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#4265778 - 05/31/16 05:01 PM Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here?  
Joined: Jul 2005
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Force10 Offline
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The last couple years I've been getting more into dirt riding...I'm a seasoned street rider, but with more texting/idiot drivers out there it's not likely I will throw my leg over a street bike again any time soon.

I have two Honda CRF230F's...one for me and one for my son. I bought them used (2004 and 2007) and have been having fun riding them and tweaking them too. I have uncorked the exhaust and air box, re-jetted, adjusted valves, oil etc.

Here's a shot of the bikes in front of my old 1500:



They are heavy bikes mostly made for trail riding...but the motors in these are pretty bullet proof and easy maintenance. The suspension isn't really made for jumping, but it doesn't stop me from taking some small jumps.

Here I am catching a little air on Sunday:




I'm definitely hitting the limit of the suspension as I have "bottomed out" on the front when landing. We rode for 5 hours on Sunday...it's actually really good exercise, my 48 year old body is sore for the next day or two.

Any other riders here?


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#4265795 - 05/31/16 06:41 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Nice!

Been years since I did trail riding, used to have a Yamaha IT465 which was road legal in the UK, I went any where that had even a hint of a track, my friend had a Yamaha XT250, we toured most of the north of Scotland on our bikes.

The IT was a bit of a gas guzzler if you used the power, 2 gallons (4.5liter gallons) to go the 16 miles from my house to John O' Groats, keep her out of the powerband and I could get about 50 miles to the gallon.

I had a road wheel with high gearing and a road tyre on it for going to and from work, and an off road wheel with lower gearing on it for the weekend, and then another set of sprockets for some MX racing with a friend that had a YZ490.

Here we are not allowed to go off road unless in a proper off road park. There are a few trails here and there but not many left open to just drive along on a whim.


Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil
Sons of the hound come here and get flesh
Clan Cameron
#4265810 - 05/31/16 07:20 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Force10 Offline
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The Yamaha IT465 is a sweet vintage thumper!

I have my eyes on an old 77 Yamaha TT500...those old thumpers had some power.

I'm in California, so you can't ride off road bikes except at dedicated OHV parks either. Of course you have to pay the DMV to get your "Green Sticker" before you can ride there. I'm debating getting something more powerful with better suspension...but then the chances of getting hurt or breaking something goes up as you push the limits further.

wink


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#4265814 - 05/31/16 07:34 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Lifer
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Lifer

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Vienna, 2nd rock left.
I wish... but that would be too expensive next to the road racing. How many hours between motor overhauls?

5h riding a single day seems like a lot actually, I know that Dirt, Trial etc. bikes kill your muscles quickly.

Does it count that I cut off a corner about 15m over grass last Thursday (on Hypersport Street Tires at 50 km/h)? wink

#4265999 - 06/01/16 02:46 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Here's my bike after the first day of the two day "in-depth" Dirtwise course with Shane Watts.




It's a great bike. You'll read a lot of guys putting this model down, but it held it's own quite well against the KTM's, Huskies, and Kawi's. I'm 47 and in pretty good physical condition, but I was struggling with arm pump on both days. My left hand would get so weak that I had to take a lot of breaks to get the blood flowing back into my forearm. Despite this I was still being placed among the top riders.

Anyway, on day two the sun came out long enough to get the dirt nice and tacky. At the end of the day we put our upgraded skills to the test and did sprint laps on a track. I'm not sure what to call the track -- you could call it motocross, but it didn't have any big jumps, although there was one that I was hitting in 5th gear wide open that would send you sailing over a dirt road and landing in a wooded section to stay on the gas over acceleration bumps (small whoops) Man!! For me, that's what riding a dirt bike is all about.

I was so exhausted when I got home that I could barley crawl into bed. No exaggeration, I was that spent. It was a major effort to even roll over.
I did some maintenance on the bike in the following days and changed the clutch cable. What a difference!! I didn't realize how the old cable was wearing out and getting harder to pull. I kept thinking there was something wrong with my arms!! duh!


All cleaned up...

#4266024 - 06/01/16 04:01 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Lifer
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Vienna, 2nd rock left.
Yikes, that's a lot of cleaning. Okay, maybe not the proper hobby for me wink

#4266025 - 06/01/16 04:17 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Force10 Offline
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Goblin,

I have been looking at a 250x as my next step up...I have heard they handle pretty good and have better suspension. The one I was looking at had a 270cc big bore kit installed on it.

It seems the serious riders put down any bike that isn't a 2 stroke. Here in California, 2 stroke bikes are "Red Sticker" bikes and can only be ridden between October and April because of pollution...but the green sticker 4 strokers can be ridden year round. You can imagine the flak I get with these 230's...it's a "girls bike" etc. Meh...I enjoy the low maintenance I would rather spend my time riding em' instead of the endless tweaking that needs to be done to a 2 stroke.

Nice bike...it sure did clean up well!


Asus Z87 Sabertooth motherboard
Windows 7 64 bit Home edition
Intel I5 4670K @ 4.4 ghz
16 gig 1866mhz Corsair Vengence Pro memory
EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked 4gb Video Card
Intel 510 series 120gb SSD (boot drive)
Samsung 840 1TB SSD
Onboard Realtek sound
______________________________________________________

Oddball from Kelly's Heroes: "If we're late, it's cause we're dead"



#4266035 - 06/01/16 05:23 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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Goblin Offline
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Southeastern PA
I was actually away from dirt bikes for about 20 years and this was my re-entry bike. I was absolutely blown away by how good the suspension was. It seems to be far more stable as well. But I haven't ridden any other modern dirt bikes yet -- maybe they're better.

The only thing that I don't like about it is the weight. My bike is around 260 lbs with the addition of the skid plate and hand guards. Add the mud above and it's at 280. I'm not a big guy and I spend a lot of energy if I have to pick it up. On that mud day, every one of the students was dropping their bikes while we worked on power slides. I must have picked it up 10 or 15 times. It was at about this time where I started thinking a lighter bike might suit me better.

I rode two-strokes back in the 80s and early 90s and honestly think there's more maintenance involved with the four-stroke (the 250x is my first four-stroke). I really like the power delivery of the four-stroke, so would like to stay there, but that weight and my back are in disagreement.

I understand KTM has been shedding weight on their bikes...
If I were to go to a two-stroke 300XC, I'd drop 30 lbs. (I've read this is the best enduro bike ever for all skill levels)
The 250 four-stroke would be a 30 lb loss too.
Or, go all the way down to the two-stroke 150XC and drop 55 lbs!

Regardless of what I do, I know it will be loads of fun. All dirt bikes are.
Those CRFs that you've got there look like a lot of fun, but the best thing is that you're riding with your son.



Last edited by Goblin; 06/01/16 05:39 PM.
#4266056 - 06/01/16 07:22 PM Re: Any other dirt/trail/mx riders here? [Re: Force10]  
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The IT465 was 90kg or 198 lbs and I could pick it up and carry it... might struggle a bit now tho! It wasn't much heavier than the IT250 and they both shared the same frame with the YZ250/490, the IT having a battery holder
on the rear frame was the biggest difference.

Oh, I was tempted to get one again when I was looking for the FJR1300 but the wife would have complained even more than she did on the R1 biggrin

The TT looks kind of familiar, my friend part exchanged his XT250 for a XT500, it was a bit better off road and I didn't have to tow him out of the peat bogs smile

When I got the IT it was 6years old and in very poor condition, I stripped her to the bare frame and completely repainted her and while I was doing that I had the engine honed and a new piston, rings and bearings fitted.
When getting her re registered for the road I wanted a proper licence plate and not a "Q" plate for one off specials as that would give me problems with the insurance.

When I had the bike in bits I found a sticker from the original dealer that sold the bike new and started working back to find out who had owned the bike before me, and if anyone had a note of the original registration, but even tho I found the original owner he couldn't remember the number. So I contacted Yamaha and got a letter detailing when the bike was made and when it was first imported and the dealer it was sold to, from that I got a proper registration after the police had done a thorough check to see if it was kosher smile

I got the bike on the road and took it out for it's first ride ... oh oh... problem! after a couple of seconds of full throttle in 3rd gear the engine spluttered and coughed - fuel starvation - I checked everything and all was ok, I compared the carb and jets to the workshop manual and to my friend's YZ490 and the only difference I seen was the flow of petrol from the tank, the fuel shut off tap as was fitted to the IT465 was too small to flow enough petrol. A 6mm drill and the main supply setting was flowing enough, I left the reserve alone as that would force me to keep the speed down.

My friend and I toured all over the north of Scotland looking for off road routes and had some great times out in the wilderness.

I wonder if these 60year old bones could take another pounding.... Hmmmm ... checking Automart ... biggrin


Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil
Sons of the hound come here and get flesh
Clan Cameron

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