Outside of Tuscaloosa, AL USA a shop sold only Bridgestone motorcycles and sponsored a dirt track racer, Ross Kimble (who died by suicide 10 years later), on a track near Montgomery, AL. My dad wouldn't let me own one but occasionally I'd borrow the 350 GTR of my good friend, Jeff Mayfield, which was painted metallic candy apple green. The logo made a cool t-shirt for a 14 year old wannabe motorcyclists, finally got my own bike, Yamaha RD350B used in 1978 sold in 1981, then HD Softail slim 2018 in 2021 but after riding with local HOG chapter I see that they truly enjoy being on their bikes and are unified with them. Decades of riding make a difference. I'm like a Triumph TR-6 car enthusiast and part time mechanic friend of mine said, "I get too easily distracted to be a safe motorcycle rider." It's the same reason I'll never fly an airplane. Thanks for the research Kory!
I had a '66 model 175 Hurricane Scrambler I bought used in '68. My friends were riding Yamaha 180s and Yamaha 250 Big Bear Scramblers. One rode one of those weird Italian Harley 250 Sprints. Mine was faster than the Yamaha 180, but I envied the exhaust sound it had. No problems with the Harley Sprint and regularly stomped him with ease. The Bridgestone would acquit itself nicely against the Yamaha Big Bear in acceleration but I would be left behind on the highway. Top end was 74 or 75 mph. The rotary valves made the difference, I believe. Kawasakis had rotary valves too and the Bridgestones and Kawasakis would out shine everything else in their class. I really loved that bike and miss it to this day. My fat ass girlfriend at the time was playing around and put a water hose in the exhaust pipe just to be cute. That was pretty much the end of that bike. After my tour in Vietnam, I celebrated my survival with a brand new Yamaha XS-650 ($1107.25) I still have that bike and have loved it since day one.
If you have never ridden or owned one of these motorcycles, you shouldn't be commenting on them. These motorcycles were super motorcycles. I still yearn for mine today.
In '71 my friend down the street bought a new 350 Bridgestone GTO with his paper route money, at a small town 25 miles away. The "dealer" sold one or two Bridgestones out of his garage which was attached to his house. My friend wanted me to go with him so he could pick it up. I was barely 15 at the time. We went up there in his '63 Dodge Polara convertible on a nice summer day. He wanted me to drive the car back but I had about zero experience driving a car, and he wants me to get out on the highway at 55 mph? No way, I told him. I said I would ride the bike back because I had lots of riding experience on a moped, riding on farm trails. He reluctantly agreed to let me ride the bike back, and from the driveway of the "dealership" which connected with the 55 mph highway, I entered the highway, a bit close to an oncoming car, so I gave it some throttle and it pulled the front wheel up and I shifted and gave it some more throttle. Trouble was avoided and I was going along nicely at 55. Nice bike. The shifter he told me was all down to shift up in the gears. No problem. I remembered that just fine. Since I had no previous experience with shifting motorcycles, I had no habits to overcome. I had some experience with a clutch on a neighbor's scooter in his small backyard which did have a hand clutch. All was good, all the way back to town. He was impressed with my riding skills and happy to get his brand new 350 GTO home. His had crossed checkered flags on the tank. I remember that. It was white with black strips and such. Nice bike. The next year he traded it in on a 350 Kaw.
I owned 3 of them. Started with a new 1966 50cc SS model which looked quite similar to the photo you have showing on the podcast. Then I ‘moved up’ to a 100cc Trail model (yep upswept exhaust pipe and knobbytires) which would gladly bend the front forks out if the rider came down too hard going off road. Finally I had a 350 GTR -pretty quick bike with a 0-60 advertised at 6 seconds flat which was the truth. Back in 69 that 0-60 was impressive. The distributor was in Illinois I believe and they had a number of dealers in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin -being from MN they were kinda mainstream albeit short lived. Not a diamond in the rough but I sure had fun with them. Still riding dirt now at 71 but now riding 450 Honda.
Yeah, They came through a distributor in Rockford IL. I had '68 175. They were sold through Sears and maybe Western Auto. When running well, it was speedy.
I owned a 70 Bridgestone 200, It was given to me by my boss at the time. I took Motorcycle Mechanics and did a lot of work on it. It was a scrambler but I found some street pipes and converted it. I traded it for a FIAT 124 coupe, and bought a BMW 750 R75/5 motorcycle. I still kept the Fiat. I could get my Bridgestone up to 90 MPH ib the freeway. It had a 199 cc 2 stroke engine injected oil system. It was my first motorcycle, a great way to learn how to ride a bike.
I grew up n a small town in north eastern Ontario, Canada. In the mid 60’s, the marina in our town also sold snow machines and Bridgestone motorbikes. The Honda wave of 50cc Cubs was the rage. Bridgestone sold 2 50cc models. A step-thru model with the gas tank under the seat and fender skirts like the Honda Cub. The body was a mid tone brown and skirts were cream coloured. The other model which my brother bought was red with lots of chrome. I think it was a 55 cc model. It was a proper motorbike with the fuel tank up high between the knees of the rider. It also had a clutch and the transmission was a 3 speed with a “rotary shift” system. It had a heal-toe shifter with neutral at the top and then shift the 3 gears down. Then you could drop onto neutral or using the heel shifter, shift back up to a lower gear or neutral. These Bridgestone bikes were all 2 strokes. I was only 13 years old but my brother left his bike at our summer cottage all summer and I was abl 7:14 e to ride it. I fell in love with it and motorcycling that summer in 1964. My brother had that bike just 1 year if I remember correctly. The summer riding season was really short up North but he took some vacation time and rode his bike about 600 miles to central Michigan to see his girlfriend. The next year he traded in his 50cc bike for the brand new 175 cc Bridgestone bike. It had that interesting lever you could move to convert it from a “ rotary” 4 speed to a 5 speed. It had rotary valves so the carbs were mounted on the ends of the crank shaft. The air intake was through aluminum engine castings and rubber boots that dramatically reduced the noise of air intake like the Suzuki and Yamaha 2 strokes had. So the main noise it made was from the twin pipes which were mounted low. The exhaust note was muted. I never got to ride the 175. My brother did not have it long. The front tire dropped into a huge crack in the asphalt and he went flying. He never rode his after that crash and he sold it. My new 1968 Kawasaki Avenger 350 was a 2 stroke rotary valve twin. Those were great days. I hope my memory serves me well in this retelling of how Bridgestone was my first bike and holds a place in my heart.
Bridgestone made a bike a cut above what the big four were offering in the sixties compared to the big four. The 350 in particular used nickel sil in their cylinder walls and were very reliable. It contributed to the higher cost of the machine. That being said, they only made two stroke motorcycles and they saw what was coming down the pike in terms of emissions. They decided that investing in R&D to develop four stroke engines in addition to keeping their tire sales up with their competitors would be to much a conflict of interest.
The motorcycle shop i work at has three bs bikes in currently we have the 175 and two 350s one of the 350s was the first bridgestone in the us and both the 350s were in a museum before the guy brought them to us to get running
I hade a Bridgestone 200 cc twin. I bought one in boxes. And put it right. It would go 80 mph!!!! It was almost 300 pounds. But it would go pretty fast!
Had a Bridgestone 350 cc in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, was a fast bike considering the competition during economic sanctions. Moved on to a Suzuki TS 400 J, another 2 stroke monster, then discovered the Yamaha XT 500, and everything else was history.
They were quite popular and Atlantic Canada. in the sixties my father had 175 200s and 350s. He had lots of different motorcycles but he really enjoyed those. When he passed away 2015 I sold his last two 175s. I also enjoyed them very much unfortunately I can no longer ride myself anymore.
I actually just bought a 1971 200 rs that I saw in a lady's barn for 200 bucks. It's my first motorcycle, any tips on where to find info on it for repairs?
Outside of Tuscaloosa, AL USA a shop sold only Bridgestone motorcycles and sponsored a dirt track racer, Ross Kimble (who died by suicide 10 years later), on a track near Montgomery, AL. My dad wouldn't let me own one but occasionally I'd borrow the 350 GTR of my good friend, Jeff Mayfield, which was painted metallic candy apple green. The logo made a cool t-shirt for a 14 year old wannabe motorcyclists, finally got my own bike, Yamaha RD350B used in 1978 sold in 1981, then HD Softail slim 2018 in 2021 but after riding with local HOG chapter I see that they truly enjoy being on their bikes and are unified with them. Decades of riding make a difference. I'm like a Triumph TR-6 car enthusiast and part time mechanic friend of mine said, "I get too easily distracted to be a safe motorcycle rider." It's the same reason I'll never fly an airplane. Thanks for the research Kory!
I had a '66 model 175 Hurricane Scrambler I bought used in '68. My friends were riding Yamaha 180s and Yamaha 250 Big Bear Scramblers. One rode one of those weird Italian Harley 250 Sprints. Mine was faster than the Yamaha 180, but I envied the exhaust sound it had. No problems with the Harley Sprint and regularly stomped him with ease. The Bridgestone would acquit itself nicely against the Yamaha Big Bear in acceleration but I would be left behind on the highway. Top end was 74 or 75 mph. The rotary valves made the difference, I believe. Kawasakis had rotary valves too and the Bridgestones and Kawasakis would out shine everything else in their class. I really loved that bike and miss it to this day. My fat ass girlfriend at the time was playing around and put a water hose in the exhaust pipe just to be cute. That was pretty much the end of that bike. After my tour in Vietnam, I celebrated my survival with a brand new Yamaha XS-650 ($1107.25) I still have that bike and have loved it since day one.
If you have never ridden or owned one of these motorcycles, you shouldn't be commenting on them. These motorcycles were super motorcycles. I still yearn for mine today.
In '71 my friend down the street bought a new 350 Bridgestone GTO with his paper route money, at a small town 25 miles away. The "dealer" sold one or two Bridgestones out of his garage which was attached to his house. My friend wanted me to go with him so he could pick it up. I was barely 15 at the time. We went up there in his '63 Dodge Polara convertible on a nice summer day. He wanted me to drive the car back but I had about zero experience driving a car, and he wants me to get out on the highway at 55 mph? No way, I told him. I said I would ride the bike back because I had lots of riding experience on a moped, riding on farm trails. He reluctantly agreed to let me ride the bike back, and from the driveway of the "dealership" which connected with the 55 mph highway, I entered the highway, a bit close to an oncoming car, so I gave it some throttle and it pulled the front wheel up and I shifted and gave it some more throttle. Trouble was avoided and I was going along nicely at 55. Nice bike. The shifter he told me was all down to shift up in the gears. No problem. I remembered that just fine. Since I had no previous experience with shifting motorcycles, I had no habits to overcome. I had some experience with a clutch on a neighbor's scooter in his small backyard which did have a hand clutch. All was good, all the way back to town. He was impressed with my riding skills and happy to get his brand new 350 GTO home. His had crossed checkered flags on the tank. I remember that. It was white with black strips and such. Nice bike. The next year he traded it in on a 350 Kaw.
I owned 3 of them. Started with a new 1966 50cc SS model which looked quite similar to the photo you have showing on the podcast. Then I ‘moved up’ to a 100cc Trail model (yep upswept exhaust pipe and knobbytires) which would gladly bend the front forks out if the rider came down too hard going off road. Finally I had a 350 GTR -pretty quick bike with a 0-60 advertised at 6 seconds flat which was the truth. Back in 69 that 0-60 was impressive. The distributor was in Illinois I believe and they had a number of dealers in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin -being from MN they were kinda mainstream albeit short lived. Not a diamond in the rough but I sure had fun with them. Still riding dirt now at 71 but now riding 450 Honda.
Yeah, They came through a distributor in Rockford IL. I had '68 175. They were sold through Sears and maybe Western Auto. When running well, it was speedy.
I owned a 70 Bridgestone 200, It was given to me by my boss at the time. I took Motorcycle Mechanics and did a lot of work on it. It was a scrambler but I found some street pipes and converted it. I traded it for a FIAT 124 coupe, and bought a BMW 750 R75/5 motorcycle. I still kept the Fiat. I could get my Bridgestone up to 90 MPH ib the freeway. It had a 199 cc 2 stroke engine injected oil system. It was my first motorcycle, a great way to learn how to ride a bike.
I grew up n a small town in north eastern Ontario, Canada. In the mid 60’s, the marina in our town also sold snow machines and Bridgestone motorbikes. The Honda wave of 50cc Cubs was the rage.
Bridgestone sold 2 50cc models. A step-thru model with the gas tank under the seat and fender skirts like the Honda Cub. The body was a mid tone brown and skirts were cream coloured.
The other model which my brother bought was red with lots of chrome. I think it was a 55 cc model. It was a proper motorbike with the fuel tank up high between the knees of the rider. It also had a clutch and the transmission was a 3 speed with a “rotary shift” system. It had a heal-toe shifter with neutral at the top and then shift the 3 gears down. Then you could drop onto neutral or using the heel shifter, shift back up to a lower gear or neutral.
These Bridgestone bikes were all 2 strokes. I was only 13 years old but my brother left his bike at our summer cottage all summer and I was abl 7:14 e to ride it. I fell in love with it and motorcycling that summer in 1964.
My brother had that bike just 1 year if I remember correctly. The summer riding season was really short up North but he took some vacation time and rode his bike about 600 miles to central Michigan to see his girlfriend.
The next year he traded in his 50cc bike for the brand new 175 cc Bridgestone bike. It had that interesting lever you could move to convert it from a “ rotary” 4 speed to a 5 speed. It had rotary valves so the carbs were mounted on the ends of the crank shaft. The air intake was through aluminum engine castings and rubber boots that dramatically reduced the noise of air intake like the Suzuki and Yamaha 2 strokes had. So the main noise it made was from the twin pipes which were mounted low. The exhaust note was muted.
I never got to ride the 175. My brother did not have it long. The front tire dropped into a huge crack in the asphalt and he went flying. He never rode his after that crash and he sold it. My new 1968 Kawasaki Avenger 350 was a 2 stroke rotary valve twin. Those were great days. I hope my memory serves me well in this retelling of how Bridgestone was my first bike and holds a place in my heart.
Bridgestone made a bike a cut above what the big four were offering in the sixties compared to the big four. The 350 in particular used nickel sil in their cylinder walls and were very reliable. It contributed to the higher cost of the machine. That being said, they only made two stroke motorcycles and they saw what was coming down the pike in terms of emissions. They decided that investing in R&D to develop four stroke engines in addition to keeping their tire sales up with their competitors would be to much a conflict of interest.
The motorcycle shop i work at has three bs bikes in currently we have the 175 and two 350s one of the 350s was the first bridgestone in the us and both the 350s were in a museum before the guy brought them to us to get running
That 350 was a great bike tho.
Just as good and as fast as the RD350
I hade a Bridgestone 200 cc twin. I bought one in boxes. And put it right. It would go 80 mph!!!! It was almost 300 pounds. But it would go pretty fast!
Had a Bridgestone 350 cc in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, was a fast bike considering the competition during economic sanctions. Moved on to a Suzuki TS 400 J, another 2 stroke monster, then discovered the Yamaha XT 500, and everything else was history.
They were quite popular and Atlantic Canada. in the sixties my father had 175 200s and 350s. He had lots of different motorcycles but he really enjoyed those. When he passed away 2015 I sold his last two 175s. I also enjoyed them very much unfortunately I can no longer ride myself anymore.
I actually just bought a 1971 200 rs that I saw in a lady's barn for 200 bucks. It's my first motorcycle, any tips on where to find info on it for repairs?
Lol good luck. If it needs anything Bridgestone specific it basically doesn't exist anymore.