I just found my way out from under an eight-year rock.
Way back around `03, Yamaha held a press event in the middle of summer at--of all places--Spring Creek Motocross Park near Millville, MN. Spring Creek is home to the Millville National AMA Motocross event. It was like winning a trip to Graceland with Elvis as your host, only better.
After the regular press stuff was over, Yamaha opened the afternoon up to the group to grab a bike or a quad and tear up either the motocross track or the enduro course that wandered through the thick Minnesota woods. The enduro course was supposedly beautiful or something ... I didn't really catch the tail end of the speech because I was already running toward a new YZ250F dirt bike. The next few hours on that MX track cemented in my mind that the 250 four-stroke motocross bike was it--period.
So a few years later when I sold my 250 two-stroke and was ready to pick out something new, I went like a Clydesdale with blinders straight to the first 250F I saw at the dealership.
For the ensuing years, I took all sorts of heat for riding a 250F instead of a 450F.
"Nice bike, my sister rides one of those." (Funny thing is, I get the exact same comment for hunting with a .25-06. "Nice gun. My sister shoots one of those.")
I believed that a rider with my deficit of skill should get fast on a smaller bike before moving up to the 450. And that angelic day at near-sea-level Millville ... I've never ridden better in my life than on that 250F on that track.
But this summer, certain things started to dawn on me. Things like the fact that I'm six-foot-four and 33 years old. If I'm still looking at the 450 as a "big bike" like I'm a pubescent tween at Loretta Lynns', something's wrong.
And the fact that I hated things like hillclimbing and technical trail riding ... all places where horsepower makes a difference.
I had to ride the 250F against the rev limiter at the dunes to jump with the guys on 450Fs, who could roll up in third and power off the lip.
I live and ride at 4,600-feet elevation and go up from there. Hardly the sea-level oxygen supply that made the 250F rip so hard at Millville.
Oh, and I'd never ridden a 450F on dirt. Only sand. So, yeah.
For a guy who finished high school algebra in college, things added up quickly. On a spring ride this year, I hopped on a friend's 2011 CRF450R. A light flickered on in the attic that supports my helmet. The epiphany almost knocked me off the bike.
Very shortly after that ride, we wound up with a 2011 Kawasaki KXF450. Again we went play riding and again I was overcome with emotion. I was laughing out loud. Loamy hills with ruts, rocks and ledges were just absolutely fun. I used to hate that crap. But I couldn't get enough of it now.
So I guess the moral of the story is to open your mind and your options before you commit yourself as a diehard (fill in the blank) rider. Test ride. Read reviews. Look at other models even if you're not initially interested. Match yourself, your terrain and your riding style to the best possible machine you can find, whether it's a dirt bike, side-by-side or ATV.
Oh, and shoot a .300 Win Mag. Because people can say the meanest things.
