[TrialsRider]

The distance to travel the entire length of Belgium from it’s coast to it’s furthest inland city would be about 200 miles and require about 3 hours by highway. We here in North America have a very different concept of long distant travel, super-highways and open country, than would someone from a country of that scale.
I’ve ridden my 500cc single cylinder Honda Ascot further than that, stopping only to fuel up and pee, so to buy a 650cc twin or i4 and put restrictors in the intake and exhaust manifolds to kill it’s power while learning, makes no sense whatsoever.

…that’s why Euros can get those cool 1/8th. liter sportbikes and we don’t

[TrialsRider]

That’s a sweet bike and you are lucky to be able to get one, Yamaha doesn’t even import R125′ into North America or I’d have one. Given the choice between a super light weight bike that has exceptional performance for it’s displacement, or a much larger/heavier bike that has been crippled to perform like a riding lawn mower, you can guess which one I would choose.

[TrialsRider]

you own a collection !

[TrialsRider]

Your wish list is largely massive motorcycles and I have to wonder, what bike did you learn on and what bike did you take your crash on ?

I assume you have a reason for wanting so much horsepower, such as you only travel tremendous distances with loads of luggage or you pull a trailer or something. V-Max should not even be on your list, unless you need a motorcycle that is only used to accelerate like a jet fighter in straight lines, the first time I saw one it went by me like a missile with the front wheel only occasionally touching the ground, V-Max is overkill not overload. For that matter none of the bikes listed would have a reputation for superior handling and under the circumstance, I think a great handling bike would instill far more confidence in your goal to return to motorcycle riding.

If your big concern is keeping up with hubby on the highway, you should consider a BMW or something that is reputed to be an excellent highway handler, then you can sprint ahead and wait for him to catch up. If you plan to just tool around town with it and learn to ride again from scratch, you are looking at way too large of a motorcycle. …20+ years ago a 750cc standard motorcycle was considered large and modern bikes have more power yet.

[TrialsRider]

Section 5


…the next 2 are Amy Szoke and husband Jordan, both of Roadracer fame.

Triple step in section 4 and a Double step in section 2

[TrialsRider]

… you would not be pushing the limits and in competition if you don’t push the limits, you would never win.
I think that as motorcycle competitors we qualify as risk takers, but you should be able to ride a motorcycle on a public roadway without assuming significant risk over anyone else. Many would get enough thrill just from pleasure riding, without having to make it a race and if you find yourself riding public roads like it is a race track, it’s time to re-think the whole thing.

[TrialsRider]

I’m from Toronto originally and learned to ride there, but to someone in Hong Kong our cities would almost be like living in the country. Toronto has green belts where Hong Kong would only have Black belts … ( humor intended

[TrialsRider]

The track that I am most familiar with is Mosport and any time I spectated races there, flagmen are tactfully positioned right at track level and on every significant corner. There would still be plenty of blind spots and dangers at the speed the racers achieve, but the various color flags to indicate oil on track, ambulance ahead, caution, etc. must provide a tremendous margin of safety over any public road riding situation. Add to that everyone is traveling around and around a loop over what becomes a familiar path, plus given the opportunity to practice the course !!! Race tracks are the only place to ride as fast as your motorcycle can go.

At the few Dirt track events where I was participating in a centre field Trials demonstrations, riding over cars and crap like that, we were pressed into service as corner flaggers, and this was on a 1/2 mile oval horse track where there were actually no blind corners, but with corner flags the racers didn’t even have to turn their heads to be cautioned of situations ahead, we were close enough to touch their left arm with the flag.

[TrialsRider]

I vividly remember the day I saw about 4 lbs. of fresh black grease, fall off a Semi-Tractor trailer truck 5th. wheel hitch and splat on the pavement directly in front of me, it looked like black cow flops in the middle of the road. On another occasion while traveling the Trans-Canada Highway across the Prairies, I encountered several miles of pavement that had been deliberately sprayed with what appeared to be fresh oil, a high speed gravel shoulder ride quickly became the best defense. Paying close attention to your surrounding, reading the terrain or surface conditions and practicing avoidance are your only defense.

To be a good rider you need to be able to ride pavement and gravel, to stay upright you need to avoid the greasy pavement completely.

You can not avoid riding gravel forever and if you keep them in a relatively straight line, street bikes are amazing fast rides on gravel roads, you do need to learn how to balance well and handle the inevitable wiggle that highly pressurized street tires induce on gravel.

[TrialsRider]

… question to OP : did you have your feet on the pegs at the time or foot dragging along in a futile attempt to hold up the moving motorcycle ???

[TrialsRider]

…unfortunately I failed to specify PM and the early morning deluge made for a very challenging event.
Despite wet moss and muddy section conditions, we were extremely pleased with yesterday’s results and the rider skills displayed at this years event absolutely amazing. All in all the event was a tremendous success, enjoying participation by more than 40 riders from as far as Victoria B.C., Alberta, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

That new 15 foot high rock face I posted a couple of weeks ago now has dozens of tire tracks up it and once again my bike is covered in muck, so time to get out the old toothbrush, fresh oil and that fresh rear tire I should have put on before the weekend. sometimes you should not listen to the wife ) I crashed twice and the second one very nearly broke my hip, fortunately no damage was sustained to my motorcycle.
…oh yea, btw, I won the Grand Vet 1st. place gold at both Saturday and Sunday events, so I guess that makes me the CMA 2010 Canadian National Grand Veteran Trials Champion

Will share some photos with you as soon as they become available, I was too busy riding to take any myself, but a close friend apparently took about 1000 photos and a couple of hours video.

[TrialsRider]

…do a view source of the page to see the tiny bit of code you were missing

[TrialsRider]

You can’t really consider a race track corner to be a ‘blind corner’ where you have a flagman, can you ? … unless he’s a blind flagman maybe.

[TrialsRider]

The CBR would not be dangerous to ride slow, only that it is capable of going very fast and you will want some room to really let it go. Any motorcycle with wider bars and an upright riding position is a little easier to learn on.

If roads there are as tight as I can imagine, you certainly don’t want a 1000cc motorcycle, mine rides comfortably between 140 -> 200 kph

[TrialsRider]

Unless you know exactly what bike you want and then shop and search for it for possibly a very long time, buying used limits your ability to establish the make model and year in advance. It might be best to establish a criteria first, then consider a wider range of motorcycles that fit some or all of that criteria.

Your initial bucket list is:
– Cheap
– Small
– Suited to long rides over desolate and/or poorly maintained roadways
– Extremely reliable.

So lets start with ‘cheap’ because that ones a killer !
Cheap used motorcycles need service, parts or both, so unless the experience you talk of is with fixing those cars and quads ? Cheap bikes generally need parts and labor to render reliable for long distances over bad roads. You need an old bike that has not seen a lot of wear.

Small: is great for learning:) great for dirt:) … not so good for distance:(

Suitable for long distance rides over crap roads, may as well group in bulletproof reliability with this one ! Basically you are looking for a cheap bike capable of winning the Dakar Rally. Lets start with the list of Dakar Rally winning motorcycles since 1979, because it’s entertaining if not educational Yamaha XT500, BMW GS800R, Honda XL500R, BMW GS980R, Honda NXR750V, Cagiva Elefant 900, Yamaha YZE750T, Yamaha YZE850T, BMW F650RR, KTM LC4 660R, KTM LC8 950R, KTM 690 Rally.
…That’s the whole list, 31 years of racing boils down to only 12 winning models !

Shorten the list to the oldest, small motorcycles: Yamaha XT500 (1979&1980) and Honda XL500R (1982) The rest of the list is big and expensive, so I think we have your short list. You’re looking for an early 80’s 500cc Enduro that has spent most of it’s life parked in a nice garage.

[Author]

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