Gary and Rick Bault's 1968 Yamaha DT-1. 

Bike: 1968 Yamaha DT-1
Owners: Gary and Rick Bault
Hometown: Albany, Ore. 

Etc.: For Rick Bault, the Yamaha DT-1 his dad, Gary, purchased from the local dealer in 1968 was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. “The brochure Yamaha sent out before the DT-1 was released showed a white tank with a red frame and red tank emblems. My dad was buying one and was really excited that it had a red frame.

It did look cool,” Rick recalls. “When they showed up at the dealership the frame was black. Dad was a bit disappointed but bought one anyway.” Gary kept the bike stock, and rode both street and trails with it, noting, “DT-1’s were reliable. The only real problem was the ignition points. If you went trail riding you’d better take a Phillips screwdriver and a dry matchbook. The bike would run great until you went through a puddle then it would die. At least once a day you had to clean the points.”

On the street, the biggest problem was vibration at freeway speeds, Rick notes: “I remember riding as a passenger to Grants Pass from Roseburg [Ore.]. That’s about 70 miles of freeway each way. About 35 miles into the trip I was so numb from the engine buzz that I couldn’t feel my extremities. That was back in 1968 and I’m just now getting some of the feeling back.” Rick picked up his own 1970 model DT-1 back in 2003, and rode it around town quite often before recently selling it. “For its time the DT-1 was a great bike. For our time the DT-1 is still a good performer around town,” he says. “The suspension was and still is adequate for a single rider. The power delivery is smooth. No big hit anywhere. The brakes are probably the weakest link. Today’s brakes are much more powerful.” While the DT-1 doesn’t compare to his current Honda CRF450 for off-road prowess, Rick still respects the role the DT-1 played in bringing us to today’s  amazing bikes, and reminds us that, “The DT-1 paved the way for what we ride now.”

 
Lane Pipkin on his Suzuki GT750 LeMans. 

Bike: Suzuki GT750 LeMans
Owner: Lane Pipkin
Hometown: Goose Creek, SC
Occupation: Customer Service Engineer (X-ray instruments)
Bio: A motorcycle enthusiast for nearly 40 years, Lane is a fan of old motorcycles and has owned a variety of Japanese hardware. But two-strokes, particularly triples, are his favorite. 

Etc.: “I owned a Kawasaki H2 for a couple of years and loved it, but I wanted something a little more reliable. One of my friends owned a ‘72 Suzuki GT750 when they were new, and I remembered it's reliability, so I started looking for one to replace the Kawasaki.”

Lane has owned the stock GT for about four years. It was a two-owner bike his wife found on the Internet that had been parked for about 11 years. “It was rusty, but had never been apart, and it just needed a really good cleaning to get it running again. I’ve put 15 thousand miles on it since then.”

The Suzuki café racer was originally bought as a parts bike about three years ago. “I rebuilt it from the ground up, including the GS wheel conversion with a rear disk brake. The front brake calipers are from a Kawasaki EX500, the master cylinder is from a Honda CBX600, and the taillight is from a Honda VT500 Ascot.”

Overall, Lane has had a good time getting both bikes in running shape and riding them often. Their many good qualities make them classics and still fun to own today. “They're reliable, smooth, comfortable, fast enough to be fun, torquey, and they handle much better than their reputation would lead you to believe. These Suzuki’s are the most over-engineered bikes I have ever seen. They're very tough,” he says.

 
Tim Nier's restored 1978 Triumph Bonneville 750 T140E. 

Bike: 1978 Triumph Bonneville 750 T140E
Rider: Tim Nier, Sycamore, Ill.
Age: 58
Occupation: Domestic engineer (Stay-at-home dad)

Tim’s story: “I found my Triumph in a garage in 1982 and bought it the same day more than 28 years ago. I have loved every minute of owning it. Restoring it has been a great feeling and at shows people love to talk to me about the bike. The bike starts on one kick and has no leaks. It is a pleasure to ride and I never get tired of my ‘PA-TAY-TA PA-TAY-TA’ exhaust sound!

“When I found the bike it had 7,000 miles on it. Today it has 22,000 good highway miles. In the last five years, I have been maintaining and restoring it so that it remains stock. My restoration work has been done by P.T. Customs in Burnips, Mich., owned by Kevin McDonald. The tank was painted two years ago by ‘Wiz,’ who owns Arrow Art in Byron Center, Mich. All of this work has brought me many first place trophies. Triumph rules!!!”