Classic Dirt Bike

You need Joel Robert’s CZ

The Sixties hadn’t quite got to the Summer of Love or even started swinging when 20-year-old Belgian Joel Robert made his first of many indelible marks in the history of motocross. In August 1964 Motor Cycling got hold of a feature about his championshipwinning machine, determined to unearth a few secrets these factory teams keep to themselves.

The press were to be disappointed, as they found out the machine was expertly maintained and if not built regardless of cost – this was the Eastern bloc after all. The team bikes were in tip-top condition and pretty standard fare as well as being basically what a racer could buy but with the aforementioned race-shop attention to detail, though that could also be achieved in a private environment.

It seems CZ had relied on simplicity rather than revolutionary concepts to produce their winning machines. The bike in

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