| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
This class was AWESOME! I had zero dirt bike experience before this class, just some dirt and gravel roads on the Uly. They provided whatever gear we wanted (I just used the helmet and gloves with my own boots), but they had chest protectors, jersys, goggles, dirt bike boots, etc if we were so inclined. Bikes were nearly new Honda 150 and 230F's. Aircooled 4-strokes with electric starters and kickstands. Man what a fun bike. Not overly powerful but plenty of oomph to slide the back end or loft the front. I rode the 230cc the whole time, and was quite impressed that I could actually flat-foot the thing. I guess I pictured Motocross bikes with their 15" suspension travel, because I was fully expecting these things to be much taller.           The infamous WolfRidgeRider!  Me!        Sorry Wolfy, it was a glorious wheelie, but a crappy picture.           | ||
| Froggy |
Looks like fun! I will have to take that some day. | ||
| Methed |
I used to teach the MSF Beginner Class. Good on you for taking it--it'll change the way you handle the Uly in the dirt, and you'll find out just how capable these bikes are off-road. Just remember, keep your knees tight and your elbows up! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
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| Reepicheep |
Looks like a lot of fun! I did it with the kids (who were just learning) so we had to stick to basics. Looks like you had a lot more fun! Those 230's are nice play bikes for sure, but don't mistake them for a real trail bike. Mike or Wolf, I have a KDX-220 (not plated) you can swing over and take to play on any time. Nice and tractable like the Honda (its a two stroke designed to be as four strokish as they could manage) but twice the power and 50 pounds less weight. We could set up a time to meet up at Pike Forest. I have a buddy with a bike I can borrow so I can bring a spare, along with a couple of kids itching to ride anyway. You would have an absolute blast! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Oh, and your instructor was Dennis Beam, who does a fantastic job teaching dirt or street (I have had him for both). One of his personal bikes is an S3, so is even a Buell connection... | ||
| Babired |
LUCKY GUYS and Gals! If you all do this again in Ohio let me know I will sign up and come out for this | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I am now looking for a 400 450... what ever it takes... I could see this being a good work out. The "range" was covered in rocks... not to big but big enough that they got he bike moving around. Getting used to that feeling would be/is a great skill for pavement riding. I would love to take some type of flat track training | ||
| Svh |
Road America offers a Super Motard class for beginners that I may take soon. Going to have to look for this dirt bike class also. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
mmm dirt for dinner, mud for dessert. Fun class I took it two years ago, I am taking an enduro dirt class this coming spring. It is meant to prepare you for the realities of riding a big bike off road and doing it for some considerable miles, and meeting specific road challenges. Should be fun. Talked to the instructor and said it was mostly BMW GS's; as you do it on your own personal bike. A couple of years ago the ULY went on a test out at the farm, he hasnt seen any since. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Read the fine print on those modern 450's before pulling the trigger. The CRF-450X (you know, the less edgy one) calls for piston replacement after 10 *hours* of use. Yikes. (Granted that is race use, but for recreational use they say replace it every season...) I'm loving the KDX 200 / 220 as a dedicated dirt bike. You ought to be able to find a really good one (95 or later) for $1000 to $2000, and even bone stock they are a lot of fun. Kind of the ultimate playbike... | ||
| Hootowl |
That looks like a whole lot of fun. I have an uncountable number of hours of saddle time in the dirt (go ahead, count to zero) so I think I would benefit greatly from such a class. Are they offered all over, or was this a special thing? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Amen to that Hootowl... Even if you don't end up playing on the dirt (which is a lot of fun), it will absolutely make you a much better street rider. It's through the MSF, they are offered around the country, but maybe not close to you. http://www.dirtbikeschool.com/ The site is a bit awkward to navigate, but stick with it and it will get you there eventually. And of course Hoot, you are welcome to take the KDX for a couple of weeks any time you want. | ||
| Hootowl |
Thanks for the offer Bill. If the stars align, I might have to take you up on that some day. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Hot Damn! Check this beast out: Street legal, 500cc 2-stroke! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-KX-500-STREET- LEGAL-Motard-/290458859852?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_moto rcycles&hash=item43a0b2794c | ||
| Reepicheep |
Good thing it has a big tank, you would need it! I bet a 500cc two stroke is lucky to get 25 MPG. Hey Hoot, did you move to Texas? Why was I thinking you were up near Chicago with Bomber? For the record, that would be too far to drive to borrow a KDX.  | ||
| Mikef5000 |
So I'm reading some of these Super-Moto classifieds. Street legal ones, not race machines. They're saying things like "oil changed every 300-500 miles". Is this normal for these types of bikes? Dual sports too? I guess I don't understand the difference between a KLR650 motor that never needs rebuilt (you know what I mean), and gets oil changes every 3-5k miles, versus a 400cc dual sport motor, that needs an oil change every 500 miles and gets rebuilt once a year. | ||
| Hootowl |
Been here 10 years. Closest I've ever lived to Chicago was Memphis. So the starts will never align? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Good for you for reading the fine print before it is too late... The truth is that the street legal ones *are* still race machines these days. It's getting hard to find a dirtbike that you can just ride. That was what appealed to me about the KDX-200. You can find a good one for $2000 or less, they have 30+ HP, super light, and I can rebuild the entire top end in under an hour and for under $150. The down side is poor fuel economy, substandard suspension, narrower powerband, no electric start, and not street legal out of the box (fixable in Ohio, a bigger deal elsewhere, probably flat out impossible in some states). My neighbors CRF-450X is a little heavier, a lot more powerful, and gets better gas milage. It needs a new piston every season though for recreational use (I'm guessing $200 in parts, and a fairly substantial amount of labor). For race use, it needs a new piston every 10 hours (!). It cost right around $6000 (new old stock from dealer). Easier to plate, as it already has electric start and enough stator to run lights. The oil changes aren't really needed on the street, IMHO. They have that change interval because the are dirt bikes to be ridden in the dirt, and the oil gets contaminated quickly. You probably need the same short oil change interval for a car driven off-road in anger for that distance. Here is the other dirty little secret of fun dual sports... A decent dirt tire is a soft to moderate knobby that runs about $50 to $95. Once that knobby looses it's sharp edges off the knobs, it is badly compromised for off road riding. It'll work if it is dry or you stick to easy stuff, but with sharp knobs on a KLR-250 I could ride rings around better riders on much better bikes. To a large degree it is REALLY about the tires offroad. The thing is, those wonderful offroad tires will be just about ruined in a few hundred miles of road use. So a couple of weeks of commuting or playing is $65 to $100... or the alternative is you are always riding offroad with a great bike that was ruined by crappy tires. The tires may be less of a a factor for supermotard though. The KLR-250 was a fun, cheap, and reasonably durable little run around bike that could make a fun little super motard... and it is already street legal. You are stuck with kick start and won't easily go faster than 65MPH. But watch the oil level when you ride it hard... it can go from no oil consumption to drinking close to a quart with every fill up, right before it spins a cam. (DAMHIK). XR650's are good for about 10k on the first piston... but are heavy in the dirt, and (IMHO) valued more than they are worth on the used market. I think DR-350's are practical for 10k+ miles at a time as well, though they are a bit on the heavy side as well. See the trend here? You can have light and fast, or you can have longevity.  I will say that 450 is REALLY fun to ride though... at least when I know I am not paying to maintain it. The KTM 300 two stroke would be a heck of a fun choice for a super motard as well. | ||
| Etennuly |
Mike, the dirt bike usage is totally different than the street bikes. On a street bike you may change the oil at 3000 miles. That is about 55 hours or so averaging 55 mph in a relatively clean environment. On a dirt/trail/enduro bike 500 miles might be about 50 hours of run time at a 10mph average in really bad dirty conditions. You may ride fast, now and then but your actual speed average will usually be down, and there would normally be a lot more hard acceleration and deceleration as well as total bike inversion ocasionally(as in "oops"). | ||
| Reepicheep |
Hoot, you are welcome to come get it any time... I'm just saying that while it's a nice bike and a lot of fun, I'm guessing it's not worth a 30+ hour round trip to borrow.  | ||
| Etennuly |
You guys are prodding me to put my '86 XL250 back together, this is my third one of these things. They are great small on and off road toys, very durable(take a lot of drops with no damage), and should go 15,000 miles on an upper rebuild. The bottom's seem to last for ever. This thing will run right along side the Blast at 85 mph, a little quicker out of the hole, but equal out at the top end. On pavement the Blast will eat it up in the corners, and knobs really suck in the rain!  In my day.....when I rode and raced my '78 Yamaha TT 500, I lived on dirt bikes. I would do about 8,000 miles a year on dirt(that is a lot) and my street bike did about 2,500 a year. That TT was a ripping monster that would top out at 95 mph on dirt and could do it sideways in comfort. I used to sharpen my rear knobs with a hack saw blade when they got rounded off(usually in one day) to get some actual use out of my rear tire. Buying cheap tires for it did no good, if the rubber was a little harder it would rip the knobs right off from the casing. Friggen awesome bike, you know, back when I was young and working out. On my XL250(considering I am now 53 and out of shape) I will plan for a rear tire at about 1500 miles and a chain at about every third tire, and sprockets every other chain. Brakes and wheel bearings as needed. Dirt and dried mud eat these things. When doing an all day mud ride, I used to hit a creek or stream to rinse as much mud out of the wheels and brakes before riding home. We made chain oilers that would perpetually drip oil on them all day, made them last much longer. You will spend a lot of time rinsing out the cables and lubing them, needs to be done after every mud day ride. My bike has drum brakes front and rear. Doesn't matter much if you have disc brakes, mud makes them equal, and water gives the drum brakes an advantage. But it does not matter much in dirt, when you learn to ride fast enough to actually need to use the brakes, you will learn to control the bike with the throttle, sliding, weight shifting, and balance. OOOOhhh......I feel the leg cramps coming on already!  | ||
| Hootowl |
Ah, but I would also be able to bask in the glory of your companionship. But yeah, probably not going to happen. | ||
| Reepicheep |
You are welcome any time Hoot!
Now *that* is a young man's bike.... What was Slaughter's quote?
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| Etennuly |
Ahh... I remember that bike. It and I spent that entire summer trying to come up with clever ways of killing each other.  I did that for two summers! Ask me sometime about putting it down on the grassy wet edge of a single track at about 70 mph where I sheered off a giant mound of red ants. Good golly I loved riding that bike!  Always on the border between extreme orgasm and total terror! | ||
| Boney95 |
"Advanced" Where are the jumps? | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I got my Dirt Bike School completion card in the mail yesterday... WOOO HOOOO... faxed it off to HOG this morning. Hope to have my $50 bucks back soon! Thanks again Mike! | ||
| Mikexlr650 |
heading out for some dual-sporting in PA tomorrow!  |
