Yesterday was a big day for my boys. My 5 year old has been ready for something a little bigger than his Suzuki JR50, but we haven't been in a position to buy something yet. We let him try out my 8 year olds DRZ110 (which is pretty heavily modded, hi compression big bore, cam, manual clutch, Fox shock, etc., etc.) but it was just too tall for him to get even one foot down...
I got a smoking deal on a KX65 not too long ago, but had been waiting for my older boy to really master the clutch before throwing him on that little rocketship. I put the stock low seat from the kx onto the drz (which IS just a yellow klx110, same seat/tank/plastics as a kx65) and the tall seat from the drz onto the kx, reset the sag for my 5yo's weight, adjusted all the controls for his reach, and turned him loose. He did great! His clutch work is a bit abrupt once he starts moving, but he's only 5 with one day of manual clutch under his belt, that's a lot younger than I was when I learned to operate that left hand lever! He did well enough that we're skipping the "in-between" bike and just moving him straight to the 110!
My older son took to the 65 very quickly too after he realized that he has to shift it A LOT more than the 110 to keep the motor singing. He's not ringing its neck, but the suspension on the mini mx'er is so much better, than even his hopped up 110 trail bike, that he's carrying a lot more speed over river rock, bumps, ruts, etc. He's fully ready to start trail riding now (we've only allowed him to ride within line of sight up to this point) but since I'm still not physically able, I need to talk my wife into getting back into the swing of trail riding so she can go with him.
On that note, my wife wants to take the MSF course over the summer and finally get her M1. She's had her permit in the past, but let it expire before taking the on-bike test. Since I've got 2 extremely well set up plated KTM's just collecting dust, she's been eyeballin' the 525 (fresh 12.5:1 540cc, 8/06 cam, +1mm valves, minor port work, carb absolutely dialed in.) I'm sure she'd ride the klx140l (kx100 suspension swap, 170 big bore) when trail riding with the kids, but I'd love to see her get comfortable on a full size bike again.
I only recently buttoned up the last 0.01% of work that my GasGas EC300 needed to be back to 100% so it too is just sitting on a stand, waiting for the day I can ride again. I had kinda lost motivation after getting hurt, but Man I miss riding! It's been hard to go from riding 200+ hrs a year on average to zero. Not to mention every night/weekend that I wasn't riding, I spent working on motorcycles, be it my own, or side jobs. This getting old business is rough, I may only be 35, but my body is acting more than twice its age! It wasn't the 4 hip surgeries, but the 3 herniated discs that took me off my scooters (none of which were motorcycle related) but having recently had a stroke (minor as it may have been... at least people can understand my speech again, if they have the patience to wait for me to spit it out!) who knows if/when I'll be able to ride again. Keeping the bikes in the garage when it would have made more sense to sell them has been the bit of hope that has kept me going, rc's helped fill the void to keep my sanity. With my kids rapidly progressing, and my wife's recent re-interest in riding, I'm trying to support/encourage them while embracing my life as a spectator instead of just waiting 'til I can ride again.
I'll be selling the kids' JR50 very soon so I'll have a bit of money to play with, so instead of just buying another rc, I may start tinkering with my extensively modified drz125 again next. I have a 147cc top end sitting in a box for it, but I think I'd rather hold out until I can swing the Engines Only 12.5:1 190cc top end (22hp!!!) but it's gonna be quite a bit more spendy than what I'll get from selling the jr50. Plan B is to finally get adult sized springs for the rm85 fork and shock that are already on there, as well as an RSW top triple clamp to open up the cockpit for adult riders. Proper springs and ergonomics will likely be appreciated more than tripling its horsepower since my wife is the only one that will ride it for the foreseeable future. While the drz125 and klx140 are setup very similar, she may like the klx140 for its electric start, but still says the drz125 is the most fun bike we own. I'd have to agree.
Long post, I know, but the fire's still burnin'!
