Geezer Learns to Ride a Dirtbike
By Dan (the geezer) Nitzel
May of you long time readers may remember an earlier article in the September 2006 newspaper about my adventures of riding a new dirtbike. Prior to this I spent about one half hour “trying” to ride a 1984 Yamaha 600TT about 15 years ago and promptly sold it. It had no electric start and was hard (for me) to stand on and kick start.
To refresh your memory, I purchased my Suzuki DRZ400S in 2005 just before my 50th birthday. I’m sure there’s one question that commonly pops up in peoples heads with a guy getting a dirtbike at 50 and has never ridden any kind of motorcycle before. Is this guy having a mid-life crisis or what? I’ve been in a crisis most of my life, so nix that answer. Plain and simple, I always wanted to play with one.
Many would say that a DRZ400S is not a dirtbike. In reality, it’s what is known as a “dual sport” bike, meaning that it can be licensed for use on the street. But it’s as close to a real dirtbike that in 2005 was allowed to be licensed and was reasonably priced. It’s a great first bike to learn on and it is very trail-able in stock form. It handles pretty good on the street, weighs only about 250 pounds and will beat most Harleys in a drag race. In stock form it gets 60 miles per gallon. I had a blast riding it the summer of 2006. I rode this bike on my 50th birthday to pass the motorcycle endorsement on my drivers license. The same day I got the endorsement, I got the bike plated and picked out my license plate number, 8-1313. The lady behind the license plate desk at the court house mentioned nobody else wanted it. I was born on Friday the 13th, and thought it was only fitting!
In the last Geezer article, I mentioned that I went to Colorado to hit the off road trails with the DRZ accompanied by Gary Gibbs. We took our quads along as well. My first trail experience on the DRZ was less than I had hoped for. The street geared DRZ was way too fast on the trails in first gear and sat up too high for my preference. I fried the clutch as well, dumped it about 2 dozen times and only crashed two or three times resulting only in minor injuries.
Gary Gibbs obligingly offered “fix” a few things on the DRZ for me. First off we geared it way down placing the largest rear sprocket on it we could find. Before the “fix”, the DRZ could do 110 mph in top gear. Now, it will top out at about 65 mph in top gear. The clutch plates that I burned up in Colorado last year after only about 20 miles of trail has been replaced. I also installed a Kouba Link lowering link to the rear suspension thus dropping the seat height about two inches. I can now set on it and have my feet flat on the ground (I’m six foot one inch). I adjusted the front forks to drop the front about an inch or so and rides much lower now. DOT approved knobby tires were placed on the rims in place of the stock tires. The stock tires work much better on pavement but the knobbies are better in sand and mud. In 2005 I installed new skid plates, new radiator guards and some gnarly feet perches. I had some Power Madd hand guards, but took them off this year as they changed the reach of the brake and clutch levers. Other than these modifications the stock exhaust remains.
While I did not make it to Colorado this year, I did make to the minimum maintenance trails north of Grand Island and enjoyed some fine riding there. The trails are sandy and hard packed. With the knobby tires, I easily made it through some nasty mud holes that 4x4 trucks got stuck really bad in. It felt kinda’ good to be able to ride basically “off road” legally with a licensed bike! I used to ride my quads up there always with an eye looking for the law.
Sadly, the DRZ only got a few hundred miles put on it this year. It’s been a busy year for me keeping busy with NOHVA work and I didn’t have much time to ride it. In the place of the DRZ, I began riding my new street bike, a 2006 Yamaha FZ1. The DRZ gave me the street sport bike bug bad and I wanted something that handled better on corners, was fast and fun to ride. I really like my FZ1 and put about 3,000 miles on it this summer just riding back and forth to work and errands. The FZ1 reminds me of a YFZ450 quad on a grander scale. It has great power, about 150 hp, it is light, it handles great, will do 90 in no time in first gear and best of all, you can ride it EVERY DAY! You can’t legally ride a quad on the street every day if you live in Grand Island or most any other town, and I wouldn’t want to anyway as quads (in my opinion) are not really designed for stability on paved streets. I’ve owned fast cars and fast quads before, but a good crotch rocket bike beats both in the adrenalin and self discipline department. The FZ1 has helped make me a better DRZ rider and the DRZ helped me learn how to ride a bike. Thanks to the DRZ, I can ride my street bike with some confidence and have never dumped the street bike yet. I can’t say that for the DRZ, but it’s made to take a few “mistakes” in stride. I am hooked on motorcycles now and may have to attend motorcycle detox (I never went for ATV detox, still addictive). Why didn’t I get one earlier?
For me, learning to ride a dirtbike was and continues to be a lot more difficult than learning to ride a quad. Age probably is the biggest contributor to my assessment, but I don’t mind taking a few bumps and scrapes while learning on dirtbike as long as the helmet, knee, chest and elbow pads are on and a deliberator is handy. I wish I would have learned to ride a dirtbike when I was a kid or a young adult. I’m sure my life would have been different and I could have gotten my “kicks” in a less destructive manner. I am hoping that 2008 will provide me some time to ride the DRZ again. It’s a fun little bike, and I want to ride some bike trails for practice before I head back out to Colorado again. While I am in Colorado, I want to also ride the ATV mountain trails also as I am a better rider on a quad than a dirtbike. But there are a lot more dirtbike trails than ATV trails in Colorado and this old dog still wants to learn and enjoy a few more tricks while I can.
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Sunday, March 01, 2009