--- In 
DSN_klr650@egroups.com, "Shepard,Brian"  wrote:
 
 > Oh yeah, reminds me of that Sixties TV show "The Rat Patrol". Come 
  
to think
 
 > of it, that was a pretty awesome show. Was there a dirt bike in 
  
that show?
 
 > Did the US & Germans ride dirt bikes in the North African campaign 
  
of WWII?
 
 > Any historians and/or TV trivia people out there? 
 
  
Not a historian nor a TV person, but the Germans had the BMW R75 with 
 driven sidecar wheel, and enormouse load capacity and two speed 
 splitter, giving them eight speeds and a reverse gear also.  The 
 Allies had only H-D WLAs, 45 c.i. flatheads, with a drive chain that 
 wouldn't work int he desert very well.  The slaughter of the WLA 
 riders by by the Krauts spawned the development of the H-D X-A model 
 and the Indian 841, both twins with driveshafts. 
 
 Backroad Bill