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    Finding #49 and America’s Forgotten Motocross Team
    Finding #49 and America’s Forgotten Motocross Team
    Finding #49 and America’s Forgotten Motocross Team
    Ebook230 pages2 hours

    Finding #49 and America’s Forgotten Motocross Team

    By Keith Geisner

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    About this ebook

    Valentino Rossi once said, “To be a great motorbike racer, the most important thing is passion for the bike.” Vintage motocross enthusiast Keith Geisner has this passion, and it leads him on a journey of discovery when he finds an old Harley-Davidson dirt bike for sale online. A mere moment’s pause on a photograph, and Keith becomes both restorationist and researcher of a piece of American motocross history. Through social media, emails, phone calls and sheer tenacity, Keith uncovers the bike’s unique history. His extensive research led him to motocross legends and Bill Davidson, the great-grandson of Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Co. founder William Davidson. His story is a detective novel for motorcycle enthusiasts where every page, like an enduro, is full of twists and turns.

    #

    I like to refer to the author as “Detective Geisner.” His tireless efforts to unearth historical details about the Harley-Davidson motocross project have no bounds and his enthusiasm for the subject borders on obsession. He has traveled extensively to meet and interview the riders, mechanics, and engineers who were involved. His “investigations” have turned up details about the MX project that were sometimes unknown even to those of us who worked on the H-D Factory team in those days. So, it’s fair and correct to say that this book is the definitive study of Harley-Davidson’s controversial participation in American motocross.

    Well done, Keith Geisner!

    Steve Storz

    Owner of Storz Performance
    Member of the Trailblazer MC HOF
    H-D Factory Mechanic

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchway Publishing
    Release dateNov 15, 2019
    ISBN9781480882539
    Finding #49 and America’s Forgotten Motocross Team
    Author

    Keith Geisner

    Keith Geisner is an avid motorcyclist who has owned hundreds of motorcycles and ridden thousands of miles on backroads, trails, tracks, and highways across the United States. He enjoys sharing his incredible first-hand encounters with some of the industry’s most influential and recognizable names. An engineer with more than two decades of experience in the automotive and aerospace industries, he uncovers the true story behind an all-but-forgotten piece of American motocross history in this book.

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      Book preview

      Finding #49 and America’s Forgotten Motocross Team - Keith Geisner

      Copyright © 2019 Keith Geisner.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

      Archway Publishing

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.archwaypublishing.com

      1 (888) 242-5904

      Because of the dynamic nature of the internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Photography by Cycle News, Jim Gianatsis/FastDates.com, Mark Wick, Debbie Morgan, Lyndon Fox, John Brier, Mark Kiel, Harley-Davidson Archives, Joseph Savant, Phil Davy, Steve Gustafson, James LaPaz, Craig Mueller, Jay Clark, AMA Pro, Terry Nichols, Tracy Nichols, Barcroft Media Limited, Doug Hill, Jeff Holzhausen, Tommy Montgomery and Keith Geisner.

      ISBN: 978-1-4808-8252-2 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4808-8254-6 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4808-8253-9 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2019915272

      Archway Publishing rev. date: 11/14/2019

      21118.png

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I would like to thank the Harley-Davidson motocross team members, photographers, and everyone else whose names appear throughout the pages of the book for helping me tell this story. I would also like to say a special thanks to my wife, Sara, for supporting me during this journey.

      CONTENTS

      Acknowledgements

      Preface

      Introduction

      Chapter 1   Finding #49

      Chapter 2   The Research Begins

      Chapter 3   Searching for Clues

      Chapter 4   Finding the Team

      Chapter 5   The Preservation Begins

      •   Gas Tank and Seat

      •   Fenders, Airbox, and Number Plates

      •   Handlebars and Levers

      •   Motor

      •   Suspension and Wheels

      •   Frame

      •   Swingarm

      •   Reassembly

      •   Seat

      •   The Motor Rebuild

      •   Rear Fender

      •   The Search for a Head

      •   Back to the Motor

      •   Silencer

      •   Airbox

      Chapter 6   A Break in the Serial Number

      Chapter 7   Not Giving Up

      Chapter 8   The Nichols Brothers

      Chapter 9   Treasures in the Attic

      Chapter 10   2018 St. Louis Supercross

      Author’s Note

      In Closing

      The Harley-Davidson Motocross Team Stats and Photos

      PREFACE

      How often does one win the lottery? I’m not talking about Powerball or Mega Millions. How many times has something you are deeply passionate about entered your life unexpectedly? That is the true lottery.

      I know—I experienced it.

      I was the guy in the transportation section of my local bookstore devouring every book on motorcycles I could find; the guy watching every episode of American Pickers just waiting to see which rare motorcycle Mike and Frank would come across next—all while dreaming of the day when I would find a special motorcycle in a barn.

      That is exactly what happened one sunny September afternoon in 2016. Only I didn’t just find a special motorcycle in a barn—as my friend Ray Mungenast would later say, a special motorcycle in a barn found me. It came in the form of a dirt bike, and not just any dirt bike. It was a rare piece of Harley-Davidson motocross history.

      Between 1975 and 1978 something unheard-of happened in the sport of lightweight motocross racing: Harley-Davidson, America’s number one manufacturer of heavyweight, air-cooled motorcycles, entered the competition….

      INTRODUCTION

      I’ve been into motorcycles for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was of my uncle racing hare scrambles in southeastern Missouri. I would be at my grandparents’ house when he would return home from a race and would drool over his Honda XR500. Sitting on the bike, my short legs dangling, only fueled my passion.

      Later, when I was ten, my fourteen-year-old twin brothers Jeff and John and I all received new dirt bikes. My brothers’ bikes were 1986 Suzuki DR125s, and mine was an ’86 DR100. By then we had been riding the rolling farmland on Yamaha GT80s and go-carts.

      From the beginning, I was intrigued by things with motors and how they worked. Since my father was a car guy, my older brothers and I learned all about small gas engines. We learned how to do maintenance on our motorcycles, from tightening the chains or cleaning the air filters to changing the tires. In high school I learned to rebuild suspensions and motors with the help of an uncle and another friend of the family. I had plenty of mentors.

      Around this same time, I caught the bug for making money from fixing up dirt bikes and reselling them. I always kept an eye on the classified ads and often picked up bikes to flip. This experience exposed me to many different types of bikes. I had to research the bikes I fixed up in order to know how to price and market them. In the meantime, I also became pretty good at shopping for parts. I’d make a list of motorcycle parts suppliers listed in the back of Dirt Bike magazine and then call each one to compare prices and negotiate the best deals. Even though I didn’t own a bike shop, I’d act like I was a shop owner and use fake customer scenarios to leverage prices and faster shipping. In time I became well-versed in the various makes and models of motorcycles.

      My parents also owned an automotive collision repair business, so I had every color of paint at my disposal. It was easy for me to touch up a bike and make it look brand new.

      Before I graduated from high school, I told my parents I wanted to attend the Motorcycle Mechanic Institute, but they told me I needed to go to college and get a four-year degree. I took their advice and attended Southeast Missouri State University. While in college, I collected over a hundred Honda Z50s and CT70s. I stored them all at my parents’ place, but when I moved to St. Louis after college, it was time for them to go. I ended up selling the whole lot to a collector in Minnesota. That trailer-load of Honda minis leaving my parents’ house was quite a sight!

      Around 1997 I started using the internet to buy, sell, and research motorcycles; my knowledge of motorcycles and motorcycle sales grew exponentially. Up until that time, I’d been limited to buying from magazines and newspapers. The internet raised the bar considerably. Not only did I visit and join online motorcycle swap meets, but I also helped my dad sell a surplus of cars and parts he had collected over the years. He got a kick out of me learning the ins and outs of online motorcycle sales. He also marveled at the weekly flow of money orders and cashier’s checks in the mail.

      In 1999, eBay changed my entire business strategy. I now had an easier way to sell parts. I invested in a new computer and purchased my first digital camera. This really expanded my ability to make money and support my hobby.

      After I graduated college in 1999, I became an engineer in the automotive and aviation industries. I also got into racing hare scrambles and vintage motocross and riding a Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide. The latter ended with a bad accident in 2010, but I still enjoy off-road racing and continue to buy, sell, collect, and restore motorcycles. The joy I get out of bringing a vintage bike back to life is something few would understand. I always keep my eyes peeled for a rarity or a good deal.

      I am now in my forties and my passion for everything motorcycle has yet to subside. That same passion also compelled me to share this story….

      CHAPTER 1

      FINDING #49

      I first came across the Harley-Davidson motocross bike on a Friday evening in September 2016. It was getting late, and before I went to bed, I pulled up Craigslist on my iPhone to see what deals were out there.

      When I first saw the Harley-Davidson MX250 ad, I thought to myself, There’s a rare bike you don’t see every day. At that point I knew very little about the 1978 Harley-Davidson MX250. What I did know was that around 1,000 were sold to the public and that restored ones were going anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000. I emailed the seller a reasonable offer before I texted my buddy Jeff Allison, a fellow vintage bike enthusiast, and asked if he had seen the same ad.

      Jeff and I loved to hunt for deals on cool, collectible stuff. To be more specific, we focused mostly on anything related to motorcycles. That’s how Jeff and I first met. Even though we lived five minutes apart and had mutual friends, we were first introduced over a motorcycle deal. I had a BSA chopper project that Jeff wanted, and he offered me a pretty good trade to get the deal made. The rest is history.

      Needless to say, when I spied the Harley-Davidson MX250 on Craigslist, I had to share the discovery with Jeff. After texting him, I did something that I rarely did: I double-checked the email I had sent to the seller. I discovered that I had messed up my cell number, so I sent a second email. (I often think of what might have happened, or not have happened, if I had not double-checked my email that night.)

      The next morning, I got a phone call from the seller accepting my offer. He had done his research and knew what the bike was worth restored and was tired of all the low-ball offers he’d been getting. I told him to remove the bike from Craigslist so people would stop contacting him and made plans to meet him the next afternoon. The bike was at his father’s farm in Shelbina, Missouri, and he had to go and get it. This worked out well for me because I had planned on racing the Kenda AMA National Enduro the next morning at St. Joe State Park in Park Hills, Missouri, and by the time it was over the seller would be ready for me. Meanwhile, I was excited. I had never owned a Harley-Davidson MX250 and I was looking forward to the restoration.

      Meanwhile, Jeff called and said that someone had posted a picture of the Craigslist ad on a well-known Facebook page that identified and appraised motocross dirt bikes. The bike I was buying might be a factory team bike, he said. I was totally floored as I searched out the Facebook page in question. The post was blowing up with a long thread of comments. Various people were weighing in on

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