@guyNbluejeans I bought my first CZ at my local shop from my now old friend, Carl Cranke (AMA Hall of Fame). I recall what he said then, "For some reason, they feel like they have a hinge." They were the fleetest jumpers and could slide like a Speedway bike. Another memorable general comment was that where with Husky's one felt that you sat "on top" of it, with a CZ, you sat "into it." I owned a Mikola Rep in 1975. Good bike, but I didn't feel part of the bike the way I did with the CZ.
i was lucky enough to have him as next door neighbour when i was a kid. I recently met him @ 12h enduro La Chinelle. He remembered me 35 years after. A nice guy!
@guyNbluejeans I've re-read this... All were 4 speeds then. I raced one for a couple years on the original chain and never threw it - all conditions. CZ made chain today is only topped by Renolds, same stuff as then. Sounds like your sprockets weren't aligned? Most loved the CZ handlebars with the unit control perches, including me. Less weight and fuss. As for the front fender falling off and the chain, sounds like it wasn't assembled from the crate very competently.
@guyNbluejeans Good one! But as we know IF you wanted to race MX and win in the years of 1967 to at least '73, a two-stroke and CZ was one of the two top choices. (The other being Husqvarna, of course). Being short, I couldn't do things like basketball very well, or some other sports. Motorcycle racing is the short man's revenge, I suppose! You might be surprised at the products available for improving CZs today for vintage racing. If we only had them back then! But, Ride On!
@deaddoc I meant to say that sometimes a steel tank of any brand could develop leaks, but I never heard of a CZ tank doing it. However, most people began replacing the stock steel with fiberglass and then plastic tanks. I really think that these alternatives came into being because of CZs, but that could be debated as some Huskys went to fiberglass tanks early on too.
@guyNbluejeans And did most of it on a CZ! I do have some home films of him leading the pack at the 1974 Carlsbad GP on a Suzuki. He and DeCoster had been on Suzukis since 1970 by then. I used to have a Cycle World article from 1968 with a photo of Joel Robert sitting on a Suzuki copy of a CZ at Saddleback Park, during a visit to test it for the company. I wish I had that now!
@guyNbluejeans It sounds as if you really needed to do some repair before you rode it. Most people do that, they're old bikes. I worked for Penton back in 1972 and owned a Husky at one point . More CZ survivors around today, as I said. They do sit low, but I always liked them for that, being shorter myself, & that is also why they slide so well. Being tall has never been an advantage in MC racing. I have 2 BSAs. I notice that big people need stretched out HDs to look proportionate.
@guyNbluejeans CONT I never heard of a tank leaking, but many tanks of all brands were typically welded with a tube from a car exhaust into the fueling port while it was welded. But CZ modifying became the impetus for modern bikes. Many agree that Suzuki and ALL modern MX bikes owe a great deal to this because of the R&R that it caused. Remember, CZs were many times World Champion bike from '66 to 74 (Jiroslav Falta). CZ and Husqvarna were the world's two best then.
@guyNbluejeans Horrible bike? Compared to what? More of them survive intact from those days because they were built so well. They were the best handling of the day, arguably. If you mean to today's standards, maybe so, if you want to be THAT unfair. They are torque monsters even to today's standards. I have one now and love it - for vintage racing. Most people do love them. I can't imagine where you are coming from there.
@guyNbluejeans To alter the subject. Back in 1971, I met Joel Robert and got his autograph. In 1970s, I was the lone track employee at a NoCal location that held several InterAm races. Met many of the international riders. Had a conversation with Dave Bickers. Great to look back on, now.
@guyNbluejeans Just found this comment. I don't look at my youtube account that often - or don't for long periods. The event I speak of happened at a Sonoma County ARHMA national. Back then, engines were fast, but handling inferior to today. But if you look at today's MX, it is set up for max air time for show. Even today, Euro MX GPs are still more natural. You ought to study more vintage videos; Carlsbad GP of 74, those bikes were often going faster than today's American tracks allow.
@guyNbluejeans In my head! I haven't competed in one vintage race yet! I am preparing and hoping for the opportunity perhaps next year when I will be in the 60+ group! But I also have my street BSAs and I like them very much as well. Vintage MCs and working on them give me a sort of solace, because i really feel relaxed and connected to my happier past when I work on them and play with them.
Straight stinger for the win! I haven't heard a single bike that sounds better because of a silencer. Obviously, they're necessary to keep riding areas and tracks open, but it's hard not to miss the classic sound.
@guyNbluejeans He is one of those exceptional people who are genetically incredibly strong. I read a story once about how he amazed fellow riders at the Spanish GP in 69 or about by lifting up a car by himself. I had a friend who could do that too, would win bets doing it. Now we know Europeans have some Neanderthal DNA, which may express in different ways. I think Robert had his as this incredible strength, - without training! But the smoking and partying did end his riding career sooner.
@guyNbluejeans I recently put together a new GP seat for mine. It is several inches higher, and I hated it. It was hard as a rock, and it made the bike as tall as a new "pogo stick" model. It also made me realize how tall riders must relate completely different to not just vintage bikes, but ALL bikes. But riding a vintage bike has to feel like riding a mini for me. Glad I'm 5"6". It served me well in racing, and I think it adds to my enjoyment of my road BSAs now.
@guyNbluejeans He'd likely still be a many time GP winner as he was then. We were all looking to improve our bikes back then. He was such an unusual specimen that he didn't even train, but others like DeCoster and Jeff Smith trained hard. It was just or even more athletic then as it is now, because the bikes were so much more difficult to handle.
@guyNbluejeans You know, a few years back, some old 70s and earlier CZ factory riders came to some ARHMA national race(s) on "new" period CZs, that apparently the factory will build by special order now. I wasn't there, but a friend of mine said that these guys were super fast. They were in their 50s. A modern MX was being held there too and the times of these CZ riders were better than the modern riders. The track was not a modern artificial jump, manicured track.
@deaddoc I bought my CZ new back in the day. I'm 6'2" and you're right; people my size aren't tailored so well for such activity. My current wheels are a 2005 KLR 650. Great bike for my needs though not a perfect bike by any stretch.
@guyNbluejeans Not trying to hammer you my any means here, okay? CZ 250s became 5 speed when Penton came out with the bigger bikes too. 360 Yamahas (DTs) were famous for handling terribly. I don't think anyone can top out a 380 CZ in 4th gear on an MX track. 5 speeds are for a tighter gear ratio, not speed, and the 380 are such torque monsters you don't need to split any gears. CZs came with bad footpegs then, bad carbs, and became the most modified bike in the day. CONT
@guyNbluejeans I have heard some people say and comment that the problem with today's bikes is that they are souless. Way too similar, over engineered, etc. I am reluctant to criticize when I don't own one, but I really like the BSAs and most vintage bikes because they have personalities and are fairly simple to work on. OF course, there is a fairly large set of mechanic cult secrets, but I've got a line on that too. It's a good escape from the harshness of today.
@deaddoc I'd love to get Joel's autograph and take him out to dinner and have a long conversation about bikes and those times back in the day when he was King of motocross!
@deaddoc He was my hero back in the day, for sure. I bought a CZ 380 (classified as a 400) on account of him to some degree. (It was a horrible bike, btw.)
@deaddoc It was the worst $1400 I ever wasted. I should have bought a Husky or Penton or Yammi 360. The fist day I had the CZ the front fender fell off. I tried riding in sand dunes but the chain would never stay on. The gas tank developed leaks. It sat way too low. The front brake and clutch housing were welded into the handle bars. It had a four speed transmission. Glad you enjoy your CZ, I didn't enjoy mine.
@guyNbluejeans You are the first person in my life as a MX racer or veteran that ever said anything like that. But I can see that you are for some reason strongly there. Great record for such sh**ty bikes. ;-)
@deaddoc No disrespect intended, but I have serious doubts that those CZs could place better times than today's modern bikes, unless the riders on the modern ones were deformed or had something seriously wrong with them.
Wow! He really DOES have a "pudgy face". Modern Cycle made note of that...30 years earlier than this video. Is It just me or does he appear drunk? At 1:50 he almost dropped the bike. How come he has to have someone else start the damn thing? He appears a bit obese. Would he have vapor-locked trying to start it? HOW many world championships did this guy win? Jeez... I don't know the dude. All I know of him is from a Modern Cycle "Open Letter" they printed in the November 1978 issue. In the open letter, they referred to him as having a "...callous, snotty attitude", "slothful laziness" and having the "manners of a barfing drunk." They go on... He was told he has a "could care less" attitude and is a "sleazy, lazy, greedy punk." They told him he is "...a piece of history." Why all this ranting over the dude? Well, he was to appear (and race) at the 1978 Superbowl of Motocross" and didn't. It was advertised to be "...a battle of the decade." It wouldn't have been so bad had the show's promoters not advertised, for months that he was going to show. A lot of tickets were sold just for the fact he WAS going to race. At any rate, he pulled a Mick Jagger by whining about this and that and went fishing instead. Pissed off a LOT of people to say the least. I, and others think he was afraid of being beat by some 17 year old American high school kid. Other than this, I'm sure he was just a so-so man.
Well, I see that even today most of us Veteran Motocross Racers haven't bothered with a reply to you "hammerin' away" at an old MX senior citizen. I had a cool poster of Joel Robert hangin' in my room back in '73. He was already an MX Living Legend then, and worked his dirt ways to the top all thru the late 60's while I was watchin' Bonanza and The Flintstones.
So Great to see Joel still around and enjoying himself. He will always be an eternal Giant of the sport. The stuff legends are made of.
All Time Great
As great a person as he was a champion.
R.I.P. Joel 🙏🏼
A Suzuki with right side shifting - very interesting.
RIP in Mr. Robert.
@guyNbluejeans I bought my first CZ at my local shop from my now old friend, Carl Cranke (AMA Hall of Fame). I recall what he said then, "For some reason, they feel like they have a hinge." They were the fleetest jumpers and could slide like a Speedway bike. Another memorable general comment was that where with Husky's one felt that you sat "on top" of it, with a CZ, you sat "into it." I owned a Mikola Rep in 1975. Good bike, but I didn't feel part of the bike the way I did with the CZ.
i was lucky enough to have him as next door neighbour when i was a kid. I recently met him @ 12h enduro La Chinelle. He remembered me 35 years after. A nice guy!
Is that is old factory bike? Joel Robert had the most natural talent...
@guyNbluejeans I've re-read this... All were 4 speeds then. I raced one for a couple years on the original chain and never threw it - all conditions. CZ made chain today is only topped by Renolds, same stuff as then. Sounds like your sprockets weren't aligned? Most loved the CZ handlebars with the unit control perches, including me. Less weight and fuss. As for the front fender falling off and the chain, sounds like it wasn't assembled from the crate very competently.
@guyNbluejeans Good one! But as we know IF you wanted to race MX and win in the years of 1967 to at least '73, a two-stroke and CZ was one of the two top choices. (The other being Husqvarna, of course). Being short, I couldn't do things like basketball very well, or some other sports. Motorcycle racing is the short man's revenge, I suppose! You might be surprised at the products available for improving CZs today for vintage racing. If we only had them back then! But, Ride On!
@deaddoc I meant to say that sometimes a steel tank of any brand could develop leaks, but I never heard of a CZ tank doing it. However, most people began replacing the stock steel with fiberglass and then plastic tanks. I really think that these alternatives came into being because of CZs, but that could be debated as some Huskys went to fiberglass tanks early on too.
@guyNbluejeans And did most of it on a CZ! I do have some home films of him leading the pack at the 1974 Carlsbad GP on a Suzuki. He and DeCoster had been on Suzukis since 1970 by then. I used to have a Cycle World article from 1968 with a photo of Joel Robert sitting on a Suzuki copy of a CZ at Saddleback Park, during a visit to test it for the company. I wish I had that now!
@guyNbluejeans It sounds as if you really needed to do some repair before you rode it. Most people do that, they're old bikes. I worked for Penton back in 1972 and owned a Husky at one point . More CZ survivors around today, as I said. They do sit low, but I always liked them for that, being shorter myself, & that is also why they slide so well. Being tall has never been an advantage in MC racing. I have 2 BSAs. I notice that big people need stretched out HDs to look proportionate.
@guyNbluejeans CONT I never heard of a tank leaking, but many tanks of all brands were typically welded with a tube from a car exhaust into the fueling port while it was welded. But CZ modifying became the impetus for modern bikes. Many agree that Suzuki and ALL modern MX bikes owe a great deal to this because of the R&R that it caused. Remember, CZs were many times World Champion bike from '66 to 74 (Jiroslav Falta). CZ and Husqvarna were the world's two best then.
@guyNbluejeans Horrible bike? Compared to what? More of them survive intact from those days because they were built so well. They were the best handling of the day, arguably. If you mean to today's standards, maybe so, if you want to be THAT unfair. They are torque monsters even to today's standards. I have one now and love it - for vintage racing. Most people do love them. I can't imagine where you are coming from there.
@guyNbluejeans To alter the subject. Back in 1971, I met Joel Robert and got his autograph. In 1970s, I was the lone track employee at a NoCal location that held several InterAm races. Met many of the international riders. Had a conversation with Dave Bickers. Great to look back on, now.
@guyNbluejeans Just found this comment. I don't look at my youtube account that often - or don't for long periods. The event I speak of happened at a Sonoma County ARHMA national. Back then, engines were fast, but handling inferior to today. But if you look at today's MX, it is set up for max air time for show. Even today, Euro MX GPs are still more natural. You ought to study more vintage videos; Carlsbad GP of 74, those bikes were often going faster than today's American tracks allow.
@guyNbluejeans In my head! I haven't competed in one vintage race yet! I am preparing and hoping for the opportunity perhaps next year when I will be in the 60+ group! But I also have my street BSAs and I like them very much as well. Vintage MCs and working on them give me a sort of solace, because i really feel relaxed and connected to my happier past when I work on them and play with them.
Straight stinger for the win! I haven't heard a single bike that sounds better because of a silencer. Obviously, they're necessary to keep riding areas and tracks open, but it's hard not to miss the classic sound.
@guyNbluejeans He is one of those exceptional people who are genetically incredibly strong. I read a story once about how he amazed fellow riders at the Spanish GP in 69 or about by lifting up a car by himself. I had a friend who could do that too, would win bets doing it. Now we know Europeans have some Neanderthal DNA, which may express in different ways. I think Robert had his as this incredible strength, - without training! But the smoking and partying did end his riding career sooner.
@guyNbluejeans I recently put together a new GP seat for mine. It is several inches higher, and I hated it. It was hard as a rock, and it made the bike as tall as a new "pogo stick" model. It also made me realize how tall riders must relate completely different to not just vintage bikes, but ALL bikes. But riding a vintage bike has to feel like riding a mini for me. Glad I'm 5"6". It served me well in racing, and I think it adds to my enjoyment of my road BSAs now.
@guyNbluejeans He'd likely still be a many time GP winner as he was then. We were all looking to improve our bikes back then. He was such an unusual specimen that he didn't even train, but others like DeCoster and Jeff Smith trained hard. It was just or even more athletic then as it is now, because the bikes were so much more difficult to handle.
@guyNbluejeans You know, a few years back, some old 70s and earlier CZ factory riders came to some ARHMA national race(s) on "new" period CZs, that apparently the factory will build by special order now. I wasn't there, but a friend of mine said that these guys were super fast. They were in their 50s. A modern MX was being held there too and the times of these CZ riders were better than the modern riders. The track was not a modern artificial jump, manicured track.
No non può finire così il video volevo vedere le roi fare ancora qualche pezzetto con la mitica Yamaha gialla pancia permettendo 😁😁 bravo Joel
@deaddoc I remember those days well. Triumph Spit Fires, BSA Bonnevilles, Norton 750 Commandos, Honda CB 750s.....
Suzuki 400 Hurricanes (interesting stuff on the Internet regarding THOSE bikes), Kaw 350 Big Horns, Yammi 360s (great bikes!), Huskies, Pentons, Bultacos, Kaw Centurion (sp?) 100s, Yammi RD 350s, Hodakas, ...
Yup; those were pretty amazing bikes and times!
Alvin Tostig The Suzuki TM 400 was the Cyclone.One powerful dangerous sumbitch.
@deaddoc I bought my CZ new back in the day. I'm 6'2" and you're right; people my size aren't tailored so well for such activity.
My current wheels are a 2005 KLR 650. Great bike for my needs though not a perfect bike by any stretch.
R.I.P Joel
@guyNbluejeans Not trying to hammer you my any means here, okay? CZ 250s became 5 speed when Penton came out with the bigger bikes too. 360 Yamahas (DTs) were famous for handling terribly. I don't think anyone can top out a 380 CZ in 4th gear on an MX track. 5 speeds are for a tighter gear ratio, not speed, and the 380 are such torque monsters you don't need to split any gears. CZs came with bad footpegs then, bad carbs, and became the most modified bike in the day. CONT
@deaddoc It sounds like you're having a great time, keep it up!!:-)
@guyNbluejeans I have heard some people say and comment that the problem with today's bikes is that they are souless. Way too similar, over engineered, etc. I am reluctant to criticize when I don't own one, but I really like the BSAs and most vintage bikes because they have personalities and are fairly simple to work on. OF course, there is a fairly large set of mechanic cult secrets, but I've got a line on that too. It's a good escape from the harshness of today.
@deaddoc Like they say, different strokes for different folks.:-)
@deaddoc I wonder how he'd do against today's best riders if he was in his prime?
Alright..!!
❤️❤️👍
Amazing guy. Great, great rider and said to be as strong as an ox. Too bad he was a smoker, though.
@deaddoc I'd love to get Joel's autograph and take him out to dinner and have a long conversation about bikes and those times back in the day when he was King of motocross!
@deaddoc He was my hero back in the day, for sure. I bought a CZ 380 (classified as a 400) on account of him to some degree. (It was a horrible bike, btw.)
@deaddoc It was the worst $1400 I ever wasted. I should have bought a Husky or Penton or Yammi 360.
The fist day I had the CZ the front fender fell off. I tried riding in sand dunes but the chain would never stay on. The gas tank developed leaks. It sat way too low. The front brake and clutch housing were welded into the handle bars. It had a four speed transmission.
Glad you enjoy your CZ, I didn't enjoy mine.
Bruit de mobylette
@guyNbluejeans You are the first person in my life as a MX racer or veteran that ever said anything like that. But I can see that you are for some reason strongly there. Great record for such sh**ty bikes. ;-)
He didn't get very far
My CZ was blue just like the one in your vid. Biggest piece of sh... Well, I guess I already expressed myself so I'll let it go.*s*
@deaddoc No disrespect intended, but I have serious doubts that those CZs could place better times than today's modern bikes, unless the riders on the modern ones were deformed or had something seriously wrong with them.
Wow! He really DOES have a "pudgy face". Modern Cycle made note of that...30 years earlier than this video. Is It just me or does he appear drunk? At 1:50 he almost dropped the bike. How come he has to have someone else start the damn thing? He appears a bit obese. Would he have vapor-locked trying to start it? HOW many world championships did this guy win? Jeez...
I don't know the dude. All I know of him is from a Modern Cycle "Open Letter" they printed in the November 1978 issue. In the open letter, they referred to him as having a "...callous, snotty attitude", "slothful laziness" and having the "manners of a barfing drunk."
They go on...
He was told he has a "could care less" attitude and is a "sleazy, lazy, greedy punk."
They told him he is "...a piece of history."
Why all this ranting over the dude?
Well, he was to appear (and race) at the 1978 Superbowl of Motocross" and didn't. It was advertised to be "...a battle of the decade."
It wouldn't have been so bad had the show's promoters not advertised, for months that he was going to show. A lot of tickets were sold just for the fact he WAS going to race.
At any rate, he pulled a Mick Jagger by whining about this and that and went fishing instead. Pissed off a LOT of people to say the least.
I, and others think he was afraid of being beat by some 17 year old American high school kid.
Other than this, I'm sure he was just a so-so man.
Well, I see that even today most of us Veteran Motocross Racers haven't bothered with a reply to you "hammerin' away" at an old MX senior citizen. I had a cool poster of Joel Robert hangin' in my room back in '73. He was already an MX Living Legend then, and worked his dirt ways to the top all thru the late 60's while I was watchin' Bonanza and The Flintstones.
@deaddoc My CZ was blue just like the one in your vid. Biggest piece of sh... Well, I guess I already expressed myself so I'll let it go.*s*