Trail Riding with the Bird Man

[bird man]

I'm counting on bird man to help out a lot.

I'll be glad to help and I've even got an owners manual if we can't figure it out.

[Stu]

There is a good chance that your 230 was a street legal version. Most people who buy the dirt only 230s don't put lights on them. You can check and see if there are connectors for the turn signals in the wiring harness. There might also be switches left on the front handlebar lever and rear brake pedal for brake lights. The best indication would be looking at the plate on the head stay (behind the headlight). If that plate has EPA approval language stamped on it then it was the street legal version of the bike. If not then someone did just pop a headlight on your bike.

It sounds like you are having fun with your new bike and that is, in the end, what this is all about.

Stu

[Bob Morgan]

I purchased the 230.

Cool! You got your farm play bike!

The light looks like one of these with the rubber band universal mounting straps. The bike already has an electrical system for the electric start, so a headlight is an easy add on.

[ajayhawkfan]

I purchased the 230.

Cool! You got your farm play bike!

The light looks like one of these with the rubber band universal mounting straps. The bike already has an electrical system for the electric start, so a headlight is an easy add on.

that is it.

[Rick]

Unless it's different than my 08, you don't have to take the seat off to get to the battery. Remove the left number plate and the black plastic cover in front of it and the battery slides out.

I've ridden mine for 4 years and I think that, for the money, you'd be hard pressed to find a better trail bike. Very nimble in the woods, very capable climbing hills, excellent fuel economy. The suspension may be crap, I don't know, I've never ridden anything better. Someday I'm going to ride one of those orange bikes just to see.

Rick

[troy]

Someday I'm going to ride one of those orange bikes just to see.

DO NOT RIDE one of those orange bikes unless you are ready to buy one! It's a trap!

One of my favorite tag lines I've seen on AdvRider belongs to BigDog, Mark Sampson. I don't know if it's his quote or one he heard, but:

It takes 12 HP to ride around the world--the rest is wheelspin.

The orange bikes give you LOTS of wheel spin, which many folks find addictive.

Despite some of the excesses in my life (it creeps up on you I guess), in my heart, I'm very much a less-is-more kind of guy. I've said it 100 times and many times in writing here on this forum: while I love my KTM EXC450, my grins were just as big on my old 99 Suzuki DR350, which had about 0.04 HP and 20% of the suspension compared to my KTM. So far there are not any trails I've ridden on my KTM 450 that I would/could not have ridden on my DR350--and I did. Mainly because of the suspension/weight differences, I had to go a lot slower in the rough stuff on the DR350.

If you are "trail riding", a DR350, a CRF230, or even a Honda Ruckus will get you up and down the trail.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcA-Y4g6Ew[/youtube]

However, a lot of the guys I've ridden with and still ride with have a slightly different definition of "trail riding" that at times looks more like an enduro race! Of course, many of these guys actually do race, and their race machine is also their trail machine. There is a reason that when you show up for an enduro or a hare scramble or most any woods riding event, it's a sea of orange. It's not because KTMs are low cost!

So buy any bike and get out and ride! The "worst" off-road bike today has more suspension than what guys rode in the woods 40 years ago. They seemed to have a good time!

[Bob Morgan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... M7e5Ii1HSI