Sons surprise father with vintage dirt bike

AFTON — Fifty-third birthdays aren't usually "milestone" birthdays. But for David Downey, owner of David Downey Construction in Afton, his will be one worth remembering.

June 27, two days after he turned 53, Downey’s sons surprised him with a restored 1979 Suzuki RM400 dirt bike, the same make and model he had raced as a teenager.

Downey has raced dirt bikes most of his life, as have his sons. D.J., 25, and Eric, 23, have both had success at state and national championships.

The idea for the gift came in February, when D.J. noticed a photo of the bike posted on Facebook by a friend in Texas. The picture reminded him of the old photos from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s he had seen, where his father was riding the same bike.

At first, D.J. tried to convince his father to buy it for himself. When David decided not to, D.J. thought up a different plan: surprise him with it on his 53rd birthday. It would be a way to say “thank-you” for the time, money and love he had invested in D.J. and Eric’s racing careers.

“I just felt like it was time to repay him for everything he sacrificed to me when we were little kids,” D.J. said. “You can’t really appreciate it ‘til you get older and really see what it takes to get to the track.”

Eric agreed to the idea, and D.J. convinced the friend to sell. Now he just needed an excuse for his dad on why he was traveling south.

He found one.

“I told him I had to take my girlfriend down to Kirksville and move her out of her old apartment into her new one to get ready for college,” D.J. said. “I met him (the man selling the bike) actually down there in Kansas City and picked the bike up and brought it home.”

For the next 3 1/2 months, the bathroom in D.J.’s home became a dirt bike repair shop. Every day before leaving the house, D.J. would lock the door and cover the bike up — just in case his father would unexpectedly walk in.

The brothers also recruited some help from David’s girlfriend, Taylor Gilbert, and their friend Victoria Dunnham. For the next few months, everyone kept the renovation tightly under wraps.

“We just didn’t say anything about it and went about our business like nothing was going on,” Eric said.

D.J. and Eric fixed the exhaust pipe, painted the engine, redid the carburetor and added new tires, wheel bearings, grips, levers and seat to the machine. D.J. said he gathered some helpful hints from his dad by getting him to talk about the old pictures.

When the date of the party came, the theme was making David feel young again. It included music from his youth, and several old friends attended.

After all of the work, D.J. said he was worried the surprise would be blown when he went back to his house to bring the bike to the party.

“I was so nervous that my Dad was going to show up out of nowhere,” he said. “All that time and energy spent building up to the party, it was finally going to happen, and I just wanted everything to be perfect.”

But David was nowhere in sight, and when David opened his final present with the title to the bike inside, D.J. drove the Suzuki into the shop.

Upon hearing the engine, David immediately recognized what it was.

“I knew by the sound,” he said. “Some of that stuff you never forget.”

Eric said the moment was unforgettable.

“His eyes lit up and he was the happiest person ever,” he said. “It was probably the best day of my life, seeing his reaction to that.”

Soon, David was in the driver’s seat himself, revving the engine.

“He started it up, got out of the shop,” D.J. said. “When he was out on the road, he did a wheelie out of sight.”

David, who’s been on the bike a handful of times since the party, said the bike brings back a lot of memories. He said it’s in as good of shape as if the restoration were professionally done.

“I just wish that I could be as well-restored and in as good a shape as the bike is,” he said.

Now, the Downeys are looking for more 1979 Suzuki RM400 bikes to restore, so they can race vintage bikes as a family.