Riding the Most DANGEROUS Dirt Bike of All Time!

Owned one in 71 at 14 years old... my dad bought 2 for $800 each $1600 otd... my pops shows up at my Base ball practice... he was 1/2 drunk and limping... he said Kid if you can start it one of them is yours.., in my baseball cleats it started second kick... the Suzuki dealer got my dad drunk lol hurt his foot trying to start it... best day of my young life. I wore both of them out fairly quickly... learned how to weld with a clothes hanger too... cracked pipes the first week... finally bought a Basani. Knee on the seat wheelies for miles.

I raced this bike in the "open" class in the early 70's. I was so small [at 15yrs] my father had to start it for me. I basically cranked the throttle and held on for dear life!! A regular top 10 finisher in the local races in Western New York.

Thanks for sharing this video. My dad and uncle both owned the yellow 1972 version of this bike. Just hearing the unique sound of that loud 2-stroke brought back a lot of memories from the 1970’s. I did ride my dad and uncles bikes in the California desert when I got older in 1987. Both bikes had been modified with large fly wheel weights, and were fast. My dad’s bike still sits in a shed to this day.

My parents bought me a Suzuki motocross bike in 1971. Absolutely loved the power and sound of the two-stroke. Modern bikes don’t compare.

I had a 74 which I raced in 75. I really liked the bike. Gave me my first win and it is the only trophy I have kept. Back then the European bikes cost 50% more and were built with better quality materials. When someone says "Put something exciting between your legs" think of the TM400. If you compare a 1975 TM400 to a 1977 390 Husky The evolution is amazing. Thanks for your videos.

I currently own a 1971 and it still has the original paint, seat cover and pipe. Took a third place on it earlier this year at the prestigious Virginia City GP. Interesting note the bike was raced back in 71 at the VC gp race.

Have owned dozens of old dirtbikes throughout the last 5 decades including the suzuki 400. The one brand of bike that terrified me the most were those old Hodaka dirtbikes. Those things had a powerband that would redline so quickly that they could literally rip your arms off of the handlebars. Combined with the horrible suspensions and terrible handling characteristics they had - those things could(and would!) get you killed before you even realized the impending doom was about to happen to you. Those old Hodakas were brutally insane and definitely not for the faint of heart!

In 1995 I was 14 and had a 1984 Can-Am MX250, A friend of mine brought one of these 400's over to race me down the street and around the trail.. It ran like crap and I let him know it. My dad got home from work and his jaw dropped when he saw the 400. He bought it that day from my friend. Once he got it running decent, it was night and day, and it would walk on my Can-Am. It was a very finicky bike though..

Old guy here. Was riding as a young man at the time. Mostly Hodaka, but others too ... This thing was new, so not cheap. And when they came up for sale, you had to ask why? There were plenty of good bikes around. If you had money you were on CZ, Husky, Maico, or Bultaco. Ossa and Montessa were around, but not big sellers. We were trail riders in the mountains of Calif and Nevada. Some were doing Baja. We hardly ever saw soil as wet as yours. Much more dry and dusty. And dust is like tiny ball bearings. When this motor hit it was any direction but where you were looking. I did know Suzuki riders who went through all the mods you mentioned. The Kawi's were just as bad. The Elisnore is what really changed the landscape for Japanese dirt bikes. Until then you had to know how to weld, and suspension tune. Step one - ChromeMoly swing arm and new shocks. Terry Kit the front end and start adding frame braces 😁

I had a couple of them, and they had a real good wide power band on the motor. The frames and suspension left quite a bit to be desired, however. You could pull wheelies in third and fourth gear easy. And yes, they would do 86 top speed, with stock gearing. I drag raced mine at Orange County Raceway and it ran low fourteens at 86 mph.

Update: Sean knows how to ride these Big 2 strokes - keep the R's up and use the power. ( Not like today's 4 strokes ) And get your Arus off the seat !! You have to work those old bikes !!! Gotta love it !!! Great Video - brought back a lot of memories 😀!!

Owned a '72 that was a highly modified motocross racer. Lots of stuff done to the frame for strength and weight reduction. Everything was plastic, the tank, fenders, and the clutch and brake levers on the handlebars. The oil injection pump was removed. Reed valves were added. Bike weighed 218 lbs and had about 45 hp with the Bassani Tuned exhaust. It sounded like 3 chain saws sawing on the same log. Brutal suspension. That bike beat the sh*t out of me. I rode it for 2 years before I could even open it up. I had it for 4 years total, then traded it for SBC stuff. Dude bought it, bored it out, increased compression from factory 7:1 to 10:1 and a bigger Mikuni. I said you aren't going to be able to start it. Well .... dude wrapped himself around a tree and was hospitalized for 3 months, and was never the same again. He was warned about that bike. I lived with it for 4 years and am uninjured, and I still ride. Dude laughed it off, called me a pussy lol. I'm still sorry that he ruined his life with that bike though. I had a healthy fear/respect for it.

My Dad and Uncle were both pros in the early 70s, we discussed this bike a few times. The way they explained it was that MX was gaining popularity so fast in the US at that time that lots of super inexperienced riders were going out and buying these cheap Japanese machines and going WAY faster than their skill level. On top of that 40hp the sub par geometry and brakes and that means a lot of injuries. A professional could do a few mods and adapt to the bike if he had to, but there were much better choices mainly the husqvarna. The 400CR was dominant and didn’t need much to be race prepped and weren’t too far from the factory machines.

These are the bikes I grew up around. My first high performance machine was a 73’ CR250M Elsinore. You guys today have know idea what it was like riding a twin shocker with 4” of travel. The front end on the Elsinore was at the time a radical 7” of travel. The Elsinore power delivery was much the same. You get it on the pipe hold on. Riders back the just had to adapt to no travel and light switch power delivery. Don’t get me wrong that Honda took me straight to the podium. Other bikes around just could not compare. I only wish I had kept the Elsinore for the memories.

That thing sounds nasty starting up , pure 2 stroke Evil 😈

Love these old bikes. They're so raw! You gotta respect the guys who rode them back in the day. My 76 montesa has put me in hospital twice this year 😅

I had a PE 175 back in the days of my youth and it was a pretty sketchy machine in its own right. That said, I love the old air cooled big bore 2t bikes they were not the greatest for tracks like we have today by any means but made excellent woods and hair scramble machines for sure. They had a much stronger torque curve due to much lower revs and the longer gearing. I always rode mine on the logging and quarry trails and they were super fast on the top end compared to the MX bikes of the late 80s and up. The benefit of riding one of these dinosaurs was it was so heavy that it built up your endurance and stamina to a point that when you jumped on a more modern machine it was like riding a BMX bike you could throw it around like nothing. I would say that anyone who is a true 2t MX enthusiast owes it to themselves to throw a leg over one of these all steel monsters at least once in their lifetime because until you have donated a kidney for the sake of a podium spot on one of these you haven’t really dug it out in the dirt. Guys like Hannah were monsters much like the machines they rode and had to have nerves of steel and balls of brass to run more than 30 minutes on one of these bone crushers. Just saying don’t knock these guys for what seem like puny jumps and lame tracks until you have run a few laps on the steeds they were mounted upon because you have no idea the brutalization those guys went through.

The old Bultaco was a scary bike too. Wicked 2-stroke power.

I am a Suzuki collector/rider/restorer... my buddy in high school used to race one of these exact bikes in the mid-70's... lots of mods later Including home-modified longer travel rear suspension he ran mid-pack at that time. I was smaller than him and I used to ride a 1972 TM-250... I modified the rear end to get ~one more inch of travel than stock (~4.5" vs 3.5")... I didn't race, but it was a great trail bike for several years, and totally reliable. I have 1972 TM250 once again and I it is waiting patiently as gather parts to do a restoration... so far just missing the pipe - very rare indeed - as you mention in your video! Things have come a long way in the last 50 years for sure, but to my eyes, there are still beautiful machines!

I saw the first second of this video and IMMEDIATELY recognized the bike as a TM-400. I had a TS-400. Same bike with turn signals and lights. Lots of power, but not a death trap.