INSIDER
DON’T FIGHT THE FEELING J A M E S H O LT E R
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here are many reasons to ride motorcycles. The most memorable involve feelings…feelings of freedom, of nostalgia, of conquest, of companionship and serenity. Possibly even feelings of athletic heroism. This is why some of the bikes you’ve ridden you remember — just like some of the people you’ve met — more than others. They made you feel something. Want to feel like a pro? Race a pit bike. It requires line selection at full-throttle, conserving momentum, finding traction, hitting the lip, and timing to clear a measly 12-foot tabletop. Few have the skills to execute those decisions on a 450cc motocrosser. On a 110cc pit bike it’s reasonably achievable, and once you do it’s an unforgettable feeling. Last month we introduced a new section in these pages called, simply, “AMA Garage,” which will become a staple in American Motorcyclist going forward. In the section we’ll cover bikes (among other things) that make us feel a particular way. Most will not be techno-wonders, and maybe not even the best-in-class. Some might be old — vintage! — and others might even be slow, subjectively ugly or questionably sound. What these bikes do achieve are remarkable, unforgettable feelings, anything from humility to grandeur, and they do so in abundance. But we can always feel more, right? As motorcyclists, we know that part of the fun is defining that “more” in our own way — and making it happen. In AMA Garage we’ll cover practical ways to unlock more of the feelings that drew us to these bikes in the first place. 10
In my personal garage I have a few bikes, some runners and some projects. The two that get ridden the most are an adventure bike and a vintage enduro bike. Each inspires a particular feeling, and that’s why I keep them. One of the projects they share space with is a 2005 YZ125. This YZ never really was my motorcycle. I bought it for my secondoldest well before he became a Marine — and his service has been over for about a year. My fourtholdest rode it some, but mostly the bike has sat, taking up space. I never sold it because I stubbornly refused to divest myself of what many consider the representative standard of a bygone era: 125cc two-stroke motocross. As a runner, the YZ, sadly, was generally overlooked. And then came the pandemic. After moving into a new home this summer, my plan was to get a new off-road bike, probably a YZ250FX or a CRF250RX — maybe a Beta 390 RR-S. I’ve had modern four-strokes. They’re easy to ride, versatile and enormously capable. I was ready for another. Then, I went shopping, and realized that the supply chain issues we’ve read about were real. How real? The motorcycles I wanted to buy were nowhere to be bought. That’s serious! Just like that, I found myself looking squarely at that once-overlooked YZ. I bought this bike used. The previous owner had it, somewhat surprisingly, set up for off-road. It had a large fuel tank, skid plate and some other trail-friendly bolt-ons. Other than regular maintenance, I hadn’t done much. (My biggest mod was bolting on the forks and shock from
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST • MARCH 2022
Holter’s Yamaha YZ125: Before pic
a 2006 YZ250F, the year Yamaha introduced its much-lauded SSS technology.) I decided, for a fraction of the price of a new bike, I could give this YZ everything it needed so it could give me a feeling I remembered fondly: banging through gears, burning through clutch plates, chasing RPMs on a mission to achieve moto-hero status, if even only in my mind. Since that decision, my parts buys have included modern plastic, exhaust, silencer, graphics, a tall seat, handlebars, tires, sprockets, a chain, brake pads, a pipe guard, jets, grips, air filter and much more. Not sure if you’ll see my now-notso-overlooked YZ in AMA Garage (Pretty sure you will. —Ed.), but you will read about a range of other bikes from a lot of different corners of our sport — along with the parts and modifications that make them more exiting to ride. And that’s the feeling that really matters. James Holter is a Charter Life Member and the AMA’s chief operating officer.
