You are darn right about that ZX1100F1I still won't give up my little KLX though no matter who builds what. It was seemingly the first "high tech" little street 250 that was easy to get your mitts on and as nice as those yamis seem the price tag is much higher than what i already own mine for....will i trade? Not likely as i already own and even if i didn't that would be fine as well because i'm not gonna lose my butt on a trade to this....FI is really nice and programming is easy with a laptop or a PC but i don't need the hassle as i really like to tinker over a few beers and it's been proven time and time again that carbs can run with FI....especially a closed loop system...

 

That would be a deal breaker for me. My inseam is onlyabout 31" so the KLX at about 34-35" seat height is about as tall as I would want a bike. That isone of the mainreasons why when Ichose the KLXover theDRZ.

Other than that, the Yamaha looks pretty trick with the aluminum frame & swingarm.

 

I have a 30" inseam on my tippy-toes, I have to coordinate dropping the kickstand at every light as it is.
Getting my leg up and over my Pelican case is funny stuf right there I tell you.

Did somebody say; "beer"?

 

Should i post some pics of my buddy at H-M trying to get his leg over my bike when i told him he could ride it????......he is only 2" shorter than me and it was a comedy fest watching him....lOL....no offense to the short people here but i totallly understand what you guys are talking about.......as much as i'd like to get a husky TE610 I just can't reach the ground when trying to ride it so it's out of the question.......just something to think about.[:@]

 

If you guys are looking for a street legal outta the box check this out;
http://www.husqvarnausa.com/2007/07_TE450.html

Is there some reason guys don't ever talk about Husky's? My guess would be parts are more? What's the word on theses things. This might be my next bike in a few years if Kawi doesn't step it up in '09.

(Sinkoman, there's a Husky dealer in Kailua. Let me know if you ever check them out. There dry weight is 308, kinda heavy for "island ice")

 

I actually had a chance to walk around and check out a TE250 the day we went down to check out my bike. Beautiful bike, but they were asking 9,000 for it!

To my knowledge, it's because of the dealer markup. The MSRP is right in line with the Japanese MFGs, but because so little actually make their way to the dealerships, the stigma the bikes have, and excellent grin ratio, the dealerships know that they can get away with marking the bikes sky high, and they do so.

And then, even if you go down to the dealer with CASH in hand, you'd better be ready to give every single salesperson a ******* just to get them to let go of it!

It's the money, plain and simple. People will complain about parts, but it's just as easy to order Husky parts as for any other bikes. They complain about dealer distance, but really. You only need to visit the dealer twice. Once to test ride and look at the bike, and another time to actually buy it. Those two three hour trips are hardly a problem when you consider that you'll own the bike for years and years (especially considering that it's a Husky, and wil LAAAAAAAAAAAAAST).

It's all down to the money.

The OTHER big problem, is that with a husky, unless you're getting the 510 or the 600, you're buying a barely legal dirtbike, with a notoriously close ratio transmission (Huskies are known to have some of the closest ratios of all the bikes out there). Doing any sort of street riding on the bike will be pushing it in terms of top end life.

Sure, it's not so bad to ride a TE250 around Hawaii. Hell, compared to the type of driving they do on the mainland, you're pampering the thing! But all that stop and go is still going to take a toll on the engine life, as is the constant throttle.

TBH though, if somebody asked me to trade my KLX for a TE, i'd do it in a heartbeat, AND i'd force it to do commuter duty! I don't care if I have to shim the valves every other week!

Although I doubt it's that bad. Folks on TT that have been to Hawaii say that because of the type of driving we do, the 250 enduro bikes would have absolutely NO problem doing commuter duty. Just don't expect to do 80 on the highway

 

If anyone is having trouble getting on a tall bike or any bike its because your trying to swing your leg over the seat while standing on the ground. That's the wrong way. Take your left foot and put it on the peg (shifter side) step up and then get your leg over, sit down and the bike will automatically straighten up and you're there. Getting off is not the same. What works for me is to make sure you're on solid ground, put the kickstand down, take your right leg and place it on the ground right in front of the foot peg, grab the right side of the handlebars, lean out and swing your leg over the bike and onto the ground. With practice, in time it makes getting on and off the bike so fluid that you will wonder why you ever did it any other way. I should post up a video. A few of my friends nearly fall off the bike trying to get off the low side every time. While it is funny at times, it can also be embarrassing when your leg gets hung up trying to get on or off. Just a thought. Give it a try.

 

we have the WR250 here in Oregon already

 

+1 on it making more power than the KLX. The low-end torque won't be as muchof a drop-off as you might think. It uses Yamaha's patented 'EXUP' exhaust valve which restricts the exaust at lower RPM to boost low end torgue and opens up as your RPM increases. The valve adds a bit of weight though.

That said, I'm sticking with my KLX because it does everything I want it to do. Had the WRX been availabe when I was looking, It difinitely would have got a long look though[8D]

 

You know, I think we should just all come to grips with the fact that we each need about5 bikes. Kind-of like the ladies need lots of different kinds of shoes. You know, one for every occasion. I need an MX bike, a sport bike, a cruiser, and a good torquey thumper dual-sport. And, the SM scene looks like fun, so I probably need one of those too. And, I need some Ooompa Loompas to help me maintain them all! Now, one of us just needs to come up witha way that we can all become filthy rich so that we can effectively treat this "need."

It's tough trying to find one bike that does it all. I expect this WR will be one rippy little bike, but for exploring the woods with my sweetheart, I think I'd rather have the KLX.