Trail Rider Magazine

34 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Vintage Feature Vintage Feature 1970 Yamaha CT-1 175 1970 Yamaha CT-1 175 By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart This month's vintage feature, a 1970 Yamaha CT-1 175, is a favorite of the stable here at Trail Rider. Like many other of our vintage features, this bike belonged to my old buddy Howie and is quite possibly his very first motorcycle. I'd bought it from his family a dozen years ago, from where it had been si ng since 1974, up in the ra ers of his barn. With my second real motorcycle being a 1970 Yamaha AT-1 125 (on which I installed a 175 kit), early Yamaha Enduros hold a special place in my heart. Looking to fill a void in my collec on, I jumped at the chance to purchase Howie's old Yamaha. I remember the day well when we lugged the bike down from where it had sat for so many years, as a rather strange chain of events unfolded while I wheeled the green Yamaha out to my truck. Just as I began to push the bike up the ramp into my truck bed, a passing car locked its brakes up, and an elderly gentleman hopped out of the passen- ger seat. The guy was visibly excited, babbling incoherently while poin ng at the bike. His wife also hopped out of the car, and they both stared at the old dusty bike with mile-wide grins. It was then the man's wife men oned her husband had a stroke and could not speak. What he was trying to tell me, was that he had bought that bike brand new in 1970 and had sold it to Howie in 1974. He hadn't seen it since the day he sold it so many years ago. I enjoy odd occurrences such as this and thought about how unlikely it was that a guy who drove down from Maine would run into the original owner of a motorcycle that had been buried in a barn for the last four decades. Yes, pre y slim, and I greatly enjoyed cha ng and reminiscing about Howie and the old bike that a ernoon. Once I got it back to the shop and gave it a good scrubbing, it was clear why the bike had been parked so long ago. It appeared that Howie must have taken a pre y good digger on the bike, as the le shock was bent, the oil injec on tank was badly dented, the seat cover was ripped, along with a few broken spokes. Fortunately, parts are rarely a problem with old Yamahas, and incredibly, a er a short search I scored a NOS oil tank that was the correct one-year-only green, with white stripes. In the original box, no less! A new set of chrome rear shocks was found on eBay, and KDI Repros had the correct seat cover.

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