Dirt bikes

My 150SX was WAY easier to ride 'slow' than the YZ125X I demoed prior. Much more bottom end, more linear power curve, and that was the 2019 ver which was still carb'd.

 

I don’t think its so much as smoothing out the power, to me its like it has no power unless you are wide open.

 

A couple of them actually... the latest one I saw was much nicer & cheaper than the Panthera one

 

I have not ridden a 250x. All my dirt bikes have been mx race bikes. I did take my CR480R trail riding. That was a handful, but fun in a sporty kind of way. If I were buying a bike to trail ride a 250x would probably be a great choice. Peak power is pointless on the trail, you’re almost never using it. As great as a 125 is in the track, it would be rather peaky for trail riding. The 125X is interesting, I wonder how much torque they have? The 250x would be torquey and easy to mindlessly ride. Those 300 XCs sure look interesting. Two stroke, FI, and a button. Lots to like for an old school guy.

I had a CRF250 awhile back. Honestly, my least favorite bike ever. I grew up riding/racing two strokes (80/125/250/480). After getting back into it (lured in by riding a friends YZ125) I picked up his extra 250F. It was a year old pros bike used for a few nationals. I found the 250F gutless at full power, yet had a massive amount of engine inertia and the bike felt very heavy. Pretty much the worst of all worlds. However, if trail riding it would have been fine. If I go back to dirt bikes, which I’m considering given the cost of track time/tires for my R6, I will look into a 350 or just go with a proven 125/150.

 

The last bike I bought was my 250x in 2018. Prior to buying it, I was just a bike slut at a few trail rides. I spent a good amount of time on a bunch of different bikes, all on tight technical stuff. Everything from a YZ125 to a KX450. Including an XCW300, and KDX. The KDX is by far the most planted, easy bike to ride slow, or fast on the single track. The 125 made me feel like a badass just screaming through the woods. The 450 wasn’t bad, but I already had a big 4-stroke, and wanted to go back to the easy maintenance of a 2t. The 300 was like a 3-stroke, the best of both worlds, but Im just a Yamaha guy, and Yamaha parts are much cheaper and more available than KTM. I prefer the 250x suspension to the WP suspension on the KTM, but I probably just don’t know how to set up the WP suspension. For me, headlights, and that button are the only advantage that the 300 has on the 250x.

 

The PDS rear shock on the XCW is pretty blah too, I much prefer the linkage setup on the XC models. The forks are far better on the XC too.

 

Not much to add to this thread other than I just picked up a 2006 KDX200 with KX inverted front end. I started to get into woods riding last fall on the little ttr125 and after 1 ride for about 4 hrs I quickly realized, even more so, that I needed something much more appropriate. Rode an early 2000’s KTM250 which fit me much better but was the typical twitchy throttle woods ride.

I haven’t taken the KDX out yet here in the Northeast because I’m letting the woods dry out some before my first real ride on it.

 

Jeff Fredette would be proud. KDX's still work well.

 

The KDX was in the mix before I settled on a 200EXC. Just picked it up a nice ‘03 Saturday, and just scored a new but older model Rekluse clutch pretty cheap.

 

The KDX is still an awesome machine. You cant go wrong with one of those!

 

As much as I’d like to got with more recent technology, road race budget took priority over this. And at my woods riding skill level I’m probably faster on the friggn ttr….hahahah

 

Settled on a 200EXC? WTF that's a excellent woods ride! And with a Rekluse it's like cheating, congrats

 

This is kinda where I’m at. I ruled out much big track riding once I moved as the track days were mostly on week days. The race series with the bike I had did not have many entrants, so I sold it.

I have a 450 SMR and a 150R and planned to do supermoto and mini racing last year, but ended up not doing any with work and other obligations.

A dirt bike seems nearly as convenient as the MTB for riding, and isn’t an all day affair like racing is. Plus I can ride nearly year-round.

I need to do some mini and SM rounds this year and then make a decision.

 

Yeah, I guess settled isn't the right word. The 200 is my first choice. I spent over a month researching and looking and snagged one that's completely rebuilt for a really good price:

 

What’re you guys running for braces? I have always heard good things about the Mobius X8 braces, but didn’t know if there was anything else worth a look. Anyone have elbow pads they like?

 

I've been running the mobius for a while now (two years?). Happy with them and no injuries.

for the rest of my upper body, I prefer one of the pressure suits that I wear under my jersey. gives me plenty of all around protection. I've got the Dainese MX1 safety jacket but I don't know if they still make it. I like the full back protector, kidney belt, shoulder and arm armor, etc.

Having all in one upper protection is nice and even when I ride more dual sport, I still feel well protected.

 

I have some knee braces that I never used...ever. They might be Mobius? That's how long it's been...but I'll check lol

 

Mobius makes great braces but they don't vent much so if you run hot then maybe something else is better. I personally run the carbon astar ones because I mostly race off-road and having more ventilation for 2 hour races is nice. For upper body I have had a bunch of stuff but my favorite is the Astars A6. It's level two chest and back and level one shoulders. Nice thing is the shoulders easily remove so for riding MX I will just yank them off. It's an under the jersey type setup and breathes extremely well. If you like more of a soft armor the Astars Sequence is really good and you can get it with or without elbows. It looks like it would be super hot but it's a 3d mesh over soft honeycomb type armor and you can see right through it when you hold it up to light.

 

I have 2 friends with that same exact bike and they swear it is one of the best woods bikes they have ever owned and still is even though it's getting dated. Parts might start to get hard to find. I think the subframe on that thing is unobtanium

 

the older 200 was my first "real" dirt bike. At the time I'm pretty sure the 125/200 frames were smaller, so it was a great bike for playing in the woods. Much good times at Highland Park bombing around on the 200.

gotta say though, that now that I'm on the dark side (450/500 four stroke) it's hard to want to go back to a two stroke. I ride friends occasionally but just can't get back into the swing on a two stroke for some reason.