dirt/trail bike to start

[Koss]

Not everyone is obsessed with flat out acceleration on the straightaways. The human body gets use to acceleration quickly, and it just isn't my thing. I'd rather have a challenging run in with speed through multiple corners than stomping on the gas and setting perfect shifting points down a straight. Car or motorcycle, dosn't matter. There is people out there that have gone the route of obsessing over acceleration to sticking with a ninja 250. Ive read about people having bought 5 ninja 250's over the many many years because they love the bike so much. So where is their zx-14, hayabusa, yamaha warrior, rocket III, or v-rod... nitrous bottles, custom turbo fabrications, and wheelie bars? If everyone only lusts after more and more acceleration and power, looking for the next step up?

[qwerty]

Mr. qwerty! Ford Trucks are #1 at least my F150 has a fuly enclosed boxed frame, ur truck has an open bent piece of sheet metal as a frame. I suggested to start out with a bigger bike to save him from the shame and embarressment from everybody picking on him, making fun of him riding around on a 200cc bike. If you Mr. qwerty don't understand that then you must have been living in a cave all ur life!

MotoF150, open mouth, insert foot, chew thoroughly.

Nobody laughs at my '86 Bronco. It sits on a 2-inch body lift bolted to a boxed frame bolted to a 6/5 suspension lift kit cobbled together from Rough Country and custom parts, triple front, double rear shocks, F250 TTB running gear with 4.56 gears, rolling on 15/39-16.5 TSLs, all twisted by a 490cid stroker motor dynoed at 442hp and 559lbs/ft corrected for ST&P. Nobody laughed when it had just a 302 and puny little P235/75R15 tires, either. If they would have laughed, I wouldn't have cared.

Nobody laughs at my other truck, a lowly $300 '91 S10 with a 383 smallblock with Edelbrock E-tec heads and MPFI shoving well over 460hp NA through a T56 to a narrowed 12-bolt hung from a modified ZQ8 suspension and riding on P255/45ZR16 Goodyears that pulls 1.1Gs in the corners. Of course, the frame is boxed to prevent twisting it like a pretzel. If I get in a hurry, there's a 3-stage system to make another 225 giggles. I guess those 10-second ETs on drag radials get some respect. Nobody laughed when it had a sickly 2.5 in it, either, maybe because I often one ET drags with a 19-second truck. If they would have laughed, I wouldn't have cared.

I've never felt shame or embarrassment because I chose a bike with "only" 200cc for 90% of my riding. I would have scarfed up an SL or XL125 honda had I been able to find one in decent shape. I bought the TW because it gets 70mpg, is somewhat comfortable, and is easy to ride, which is better than either of my other bikes. If I want to ride fast off-road, I jump on the 500. If I want to ride fast down the highway, I jump on the Boss Hawg. Well, I will be jumping on the Boss Hawg once I get the air filter rigged up. Nobody has ever made fun of me because of what I ride, and if they did, I wouldn't even care. Maybe if you were secure in your manhood, you wouldn't care, either.

Let me entertain you with a little story about weight training and a weak spirit who couldn't handle being laughed at. I'm one of those unfortunate slobs that is cursed with a pear-shaped body. No matter how many years I've spent resistance training, it still doesn't show. Back in the olden days I delivered furniture for a living, and one day I hurt my back loading a one-piece china in a bob truck all by myself. Yup, that was a dumb thing to do. Fortunately, my sister is a physical therapist, and she taught me a bunch of exercises to work harden my back, which took care of the pain.

Then, 20-something years later, I'm working my back doing dead lumbar lifts with about 280 pounds. This steroid-shooting, Arnold-looking guy half my age decided to try my lift, and I advised him to back way off the stack and work his way up. I dropped the pin to 80 pounds, and he picked it up to 180. I tried to warn him, but he just couldn't be embarrassed because his bike was too small. Halfway through his first rep he dropped the handle and cried out in pain. After the ambulance crew hauled him off, I put the pin back at 280 and continued my regimen. I never saw him at the gym again. Too bad he couldn't take the possibility of being laughed at. Now he's a cripple.

[yardape]

Hey guys,

I was away on a mission.. my wife had a baby! I'm a daddy now. STILL gonna push for the bike all winter though. I was reading through the posts about starting slow. I really am a firm believer in getting the basics down.. I guess you're talking about eeking every last drop of performance/technique from a range of manuevers rather than just being confident at full power through the trees. I don't really care who laughs at me either.

I'm a pilot, and learning to fly was the same thing. I know of a bunch of doctors and lawyers who took a fancy to flying and could afford it.. and before they were ready, bought super fast and complex twin engine aircraft and put themselves into a smoking hole.

Right now, without having tried out these bikes, I'm set on a 250 4 stroke or less as of right now.

y.a.