Hobbies: Off-road motorcycles

This year my cherished dream came true - I bought a motorcycle! :)
Therefore, this summer I didn’t sit at the computer much longer - more and more mud was kneading the dirt in the fields and swimming on the beach.



I would like to tell a little about it and share a video report on how we spent the summer ...
')

1. My motorcycle. Why exactly off-road?
2. What was required for trouble-free pokatushek?
3. What is the result? Was there a fan?

1. My motorcycle. Why exactly off-road?

Motorcycles are a passion and a dream of a fairly large number of people, so I will not dwell on why motorcycles became my current hobby. But why off-road motorcycles (enduro)? For myself, I noted a number of advantages over other types of motorcycles:

• The first point I note that all motorcycles are cool :) in their own way. All classes have at the same time ... m ... hard :). After all, there are always various restrictions: money, garage footage. But there are more or less universal bikes - enduro, supermotors! The choice of a reasonable egoist.
• You can not ride on asphalt (and I'm very afraid to smudge on it :)).
• Much more diverse set of tricks that you can perform.
• Falls are more or less harmless, more mistakes are forgiven. But do not bump into trees, crush mushroom pickers and tumble off rocks.
• You can spend a lot of time in nature - beaches, forests, fields ...
• It is easier to look at the device and design, less whimsical to care (at first glance).
• You can ride enduro all year round and not close the season.
• Universality - asphalt, curbs, steps, primer, sand, dirt ... in the winter - ice and snow. Total: one bike for a hundred different adventures.

And, of course, cons:

1. Not all girls like it :)
2. Does not fly, does not float (almost)

2. What was required for trouble-free pokatushek?

1. Motorcycle
2. The form
3. Garage

I dreamed of such a motorcycle - Honda XR 250 Baja:


And I planned to spend, well, a maximum of 80-100 thousand on him :) As a result, the years went by, I wasn’t getting younger :) and I didn’t have a motorcycle for that money. This year, by a strong-willed decision, I forced myself to return to this issue and carve out a n-sum from the family budget. It turned out that good Baja in places accessible to me can be bought for 150tyr and higher ... And taking into account the fact that it was necessary to buy also a form - I did not pull this model.

Almost randomly, I opted for a cheaper version of motorcycles of the same class - Suzuki Djebel 250, it cost me 145yr:


And I was pleased with the technique. If required, I will describe this model in more detail.
It turned out after some time that, in principle, all the classmates of the “Japanese Four” are very similar in characteristics and an inexperienced user will not reveal many differences.

As for the form - the cost of it turned out to be rather big too - almost 50 tons. Moreover, not all of them were purchased - only a turtle, bots, knee pads and a helmet.
About fashionable enduro-pants and a jacket, about all sorts of raincoats there and there was no talk, just drooling flowed :)

Well, the last thing that was needed, and that played a very positive role in the development of motorcycles - the garage. It is VERY useful for the following reasons:

• All maintenance of the motorcycle (lubrication, adjustment, replacement of consumables, study, tuning ... there was such a thing - I sawed off the GPS with a grinder, as he took the maps on the radio network that only works in Japan) was carried out there.
• In the garage it is convenient to change clothes before and after pokatushek. If you arrive after a long time - the motorcycle and you - one continuous lump of dirt - will not be allowed into the house, you have to be exposed in the garage.
• And now the most important thing! :) Since not everyone has a garage - friends can put their equipment on you and you can try it out :) Thus, over this summer, in my garage there were two additional very interesting specimens:

KTM 450 SX-F:


and Yamaha TW-200:


In general, it gave a more versatile experience in the study of motorcycles and motorcycle riding training.

3. What is the result? Was there a fan?

As a result, I am very pleased with my choice of hobby - both fun and extreme and (after capital investments) quite economically. For example, on particularly critical crisis days, when there were no orders and money - it was enough to fill in a gasoline tank for 200 rubles and ride till you fall :) This joy turned out to be as much as when traveling to a ski resort. Although I would not refuse to go to the resort :)

As a result, I would like to share a video from our pokatushek for the summer of 2009 - highlighted in a separate post .
4 YouTube videos:

1. Hillclimbing
2. Jumping
3. Beachboarding
4. FreeRiding

PS I will answer questions about enduro, I will make an adept :)