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Title: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: Speeddog on December 17, 2009, 02:00:06 PM The Yamaha TZ750 & King Kenny Roberts' Return to the Indy Mile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k8hJWKIVNs#normal)
Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: ducpainter on December 17, 2009, 02:28:12 PM He's as bald as a stone... ;D
...and the King. [thumbsup] Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 17, 2009, 04:45:39 PM Absolutely f#@king awesome! I love KR Sr., he's a hero to me. [bow_down] I would have given anything to have been there and seen that but I couldn't. One of those things you don't do in life and live to regret it forever. I remember reading the Cycle News issue about that race. I waited forever for it to arrive in the mail. For those that haven't lived before the internet you have no idea how painful the wait was like to get bike racing news like that. I also remember the LONG wait to find out about Jim Pomeroy's first moto-x GP win for an American at the Spanish GP in 1973. The same was true regarding the wait to hear about KR winning the 1978 500GP Championship in his rookie year. I was on pins and needles waiting to find out. It's cool to think that Spies pulled the same rookie stunt this year in WSBK.
Long live the King! [thumbsup] [clap] Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: Ducatl on December 17, 2009, 04:47:29 PM That. Was. Awesome. ;D
Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 17, 2009, 04:50:28 PM He's as bald as a stone... ;D ...and the King. [thumbsup] Hey, I'm bald but I'm damn sure am no king! [laugh] I'd love to meet KR and spend an hour chatting him up over a beer. My kid had to write a paper for school this year about if you could invite anybody (living or dead) to Thanksgiving dinner who would it be and why. I would have written about King Kenny. [thumbsup] Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: ducpainter on December 17, 2009, 05:07:44 PM Hey, I'm bald but I'm damn sure am no king! [laugh] I'd love to meet KR and spend an hour chatting him up over a beer. My kid had to write a paper for school this year about if you could invite anybody (living or dead) to Thanksgiving dinner who would it be and why. I would have written about King Kenny. [thumbsup] I met him...and Steve MacGlaughlin (sp)... and one other clown from Cali a hundred years ago.... when things were different. They came every year for the Loudon National....and I worked for the Yami dealer. Like I said... things were different. ;) Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: Bigbore4 on December 17, 2009, 05:13:06 PM I was at the mile this year. I had no idea the crazy bugger did that with no practice.
They don't call the man KING Kenny for nothing. unmake the beast with two backsingbelievable Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 17, 2009, 06:21:02 PM It's Steve McLaughlin and we wouldn't have WSBK without him. He may have been a damn good superbike racer (he won the first ever AMA Superbike race at Daytona in 1976 on a Butler and Smith BMW R90S... he beat Reggie Pridmore, his team mate, who was the eventual 1st SBK champion ever that year) but he was even a better race promoter after hanging up his leathers! He was the moving force in there being a World Superbike series. He may not be the "King" like KR Sr. but he's damn close!! [thumbsup]
Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: ducpainter on December 17, 2009, 06:32:17 PM It's Steve McLaughlin and we wouldn't have WSBK without him. He may have been a damn good superbike racer (he won the first ever AMA Superbike race at Daytona in 1976 on a Butler and Smith BMW R90S... he beat Reggie Pridmore, his team mate, who was the eventual 1st SBK champion ever that year) but he was even a better race promoter after hanging up his leathers! He was the moving force in there being a World Superbike series. He may not be the "King" like KR Sr. but he's damn close!! [thumbsup] Like I said...it was a hundred years ago. he came with Kenny for the Loudon national. he had a Harry Hunt bike...I think it was '73. The bike showed up all make the beast with two backsed up....the rear axle nut was stripped. People spent hours trying to make a Yami axle nut fit. I found what he needed at the local truck shop. He asked me to pit for him that year. I passed. He finished 3rd. Life is funny. I'm still in NH..wonder where Steve is? ;D Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 17, 2009, 06:42:25 PM Your post about McLaughlin made me want to "google" him. Here's a good read for those that don't know him and his history.
http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=320 (http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=320) Hell of a guy and racer and we seriously might not have a WSBK series without him. Another guy I would like to invite to my fantasy dinner! [thumbsup] Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: orangelion03 on December 17, 2009, 06:42:31 PM Thank for that Nick!!
I'm with his "friends at Yamaha". Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 17, 2009, 07:07:22 PM I know this is all about KR Sr. and the TZ flat tracker but one of the all time race bike pics is of McLaughlin's R90S dusting up at Laguna in '76 chasing Pridmore.
http://motorcyclist.automotive.com/88958/122-0807-1976-bmw-r90s-steve-mclaughlin/index.html (http://motorcyclist.automotive.com/88958/122-0807-1976-bmw-r90s-steve-mclaughlin/index.html) Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: 2001cromo on December 17, 2009, 09:10:11 PM Thanks for that!!! [thumbsup]
And thanks for the other related info guys. Was there, saw it and kept thinking "that thing is clearly going faster than everything else I've been seeing tonight". It seemed like no one/bike had those balls to light up the rear so viciously on the gas. It was awesome. Maybe it's just what I want to believe, but looking at Rossi and Jorge watching that and seeing their reactions I don't think it was just me. And that flag guy was nuts! I guess 2009 was the last of the 2 strokes. So they had that TZ750, Schwantz's RG500 and said goodbye to the 250's... Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: DucHead on December 18, 2009, 03:54:07 AM Cool vid!
Oh, and Robin Trower came through Raleigh this year! Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 18, 2009, 04:36:04 AM Mmmmm... Bridge of Sighs, great album. [thumbsup]
Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: yamifixer on December 18, 2009, 07:36:11 AM Thanks for sharing that. I love that sound.
I rode a TZ750 about 10 years ago on pavement. It scared the bejesus outa me, I cannot imagine that power on dirt. Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: Moronic on December 18, 2009, 07:42:16 AM Speedog,
thanks so much for posting that. The best motorbike video I have ever seen. And given my tastes, probably the best short video. Wow. Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: Greg on December 19, 2009, 03:49:47 AM unmake the beast with two backsingbelievable Ditto Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: Moronic on December 19, 2009, 08:25:52 AM Nice article here (http://www.superbikeplanet.com/dontpaymeenuff.htm) at SuperbikePlanet on the history of that bike and how it came to be restored.
Written 15 years ago it ends with the restorer presenting the bike to Roberts at the 1994 Laguna Seca USGP and the suggestion Roberts might ride it again being dismissed as dangerous and silly. Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: LA on December 19, 2009, 11:00:49 AM Like DP said, things were different back then. Major riders that I considered Gods were just regular people and very accessible. Roberts was the first person that did anything that was my own age that I considered Godlike. I well remember the Cycle (best mag of the era and Cook was the ed) article and the prominent quote "they don't pay me enough to ride that thing".
And in 76 while busy winning races for BMW, Reggie was helping me build as close as I could get to a replica of the "NASCAR" R90S they were racing. I was running my Granddad's old gas sta. and working on bikes and sports cars at the time. My partner would say hey, It's Reg Pridmore on the phone again. He wants to talk to you. He sold me pistons, Sig Erson cams, followers, springs etc. and did machine work for me - just a make the beast with two backsing great guy. Goleta was a world away from what I called S.C. It was a different time, but much like now, a "golden age" of motorcycling with some really advanced product being offered and an economy that was not in such good shape at the same time. I felt fortunate to be alive at the time and I amazed to still be here. My Monster commuter bike makes more power than the race bikes of that era. I did notice how quickly Roberts grabbed that ball cap to hide that bald top of his too. Long live the King. [thumbsup] [bow_down] LA Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: fastwin on December 19, 2009, 11:23:23 AM Off subject (again! [roll]) but I love those R90S bikes! Some bikes are drop dead gorgeous forever... Tamburinis, Vincent Black Shadows, early Bonnies, 750/900SS Ducs, etc. and the R90S stands right there with them. At least to me. A friend in college had one in Daytona Orange, a '74 I think. I always told him if it ever was stolen that I should be the #1 suspect!
Thread jack off... Title: Re: Roberts on the TZ750 Flat Tracker at Indy Mile - Video Post by: motolocopat on December 21, 2009, 11:36:31 PM FANTASTIC!
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