You start on something small - and you move up!

[DirtMad]

Well, today was the first time Ive ever ridden a bike on the road before, quite a weird experience. Fundamentally, its the same as riding my dirt bikes, but it just feels alot more "raw" to me out on the road all "alone".

I had once told myself I would NEVER own a road bike. This was after I got my very first bike years ago (a pocket bike, yeah! - haha) , then still after the next bike, a mini dirt bike. Then when I started riding the KDX, and even when I started getting more serious "Youll never catch me on the road, at least I can only hit a tree.. or two out here". Well, it seems I was full of something... - it`s happened! And partly too, because my mildly tuned road car (about 470 horse) doesnt put the same smile on my face it used to. I felt like rather than keep spending $$$ on more and more parts for it, I needed something else.

So, after already getting my learners about a month ago, I picked up my new learners bike last night. An `04 GSX250, with 3,000kms on the clock. Its definately no powerhouse!, but its a tidy bike and will hopefully serve its purpose to get my full license before years end with minimal drama.

I blame little toy bikes for being a pre-cursor for getting a road bike! I wonder if this is true for alot of others?

Heres some pics of my first road bike :innocent:
DM.

[ZorsT]

Well done. She looks nice :)

Treat her nice and she'll treat you nice :)

[inlinefour]

I had once told myself I would NEVER own a.

Regarding never owning another Suzuki. Now I find myself looking for a 2-stroker, either RD/RZ or RG:eek:

[Toast]

Nice one dude. Looks tidy as.

I've seen one of those hustled along at a decent pace too. I'm sure with your dirt skills, you'll be a demon in the wet :niceone:

[Motu]

I rode on the street before I took up off road,and have spent the rest of my time on bikes swapping between.After all these years I've found I like my bike with a dirt set up - at least with wide bars,sitting upright with my feet under my bum,and inbetween tyres.This gives me a bike I feel comfortable on and able to control in all conditions.Mind you,I've never been a straight line speed freak,I just like to go around corners fast.

[DirtMad]

Thanks alot guys, hopefully Ill have some leathers and decent boots in time for weasel`s 2nd newbie run :scooter:

I bought it off a copper :Police: so obviously the bikes never been raced or ridden over the speed limit :shit:







yea right :rofl:

[kiwifruit]

cool, have fun out there. beware of those who will try to kill you

[Wolf]

Congrats on the new (and very tidy-looking) bike and welcome to the highways and byways.

You may find later on that a road-trail bike would be more to your taste on the road if you're used to dirtbikes. The seating posture and handling of an XT/XL Honda or a DR Suzuki would be more like what you're used to.

And they have the advantage that you can have a good play off road with them as well - best of both worlds. I used to ride the bike along the road to wherever we were scrambling, get some off-road fun then ride it back again (sometimes in need of minor repair...)

It says a lot for how much I miss my old TS125 when I find that the most comfortable and enjoyable bike I've ridden in the past 10 years was the BMW F650GS Dakar that I took for a test spin. I'd probably never buy another "cruiser" again.

Only issue I had with the TS was that the semi-knobblies were shit on wet tarmac - a set of modern dual-sport tyres (like on the F650) or road tyres would be a definite improvement.

[Sniper]

NIce work mate

[DEATH_INC.]

Funny eh? I said I'd never have a road bike too......but they're way better on the road than a trailie.....
Congrats on the jump,and on a lot more sensible choice than I made.(my first roadie was My first Turbo :whistle: )

[Fishy]

Good on ya DM, nice first road bike!. Have fun!

[DirtMad]

Thanks for the kind words... I think you might be right there WOLF, sounds like a great idea.. but I think it would be more likely Id ditch the kdx to do that and then maybe still have a sport/tourer... but who knows. Would be pretty cool to be able to ride somewhere, have a trail ride and then ride home without all the hassle of a trailer (those of us that dont have a van or UTErus). And yea - ya do get used to the riding style, sports bike feels weird at the moment :shit:

[Coyote]

Very nice bike. My friends got one with a Neptune muffler, sounds great :2thumbsup

Heard about Ramius' GSX yet?

[DirtMad]

Heard about Ramius' GSX yet?

No Idea what your on about.. So nope! :doh:

[Coyote]

No Idea what your on about.. So nope! :doh:
Hoohoo, it's quite a story. Let me find his thread (or several) on his old GSX

[Ixion]

Some things are best not talked about. And that had nothing to do with the fact that it was a GSX250. Could have been any bike.

[Coyote]

Yeah, my friends GSX is doing him well. Ramius was just unlucky with his

Shit, looking at Ramius' threads on his GSX. They were dated November 2004. I forget how much time I've wasted on this site

[grantman]

Well done

We have another rider for 2006 Cold Kiwi !!!!!!!!!

Take care on the road
its not like a playstation game


cheers
Grantman

:scooter:

[Wolf]

Would be pretty cool to be able to ride somewhere, have a trail ride and then ride home without all the hassle of a trailer (those of us that dont have a van or UTErus).
Yeah. Was never in the financial bracket to have a car and trailer or a ute and wasn't licensed to drive, anyhoo. Relying on the bike to ride back again never curbed our enthusiasm off road, either, but then we were young, dumb and full of... something - shit between the ears, I suspect.

A whole bunch of us spent a day down on the river bank thrashing the shit out of it in speed trials and the distance between the "finish line" and the river was pretty short (and only someone who wanted to lose would slow before the finish line) so we were dicing with the real possibility of dropping my only mode of transport, smoking hot, into the cooling waters of the Mighty Waikato. Didn't though. Reckon the engine would've shattered like a crystal vase if it'd plunged into the river.

Another day, returning from a bit of a blat down by the river bank I was getting too cocky and dropped the bike, ripped the muffler away from the exhaust pipe so I had to part with some of my limited cash and buy a muffler bandage to avoid getting ticketed riding 'round town (and shattering my own eardrums every time I rode in a built-up area).

Great fun though - carried all sorts of shit on it, took it bloody-near anywhere: Tokoroa, up the road up Mt Te Aroha (following my brother who was on my old Yamaha RX125 commuter), around the "Times Track" (a pile of earth near the Times printery on Avalon Drive that the local lads used for trail bike riding) and along the river bank between Hamilton Gardens and Memorial Park a few times before they ruined most of it by putting concrete paths in.


And yea - ya do get used to the riding style, sports bike feels weird at the moment :shit:
I loved the way it handled and cornered, and the riding posture. When I took the F650GS Dakar for a spin my body said "oh, yes, this is what I've missed!"

I've ridden a lot of old tourers - mainly CBs and GTs, a couple of crotch rockets, and a few cruisers and can say that the tourers and the Enduros are the ones I can ride for hours without undue fatigue and discomfort. I'll take the upright posture of a tourer or a road-trail over a sprots boik or a cruiser any day.

Another advantage of a road-trail of decent size is that you can go on adventure rides - mix of on and off road riding. Oscar and Motu seem to be the ones with the knowledge of them. Oscar put a thread on here a while back with links to some fan-damn-tastic pics of his rides - almost enough to make me say "fuck it, the boys are over 2 years old, they can bloody walk" and sell the cage to buy a decent Road-trail bike...

Every time I go down South through the logging areas I wish I was on a road-trail so I could ride off onto some of the interesting looking tracks that run near or alongside the roads to make the journey less boring (probably get lost or end up heading in the wrong direction but it would alleviate the boredom of SH1)

[Oscar]

Y'all want one o' these things...
A 2006 KTM 625SXC...veeeery nice.

That's Motu in the background.

[Wolf]

Y'all want one o' these things...
A 2006 KTM 625SXC...veeeery nice.
Veeeery nice, indeed.

I'm waiting for the LTSA to take up my kind offer to integrate a horsepower-based learner licence restriction system into their current vehicle licencing system for the trifling sum of a brand new road trail bike.

Just don't tell them I intend to cheat and copy-paste a lot of it from the Aussie's website, I don't want to have to work so long I can't get out and ride...

[Oscar]

Veeeery nice, indeed.

I'm waiting for the LTSA to take up my kind offer to integrate a horsepower-based learner licence restriction system into their current vehicle licencing system for the trifling sum of a brand new road trail bike.

Just don't tell them I intend to cheat and copy-paste a lot of it from the Aussie's website, I don't want to have to work so long I can't get out and ride...


It'd be a sight easier to get some 250EXC stickers and bung them on the 625.

[Wolf]

It'd be a sight easier to get some 250EXC stickers and bung them on the 625.
I've got a full licence, 'tis the bike I lack. I figure the law needs a 21st Century revamp that's going to involve the LTSA's registration database to get it to work and I figure I could turn that to my advantage if I could just convince them it needs doing and that my "price" is reasonable... :devil2:

[Oscar]

I've got a full licence, 'tis the bike I lack. I figure the law needs a 21st Century revamp that's going to involve the LTSA's registration database to get it to work and I figure I could turn that to my advantage if I could just convince them it needs doing and that my "price" is reasonable... :devil2:

Ahh, I see.
Do you really wanna deal with that wierdo Andy ("Speed is the Root of Evil") Knackstead, though?

[Wolf]

Ahh, I see.
Do you really wanna deal with that wierdo Andy ("Speed is the Root of Evil") Knackstead, though?
I've been sans bike for well over a year, I'm so fucking stir crazy I'd deal with Genghis Khan and Timothy McVeigh if they'd promise to give me a motorbike.

Closest I've come to finding an engine for my GSX250 is a whole bike down in Christchurch which means the expense of freighting it up on top of the purchase price - a bit out of my financial league at the mo'. Unless I can get some extra work outside of my regular job or find something to sell.