desmo_kid Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 (edited) Some of the rockier sections of your ride on utube remind me of the areas I've been riding on my enduro (KTM 250 XCFW) and trials bike (250 TXT Pro 250). I got back into the dirt at 50 yrs old after a 30+ year layoff and figured a trials bike would be easier to learn new skills on. I have been encouraged by my progress so have been challenging myself on the enduro bike. But 2 very low speed dumps in the rocks last weekend tweaked my knee to the point that makes me feel I was very close to serious damage. That has me wondering if in the gnarlier areas I'll stick to the trials bike. The far lower height and much lighter weight combine to avoid any of the type of getoffs I've had on the enduro and I've not come close to tweaking a knee or landing on rocks on my back (as evidenced on the enduro by deep scratches and gouges on my back protector) when on the trials bike. Reading some of the comments here touched on the difficulty factor with the heavier, taller enduros so I thought I'd add the above comments on that. This quote from the thread in particular brought a smile to my face as this is how I hurt my knee Monday: "The serious enduro bikes, xc, and xwc are 15-20 lbs more. Low speed handling is appalling---and there's always the wonderfull slow highsides--the tall seats mean you cannot catch it on a sidehill with the downhill foot, so you bail, then race over and bench press the whole thing before the gas all spills out. 500 calories in about 2 minutes" Back to the original post, I just ordered an open face helmet for the trials bike, the slower speeds really kill me in the heat. If I know I'll be doing faster riding I can always use the full face helmet. Ask yourself this: how many times at trials speeds have you dumped where you landed on your face or had scratches on the front of the helmet? That will give you an idea of the risk of the open face helmet. As far as the riding in your area goes, it looks gorgeous! Is it easy to find riding like this in legal areas? Edited September 12, 2009 by desmo_kid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swooshdave Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 As far as the riding in your area goes, it looks gorgeous! Is it easy to find riding like this in legal areas? It's probably harder to find places that you can't ride in Idaho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desmo_kid Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 It's probably harder to find places that you can't ride in Idaho. Do you say that from experience and knowlege or are you making sort of a joke? Hoping the former! It's one of the places I've considered moving to: looking for proximity to large mountains, plentiful trail opportunities, city of 100,000 so there's a good airport and support businesses for my business. Idaho is on the short list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhoh7 Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 here's machalooney on his GG w/ full face, last weekend... http://picasaweb.google.com/csvp07/Bonanza...O-y86r1h4aS6gE# Idaho still has a lot of places to ride..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machalooney Posted September 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 We tried to find somewhere we could not ride, no such luck... My buddy got a trials helmet and it sure is light and breathable, a little snug as he would YELL while trying to talk with the helmet on, but that was probably due to the music playing inside the helmet! He also looks like a tiger! I would rather roll than tip toe my way along this ridge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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