Although my subscribers know me best for my small-bore motorcycles (with the Honda Monkey being the reason this channel developed), I am no stranger to bikes with more than 125cc's! My first motorcycle was actually a 1987 Honda CR125 when I was about 13-14 years old back in the mid-90's. I was heavily influenced by the golden-age of motocross in the 90's, and the southern California riding culture portrayed by the Crusty Demons of Dirt video series. I was lucky enough to live on 5-acres with my parents here in Florida, which they let me turn into my own private motocross track. I had a 1950's Ford tractor with a box blade at my disposal to create my moto playground. I rode almost every day and became proficient at riding on sand, which certainly helped me on anything I rode from that point on. I sadly had to sell the CR125 when I was 16 because of a major speeding ticket, and didn't really revisit a major motorcycle again until MUCH later in life.
I had an assortment of pit bikes over the years for riding around the paddock at our Miata races, but it wasn't until I realized my son Rennen had a natural passion and interest in dirt bikes that I jumped back on a big bike. When Rennen was a toddler, he would sit atop my 1978 Yamaha YZ80 pit bike in the garage making engine sounds while my wife Brittany prepared orders for our Miata race parts business 5X Racing. I would take him for rides around the neighborhood on the little YZ and it must have struck a chord with him, because once we put him on two wheels via a push powered Strider bike, he took off! This inspired me to get back into motorcycles, and being a dirt bike guy, I wanted something that I could do just about everything with. A dual-sport felt like the right choice, and I came across a smoking deal on a perfect 2006 Suzuki DR-Z400S and jumped at it. This bike sounds good on paper, but when put to the test, it wasn't too fun to ride on the road, it wasn't nimble enough for me on the trails, and was way too bulky and heavy to even consider taking onto a motocross track or pushing hard on my old sugar sand track at my parents. With that, the DRZ hardly got used and I sold it when I heard of the incoming Honda Monkey in mid-2018. At this point, Rennen was 3-4 years old and was regularly riding a PW50. I would ride alongside him in our backyard on either my 1977 Honda Z50 or my 2002 Honda XR50. These bikes were fine for a while until he started going faster, which was requiring me to push my limits on the pit bikes! I moved up to a Honda CRF110 - which was way more comfortable and faster - and eventually made the Honda Monkey 125 my "chase bike" to ride with him. The Monkey was great in the backyard and was perfect for riding around the neighborhood. I modified it to handle the dirt better, and would bring it to Upstate NY during our summer trips to ride the pristine dual-sport backcountry there. I had ridden the DRZ during one NY trip and it was glorious, the bike was well-suited for that environment and I always thought I would like to have another dual sport for those trips, but the "season of life" was more small bikes that wouldn't be overkill to ride alongside a PW50 with! When Rennen graduated to the Husqvarna EE5 50cc sized MX bike, things started to evolve. I was pushing myself on the Monkey (or Grom that I had procured for more aggressive backyard riding) and the bike was finding it's "rough riding" limits fairly quickly. I stuck with the small-bores (Monkey, Grom, Trail 125) until our 2022 summer trip to NY where I pushed the Monkey and Trail as hard as I could, and had a realization that I had grown weary of using the wrong tool for the job. During this trip, I visualized what my next bike would be, and it was going to be a dual sport. But which one? There were several that had my attention, and my eventual decision was the CRF450RL. This video explains why!
Негізгі бет When is it time to go with a dual-sport motorcycle? For me, it's NOW and it's a 2022 Honda CRF450RL!
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