Difficulty with gravel driveway for a learner?

[Drew]

I would get a bike round there and have a hoon.

The absolute BIGGEST thing to remember, is to watch where you want to go. Not down at where the front wheel is. Remember/practice that, and your new bike will stay nice and shiny.

[strandedinnz]

I went on the ProRider gravel course, big eye opener on how to ride on the stuff ... good fun too! :-)

At 6'2" and 75kg you seem to be a lanky streak of .... ;-) Maybe go for something tall like a dirt bike or motard (I've a DR-Z400SM which is a great machine .. cheap to keep and LAMs approved) I'd skip the Scorpio 225's they are aweful to ride! A friend of mine has a Honda CB250 Hornet, very comfy machine but servicing costs more as it's a 4 cylinder.

[strandedinnz]

Be cautious with the front brakes coming down. Utilise rear brakes more.

I used to think that was the case when on gravel, but I went on a riding course and the rules for brakes on gravel are the same as on the road, more front brake than back .. too much rear brake and you lock it and then the stones roll around under the wheel making you go faster not slower.

[raitho]

I went on the ProRider gravel course, big eye opener on how to ride on the stuff ... good fun too! :-)

At 6'2" and 75kg you seem to be a lanky streak of .... ;-) Maybe go for something tall like a dirt bike or motard (I've a DR-Z400SM which is a great machine .. cheap to keep and LAMs approved) I'd skip the Scorpio 225's they are aweful to ride! A friend of mine has a Honda CB250 Hornet, very comfy machine but servicing costs more as it's a 4 cylinder.

Checked out the DR-Z400SM and it looks awesome but well out of my price range from looking on TradeMe Is it hard to get a dirt bike road legal?

[HenryDorsetCase]

Hey guys

I am pretty interested in sitting my learners and getting my first bike but I had a slight concern about my driveway. It is a fairly long uphill gravel driveway with grass in the middle. It often gets deep holes in it from cars going down and digging them out. I'm wondering if I will have much issue with this as a learner? Here is a picture of the driveway:



Behind me in this picture is then a steeper concreted driveway which goes into the garage.

While making a topic I figured I would also ask about what bike I should get. I have done some searches through these forums and online but I seem to get varying answers. I am 6ft 2 and weigh about 75kg.

I started off looking at a GN250, my understanding is they are cheap to run and maintain and they are a great leaners bike. However I would do a fair amount of motorway and open road riding so would this be an issue on a GN250?

I then started looking at the Suzuki Bandit 250 as it seemed to have a bit more grunt but after looking around it appears they have an issue with their carbs which can cost a bit to repair.

I next started looking at a Honda VTR 250 or Suzuki Hornet 250 however the price on these jumps a bit from the GN250 and Bandit and there are not many in my area.

Are there any other bikes I am overlooking?

Thanks for the help

First up, you have to pay to play. Look up the LAMS list (gooooooooogle) to see what is available to you as a learner i.e. what is learner legal.

My recommendation is one of the dirt bike based Motards. being dirt bike based they love a good falling over and are tall. plus they should handle the dirt path (oooh errr) pretty well.

[strandedinnz]

Checked out the DR-Z400SM and it looks awesome but well out of my price range from looking on TradeMe Is it hard to get a dirt bike road legal?

It is :-) But not as pricey as you think .. what is your budget ? My 2010 DR-Z400SM cost me $6500 and was barely used by the previous owner, I've run up an extra 10000km in the past 9 months of having it. But loads of road-legal dirt bikes out there, if you like the DR-Z, look at the Kawasaki KLX400 it's the exact same bike just in Kawasaki green :-)
Standard dirt-bikes can usually be converted to motard with only a little effort, but the dirt bikes handle the gravel even betterer (21" skinny wheel on the front works better on gravel than 17" road wheels)

Go to a dealer and have some test sit ons and rides see what feels nicest to you ... being tall you will probably be looking dirt/motard or tourer ... unless you enjoy the hunchback look you'll develop from a sports bike :-)

[MarkW]

With your height and weight any of the street legal 250 trail based bikes will be fine - I'm 5'8'' and have a DRZ250 Suzuki. 28,000km travelled on this bike, oil and filter changes plus a set of front brake pads have been the only work needed so far. I run dual purpose tyres and care is required on wet slippery sealed surfaces. My $86 rear lasts about 6000km and the $70 front over 10,000km. This bike has been from Kaitaia to Queenstown and back twice so far. Motards are generally more expensive than a trail bike as they have more bling. Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki all have sensible 250 road registered trail bikes available and have had for years. A very good 250 single will be far cheaper than a 20 year old 4 cylinder 250 street bike to run - but it won't be as fast! Or look as flash.

[Wayz]

I'm 6 2 and around 97kg, I have a little CBF250 that I nip around on, bike takes it like a champ! Even around the 100kph it handles well......if I were you though I would start on a dirt bike, I think it should almost be compulsory for every biker!

[Drew]

if I were you though I would start on a dirt bike, I think it should almost be compulsory for every biker!

This has been said by quite a few people, it makes no sense to me at all.

[BuzzardNZ]

You could take a look at a Hyosung 250. They are a reasonable large bike for a 250 and might be a better fit for you given your height.

[Ocean1]

This has been said by quite a few people, it makes no sense to me at all.

Makes sense to me. Learning anything is about pushing limits, and while a dirt bike's no better at that than any other sort the dirt itself is a helava lot softer than chipseal. Most novices chuck their machines away several times in the first months and I can't see how doing that on a dirt track isn't a better idea.

Sure, there's slightly different techniques required on the road, on a road bike, but at least in the dirt they get the basics right without loosing too much skin, eh?

[sels1]

Makes sense to me.

And me.
Particulaly in this situation

[HenryDorsetCase]

This has been said by quite a few people, it makes no sense to me at all.

Riding a dirt bike off road is a good way to work out traction sense, braking, how to make the thing go, top and turn without having to deal with asphalt, concrete, other vehicles and road users and also higher speeds. All I can offer is my own learner experience from 14 through 17 and learning to ride on my TS125 and impaling myself and the poor wee bike into the scenery all over the show. Plus when I started there was no such thing as organised training or stepped licences: I got a motorbike licence and that was it. the test consisted of the local cop watching me do a few figure 8's in a carpark and riding round the block.

Maybe today and particularly if you want to ride on road, all you neeed is road based training, but I personally think that dirt bike experience is still valuable. Hell of a lot of fun, too, lets not forget that.

[Ocean1]

the test consisted of the local cop watching me do a few figure 8's in a carpark and riding round the block.

The bastard! Mine just put his beer down long enough to look out the door make sure I had a bike there.

[Wayz]

Haha funny stuff! Yeah dirt is more forgiving than road! I have seen some terrible sights on the road, poor buggers learning to ride on the road. I like to think my dirt bike experience gave me a huge advantage over most road learners....