Los Angeles to Barstow to Las Vegas Dual Sport
Smallest displacement bike.

Me and My Tohatsu

When I was seven years old my father purchased my brother and Imotorcycles. My brother got a YG1 Yamaha 80. Mine was a Tohatsu 50 TrailMaster because it was the only bike, of the time, small enough for me toride. I loved that bike and rode it all over the Antelope Valley. Mylifetime love of all things motorcycle began with that small bike. Aboutseven years ago the first batch of grandkids got big enough to ridemotorcycles. I thought it would be really cool for them to learn on thesame bike that I had so I started looking for a Tohatsu to restore.

Though the Tohatsu company still manufactures outboard motors and smallengines they have not made motorcycles since 1964 when they closed theirMotorcycle division and sold their interest to Bridgestone.Locating parts for a forty-four year old bike had me searching eBayevery day and, where necessary, driving as far as 1,900 miles round tripto pick up parts and spare bikes. Every part on the Tohatsu was producedby Tohatsu and there is no interchange with other maker’s parts. Duringthe restoration I met some great people and now have a community ofTohatsu collectors as friends.

After about a year I had the bike running pretty good and I remembered a ride my Dad had made.In 1964 my father and 2 buddies rode Yamaha YG1 80cc bikes from Palmdaleto Baker and followed the old Railroad out of Baker as far as they could. They had no support vehicle and used backpacks for gear. I grewup hearing adventures from that ride.I figured riding the LA b to V Dual sport on my 50cc Tohatsu would bepretty close to what they had accomplished so I entered in part tocommemorate the ride my Father organized in 1964. Another motivation wasthat I wanted to show that Tohatsu put some pretty good engineering into their bikes and that one of their bikes, even old and undersized, couldmake the cut. My friends say I also wanted to show that I am nuts but there are easier ways to prove that!

The Ride StartsWe got started from Chaparral at about 7am after a long line at signupand loading the roll chart on the chase bike. Frank Brewer from theCheckers MC offered to ride with me and carry extra parts and tools. Igave my roll chart to my son, Geoffrey, who was driving a 4X4 with thebalance of the spare parts. For the trip I took along a spare engine,spare front and rear wheels, brake hubs, shocks, swinging arm, chain,ignition coil, points, fuel tank and a collection of other small parts.And, though I didn’t know it at the time, I apparently loaded lots of Luck.

The first challenge was the climb up a fire road from San Bernardino.For the Tohatsu most of the climb was low gear with some pushing with myfeet. The rocks that are taken in stride by my XR650 were like boulders.Each time I hit a rock I would bottom the suspension (all 2.5” oftravel). In addition the dust was a challenge as big bikes were flyingpast. Riders were supportive and would slow to look at the Tohatsu asthey passed however once passed they would resume speed and I could notsee the rocks through the dust. Several times in the dust trying not toloose speed I hit large rocks and had an unexpected jump.

We met my son Geoffrey on highway 138 just above Lake Silverwood and fueled the bike. The Tohatsu has a .7 gal fuel tank so my range is only about 60 miles. In addition oil must be mixed with the fuel as Tohatsu did not install oil injection on their bikes. The downhill side of the mountain was a lot of fun. I could almost keep up with the big guys and stay clear of dust for the most part. I hit a large washout and all of a sudden the bike started making excessive noise. The Pipe had come out of the head and moved some to the side. After a quick inspection I determined the spring holding the pipe was not strong enough. I added wire along with the spring to hold the pipe in. We fueled again just before the scheduled Gas stop in Hesperia. Then we started the long climb up the mountain again; winding up power line and forest roads. Every hill was a mountain for the little 50 and I regretted not lowering the gearing when we last fueled. Low gear was not low enough for about 50% of the hills so I used the clutch a lot. I was concerned about the long term effect of this but at the moment this was the only way I was going to make it up the steep hills.

After what seemed like hours the road started down then turned into pavement. Soon I saw Big Bear Lake and once again I had conquered the mountain. It now was getting late so we grabbed a snack at a gas station fueled the bike and started off again. I decided since it was so late to take a short cut and jump ahead. We followed highway 18 down the backside to Lucerne, fueled again and rejoined the pack at Highway 274 and Camp rock road. At about 3 miles down Camp Rock is where the next mistake occurred.

Frank had never used a roll chart and for the most part we were following the other bikes. By mistake we took the Hard way. So the next 20 miles were deep sand and steep hills. After about an hour of fighting up a sand wash we came to a large rocky hill. With some help from Frank we were able to get the bike over the hill. It took all the bikes power and ours to make it. When we came to a pipeline road that would take us back to Highway 247 we bailed back to highway 247 since it was getting dark. About 10 miles from Barstow on highway 247 the engine on the Tohatsu broke a piston. This most likely was caused by over-rev on the long down hill. I was running about 45 MPH when it let go so the engine was toast. I rode the support bike to Barstow met with Geoffrey and we retrieved the bike. We had dinner then swapped motors for day #2. I completed the engine swap at 12 midnight and got to bed at 12:30 in the morning. Just to top off the day the room smoke detector malfunctioned and went off at 1 am and woke us again. It quit going off after about 5 minutes and we got to sleep.

5 AM on Saturday we got up and prepared for day 2. The rear shocks had lost all oil so I exchanged them and we got on the road about 6:30 Am. It was quite cold and I was worried about the effect of the cold heavy air on my engine. Just in case, I raised the needle one notch in the carburetor in order to make up for the cold heavy air. Just on the edge of town the route started up a deep up-hill sand wash. About 300 feet into the sand the engine seized. After allowing it to cool the piston broke free and the engine had compression. It started easy so we continued. It was pretty plain that I could not make it up the wash on such a tight engine. Our only option was to take roads but after over an hour of looking and unable to find a route around the freeway I decided to chance it and take 3 miles of freeway in order to get out of Barstow.

All was going fine driving 25 mph along the side of I15. About ¼ mile before the off ramp a CHP traveling in the other direction spotted us. As Luck would have it a center divider prevented him from reaching us. He blasted off southbound to turn around but we were off the freeway and down a side road before he could get back. About 6 miles out of Baker the course turned up an uphill sand wash. Once again the bike was working hard so about every mile I would stop and let the bike cool down. One time I stopped and, Oh Shit! fuel was running out in a stream. The sediment bowl had come off and fuel was running straight to the ground. I turned off the petcock and began the search. Bikes were passing every few minutes and if one were to run over the bowl we would be stuck. After about 30 minutes of walking back the trail, I found the rock colored, grape-sized bowl to the side of the trail.

At the next Hard Easy split we decided to take the easy route and by now Frank was getting much better with the roll chart. About 10 more miles and most of them deep sand the bike started making a new noise. A quick once-over found the fender bolts were missing. The rear fender was reattached with a piece of heavy iron wire we found laying next to the trail. Another good Luck. I had wire for repairs but nothing heavy enough to hold a fender. The balance of the piece of wire was placed in the parts “just in case”. I ended up repairing the fender 2 more times with the wire because every time I came down really hard, the wire would sheer.

We made lunch in Sandy Valley and started on the final leg to Vegas. About 5 miles after lunch the bike dropped the chain. The master Link had broken. I installed my spare master link and in a few minutes was back on the road. The next 40 or so miles were sandy and rocky roads; however the bike did great. On day 2 I had swapped the rear wheel to one with a 45 tooth sprocket. I started with a 40 tooth. In addition the new motor had one less tooth than the original. So now I had a top speed of 30 MPH however I did much better with the hills and sand. At 3:15 in thee roll chart indicated after 3 to take the highway to Las Vegas. A few miles down the highway the bike started to miss and soon it would not run. After a short maintenance of the points and replacing the spark plug we were back on the road. Another 5 miles down the road the engine quit again. This time I ran out of gas. By Luck again, we were in front of a gas station so I added .5 gal of gas and the proper amount of oil.

We pulled into the Hotel parking lot at about 4:30 just as it was getting dark. What an adventure! I could never have made it without the help and support of Frank Brewer and my son Geoffrey. We all had a great time but I feel no hesitation in applying the “Once in a lifetime” label to this excellent adventure.