Experts and historians agree that the last year of the vintage bike era - and its greatest year - was 1974. Bikes built after 1974 are not considered vintage. In fact, all Vintage Racing classes end at 1974 models. Anything built after that year is considered Evolution machinery.

Why? Because the long suspension travel revolution started in 1975. Actually, testing on long travel started in the fall of 1974, and I was fortunate to have been there during the development. At that time, we marveled over bikes with 6 ½ inches of rear suspension travel, considering it world-shaking! Little did we realize that more than twice that number would become the norm over the years.

WHAT THIS GUIDE IS

Since 1974 was considered the peak of the dirt bike boom and the end of the vintage era, all bikes built then (and before) have a certain intrinsic value. Historic value, if nothing else, in some cases.

Make no doubt, many of the bikes built "back then" were real stinkers. Some were absolute junk, pieced together from left-over parts from various suppliers, given a fancy name, and sold to a market with more buyers than available product.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of the street-legal trail bikes of that period were simply awful. Without exception, they had wretched suspension systems and used out-of-date engines nestled in frames that were little more than after-thoughts.

Of course, no bike of this period was perfect. Far from it. In fact, even the famed European motocross bikes came with less than stellar detailing and many of them had marginal shocks. At that time, it was assumed that if you bought a motocross bike, you would take the basic package and "fix it up" properly for competition.

So don't just blindly go off and buy a bike just because it was built before 1975. Some bikes are certainly much more desirable than others, but getting parts to complete a restoration can be very expensive and difficult at best.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

I've assigned a rating system of 1 to 10 stars, or *. One (*) means that the bike is not desirable at all, unless you're some kind of hard-core collector of a particular marque. Ten (**********) means this is a top-of-the-line machine well worth the time and money.

Some of the bikes had extremely limited production runs, and chances are you might never have seen one, or even heard of it. This does not mean you should buy one. The rarity means that getting parts to complete or repair your project might be on the unobtainable list.

There are also bikes that were inherently flawed to the point where their collecting value as a rideable bike is questionable. One example comes to mind: The 405 American Eagle. This turkey was introduced as an American-built bike, when in fact, it was hashed together in England from a bunch of below-average aftermarket parts, stuffed into a decent frame. The biggest problem was that the engine was a rip-off copy of a 400 Husky. In fact, you could put an entire Husqvarna gearbox in the cases, but not one individual gear. The distribution network was chaotic, parts supplies were sheer lunacy and the quality control was the worst Britain had to offer.

Should you buy an American Eagle 405? Maybe, if you just gotta have one. But if you want to buy one and go vintage racing, you're starting a lost cause and heading downhill from there. That's why we didn't give a bunch of ***** to the big Eagle.

As you look at the rating system, please understand that I know these bikes, and grew up with them. I've taken all sorts of things into consideration, such as cost, machine desirability, resale value, prestige factor, parts availability and the ever-important fun factor of ownership. Then, and only then, did I assign the rating system.

If you don't agree with my rating system, you are certainly welcome to disagree. Not that it will change my mind, but it might make you feel better. And if you feel like you absolutely must have something like that American Eagle to complete your life, then by all means, knock yourself out. Just don't come whining to me when you can't find a part for that turkey.

Last notes: The list of bikes does not include mini-bikes, mostly because I simply don't care about them. If you do, well then, make your own list. Also, the list is broken down via displacement and alphabetically within the displacement category.