To the Limit | Brett McCormick

Time Machines

Motorcycles are in a very interesting space right now, and it’s fun to step back and take it all in. The world moves at such a quick pace, it normally requires a large time stamp before we really understand what was happening during a certain period. If you can live through a time and try to see it from a bird’s-eye view once in a while it can bring a different appreciation to things. Your view might be different depending how high the bird flies, but you get the idea.

I would label myself as a fairly stubborn old soul, and most days I sit around wishing I could transport myself back to the ‘70s for simpler times – especially when we are talking about the motorcycle world. Currently we can kind of hop in that time machine by riding older bikes, but it’s never the same as enjoying the era correct bike during that time.

Both street bikes I own at the moment are pre-1980s, and they bring a ton of pleasure to my life but can also bring some headaches. The headaches don’t seem like headaches in the moment if everyone is dealing with them without having other options. For example, trying to get an inline-four running nice when it’s carbureted can take some serious talent combined with time and energy – or any carbureted engine for that matter. The people with this expertise are becoming few and far between, but they’re still out there – and even better is that most of this tribal knowledge is becoming more accessible because of the internet. On the other side of the coin, today you have the ability to ride a bike with fuel injection and this headache can be resolved. The new headache comes from most of the issues on new bikes requiring computers and normally a trip to the local shop to hook up a bunch of cords, which can be annoying in its own way.

These are some examples of why I try to see the current motorcycle industry from a bird’s-eye view, and appreciate that we’re living in a time where as a motorcycle enthusiast you can pick your favourite era from the beginning of bikes, and live it. Every era is going to come with limitations, but most of these can be conquered.

In our current era, it’s pretty astonishing how many amazing motorcycles come right out of the box today. I would peg it as the past five to seven years we have made some big leaps that you have to step back to appreciate.

On the motocross side of my passion, I can’t stand how expensive new bikes are and I know I’m not alone there. I bought a new YZ450F this spring and that hurt the bank account. My dad and I talk about how crazy-expensive bikes are, and speculate that they’ve taken things too far with technology causing the inflation of bike prices to outpace the dollar’s inflation. This is true, but we need to get on a different bird to appreciate this, rather than being sour about it.

A 1998 YZ250 may have been a cheaper bike to buy in that day compared to a 2022 YZ450F today, but they are nowhere near equal in what you’re getting for your dollar. If you wanted to go race a 1998 YZ250 and have a competitive package you could run up front in races on, there was a huge list of upgrades you needed to have done to the bike. The 2022 YZ450F – you could probably uncrate at a national and be relatively competitive. I say relatively because I’m talking about the non-factory bikes here, not trying to compare the purchase or prep of factory bikes.

New stock bikes don’t require much to get you to the top 95 percent on the track, and that is unreal. You can get by without suspension rebuilding, motor work, building better wheels; basically just put fuel in it and set it up for your style. The bikes have a big price tag, but it saves a lot of headache, not to mention how reliable they’ve become. The street scene is a similar discussion, and the same comparison can be made with a new 1000 cc superbike compared to what was available 20 years ago.

I’ll still appreciate the way things used to be by owning and maintaining older bikes, because I enjoy having that perspective – but it won’t stop me from taking advantage of the new technology and picking up new bikes when I want to treat myself. Hopefully everyone reading this has the opportunity to enjoy a few different eras of motorcycles, especially young folks that have only seen and experienced the current era of bikes – find yourself a time machine. IM