Back in the early 70's I began to race enduro events on an SL125 Honda with some success. As the bike scene was growing rapidly it didn't take long before I felt the need for a more powerful and specialised bike to continue competing.
Our local Honda dealer, Blair Harley Motorcycles, who also imported Maicos, started to sell the American designed and Mexican build Cooper in MX and Enduro form. After one test ride I was sold on the Cooper Enduro, it's suspension was amazing (in comparision to the SL) and there was so much power!
My first event on the Cooper was the Lance Watson 2 Day at Oberon, where I placed equal 12th outright (with Blair's sponsored Maico rider, Carl Bletcher) and taking a silver medal. Other events pursued but eventually we moved to South Australia and starterd a family and racing drifted into the background. In about '77 I sent the motor back to Sydney for a wide ratio gearbox swap, while I dismantled the bike for a tidy up.
As offen occurs the bike never got back together and remained boxes of parts until my interest in bikes resurfaced in 2007. What to do, was now the question?
I had now started road racing now with the PCRA but had no interest in dirt riding. I've toyed with the idea of creating a road racer out of the Cooper and running it in a Forgotten Era class.
Another option after seeing the Deus Street Tracker (based on the timeless Kawasaki W650) is to convert the Cooper to a tracker for street use. I may still be able to give it ago on the track in this form?
So why not restore it to original? We'll I've changed over those years so why not the Cooper change with me. It'll be around for a lot longer than me; so as long as I don't make irrepairable modifications it'll be able to be restored back to original by the next owner with minimal effort.
Monday, January 5, 2009
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