lankydoug
Husqvarna
Pro Class
I have a 15 acre riding area in my backyard that is a motocross/endurocross/single-track practice area. I have a log matrix, supercross sized woops two big jumps one smaller jump a monster berm, an acre of wood chips that are similar to riding in sand, a cedar thicket with a maze of bar width trails, and a rocky creek in big oak timber. It's kinda like a skate park for dirt bikes so many of my friends come ride after work when they only have an hour or two and can't travel to a large riding area.
Now to get to the point of the thread. We often swap bikes like most riding buddies do and I've noticed that in general there are two types of set ups for the woods. One is like my WR250 Husky which my son has nicknamed the sofa because it soaks everything up and rarely loses contact with the ground. The other is motocross style suspension which is easy to skip over stuff and if desired can purposely be made to deflect off obstacles to clear other obstacles. My son prefers this type of riding and his 2011 YZ450 is his weapon of choice since snap of the throttle and he's hopping off rocks and logs and landing beyond the gnar that he prefers to skip over. I see the advantage to this style and set up but there is no going slow, the magic speed to skip through the woods must be maintained and more time is spent on the back wheel. I ride my "sofa" bike more like a trials bike, always in control and in contact with the ground letting the LTR re-valved suspension soak everything up. (Keep in mind he's 19 and I'm 51.)
Recently a friend who was a raw beginner on dirt bikes bought a used KX250 at a deal and brought it out to start learning. (probably the worst choice for a beginner bike) He paid $1750 for it which was a steal. It was really clean and things like billet triple clamps and powder coated frame with welded in damper mount gave away that at some point either a really fast guy or someone who liked to throw bling on a bike had owned it. We all took turns riding it and the reviews were polar opposite... either "it was awesome" or it was "I would kill myself on that". I really liked it, the motor was by far the fastest 250 2 stroke I'd ever ridden and it was easy to tell that this bike was highly modded. The light went on for me, what my son had been preaching to me about how and why he liked motocross set ups better
. By motocross set up I mean the suspension has very little soft cushion in the first bit of travel then a very firm middle and is virtually impossible to bottom out unless you case an obstacle or hit a massive G-out. If I rode this bike fast it was awesome but if I slowed down it didn't work as well. Even though I liked the suspension on his YZ450 I could never ride his 450 like this mainly because I could never get comfortable with the 4 stroke power curve. A friend who works at the local dealer looked up the originally ordered the bike and it was Destry Abbott... That explained a lot.
The beginner rider that bought this bike rarely got the bike in to the mid-range let alone on the pipe until one day he screwed up and whiskey throttled it in a corner and crashed. He didn't get hurt but it scared him enough that within a week or so the bike was sold for $2,500. I would have liked to own it but it was gone before I knew it was for sale.
Now to get to the point of the thread. We often swap bikes like most riding buddies do and I've noticed that in general there are two types of set ups for the woods. One is like my WR250 Husky which my son has nicknamed the sofa because it soaks everything up and rarely loses contact with the ground. The other is motocross style suspension which is easy to skip over stuff and if desired can purposely be made to deflect off obstacles to clear other obstacles. My son prefers this type of riding and his 2011 YZ450 is his weapon of choice since snap of the throttle and he's hopping off rocks and logs and landing beyond the gnar that he prefers to skip over. I see the advantage to this style and set up but there is no going slow, the magic speed to skip through the woods must be maintained and more time is spent on the back wheel. I ride my "sofa" bike more like a trials bike, always in control and in contact with the ground letting the LTR re-valved suspension soak everything up. (Keep in mind he's 19 and I'm 51.)
Recently a friend who was a raw beginner on dirt bikes bought a used KX250 at a deal and brought it out to start learning. (probably the worst choice for a beginner bike) He paid $1750 for it which was a steal. It was really clean and things like billet triple clamps and powder coated frame with welded in damper mount gave away that at some point either a really fast guy or someone who liked to throw bling on a bike had owned it. We all took turns riding it and the reviews were polar opposite... either "it was awesome" or it was "I would kill myself on that". I really liked it, the motor was by far the fastest 250 2 stroke I'd ever ridden and it was easy to tell that this bike was highly modded. The light went on for me, what my son had been preaching to me about how and why he liked motocross set ups better
. By motocross set up I mean the suspension has very little soft cushion in the first bit of travel then a very firm middle and is virtually impossible to bottom out unless you case an obstacle or hit a massive G-out. If I rode this bike fast it was awesome but if I slowed down it didn't work as well. Even though I liked the suspension on his YZ450 I could never ride his 450 like this mainly because I could never get comfortable with the 4 stroke power curve. A friend who works at the local dealer looked up the originally ordered the bike and it was Destry Abbott... That explained a lot. The beginner rider that bought this bike rarely got the bike in to the mid-range let alone on the pipe until one day he screwed up and whiskey throttled it in a corner and crashed. He didn't get hurt but it scared him enough that within a week or so the bike was sold for $2,500. I would have liked to own it but it was gone before I knew it was for sale.
big comfy seats and plush suspension for me please. 
