Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

I am looking to buy another vintage dirt bike to fix up does anyone know which make and model to choose from.. working a little bit with my elsinore I noticed the parts for them are limited to just that year or maybe the year before or the year after.. are vintage yamaha and suzuki parts used on more years on thier bikes than honda?? and does anyone know which dirt bikes I should absolutely avoid for hard to find parts? thanks for all interest..

You have to get used to "Hurry up and wait" for your new motto.

Personally I think you are in the right decade if you are looking for parts. I was giving serious thought to obtaining a Kawasaki Green Streak<late 60s> until I starting looking for parts.

Just my observation but there is an inverse parts relationship between hot and not. For instance a CR125 was an extremely hot bike when it came out and the SL125 was extremely not. Finding good CR125 parts is rare as even what didn't explode was brutally beaten.

On the other hand the low performance and built like a truck engine keep the Honda 125 engines alive to this day. You can buy a 150cc Chinese copy new for ~$500. It is a little more XL or XR then SL, but it bolts up.

If I was choosing something in the middle I would probably go Yamaha 250 like the DT or MX. Lots built, good performance, and parts interchange so you can get something that motors even if it isn't a restoration. Only one I would stay away from is the MX and DT 360s as I think they were only built one year. Of course that is the one I have!