[MCgunner]

I mean, when you got a street legal dirt bike? :D

Was setting up another tripod stand for my hunting buddy who'll be down here next month. Hey, it works and gets 80 mpg in the process.

http://imageigloo.com/images/7791Image001.jpg

[sixgunner455]

What does one of those run?

[308win]

Faster than you will want to go if you have any sense.:D

[MCgunner]

They're about 2500 MSRP now, I think. http://www.diamousa.com

I bought three after being accepted as a dealer. They didn't sell real fast, so I gave up that idea after gas prices dropped and people stopped lookin' for cheap transport. LOL I got three for 3K, sold one for 1200, the other for 1500, so basically mine cost me three hundred bucks new in the crate. :D It's an OHC, dandy little motor. I've been runnin' it hard off road for about 3 years now. I run it down to my place on the highway occasionally. It will run about 60 on the highway and it's only 25 miles down there. I mostly ride it around town to save gas, though, have other motorcycles for the open road.

I don't have the shop space to store an ATV and, honestly, I'd not use it 9 months out of the year, would have to drain the gas and put it on a battery tender. I ride the bike on the street or the trail and it's pretty awesome in the mud. I've yet to go where it wouldn't, but if I did get it bogged down, it only weighs 250 lbs, can drag it out by hand or just lift the rear wheel up and put it where it'll get some traction and walk it out of the bog. It'll go where I'd stick an ATV for sure, though. Only catch is, riding a dirt bike takes a bit of skill or you can wind up on your face in the mud a lot. LOL! ATVs don't take that much learning to ride.

[Kingcreek]

Years ago we had a Honda Trail 90 with knobby tires, front and rear racks, and 4 gears with H/L range and an auto clutch. I'm still amazed at the things we did with it and where we went with it. My cousin showed up in camp one night with a buck deer, head between the handlebars, body lashed to the seat and rear rack, and him riding high straddlin' the whole thing!
Me, I have gotten used to the utility of an ATV and I'd hate to be without it.

[MCgunner]

Well, I hauled 3 hogs out with it Saturday, all in one trip using a piece of plastic Cabelas used to sell as the "deer sleigher". I get what I need doin' done with it. Been thinking about getting a hand cart for duck hunting and I could use it behind the bike, just lash the handle to the rack with bungees.

My first motorcycle, well, after I holed a piston on an Allstate Compact scooter (built by Puch of Austria) was a spanking new 1967 Honda CT90. I rode the bejezers outta that thing. Hunted off it, rode it to school, flattracked it on my buddy's track, rode an enduro with it, built a gun rack in 8th grade metal shop for it. It'd climb straight up if I could get traction. That was the first year of the transfer box, earlier models had the dual sprockets on the rear.

Some years ago I found an old 67 trail 90 I paid 50 bucks for that had been sitting in a barn. I rebuilt it, stripped and camoed the frame, replaced a lot of rusty parts. It was just a nostalgia trip, really. I couldn't believe how little that thing was. ROFL! Didn't seem that little when I was 14.

[Starter52]

Starter Jr's got a 2001 KE100 that will do the same. Cost us $1400 used back in 2003. Street legal and totally reliable. You cannot kill that bike.

[MCgunner]

The KE100 has been around for a bazillion years. I had a friend that got one in 1975 and it was a USED motorcycle! LOL It has not changed at all right up to its last year offered a few years ago, little rotary valve induction two stroke.

The KE lacks much for clearance and suspension, but it's so friggin' light, you can practically back pack it. LOL Amazingly good little trail bike within its limits, especially for kids. Got a low seat that they can reach the ground from.

Funny thing about Kawasaki, they'll milk a model for ever once they get the tooling paid for. The Voyager touring bike 4 cylinder (there was a 6) went from about 85 to a couple of years ago virtually unchanged. Ditto the Concours sport, tourer, just recently revamped from it's mid 80s intro. And, these bikes sold for CHEAP. But, I don't think even Kawasaki carried a model as long as they did the KE100. That's gotta be a record, LOL. I think it came out somewhere around 1971 and not a single BOLT on it was changed in its finally year around 2001 or so. You might be thinking HD introduced the Sportster in 57. Forget it. Nothing on an old iron head is the same as new production sportsters even though they look similar and still have a similar lay out.

[Deer Hunter]

Kingcreek,

I know what you mean. I learned to ride on a Honda trail 90. Mine was made in 1979. Those things come in handy!

[Kingcreek]

Kingcreek,

I know what you mean. I learned to ride on a Honda trail 90. Mine was made in 1979.
I think ours was pretty well used up by then! It didn't have an easy life but it did make me a true believer in the durability of Honda engines.
I looked for one a couple years ago but they are hard to find, expensive if restored or in decent condition, and smaller than I remembered.

[MCgunner]

There are a few small DP bikes (dual purpose, street legal) out there, not many, but I think the era of the trail bike is generally dead. The ATV has pretty much killed the concept. That's a shame, because for a good rider, IMHO, a bike can take you off road better and more places than an ATV. You might get your legs muddy, I often have to wear hip waders, but no biggy. It'll ride single track cow trails and get around in thick woods better. But, it won't carry stuff as well and it takes some skill to ride where anyone can ride an ATV.

They still make the old Rokon, two wheel drive fat tired bike that can go anywhere well so long as it's not a road and you have plenty of time. They use a 5hp honda OHV lawn mower type horizontal shaft engine on the Ranger, I think. I think the TW200 (big wheel) Yamaha is still built and it's a dandy little trail bike that is street legal. Honda doesn't really have much, used to build the XLs, but now just the off road only XR line to my knowledge.

http://www.rokon.com/

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelhome/10/home.aspx