Hey! I'm thinking about getting a road bike. (mattwood) [Archive]

mattwood

16th November 2007, 16:28

hey, im 15 and thinking about getting a road bike. i dont have any money but its nice to know wot u r saving for, seems to make it easier.

i hav a KX125 and am pretty confident at mx etc. i was wondering if i would be all sweet on something like a nsr250 or any 2stroke road bike. im not really into 4 strokes but im just wondering if a 2stroke road bike would be as aggressive as a motorcross bike??

anyway, any help or opinions would be appreciated

White trash

16th November 2007, 16:32

Nowhere near as aggressive as a 250 MX bike Matt. A HELL of alot faster though.

RGVs are the most fun you can have with your pants on although it's hard to find a good one at a good price at the moment. Dealers are a fuckin rip off.

I'm halfway through a resto on Sues one now, can't wait till it's a runner.

Welcome to KB by the way.

mattwood

16th November 2007, 17:44

is it just as easy 2 pull wheelies? not that i'll be tryiong to do anything like that :innocent:

yeah, ive been lookn around trademe aye, its pretty dear for any RGV younger then the 1980's.\

good luck with the resto, chuck sum pics up once its done :headbang:

thanks

HungusMaximist

18th November 2007, 20:21

Best thing you can do for yourself is to get your learners and then go test ride a few bikes.

Sure, you can ask us all day for advice and that, but nothing beats a good blast on one of them.

Just make sure you don't end up buying the first bike you see!

mattwood

19th November 2007, 16:20

haha yeh true!

ive got a little nifty 50 thats about 20yrs old, but i really want a decent bike because i live out in the country and its about 20kms to anywhere, it takes awhile on a scooter hahah :buggerd:

TRAINING WHEELS

19th November 2007, 17:02

Hi Mattwood welcome to KB i agree with HungusMaximust ... Like anything in life you try before you buy....Every one on here can add there advice on what to buy but ultimately it is what you feel comfortable in riding.
All the best and good luck choosing your first road bike
Safe riding

Pancakes

19th November 2007, 22:55

Hey Matt.

Nothing wrong with 2 strokes. NSR & RGV are awesome. Your MX bike will do you lots of good with being comfortable with letting the bike move under you and maintaining/overhauling your ride (especially if ya get a 2 smoka).

Road bike won't ride like a MX bike. Dirt bikes have pretty much no flywheel compared to a road bike so the pickup is all different. My advice would be to get a bike that you can live with that will re-sell well over the best thing you can get on your L plates. The 250 market is murder, if you put the cash out thy to make sure your in the position to get it back. If you got an RGV (proper one 250-R, not the 150 etc) and tidyed it up while you have it you could turn it into a nice trade on a fast new 600? I've done a bit of farm work and know if your happy to get up in the morning and turn up to a job there's money out there to be had. Hope things go wicked for you!

kiwifruit

19th November 2007, 23:09

welcome to the site :)

just do your time, don't spend any money, so to speak, until you have your unlimited license.... then the fun(tm) begins

owner

20th November 2007, 08:43

fxr150 or rg150,2cents. slower than an nsr but cheaper ,reliable and 10 years of thrashing newer, ride like every cage, truck or gsxr is actually trying knock you off. welcome

jrandom

20th November 2007, 08:52

just do your time, don't spend any money, so to speak, until you have your unlimited license.... then the fun(tm) begins

+1

250cc two-stroke road bikes are fiddly machines for enthusiasts, not learner bikes. Just because they're legal to ride on a 6L/6R doesn't mean they're the best choice.

Not that you'll be a 'learner' so to speak if you have decent MX experience, but, still, MXing doesn't get you used to riding in traffic.

More importantly, what's your budget?

If you like two strokes, I'd say your best choice for a learner bike would be the good old RG150.

hospitalfood

20th November 2007, 09:26

I think get a massive 4 stroke, ignore the rules and get endless power.
many would disagree.

mattwood

20th November 2007, 17:11

Pancakes

20th November 2007, 20:32

Those 150's are a viable option. Reasonably fast and good light handling. If you can't have power (and 250"s don't really make power) lightness can make up for that. If you do have the time and skill (or patience and ability to not brake stuff while you learn) I still think you could have a good classic fast 250 and make on it at the end. A clean one will sell for a bit.

mattwood

21st November 2007, 15:51

yeh, an old 250 sounds like the way to go.

damnit... chain popped out of the bottom guide on the KX and munted the srockets and guide! there goes 300 bucks.. road bikes gunna be awhile off haha :shit:

jrandom

21st November 2007, 16:03

i kinda tend to think i would get bored on a 150.. ive never ridden one before but im keen 2 be able 2 go as fast as i can with my learners.

Try one and see.

There are guys on this forum who can hop on an RG150 and embarrass your average rider on a 100+hp 600cc bike.

Also, don't underestimate the mess you can make of yourself on the road at 200kph. It never hurts to take it easy for a while and keep your road bins low-speed.

If you buy the fastest 250 you can find on your budget, I can almost guarantee you it will be ancient and rickety and have fucked suspension and shagged tyres. You won't be able to afford to bring it up to scratch, so you'll just ride it anyway. You're young and have testosterone to spare and judgement still to grow, so you'll end up trying to keep up with older guys on far better bikes.

You'll probably manage to do it successfully a few times and get patted on the back, at which point you'll think you're some sort of unholy fusion of every GP champion in history, and push even harder.

Then you'll overcook a corner one day and die, and we'll all ride wearily to your funeral and wish that the inevitable hadn't happened yet again.

Just buy an RG150, OK?

mattwood

21st November 2007, 16:23

yeh i think u might be right!! haha, that sounds like me. I always try to go faster on the last lap or sumthing and end up falling off and end up at A&E...

i reckon an old 250 would be alright for me because my dads quite mechanically minded and would definately give it the once over before he even thought about letting me ride it!!

Thanks for looking out for me though :sweatdrop

Pancakes

21st November 2007, 20:07

Yeah what Jrandon said about that. I agree, please don't act your demographic. There's a reason your insurance will cost tons. What ever way you go it could be very rewarding especially if you have the patience and cash-flow (or can make the sacrifices) to take on a project. Do take care eh.

mattwood

21st November 2007, 20:27

yeh, i will be sensible on the road. i'll keep the sillyness for the dirt where theres no trucks or cars to hit me. besides im not going 2 go hooning around like a loony on a bike that i will be trying 2 do up and sell off for a profit :cool:

speights_bud

21st November 2007, 20:43

There are guys on this forum who can hop on an RG150 and embarrass your average rider on a 100+hp 600cc bike.

Hehe, yerp! this is VERY fun!

I wouldn't underestimate theRG150's Matt, I'm racing one at the moment which is stock standard, they'll do 180km/h on the track and are so light and agile for cornering.

I learnt to Road ride on a GPX250 that i still have which will be coming up for sale at somestage. just had to replace the crank and some other bits in it. The GPX's aren't the most powerful 250's but if you get to know your bike you can make many heads turn:)

Welcome and good luck on the bike hunt :)

mattwood

21st November 2007, 20:55

I wouldn't underestimate theRG150's Matt, I'm racing one at the moment

oh im not underestimating them! ive ridden my 125 down the road many times and it scares that hell out of me haha :) i could only imagine that a 150 would be faster!

hey, just a question 2 any1 in the know, which would win in a drag? a RG150 or a RGV250? im guessing the 250 but if the 150 is lighter would it be a close race?

also im pretty big, over 6ft and weigh 92kgs. would i fit on the 150?

speights_bud

21st November 2007, 21:02

i Was racing my GPX (did one event) and i finished 3rd, to a whole pack of rg150's, i was 86kg's (lost a few in the last month or two:2thumbsup: and im nearly 6ft tall aswell. The GPX's arent that fast but do suit taller riders better thansay the ZXR's and 'some' inline 4 250's

As for the Rg's and fitting on them, i think you'd fit ok, but may have ground clearance issues depending on how you ride, im riding mine atm and the expansion chamber will drag on the ground occasionally. (RH off camber corners, bumps &dips)

As for ur 150/vs250 Q, the 250 would win, the weight is not so much the thing that would determine who would win but the ability of the rider ie keep it within peak revs/powerband

mattwood

21st November 2007, 21:07

i suppose there would be alot of mods for the rg150s?

can u just crank up the suspension abit like with mx bikes? or would that make it handle weirdly?

i try to relate everything back to mx bikes because i have never really had any experience with road bikes haha :)

Pancakes

21st November 2007, 21:17

Hey Matt, those 250's are wicked! The one I had was the dry clutch model and had multiple powerbands. Amazing bikes. The RG's are good bikes but not in the same league.

speights_bud

21st November 2007, 21:18

no probs, yea you can crank the preload up on them, but road bikes are much more responsive to doing suspension adjustments like that, but yea i vbelieve you can do a few things to get better clearance, im looking into it myself for racing because i keep grinding off the welds onthe expansion chamber seams. Aftermarket shicks/ones from particular other bikes have been known to be used

mattwood

21st November 2007, 21:25

-pwoah- multiple powerbands! awsum haha!:drool:

oh yeah, hmm do you think it would be worth the hassel? or just get a bike that it wont happen on? fixing the expansion chamber every few days would be abit of a piss off haha :wacko:

speights_bud

21st November 2007, 21:32

im talking only grinding mine away when i'm trying to stand it upright a little mid corner, knee just touching on the track and the back end trying to let go... You wont be having those problems on the road i wouldnt think, i have only touched it twice road riding, once was a hollow in the road the whole bike bounced through, the other was an off camber corner, which a bike will often scrape a peg or something else on

mattwood

21st November 2007, 21:39

oh sweet, because i will probably be using it to ride 2 school each day. Its a pretty good ride to school, im out in the country so can either take the long way over some steep hils or down SH1.

speights_bud

21st November 2007, 22:05

Yea i used to do that, it was about 34km to school from my parents place at the farm and there was some wicked twisty backroads on the way there that could take the same time if ridden in a not too crazy manner either:clap:

Squiggles

22nd November 2007, 16:39

im pretty keen on wot pancakes was saying, gettn an old RGV 250R and doing it up while i have it and try sell it off for abit mor then i payed for it!

i kinda tend to think i would get bored on a 150.. ive never ridden one before but im keen 2 be able 2 go as fast as i can with my learners.

I had an 88 rgv250 as my first road bike, im still here, probably would've been a better learning curve to ride round on something with a little less power for a couple of months beforehand

Rode mine to and from school, and long distances (chch and back), not too comfy in the seat department :lol:

got and sold mine for under 2 grand :niceone:

mattwood

22nd November 2007, 17:07

hah yeh! im not to sure how far away school is.. a good 25km i would say. and the last 10km is in town and pretty heavy traffic, having a bike would sure beat taking the bus, plus i could probably get up an hour later and still get there at the same time :cool:

man a ride to chch from Auckland! im keen! haha. how would a bike go down south with the ice and snow? i guess u would be pretty screwed if u hit ice at speed, or tryed to turn aye :lol:

speights_bud

22nd November 2007, 17:33

man a ride to chch from Auckland! im keen! haha. how would a bike go down south with the ice and snow? i guess u would be pretty screwed if u hit ice at speed, or tryed to turn aye :lol:

I rode a ZXR250 from Napier to chch one day, it wasnt too bad of a rie, from picton to chch was mostly in the dark so i dont remember all that mush of the physical trip, i didnt hit any snow or ice, but yes road bike + Ice/snow + corner/instability = good chance of coming out wo rse off:Pokey:

mattwood

22nd November 2007, 18:19

speights_bud

22nd November 2007, 18:53

oh mint! how much gas did u use doing that? :crazy:

that would be great fun, road tripping down to chch one day. have 2 put that on my things 2 do list once ive got a road bike haha :)

my mates doing up a GPX 250 i think its a '89. might have ago on that once its running and see what i think aye! but im pretty keen on 2stroke, just love the power band and that wonderful smell! :love:

i used about 60-80 bucks on Gas aye, but i wasnt riding like a nanna and took some back roads on the way. and gas was about $1.30/L

I'd give the gpx a shot, you may (or quite possibly not) be suprised with them. each to their own.

Too bad ya cant smell a 2-stoke while you're the one riding it eh? ;) One of the 125 riders runs his bike on ethanol i think, im not sure though, but it smells PURRRRDY when he goes flying past everyone else on the 150's :banana:

mattwood

22nd November 2007, 19:08

speights_bud

22nd November 2007, 19:14

haha i bet u werent!!

yeh! theres some dude that flys past the bus stop each morning and we can smell it for atleast 2mins after!

i was trying 2 get some av gas for the KX but dad reckons its not worth it until i can ride the bike 2 its full potential.. :( i ride it to its full potential in a straight line haha :cool:

Yup, as for avgas, im not an expert, but from what experience i've had you needto be careful about how you use it, if you're premixing you need to ensure that the oil has definatly dissolved in the avgas, otherwise the oil and avgas will not mix properly and you'll flog out pistons in no time.
I was using an oiler system (ie non premix) in my bucket racer with avgas and found that it was too harsh and not mixing the oil/fuel properly when i used Av (it had adjustable oil pump). I'd stick to Bp's 98 octane personally, it appears to be pretty good to engines and unless you're really getting into performance riding then i dont think you'll get much more go from the av.

mattwood

22nd November 2007, 19:37

speights_bud

22nd November 2007, 19:49

yeah, currently my high performance racing 2stroke engine gets the same petrol as the lawn mower.. good old 91 mixed up wif some castrol premix oil!

i guess running it on av gas u would probably need 2 do alot of fine tuning around with the carby and jetting to get it running crisp.

are bucket racers the ones with 50cc engines that go like hell?
I think from memory Bucket racers are defined as:

up to 125 2-strokes
up to 150 4strokes

But yes some of them are highly worked and do go like stink, others are just as the name suggest and are buckets of sh*t. its the cheapest from of racing to get into and is awesome fun. Theres a few threads around here about what you'll need and where the meetings are etc.

As with running ur bike on avgas, yea if you want it to perform at its best then jetting etc does need to be looked into, however i dont think it'll be necessary for the type of riding your doing, remember the more worked an engine is from standard the less running time you'll get from it between rebuilds, esp on 2-stroke engines

mattwood

22nd November 2007, 20:22

awsum, i might look into that aye! im pretty keen abt road racing, wearing the sexy leathers haha :msn-wink:

true! damn enigines.. haha i think ive got about 85 hours on the piston and rings in the KX at the moment.. need 2 do them very soon! theres another blow to the road bike budget.. a few hundy..:no:

speights_bud

22nd November 2007, 20:33

awsum, i might look into that aye! im pretty keen abt road racing, wearing the sexy leathers haha :msn-wink:

You shouldnt ride on the road until you have the full kit :) ie boots gloves jacket and pants, remember helmet also ;)

Hehe yea the proper leathers make ya feel fast! its prob not a bad idea for you to keep an eye on trademe from now on to see if anything pops up at a decent price, you have two Choices in gear though, Cordura or Leather. Personally i'd reccomend Leather, i've never worn the cordura but in my few offs on the track the leather has saved my hide bigtime. One was a slide on my arse for about 20 metres at about 100k/h before sliding into the grass/mud runoff :niceone:
Some people rave about cordura but i've never heard anyone say from experience that they'd rather come off in cordura than leather.

mattwood

22nd November 2007, 21:06

haha yup, dads got an old leather jacket in the back of the cuboard somewher, probably from back in the day when he was riding motorbikes! would jeans do the trick for awhile??

speights_bud

23rd November 2007, 06:46

I guess Jeans would be ok for a little while, however i would strongly reccommend some proper pants, ever seenwhat happens to jeans just falling over on concrete? Lots of people say theres no need to bother with proper pants for small trips, but whenever your riding the gear is best to have, esp if you're doing that trip to school. BTW proper leather pants or cordura ones even are MUCH warmer than jeans for those cold trips to school in winter :cool:

kiwifruit

23rd November 2007, 07:11

I guess Jeans would be ok for a little while,

they're all good til you hit the road in them :pinch:

speights_bud

23rd November 2007, 10:20

they're all good til you hit the road in them :pinch:

i totally agree with that :yes:

I've seen what happens to jeans when i trip over after having a few too many at MSTRS's and Tarts place one evening:sweatdrop i have the scar on my knee to prove that jeans have bugger all protection even at running speeds! not to mention the lack of impact protection

mattwood

23rd November 2007, 16:11

yeah, i guess ur right aye. i also know from experience how shit they r at proctecting ur knees haha.

would boots be essential? or would skate shoes with the laces tucked in do the job?

Pancakes

23rd November 2007, 23:25

You need high-ish boots and proper riding stuff dood. Shoes? Doesn't protect your ankles, not just agaist abrasion but twisting too. Think, do I want to keep my ankles, yes, protect ankles, go through your list of body parts. Just leave the bits of your body sticking out that you don't really like anyway or would bet some one use for sledgehammer target practice.

Leather crashes better, no doubt. Can be harder to fit right, wetter (colder) and smelly too. Not to mention $$'s for new stuff. I wear cordura as I wear a suit under it for work and don't want to get changed. Just unzip and go, you'll probably be in your school stuff under your gear? Upgraded my boots the other day to $400 Diadora Cruise ones. Touring ones so their watherproof too and warmer than race ones, don't need wet socks all day. Helmet, light is good, you can get chronic whiplash on a bike even if your head isn't hit. Good fit. I wear a Shoei Raid II, cheapest helmet from a great manufacturer.

Go looking/trying now while you don't have the money. You can't impulse buy and will go home and think about it. Make notes on the gear so you can ponder later.

I know I kinda focussed on the cordura stuff but try to get into some leathers unless it's totally impractical.

TRAINING WHEELS

23rd November 2007, 23:30

You need high-ish boots and proper riding stuff dood. Shoes? Doesn't protect your ankles, not just agaist abrasion but twisting too. Think, do I want to keep my ankles, yes, protect ankles. Just leave the bits of your body sticking out that you don't really like anyway or would bet some one use for sledgehammer target practice.

Leather crashes better, no doubt. Can be harder to fit right, wetter (colder) and smelly too. Not to mention $$'s for new stuff. I wear cordura as I wear a suit under it for work and don't want to get changed. Just unzip and go. Ungraded my boots the other day to $400 Diadora Cruise ones. Touring ones so their watherproof too and warmer than race ones, don't need wet socks all day. Helmet, light is good, you can get chronic whiplash on a bike even if your head isn't hit. Good fit. I wear a Shoei Raid II, cheapest helmet from a great manufacturer.

Go looking/trying now while you don't have the money. You can't impulse buy and will go home and think about it. Make notes on the gear so you can ponder later.

Yes pancakes speek good advice.... Have a good look around for what you like. One thing i have learnt in my 7 months of riding is to buy what fits and what you want rather than looking at the price....(save hard if you have to) as safety comes at no cost .....

mattwood

26th November 2007, 19:46

Just leave the bits of your body sticking out that you don't really like anyway or would bet some one use for sledgehammer target practice.

hahaha! i wonder if i could fit 2 cups on at once?

yeah, i will take a trip to town and hav a walk around the bike shops and try some stuff on.

Had a look at a few multipurpose kind of bikes, like road and dirt combined sort of things, they kinda of look like they wouldnt do both jobs properly. wot do u all think about them?

sorry about the late reply, been away all weekend doing sum motorcross.

Pancakes

26th November 2007, 20:02

Nah mate, some of those adventure bikes are wicked. Not road racers but way faster than they look and capable of good off-road too.

Everythings a compromise but they cover a broad range in one style of bike.

Living in the contry you might like motards bro. Two sets of wheels and your on.

speights_bud

26th November 2007, 21:21

Had a look at a few multipurpose kind of bikes, like road and dirt combined sort of things, they kinda of look like they wouldnt do both jobs properly. wot do u all think about them?

I'd sell both my bikes to get a WR450 motard if i could, i rode one one or twice and it was more fun than i'd expected :D

carver

26th November 2007, 21:24

Rosie

27th November 2007, 08:36

Nah mate, some of those adventure bikes are wicked. Not road racers but way faster than they look and capable of good off-road too.

I'm not terribly fast, but I was pleasantly surprised by the on road manners of my wee sherpa. A lot of the interesting roads in NZ are little back roads that have gravel or have badly repaired seal, so it's great to have a bike that is at home on that kind of stuff.

mattwood

27th November 2007, 17:26

oh mint, i dont think u can road register KX125's aye.. damn.

i think i would go for a full road bike because i already hav the dirt bike. but i would love 2 throw some motard tyres on my bike and go for a hoon, it would be great!! :woohoo:

i was looking at one of these, they dont look 2 capable of motorcross haha
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.nz/motor/index.htm?model_cat.asp?modelcatid=3

the yamaha sales dude was pretty keen to sell me one of these as well
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.nz/motor/index.htm?model_cat.asp?modelcatid=11 any thoughts on them? they dont look to speedy.