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

[speights_bud]

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

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

[mattwood]

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

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!

[speights_bud]

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

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!

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

[mattwood]

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

[speights_bud]

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

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]

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?

[speights_bud]

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]

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

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..

[speights_bud]

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

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
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]

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]

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

[kiwifruit]

I guess Jeans would be ok for a little while,

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

[speights_bud]

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

i totally agree with that

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 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]

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]

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.