It is actually a 450EXC from 2004, so a bit of a beast, although all the reports of the early 450's say it is softer than some of the later ones.
It isn't exactly mint but I decided that if I spent the money on one which was 'perfect', then I would probably never want to even get it dirty, let alone take it off road
I looked at some which were so pristine that I wouldn't want to ride them on the road, let alone off it
I looked at one from 2006 that still had perfect paintwork on the original footpegs and to be honest, I felt sorry for it.
So, some work to be done tidying it up but it is scruffy enough that it won't break my heart if I drop it and hopefully scruffy enough that the local likely lads won't give it a second glance
It might need a 'slow action' throttle for me off-road, even the K13 is a bit twitchy for my 7-year-old-girl's wrists and I'm not planning on sitting in traffic on it so it shouldn't boil too often
A couple of tea bags in the pocket will make the most of that!
If you remember my original 'need' statement, it was for a 'small' hack to use for the 3 mile trip to the gym to save using the K or the car and something to have a little bit of fun on in the lanes. I also wanted something I could fiddle with and fettle myself without having to run to the stealers every 2 minutes. I also didn't want the 'complication' of water cooling, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad!
I'm not quite sure which part of a 450cc bike with a metre high seat is 'small' apart from the bum comfort factor, but what the hell! It starts, it stops and it doesn't drag its arse on the floor; my arse may be another matter. And, with 33" inside legs I can get both feet on the floor, on the flat, with ease!
If it has been 'set up' at all, then it is probably for a lard arse and being a new-found skinny git (much like yourself
) then I have some work to do dialling it in.
Hopefully you will all notice that I took on board the comments about the ageing Honda XR250 that I was lusting after, (and which Paul C was kind enough to travel to vet for me, thank you Paul, but it was way over-priced even for a fairly pristine 6,000 mile old '98 bike) and also the comments about having both a kick and a motor for starting.
I was also super impressed by your comments (and others on t'internet) about the ability of the KTM chassis you rode on your off-road day. The 450 is exactly the same as the 250 in terms of size and weight so if I can't lug this one out of the mire then the 250 would still be sitting there as well. And, as my old dad used to say, 'what will go fast will go slow'. Mind, he also used to say 'what will hold a lot will hold a little' but I have never found that to be true about pint mugs
Brian (who now has no excuse for not getting out in this filthy weather
)
