First, a little background. I live in a townhouse, and I've recently been trying to purge a lot of junk, and re-organize my garage. I built a new workbench and put up a lot of shelving. One of the things I dug out is my 1981 XR 80. I bought it when I started racing in 1990 to use as a pit bike. It was pretty ratty and had a flat in the rear, but it started so I gave the lady $75 for it. Pulled the tube on the rear with the idea of patching it and found the valve stem base was ripped. I cut a donut out of an old tube and rubber cemented it around the valve stem. It was still holding in 2003...the last time I rode it.This is a bike that not only was used as a pit bike, but spent hours on single track in the woods, dirt tracking in the sand pits, and many wheelie contests and a few jumping contests. All with adults in the 150-190 lb range. Because of it's age, it had a built in rev limiter. Hold it wide open, and it would hit a point, even in first or second, where it just wouldn't pull any more revs. It got an oil change once a year, and has been run with only the mesh screen in the airbox since about 1992 when the last of the air filter rotted away. It did not have an easy life.
Back to the present... I pulled it out, and was debating if I should keep it. I don't really have room for it, and it's been sitting in that corner with half a tank of gas for at least 6 years.I must have put Sta-bil in the tank because there was still something in the tank that smelled kinda like gas. I decided to turn on the petcock and kick it...nothing. Just for ha ha's I put it in second, gave it a shove and let the clutch out. It started right up, and dropped into a steady idle. Unbelievable. I won't be getting rid of it. Time to teach another generation how to ride on it. These things never die.

I'd definitely keep it for some backwoods type of riding.

Out of curiousity, what made you park it 6 years ago?

I had a baby, and it really needs some TLC to get it running better. Now I'm divorced and only have my daughter 3 or 4 days a week with alternate weekends. That = more time for projects.

Rex, she's probably not ready for the XR yet, but check these out:

http://www.osetbikes.com

guess i won't sell my '02 xr 100 pit bike, taught many people to ride and will continue to do so
but i might be doing it in AZ, looks like relocation for me

Arizona is great - too hot in summer but that's about it.

garyb425 - 23 November 2009 09:14 PM

Arizona is great - too hot in summer but that's about it.

well gary, it looks like i might be doing the snowbird thing, there for the winter, back to NH for spring and summer.

That would be perfect - 2 great states!

Make sure that you visit southern Utah - Arizona is nice but southern Utah is as beautiful as anywhere in the world.

garyb425 - 24 November 2009 09:11 AM

That would be perfect - 2 great states!

Make sure that you visit southern Utah - Arizona is nice but southern Utah is as beautiful as anywhere in the world.

All ready in the planning, off to Moab first trip there

Moab is great - Arches NP is spectacular, as is Canyonlands, but harder to see much of it. Go up to Dead Horse Point, which overlooks Canyonlands and some wild canyons that the green River snakes through. If you want to see some photos go to terragalleria.com, he has great photos of all the national parks.

I should add, Zion and Capital Reef are great too. Bryce is nice too, if you go there enter the hoodoos from below unless you like a climb back to your car - I like the lazy path.

If you are ever staying in Sprindale, near Zion, stay at the Desert Pearl - great hotel.

Can you tell that I like that area?

garyb425 - 24 November 2009 01:01 PM

Moab is great - Arches NP is spectacular, as is Canyonlands, but harder to see much of it. Go up to Dead Horse Point, which overlooks Canyonlands and some wild canyons that the green River snakes through. If you want to see some photos go to terragalleria.com, he has great photos of all the national parks.

I should add, Zion and Capital Reef are great too. Bryce is nice too, if you go there enter the hoodoos from below unless you like a climb back to your car - I like the lazy path.

If you are ever staying in Sprindale, near Zion, stay at the Desert Pearl - great hotel.

Can you tell that I like that area?

Thanks for the heads up!