1963/64  ESO DT500  “Yuri”

We acquired Yuri through Bill Cody. I had looked for some time for an ESO here in the States but had turned up nothing. I told Bill during a conversation that I was looking for one and if he got wind of a good bike to let me know. Not long after that, Bill called to say that he had located an ESO through a friend of his in England. We made the necessary arrangements and Bill got the Bike imported to the U.S. for us. We made the trip to California and picked up the ESO at Bill’s shop in Garden Grove.

Note: this bike comes with the “Clip-On” bars which were very popular with the Russian riders. The Layshaft is lower in the motorplates which is common in the early ESO.

Barry Briggs looked at this bike during a Vintage Show in Del Mar, California and told me that the early ESO had problems with dragging the clutch basket in the shale while in turns do to it’s position in the motorplates. He said it wasn’t long before the factory raised the position in the motorplates to cure the problem.

The frame number on this bike is 077 which puts it among the early ESO’s.

This bike is a very nice example of an early ESO, and is becoming rather rare today.