Motorcycles

They later went to disk front and drum rear and you can still buy the bike off the showroom floor. They are like a lawn mower, change the oil once a year wash and ride. Not much for power but fun none the less.

Disk fronts are hands down better than the drums but I don't know what year they switched. The drums work just fine on the tw, it doesn't weigh a ton and has a decent center of grav. Big rear tire makes the bike very stable and easy to ride, hence one of the best learners bikes there is. Remember the old Fat Cat's?

By no means is the bike a high performance ride, but as a do everything but road trips bike, and a bike you can teach the significant other on when you upgrade I doubt you ever sell it. Mine got just shy of 80mpg's and I sold it to my little brother for peanuts on the condition that it got sold back to me. Little bastard turned around 6 months later and sold it for twice what he paid for it.

Edit: if you plan on freeway riding you may have to get another rear sprocket. You prolly wont ever get much more than 70mph out of it even with a smaller rear so gear accordingly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2012 09:47AM by aj_johnson.

You might find some good insight in this thread and forum http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93924 as they,re discussing what you're talking about.

Quote
aj_johnson
I'm riding a 95 rmx 250 2 stroke enduro. last top end cost me $80 and an hour and a half. Cant recommend the rmx, cause it has a funky multistage powervalve that likes to break and bounce around the inside of the cylinder. The two stroke on the street is a blast, but I can't keep the front end down.

If I were looking for a bike to go get coffee, enjoy a woodsy trail and had phenomenal reliability for a great price:

Yamaha TW 200.

Super easy to ride, very comfortable, sits much lower than your standard mx bike. It's what 90% of the motorcycle instruction schools around here use. Has all sorts of rack systems available to carry guns, tools, etc. Great all purpose bike. Usually see them for about $800-1200

Wha??

2 wheel SUV?

Greg are you looking for a pick up or something ride?
Something that is good enough that as you develop skills the bike is good enough to hold on to cause it good enough for anybody to do anything?

Including learn real skills usable elsewhere in life?

Or do you want go put-put-put- and hum "I'm bringin home a baby bumble bee one fer you an one fer me da yep da yep dum de dum"
put-put-put-put

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
aj_johnson
I'm riding a 95 rmx 250 2 stroke enduro. last top end cost me $80 and an hour and a half. Cant recommend the rmx, cause it has a funky multistage powervalve that likes to break and bounce around the inside of the cylinder. The two stroke on the street is a blast, but I can't keep the front end down.

If I were looking for a bike to go get coffee, enjoy a woodsy trail and had phenomenal reliability for a great price:

Yamaha TW 200.

Super easy to ride, very comfortable, sits much lower than your standard mx bike. It's what 90% of the motorcycle instruction schools around here use. Has all sorts of rack systems available to carry guns, tools, etc. Great all purpose bike. Usually see them for about $800-1200

Wha??

2 wheel SUV?

Greg are you looking for a pick up or something ride?
Something that is good enough that as you develop skills the bike is good enough to hold on to cause it good enough for anybody to do anything?

Including learn real skills usable elsewhere in life?

Or do you want go put-put-put- and hum "I'm bringin home a baby bumble bee one fer you an one fer me da yep da yep dum de dum"
put-put-put-put

I agree it's no performance bike. But show me an $1000 enduro that's already street legal and doesn't require you to put a dime into it?

bump your budget to 2k-2500 and something like this would be fun

http://fargo.craigslist.org/mcy/3083723229.html

I do like to hum...

Not sure what I need/want. Hence the research and questions.

I would like to only have one bike unless I buy one for my wife or kids.

My #1 criteria is that it can be street legal yet still be a fun trail bike. If I can license a KDX here in Fargo that is where I am leaning. If not probably a KLR or the TW.

Thanks for the link Gene, I will check that out.

Date: 2012-06-23, 2:19PM CDT

1987 Kawasaki KDX200(obo) - $900 (Shelbyville )
Reply to: qzbp4-3096652395@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
This is a 1987 Kawasaki KDX200 2-stroke. This a very reliable and very fast bike. It usually starts in 2 kicks or less. The tires are in great condition. It has a Big Gun slip on exhaust and a new seat cover. This bike will also include an enduro style rear fender with light and a matching green helmet and riding goggles. All this bike needs is a rider. Call Jared 931-575-1274


motorcycle dirtbike dirt bike moto cross motocross mx off road trail KX kx KDX kdx KLX klx 65 125 200 250 450 F f
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

91 Kawasaki KDX200 - $750 (Boring, Or)
Date: 2012-06-24, 7:24AM PDT
Reply to: kfhj2-3086404531@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
1991 Kawasaki KDX200. Runs great. Adult owned. Perfect for advanced or novice rider. We used for trail riding only.
Any questions, please feel free to call.
Jeremy
503-758-2967

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Warning: Riding dirt bikes can be dangerous!
I didn't tell my wife that yet, but I'm sure she's figured it out. Also 50 is probably too old to take up this crazy sport... I started about 6 weeks before my 51st b-day. I saw john mentioned that he was talking to me and I was looking for a KDX 200. True.. I mentined it before he did, coincidence? I don't think so, I did some searching, discussed with some friends. I'm likely going to by a 92 KDX 200 as my starter bike. If I stick with this crazy hobby, I'll probably get a KTM XC-W 200 in a year or two, as new as I can afford. Both are bikes designed for trail riding, both can theoretically be plated for the street, both have near cult followings because the are REALLY good at what they were designed for... buy a bike that is designed for what you want to use it for. So far I have been riding with a friend, using his spare bike, a Suzuki RM-X 250, we've been riding mostly single track forest trails... narrow, slow, the RM-X lugs along pretty good, barely idling in 2nd gear. Simple shit can spoil your fun.. clutch needs replacing.. it drags, which means I get the award for the most stalls during a ride. The kick start (which is on the wrong side :-)) is showing it's age and is loose at the joints (hmm.. sounds like me), so isn't the easiest to "start first kick"... It's very difficult to find neutral, and with the dragging clutch and sloppy kick start it's near impossible to start in gear... all fun reducers!

I rode yesterday for 2 or 3 hours, tight trails, lots of up and down, lots of opportunity to fuck up, which I did, coming off several times... 3 notable ones:

1) coming out of a slow left hand corner, diaginal tree root turned the front wheel hard left, I went right over the bars and landed on my head - that hurt! My neck is sore today, kinda like whiplash. Bent the shifter and skewed the handlebars.. handle bars were an easy reef, shifter not so much. Straightened it a bit, bit it was still inetrfering with a bolt head, making shifting very difficult.. I just stayed in 2nd. What I did wrong was not get on the power as soon as I saw the root.. I'm learning!

2) A small jump formed by a tree root.. onlt got 2 or 3 feet of airand maybe went 15 feet, but got a bad landing on the edge of the trail. I think I hurt my knee on that one, can't say for sure, maybe that's where I bruised/sprainer my right shoulder, or my right wrist or right hip ;-)

3) the scariest one was when I stalled 1/2 way up a small rock climb... it was only about 10' verical, I just didn't attack it. Over I went, and back down to the bottom.. nice soft landing in grass/weeds, luckliy the bike didn't land on top of me, but it was completely up-side down with gas leaking form the float bowl... So I had to get it right-side up as quick as possible. Remeber what someone said about 4-strokes weighing more? Bikes get heavier as the day wears on.. you'll need to man-handle it often when starting out. I'm not sure which bruises can be attributed to that one :-)


Today I'm a hurting unit!

Things I've learnt so far:
- get the right gear. First ride I had work boots and gloves, I almost got speared by a small spruce that had been cut where it fell across the trail... I saw it coming and turned my body so it glanced off my chest and then my right arm, leaving two big bruises. Had I not turned that could have been nasty. I bought a chest protector. Work boots are easier to shift with, but don't have as strong a sole, the arch of my right foot was bruised purple from kick starting. I found a good deal on kijji for all the gear, including almost new really good boots my size $200.

- get the right bike. I'm realizing that this RM-X is too much bike for me.. it's a bit too snappy, and too heavy, and a bit tall in the seat. I can use it for free, which is great, but I want my own bike... a bit smaller and a bit lighter (but still 2 stroke!), and I can them look after my own maintenance, and I won't be beating the shit out of my friends spare bike!

- Often faster is better. Just like in the rally car, faster smooths out the bumps. You've gotta start fast(er) to get up stuff like sand hills (and apparently rock climbs!).

- learn to use the clutch and other means to get the front wheel up or just light.. trez importnat to get over rocks, logs, roots.

- Quit when you are tired. 2-3 hours seems to be what I can take at my fitness level.. My second ride was 5 hours, I was lucky not to get hurt in the last 2 because I was getting real sloppy.

- Dirt bike trail riding is fun as fuck! I'm addicted! But 50 is a bit old to be strarting, my body will concur.

-Martin.
240sx rally car, which seem sso tame in comparison to dirt biking!

Quote
john vanlandingham
Date: 2012-06-23, 2:19PM CDT

1987 Kawasaki KDX200(obo) - $900 (Shelbyville )
Reply to: qzbp4-3096652395@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
This is a 1987 Kawasaki KDX200 2-stroke. This a very reliable and very fast bike. It usually starts in 2 kicks or less. The tires are in great condition. It has a Big Gun slip on exhaust and a new seat cover. This bike will also include an enduro style rear fender with light and a matching green helmet and riding goggles. All this bike needs is a rider. Call Jared 931-575-1274


motorcycle dirtbike dirt bike moto cross motocross mx off road trail KX kx KDX kdx KLX klx 65 125 200 250 450 F f
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

91 Kawasaki KDX200 - $750 (Boring, Or)
Date: 2012-06-24, 7:24AM PDT
Reply to: kfhj2-3086404531@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
1991 Kawasaki KDX200. Runs great. Adult owned. Perfect for advanced or novice rider. We used for trail riding only.
Any questions, please feel free to call.
Jeremy
503-758-2967

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fair enough, but you will be doing top end rebuilds (although they really aren't much tougher than an oil change) and they don't have one of the big features that makes a street bike fun: Electric start. On top of which, as someone who has been riding a two stroke on the street I want to go back to some thing lazy and eazy. ie 4 stroke like a drz 400 or somat.

The two stroke is awesome, but it's left me stranded with a blown top end once, mixing fuel sucks balls, not very comfy in a stoplight to stoplight environment. Kick starting sucks when you're running errands or the damn thing quits idling at a stoplight that takes too long. Fouled plugs have made me late to work a couple of times. I can't let a newb ride it cause they'll end up on their head first time they rip into the powerband (which is low torquey and smooth but still stands the bike up in the first 2 gears without even trying and will wheelie in 3rd and 4th with a bit of rider input)

I've done the two smoke on the street and it was fun, but I'm over it.

I'm ready for a 4 stroke again
like this one.
http://boise.craigslist.org/mcy/3097921768.html

2003 Suzuki DRZ 400E - $2100 (Weiser)

Date: 2012-06-24, 9:01AM MDT
Reply to: 3gw4h-3097921768@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

2003 Suzuki DRZ 400 with electric start for sale. The bike is in average to good condition for the year with many upgrades to the bike. The bike is a great trail bike and it is geared down for trail riding. The bike has not been ridden for the last few years and now it is time to see it go. The price is $2100 OBO

The upgrades to this bike include :
FMF Powercore 2 exhaust
Renthal handlebars
Moose skid plate
Brush Gaurds
Gripper Seat
Pirelli trial back tire
Brand new battery
Saw rack on back
Aftermarket break light


Email or call with any questions,
Cell (208)369-0224

Well, rock crawling, jumping and tree dodging aren't really the kind of riding I had in mind.

I am leaning more towards twisty gravel road riding.

What does a top end rebuild involve?

Top end is easy, remove plastics, remove exhaust, remove head, remove old piston, and bearings, Install ring on new piston, install new bearing (check clearances, hone, clean everything) new headgasket, slide head over piston re-assemble. About an hour and a half - two hours your first time. I think there is a thread on here where John gave me some advice from my first time.

Martin- My dad has done the same thiing. Raced MX till he was 22, didn't touch a trail till he turned 47 (3 years ago). Kills me to watch him ride/fall. Anytime he gets uncomfortable his whole upper body stiffens like a board and he never quite gives it all the throttle he should. He rides a crf 450 after starting out on a crf 230 for 4 months (that he of course bought for mom and then needed his own bike ) I remind him constantly that the reason he is wearing all that armor is not so that he can save it from scratches by breaking his wrist any time he tumbles. (I swear he looks like a cat held over a swimming pool arms straight out at full lock) He's become a very solid rider, and last time we went riding his skill level was about the same as mine, but he still falls like an idiot.

Quote
MRWmotorsports
Warning: Riding dirt bikes can be dangerous!
I didn't tell my wife that yet, but I'm sure she's figured it out. Also 50 is probably too old to take up this crazy sport... I started about 6 weeks before my 51st b-day. I saw john mentioned that he was talking to me and I was looking for a KDX 200. True.. I mentined it before he did, coincidence? I don't think so, I did some searching, discussed with some friends. I'm likely going to by a 92 KDX 200 as my starter bike. If I stick with this crazy hobby, I'll probably get a KTM XC-W 200 in a year or two, as new as I can afford. Both are bikes designed for trail riding, both can theoretically be plated for the street, both have near cult followings because the are REALLY good at what they were designed for... buy a bike that is designed for what you want to use it for. So far I have been riding with a friend, using his spare bike, a Suzuki RM-X 250, we've been riding mostly single track forest trails... narrow, slow, the RM-X lugs along pretty good, barely idling in 2nd gear. Simple shit can spoil your fun.. clutch needs replacing.. it drags, which means I get the award for the most stalls during a ride. The kick start (which is on the wrong side :-)) is showing it's age and is loose at the joints (hmm.. sounds like me), so isn't the easiest to "start first kick"... It's very difficult to find neutral, and with the dragging clutch and sloppy kick start it's near impossible to start in gear... all fun reducers!

I rode yesterday for 2 or 3 hours, tight trails, lots of up and down, lots of opportunity to fuck up, which I did, coming off several times... 3 notable ones:

1) coming out of a slow left hand corner, diaginal tree root turned the front wheel hard left, I went right over the bars and landed on my head - that hurt! My neck is sore today, kinda like whiplash. Bent the shifter and skewed the handlebars.. handle bars were an easy reef, shifter not so much. Straightened it a bit, bit it was still inetrfering with a bolt head, making shifting very difficult.. I just stayed in 2nd. What I did wrong was not get on the power as soon as I saw the root.. I'm learning!

2) A small jump formed by a tree root.. onlt got 2 or 3 feet of airand maybe went 15 feet, but got a bad landing on the edge of the trail. I think I hurt my knee on that one, can't say for sure, maybe that's where I bruised/sprainer my right shoulder, or my right wrist or right hip ;-)

3) the scariest one was when I stalled 1/2 way up a small rock climb... it was only about 10' verical, I just didn't attack it. Over I went, and back down to the bottom.. nice soft landing in grass/weeds, luckliy the bike didn't land on top of me, but it was completely up-side down with gas leaking form the float bowl... So I had to get it right-side up as quick as possible. Remeber what someone said about 4-strokes weighing more? Bikes get heavier as the day wears on.. you'll need to man-handle it often when starting out. I'm not sure which bruises can be attributed to that one :-)


Today I'm a hurting unit!

Things I've learnt so far:
- get the right gear. First ride I had work boots and gloves, I almost got speared by a small spruce that had been cut where it fell across the trail... I saw it coming and turned my body so it glanced off my chest and then my right arm, leaving two big bruises. Had I not turned that could have been nasty. I bought a chest protector. Work boots are easier to shift with, but don't have as strong a sole, the arch of my right foot was bruised purple from kick starting. I found a good deal on kijji for all the gear, including almost new really good boots my size $200.

- get the right bike. I'm realizing that this RM-X is too much bike for me.. it's a bit too snappy, and too heavy, and a bit tall in the seat. I can use it for free, which is great, but I want my own bike... a bit smaller and a bit lighter (but still 2 stroke!), and I can them look after my own maintenance, and I won't be beating the shit out of my friends spare bike!

- Often faster is better. Just like in the rally car, faster smooths out the bumps. You've gotta start fast(er) to get up stuff like sand hills (and apparently rock climbs!).

- learn to use the clutch and other means to get the front wheel up or just light.. trez importnat to get over rocks, logs, roots.

- Quit when you are tired. 2-3 hours seems to be what I can take at my fitness level.. My second ride was 5 hours, I was lucky not to get hurt in the last 2 because I was getting real sloppy.

- Dirt bike trail riding is fun as fuck! I'm addicted! But 50 is a bit old to be strarting, my body will concur.

-Martin.
240sx rally car, which seem sso tame in comparison to dirt biking!

I'm chucking the whole read thru. Right on..
Clutch drag, often thats from the discs dinging up the clutch basket from a million on/off power reversals. We could always live with that in cross but in the woods a perfectly operation, full easy release with zero drag was vital. Hell its faster too: dive off the bike into the ferns, leap up and grab the clutch and kick and go..

Baskets aren't that much and I've "tuned 'em " in a pinch by filing down the dents the plates put in the edge of the slops where the plate "ears' stick thru.. (Rally related: this applies to LSD multi-plate diffs as well, same problem, same solution).

Idle: a bike should be happy to idle and 0-1/4 throttle should be crisp and clean--finess helps sometimes.

Fatigue: yeah that's the snow-ball. Get tired from diving off and dingin yerself, then you sitt too much and get pounded by every bump and that wears you out more so then you dive off cause youre tired and hurt your self so you sit and slow down...

Fatigue makes you stupid.

Be sensible...when youse way out in the woods fatigue is kinda like hypothermia in that it makes ya stupid. problem is you have to ride the same distance BACK once it eventually dawns on ya that you're tired. For that reason I would always try and be reasonable when i was still playing in my 40s: max 10-11 hours total or between 120-140 miles.
FORTUNATELY, my normal riding partner Dave Dunn was a very sane and reasonable guy and we had no macho nonsense about turning back when the sun was starting to creep down....still ended up coming home to the truck sometimes an hour after dark---but we planned----both our KDX we'd mounted up car sealed beam Hi-beams in the number plate/headlight assy and they worked (just clutch and rev and they were bright enough to get home...

Dehydration: the human body will lose ~~50% strength if you loose about ~~2% of body weight in water. or some such horrifying thing.
Dehydrate and you go stupid.

COLD: you can get real cold when your soaked with sweat and have swum a few creeks..
Cold makes you stupid.


Seems there's a lotta ways to become stupid, and when you're stupid you will get hurt...

But dollar for dollar and quantity of miles having challenging fun, nothing beats real woods riding.


And 51 pfffft, I can't remember when I was 51....oh wait I got married!!!

Course everybody thought I was 39 back then.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2012 02:06PM by john vanlandingham.

AJ, rode my little KDX maybe a million miles on same piston and sparkie plug.
Never fouled--in the end in 3 years I MAY have changed it once---gapped it 2 times cause I had it out.

Mixing gas, Oooooooooooooooooooh so difficult....did you have polio as a small child.. Should i call the Whaaaaaaambulance now?

idled fine, even ALL my Husky and KTM real mx bikes idled just fine, clean carb and jet it right, it'll be fine.

Why are you imagining you must rebuild top ends on 2t more often?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham
AJ, rode my little KDX maybe a million miles on same piston and sparkie plug.
Never fouled--in the end in 3 years I MAY have changed it once---gapped it 2 times cause I had it out.

Mixing gas, Oooooooooooooooooooh so difficult....did you have polio as a small child.. Should i call the Whaaaaaaambulance now?

idled fine, even ALL my Husky and KTM real mx bikes idled just fine, clean carb and jet it right, it'll be fine.

Why are you imagining you must rebuild top ends on 2t more often?

Combination of things. I can't for the life of me leave them stock, jet em myself, start riding em before they are properly warmed up, ride them in traffic, so a tremendous amount of time idling (which seems to foul the plugs alot, might just be I fucked up the settings) and both the ones I've purchased had "6 hours " on a fresh top end, needed a top end in 4 months. (There were receipts)

and the mixing gas is just fine, but riding to work and not being able to take a side trip through the hills on the way home sucks. I've missed out on impromptu rides with fellow riders because I'm limited by my tank. 90% of my riding is commuting. The 2t just doesn't make much practical sense. (it is fun though)

The yz 125 was a freaking riot. Loved that bike. Required a lot more focus to keep up with the big boys and I enjoyed the challenge. It was damn reliable, I think the RMX has just given me a bad taste recently

What about a Sherpa?

Oh man, crashing backwards is the worst. I've luckily never done it on a motorcycle, only my mtn bike. I also once was going up a step up, and thought I didn't have enough speed (after leaving the lip...) to actually go forward, and thought I was going to come straight back down and land ~ 14 feet flat on my back. Hello scariest moment I've had on 2 wheels.

---

Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.