the whole length of my backyard. When he got to the end, he dropped the front end down and carved a corner with the bars just inches from the ground and gave it full throttle, throwing a 40 foot roost of plush green sod! UNBELIEVABLE!!! I was in total shock watching this and trying to record it at the same time. Neighbors were now coming over and my wife was explaining that this was the six time World Champion from Belgium on his bike. I'm not sure what they initially thought. After making several passes on the bike, Joel came back to where a crowd had now gathered, shut it off and said "It sure is noisy." Everybody including the neighbors busted out laughing. He said that the bike felt and ran just like he last remembered it from back in 1972. What a special moment it all was.

The full story is a lengthy read but well worth the time.
If you go to the site this story is in the 'News Column' folder.

[Doc]

what a find! 

only problem I see with the RH250's is as Bill stated in another thread, a dead set lack of genuine parts if she goes bang bigtime..being a Suzuki this is an extremely rare occasion indeed the big end failure at Coffs was the first mechanical breakdown I've had in probably the last 20 years if I owned and rode an RH this statistic would be cut down to about 20 seconds due to the unwritten Murphy's Law. After riding the RN370 I am soooooo bloody tempted to slot my spare 400C donk into a TM125 and take it from there..'bout as close as I'll ever get to a factory bike..The Rat Factory  bloody nice bike Wombat, seen it a zillion times but one never gets sick of veiwing such

hmmm..just noticed  ..the lower pic is more than familiar..Firko's budget TM250 picture was taken from the same perspective and similar background  ..was this premeditated or shear coincidence??..I'll find the pic   

ah..here we go..pretty good replica eh..need to get rid of some of that rear suspension Mark ..oh..an a pipe..that would fill the gaps 

[Wombat]

The full story is a really good read.
Terry Good chased that bike for years.
And how's about the stinger on the works pipe? Ya could drill teeth with the noise!!

[Doc]

Yeah it is a good story Wombat  usually with vintage stuff there is an individual story that goes with it. Some of the stories getting around are nothing short of unbelievable chance or good luck..Johnny on the spot sort of thing. The stingers on a lot of early MX'ers were nothing more than the just the stinger..looks teeerick I reckon and on a typical TM125 the muffler robs about 2HP. Firko's bike went one step further than the factory by totally eliminating bulbtuous  or great big pipe and all the uneeded hardware and fittings  We need more decibels not less!! 

[firko]

The photo perspective is a pure fluke. My old Budget Banger looks a bit like an RH eh? It does however have a genuine RH rear fender from one of Daves RHs and a front fender from OW51 donated by Gally. The budget TM now has a Circle F pipe and the overly long Curnutts have been replaced by a pair of old finned bodied Works shocks off my square barrel Maico. We are bringing the old bike to CD5 for the fat Belgian to ride.

[Doc]

well that'll sure give the ol' girl some added value + eh Firko! For sale, budget TM250 once ridden by Joel Robert!!    or should I say, ridden once by Joel Robert whichever way it works it would be an honor to have him swing his leg over any of my bikes  swing his leg I said!! not lift his leg!

while on the subject of works bikes here's a couple more...