125-200cc Is there a slow movement back to smaller cc bikes?

It was in the Upper Nestucca. I have heard some of the trails at Diamond Mill are pretty "advanced" but I haven't been able to get over there. I guess if you are as out of shape as me any trail becomes challenging after the 3 hour mark!

I'm sure you meant to say.."North American" Its the same Adage everywhere, isn't it!. Going from a TTR250 (big mistake) then '04Wr450 then '06 YZ250 to finally the bike I should have been on in the first place.

All I have to add is; Yes, you do have to work the clutch on the WR125 w/ bigger climbs but, I still have energy at the end of most rides and feel as though I rode the bike not the bike riding me!!

No kidding. It sucks that right now the best choice many people have when looking for a bike for their teenage kid or wife/girlfriend to ride is a 250lb 230F. That is a class that is begging for a mildly powered light as hell mid-size bike that is cheap to buy and maintain.

Diamond mill rules.

We didn't get back to that on the 125 but it would be tough even with the 144. It was tough on my WR. Shane got up all but the first part of the second video on the gasgas, for that our friend Jason rode it up for him, Jason rides AA offroad and expert class in trials. The gasgas was a boiling mess by that point.

Shane did everything at the devils head ISDE on the 125 before the 144 kit without a problem.

He could not climb this on the 125 though... he did make it up on is gasgas with a trials tire. Odus the guy in front here is an Expert trials rider and rides 40+ expert off road. He really has some fun loops at diamond mill. The WR250f is killer on technical stuff, love that bike.
http://jmetteer.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/2010-OFF-ROAD-RIDES/10-06-13-DIAMOND-MILL/12551505_oNqbd#901687240_8V7w5-A-LB

The WR250f is safe for now. I listed 2 bikes and people wanted the RMX250, so it went down the road to make room for the new bike...

Photo's tonight!

Thanks ARod, Come up this way and Kelly and I can take you on some good stuff. You can crash at my place no problem, grab a bike and go with Kelly if it is a weekday or both of us on the weekend.

That trail is difficult, the camera still doesn't do it justice. The guys in front of me ride endurocross Kieth missed the Vegas main last month by one position, and Dennis has done well in a few ISDE's, Greece was the last one he did.

Later,

Totally agree.

What bike do I get for my 14 year old? He has been on a KX100 set up for woods, but is growing fast and will be ready for a full size bike next year.

There are few choices since the small thumpers all way nearly twice as much as his KX100.

I bought the WR250f for him to use because he wont be able to handle a 250 2-stroke and the e-start would be nice for him. But, it is much heavier than a WR125. Maybe I ought to rethink it.

Maybe 2 WR125's in our garage would look good!

That's what is happening at our household. My 14 yr old daughter is going to have her own wr125 2010. She has been riding mine w/ her 16 yr old sister who is on the ttr 125. Size is everything when it comes to the up and comers!
My 14 yr old has to tippy toe and what not for now, but when she gets her own I will have a Kuba link for it.

I've been embarrassed by kids on 80's in the forest and on the track. Any large-wheeled competition bike can climb anything with the right rider. Engine size is a preference!

I want a WR150, but only cause I already have a WR300. Not sure I could live with it as an only bike though cause I am a power junkie. I rarely can use it all, but I still want it there and on-tap.

This thread got me thinking about how often the subject of hillclimbing comes up when discussing smaller cc bikes. To put it simply, there are better bikes for hillclimbing that a 150 (I found a hill I could climb on my 250 GasGas that I could not climb on my 125 for example) but when it comes down to it that just isn't as big of an issue as most people make it out to be. If it was, wouldn't we all setup our bikes exclusively for hillclimbing? I don't see many CR500s with extended swingarms on the trails I ride but few would doubt they are far better hill climbers than your average bike, but in the end we just want to be able to climb the same hills as everyone else in our group. If you change the question from "Will this be the best climbing bike in the world" to "Can I get up the same hills as my riding buddies" then the answer is yes. If you really care about super technical climbs I would recommend a bike with a huge motor and long swingarm on one end, or a trials bike on the more technical side but after failing a climb on my WR125 that I made on my GasGas 250 I still decided to sell the GasGas. The reasons the GasGas made the climb were due to tradeoffs I simply didn't want to make on the rest of the trail. The biggest part was the GasGas was setup with super soft suspension (similar to Jake's WR250F actually) which just doesn't deflect over anything combined with a trials tire filled with 6lbs of pressure. You can be climbing a hill and if you didn't look down you might not believe you are hitting softball sized rocks and roots as you absolutely do not feel them. It works realllllllly well in nasty terrain but in higher speed terrain I wanted the control you get from stiffer suspension not to mention the reduced fatigue I get from a lighter weight bike. And to top it all off the 144 is just more fun.

The decision for me in the end came down to the fact that while there was a hill I couldn't climb I didn't have to because others in the group couldn't climb it as well so it wasn't part of our loop, and for the remaining 40 miles the 144 was clearly the faster, more fun bike to ride.

As Kelly has mentioned, we haven't been left at the bottom of any hills complaining that we could have made it up if only we had a 450 but we have heard many 450 riders say they could have kept up in the singletrack if only they had lighter bikes

Not that I would go and recommend them as desert bikes (I'll leave it up to Ajax to sell you on that one) but they work really well in tight singletrack.

I have also heard from about 15 A riders that the 144s are very competitive.

Oops, I got my numbers wrong there, it was just a single rider who made about 15 references to himself being an A rider. Still, he likes his 144 a lot

My club's enduro was yesterday. In my section we had a 5 mile special test that was AA, A and B only. It is pretty technical with a down hill creek with steps, a couple of big hill climbs and lots of off camber single track.... low score in the section was a guy on a TTR 125. It did have YZ85 suspension and maybe a 140 or 150 kit and the guy is an ex GNCC A250 champ, but it's still a TTR125!

i love all these threads...so responsive and helpfull
thios site rocks


poopy is going to let me ride his 125.............then the choice


searching for links on the 150 with a rekluse now.I want left hand brake and clutch ..

Lucas,

You have 3 options for an auto clutch: EFM(custom work), Dyna Ring, and the new Rekluse that is very similar to the Dyna Ring. The Dyna ring type has some advantages over the EFM not least of which is the $200 in savings. It also allows you to bump start your bike in an emergency. The EFM is a very bullet proof package that takes advantage of the entire clutch pack. Not a great differentiation but noticeable. It also requires a spacer for the clutch cover that they provide, but it is still a consideration. You also will need to send your clutch and cover to them with a 2 week turn around. I have ridden both and the bottom line is that they both work well. I got the EFM simply because I already had one and completely trust their work and at the time it was the only option.

Good luck,
Walt

BRAP BRAP...after watching your video...im not letting you ride it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fuf1uv-Nya8

That trail is called Waterfall and I have climbed it on a Husky 125. The little Husky will really climb about anything.

i promise ill treat it like yours not my own



that the video was before my memory card was full it got harder about a hour after that.

I think alot of it depends on the rider. I love my Husky 144 but at this point I think it is costing me 2-3 minutes per race over a 250 2-stroke. Works great and is way better then the 125 but still a tiny bit fussy on technical hills. Sure is a blast and easy to ride. The smallbore everything is easy. Easy kick, easy clutch, easy throttle, light weight so brakes work awesome and if you do happen to stall it, since there is no comprssion it will bumpstart itself before you come to a stop. Perfect to me would be a Husky 200 bases off the 144 engine and in that frame WOW! I would suggest you ride your friends different bikes and I do not mean for 2 miles. Put soem true saddle time on and consider that their bike is set up for them, not you. So factor that in. Ultimatlely in my opinion if a guys in good shape and a good rider I think a 250 2-stoke is best. But I will say the 144 fun factor is awesome! And although your working hard to go real fast it really doesn't feel like you worked that hard at the end of the day! Good luck!

Are we talking about this video?
http://jmetteer.smugmug.com/Motorcyc...240_8V7w5-A-LB

It sure looks like waterfall at the east side of DM. If not then I guess it is just very similar looking.

That guy was fast! He passed me on a couple occasions, and he was just flicking that little bike whereever he wanted it to be!

P.S. That section was awesome, Norm...