Road racer looking to get dirty.

[kellen]

After my second season of road racing, I sold my 2011 race bike and I'm looking at getting a dirt bike and get some riding in this fall. A friend (non racer) is getting into it as well. I'm thinking of a 125 or 250 two stroke MX bike for myself, he's thinking about a 150 or 250 trail bike. Any tips or advice?

[canuckwr250]

Need to know what kind of riding,your experience on dirt bikes,your height,2stroke or 4stroke?

[kellen]

Experience on dirt bikes...none. I around on my 2003 PW80 pit bike sometimes, that's it.

What kind of riding...I'm not really sure, probably a bit of everything. Another racer friend does hare scrambles, I wouldn't mind trying that out someday.

I'm 5'9" and have never been able to flat foot on any of my bikes.

[canuckwr250]

If you are doing mixed you really cant beat the YZ250 2005 and up and just add a FWW,skid plate,bark busters and pipe guard.If you have any money left over get your suspension done to your weight and riding stile.If you do woods type riding go get yourself a purpose built euro bike like KTM,GasGas,Husky...they have kickstands and electrics to hook up lights or allready have lights.A woods bike also has a little more plush suspension and if you weigh 160-170lbs they might be perfect for you right out of the box.I have a KTM but the GasGas are sweet bikes if youre 5'8''-5'9'' But like I mentioned before you need to know what you are going to do more of MX or Offroad.

[kellen]

Well I bought an 04 KX250F. Damn this thing is tall. hoping to hit some trails monday!

[Z1K]

Good choice. 2 stroke MX bikes can be discouraging in the singletrack for the inexperienced.

[kellen]

I need new sprockets and a chain on this bike. Trail riding today was fun. Looking to do some more of that. Should I get the stock size sprockets? Maybe go up a few teeth in the rear?

[reciprocity]

If they use the same sprockets as the RMZ 250/450, I've got about 10 of them in different sizes.

It'll never hurt it to add some gear, you can avoid using 1st gear if at all possible so you don't have to go across neutral in the tight stuff, just leave it in 2nd.

You'll understand why when you hit a false neutral and land on your head.

[kellen]

Thanks Recip, they are the same but I had to go to Royal for a chain and a few other things as well so I just picked up some steel sprockets since they are so cheap(!!!). Went -1/+2 and will see how that works out.

[canuckwr250]

Steel is the way to go on a trail bike.Did you get a o ring chain?

[kellen]

DId standard O-ring

[rmemedic]

Hope you're out having fun!
I rode trails for a bit, and then when I THOUGHT I was fast I started to hit the mx tracks... A few years later and I'm still "slow". I can dust up pretty much all the guys I learned to ride with now, but my racer buddies usually give me a good challenge!

Don't worry about the height of the bike, I'm 5'7" and it doesn't bother me any more... Except the other day I went over the bars in a cambered corner at gopher dunes (easy to go over the bars in the deep sand in a corner if you blow a berm). kept the hand on the clutch to keep the bike running, but was on the right hand side of the bike and the camber was too much for me to get my leg over the bike so I had to push it to a flatter spot. Glad I wasn't in a race! Was actually having a good day, kept up to guys I used to have a hard time keeping pace with.

We should organize a group ride day at Gopher dunes so we can hit the track and trails. They will likely be open in to November if the weather stays this way... I shouldn't be riding more this year since I'm pretty sure I slightly tore my meniscus on the weekend, but I'll just finish this season up and hope I heal up in the couple weeks until sled season!

[kellen]

I would love to hit gopher dunes mx track...I'm off tomorrow, thinking about maybe hitting it up if it isn't too muddy.

[kellen]

Now I'm curious what I need to do to this bike to get it out onto a road course...

[dricked]

I've ridden in the woods with some fast track guys, scary to watch. Trees start to jump out infront of people....well somthing like that anyway. Just because they're fast on the track doesn't mean that can ride single track, goes both ways. Mabie you just wern't that fast in the woods I'm not very good on the track but I can pound the bush pretty good.

[reciprocity]

Now I'm curious what I need to do to this bike to get it out onto a road course...

17in wheels(16.5front if you wanna go fast) a decent front brake(braided line, big rotor).

That's a good start.

You'll need to do some suspension changes.

slow the rear rebound damping down as much as you can.

[georgy]

Now I'm curious what I need to do to this bike to get it out onto a road course...

What reciprocity said. Check out the Canadian SM forums. Maybe come out for a race/practice next year?
http://www.supermotojunkie.com/forum...upermoto-Forum

BTW, I wouldn't take that 250 to a road course unless you want to blow it up in no time. Even my 450 with 14/40 gearing tops out at 160 at Cayuga and I feel like I'm killing it on those straights.

Look for a used 450 that has already been converted to SM if you want to save some money. You can find them dirt cheap from the US these days.
http://www.supermotojunkie.com/forum...y.php?72-Bikes

[kellen]

Thanks for the links. I didn't necessarily mean a road course, but a supermoto track

[reciprocity]

Thanks for the links. I didn't necessarily mean a road course, but a supermoto track

When you find one, let the rest of us know

[kellen]

ha.