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Offroad

The Beast

Mary and I decided to buy dirtbikes in 2001. I got the beast to the left, a 2001 YZ426F and she got a TTR225. For her the TTR is perfect. Nice, cushy ride without too much power. Affordable to boot! Me on the other hand...I got the biggest, fastest production motocross bike made at the time! I ride a lot of trails so the 4 stroke was a no-brainer. When I first brought it home I thought I bouth too much bike for myself. Since then I have settled into it pretty well. I wish it had the auto-decompression release like on the newer bikes, other than that. It's been great bone stock.

Ride Report:

Before we get started...Here's some pics of my buds and I.

ATV Pics


Dirtbike Pics


New ATV Pics As Of 4-15-05


Little Sahara Trip - June 2005



Suspension
I would agree with most of the reports out their that at slow speeds the suspension is a little tough on you. Everything else is perfect to me so far. I have ridden motocross quite a bit and love the suspension. I hammered whoops pretty hard and it soaks them up like a champ. I've gone long on doubles and flatlanded from about 15 feet in the air. Not a smooth landing but I was able to ride them out. The biggest jump so far is a 70 foot double! Pics of that are posted, check them out.

Tranny
Shifts great, I have had no problems with missing gears etc. My only complaint is 1st gear is too high for my riding style. Ie: the occasional hillclimbs and trails. For its purpose which is pure Motorcross its fine. I'll probably drop a tooth on the front sprocket to make it a little more woods friendly.

Engine
Absolutely phenomenal. More power and torque than I could ever ask for. I have raced a couple new YZ250's and beat both in drag races by a large margin. When it was bran new I had problems with it getting hot. Once it was broke in it's never overheated since. I replaced the timing chaing due to the intake camshaft skipping timing. I still ran a motocross track with the intake valves off by one tooth! The only think was it wasn't idling well. I thought I just wasn't hooking up well out of the corners! It was only about $50 in parts and it started on the first kick.

Starting
I have heard tons of bad stuff about starting these bikes. Personally, I have had it start on the 1st kick almost everytime. When its been sitting for a couple weeks maybe three kicks. Yea, you have to get up on it more than a 2 smoke but thats about it. You also have to deal with the process of pulling the compression release, getting it just past TDC and then kicking it. Other than those two things it has always started great for me. The 1st is the worst. When your really hot and tired it does take alot out of you to jump up and slam the kick starter.

Overall
Overall I am very satisfied. I would buy the same bike again if I had to. When I first rode the bike I thought for sure I bought too much bike for me. It is really fast. But the more I ride it and settle in with it the more comfortable I am. It is a pure bred Motorcross bike and it shows. Cheap bars I had to replace with Renthalls after the first dump, kinda time consuming changing the oil, other than that I'm hitting the track and trails with a grin from ear-to-ear. :-)

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