Motorcycle Riding in the Colorado Rockies

By Ray Roske
Published on October 20, 2010
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Adventure riding in the Colorado Rockies in the 1950s.
Adventure riding in the Colorado Rockies in the 1950s.
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Adventure riding in the Colorado Rockies in the 1950s.
Adventure riding in the Colorado Rockies in the 1950s.

Motorcycle Classics reader Ray Roske sent us a fun group of photos taken in the mid-1950s that show a bunch of guys adventure-riding in the Colorado Rockies aboard old hard-tail Harley-Davidson 74s, with a few BSAs thrown in for good measure.

Some of the photos show riders climbing Mt. Evans in the snow, venturing up Arapaho Pass and getting into some serious mud, and playing in the snow near Mt. Thorodin. But the craziest pictures are a series showing the guys jumping their Harleys like modern motocross bikes.

One of the photo captions reads: “Imagine getting a couple feet of air (or more!) on a 750 hard-tail Harley! This makes the GS-jumpers look like whimps, with your fancy rear suspension and all. But the most insane member of the group … was a fellow named Kenny Erie [above]. If Kenny was alive today and about 50 years younger, I’m sure he’d be one of the top names in freestyle!” These photos have been circulating around the Internet for some time. Some of the riders are identified, but not the photographer. If you know who it was or anything else about these photos, please drop us a line.

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