When Harley Won Baja
When Harley won baja
The joy of SX
IT'S A SHAME THAT HARLEY-DAVIDSON used the "Baja" name to adorn its 100cc scrambler, because there was a later model that was arguably more deserving. On Friday, June 13, 1975, two desert-racing-legends-in-the-making named Bruce Ogilvie and Lany Roeseler rode an SX250 to the overall motorcycle win in the Baja 500. An impressive feat, considering that the SX was, in essence, Harley's belated answer to Yamaha's DT-1 dual-purpose bike.
The SX250 the duo rode was, however, far from stock. And that’s a good thing, because as Cycle World’s road testers reported in the February, 1975, issue, “There are a lot of things that the bike needs done to it before it is ready for off-road use.”
As Ogilvie remembers it, the SX250 required considerably more preparation
than the Baja 100 he’d raced previously: “It was heavy, with steel fenders, a headlight, a battery and all of that. We had to take a lot of weight off. And every time we raced, we’d find a weakness on the bike.”
Two such weaknesses were the stock wheels, which were replaced with Yamaha MX 400 components; the duo’s sponsor, Dale’s Modem Cycle, was a Harley/Yamaha dealer, after all. Another shortcoming was the suspension. As per early-’70s practice, the shock mounts were moved forward and Cumutt dampers fitted, increasing rear-wheel travel to 8.5 inches; a Boge-Mulholland fork afforded 7.5 inches of travel up front. To enhance high-speed stability, the steering head was kicked out 3 degrees, the frame was reinforced all over and the
swingarm was lengthened 1 inch. Cheng Shin knobby tires with heavyduty tubes, taller gearing, a Vesco 4gallon plastic gas tank, thickly padded seat and more off-road-worthy handlebars, controls and footpegs completed the chassis changes.
Because the piston-port two-stroke engine was the SX250’s strong point, it was left pretty much alone. The standard oil-injection system was removed in favor of running pre-mix, the stock 32mm square-slide Dell’Orto carburetor was replaced by a 34mm Mikuni round-slide fitted with a K&N pleated filter, and a clever, snail-type expansion chamber replaced the stock high pipe, netting a gain of 6 horsepower.
Going into the event, Ogilvie, 22, and Roeseler, 18, were not expected to go the distance, let alone win. Cycle magazine fielded a project Can-Am 250 in the event, and reported that, “No one expected the Harley to finish.”
So it was a big surprise when the SX250 arrived at the halfway point in first place. Roeseler had started from the 30th spot, and passed all before him by the time he’d reached Camalu, where there was a mandatory 30minute break. There, the pit crew replaced the overheated brake shoes and a broken footpeg before sending Ogilvie down the road to Ensenada. Four hours later, the Harley crossed the finish line first, recording a time of 8 hours,
16 minutes, 53 seconds to snare both the Class 21 (250cc) and overall motorcycle victories.
Ogilvie and Roeseler split $6000 for the win-big money for the time, and about three times today’s purse!
Unfortunately, the overall vic-
Volkswagen-powered dune buggy piloted by another desert-racing-leg-
end-in-the-making, “Iron Man” Ivan Stewart, who bettered the Harley duo’s time by 3 minutes.
Still, Ogilvie and Roeseler took solace in the fact that they finished second overall, and beat the second-placed motorcycle by 13 minutes. Not too shabby for a “Hardly-Ableson.”
-Brian Catterson
