Biker, 84, Still on a Roll After 7 Decades : Hobbies: The Fresno man estimates he has logged half a million miles since first climbing aboard a Flying Merkel in 1920. ‘It’s the freedom of the thing’ that he enjoys.

Dutch Van Tassel knows why people gawk when he hops off his motorcycle and unstraps his helmet.

“It’s envy, that’s what it is. They’re just jealous,” the 84-year-old biker says. “Not everyone can ride a motorcycle. Almost nobody does it this long and stays alive.”

The Fresno native figures he has logged about half a million miles since 1920, when he first revved up a Flying Merkel, a machine that was “as simple as could be and still run.”

Along the way, he has chalked up a few bruises and a golden belt buckle inscribed “Oldest Rider,” presented to him by a national bikers club last summer.

“The next oldest rider was 10 years younger than me,” he recalls. “There were a lot of them 70 and better, but none of them my age.”

Van Tassel says the oldest rider in the world is a 95-year-old Englishman. He hopes to reach that plateau by holding to simple rules that have steered him through seven decades on the highways.

“You’ve got to be quick on your thoughts and not take any chances,” he says. “And some people just aren’t cut out for it. Your body has to get used to this kind of exercise.”

Nerve damage in his wrist and three recent operations--including open-heart surgery--have weakened the retired mechanic’s body a bit.

But his freewheeling spirit is undaunted. He still hops on his Honda almost every day and is planning a summer ride to Canada with his two sons, who are in their 50s.

“It’s the freedom of the thing for me,” he says. “You can get the same thing in a car, but there’s something different with motorcycles. There’s nobody bothering you.”

His garage is full of mechanical keepsakes: a vintage Harley-Davidson, a dozen other old motorcycles and scores of engines his sons have restored.

“Oh, this one runs beautiful,” he says, lifting the plastic cover off a pale blue Triumph, similar to one he rode in the 1950s.

Helmets, some of them rag-thin and dating back half a century, line one shelf.

Another wall displays a 1935 photo of Van Tassel strapped inside a midget racing car with an inscription “The Master at Work.” That referred to his years as a champion driver on the local racing circuit.

“He was that good. You mention Dutch’s name to old racing fans, and you’ve struck a nerve,” said longtime friend Harry Abbott, 68. “He was a kingpin.”

But it’s not finish lines that remain in the fore of Tassel’s mind. It’s camping along roadsides and the thousands of miles he logged on cross-country trips with his wife, Kay. Or it’s the journey to Mexico City at age 68 and to Florida seven years later.

Although Van Tassel still gets a bike up to 125 m.p.h. on open roads, he has always shunned the daredevil image of the hobby.

“You reach a certain speed, you go on by and it doesn’t seem any different,” he says. “But I’ve always kept out of trouble. You have to if you want to stay alive on one of these things.”