Glen Bell won the Thumper Nationals in 1996. This is the bike he raced in 1997. Very cool bike with some very trick parts on it. A lot of the parts on this bike he used on his US bike as well.
two icons of Aussie MX still standing strong; the XR600 were a very under-rated bike in my opinion; sure, they weren't the lightest or the most nimble to throw around but they had that awesome motor that did what it did without fuss or complaint and surprised many on later model 4st MX'ers; am i correct that this XR630 also had a 3 speed gearbox?; love to see the version Geoff and Co built with the CR swing arm and shock; as for holeshots against Glen, well i believe some guy on an '04 KTM300 got a holeshot against him at Dark Corner MX track NSW at an event ran by Oyster Bay M/C in 2005; that guy may or may not have been me who led an entire field of A Graders for about 3 corners! i was racing Over35's with OBMCC at the time and finished dead last after a big endo over the finish line jump. i should of adjusted the rear brake pedal height from enduro mode!
Alan West from NZ built one in the early days and raced it in the international 6 days trials overseas for a few years. I think his was a 175 bored out to 223cc ? Then he did a 500 in a CR frame. He set up Alan West Honda in 1980 in Coffs Harbour after that.
Mr Motocross Glenn Bell 👍 I've still got an XRs Only Big Fin Ballards XR630 - Id love to make it into a Glenn Bell Thumper Nats Replica - Just found a '98 YZ400f the bike that Unfortunately Killed 2 stroke MX & Thumper Nats
In 88 I built a Al Baker XR280 with WP suspension and raced enduros for several years with it and it was a fantastic bike, same engine design as the 600 with many of the same mods, 11:1 compression, Mugen cam, ported head with extended cooling fins, Carillo rod, Mikuni 34mm flatslide carb, White Bros exhaust and it ripped, keep the valves adjusted and change the cam chain , they would stretch over time, and the RFVC engine would run forever.
I put a HRC 628 big bore kit in 93' XR 😊it was awesome , fast and still reliable, had to put heavy duty clutch in to handle the power, fried a few stock ones
Oh man !!! I saw him ride a couple of times on that beast...he would grab a handful of throttle....he would jump from one side of the track to the other. ❤
my child hood legend!
He was fast as hell in the day I’ve still got my 91 xr660 custom everything best bike ever built goodonya lads cheers
Glenn Bell is a good guy
two icons of Aussie MX still standing strong; the XR600 were a very under-rated bike in my opinion; sure, they weren't the lightest or the most nimble to throw around but they had that awesome motor that did what it did without fuss or complaint and surprised many on later model 4st MX'ers; am i correct that this XR630 also had a 3 speed gearbox?; love to see the version Geoff and Co built with the CR swing arm and shock;
as for holeshots against Glen, well i believe some guy on an '04 KTM300 got a holeshot against him at Dark Corner MX track NSW at an event ran by Oyster Bay M/C in 2005; that guy may or may not have been me who led an entire field of A Graders for about 3 corners! i was racing Over35's with OBMCC at the time and finished dead last after a big endo over the finish line jump. i should of adjusted the rear brake pedal height from enduro mode!
Alan West from NZ built one in the early days and raced it in the international 6 days trials overseas for a few years. I think his was a 175 bored out to 223cc ? Then he did a 500 in a CR frame. He set up Alan West Honda in 1980 in Coffs Harbour after that.
Always have been always will be a thumper fan. Thanks for sharing.
A loverly gentleman from the best years IMO
What a time what a champion he was, well done Mr Bell
Mr Motocross Glenn Bell 👍
I've still got an XRs Only Big Fin Ballards XR630 - Id love to make it into a Glenn Bell Thumper Nats Replica -
Just found a '98 YZ400f the bike that Unfortunately Killed 2 stroke MX & Thumper Nats
In 88 I built a Al Baker XR280 with WP suspension and raced enduros for several years with it and it was a fantastic bike, same engine design as the 600 with many of the same mods, 11:1 compression, Mugen cam, ported head with extended cooling fins, Carillo rod, Mikuni 34mm flatslide carb, White Bros exhaust and it ripped, keep the valves adjusted and change the cam chain , they would stretch over time, and the RFVC engine would run forever.
Awesome bike, I built one like this except for the aluminium tank. It's awesome to ride, so fun and pretty fast too 👍
I put a HRC 628 big bore kit in 93' XR 😊it was awesome , fast and still reliable, had to put heavy duty clutch in to handle the power, fried a few stock ones
Oh man !!! I saw him ride a couple of times on that beast...he would grab a handful of throttle....he would jump from one side of the track to the other. ❤
Time for a Honda to bring back the XR 650 hour and make it an XR 700 hour with the latest technology