I haven't ridden a two-stroke dirt bike in a long time. I've been woods riding since I bought my first quad about five years ago, but before that, I was probably in my teens the last time I rode a two-wheel dirt bike. In a two-stroke, I don't think I ever rode anything bigger than a 125.
Craig got his mitts on a 500cc 2-stroke recently, and he asked me to take it for a spin yesterday (just to the edge of the property and back - no biggie). Obviously, this is a lot more powerful than anything I had ridden in a while. I just wasn't exactly sure HOW MUCH more powerful.
After kicking it over, I rode it up a short hill, crested the hill and came down on the other side. Confronted with another hillclimb, I did what I usually did on my quad - I got my weight forward on the pegs and goosed the throttle to get up some speed to carry me up the hill.
Imagine my surprise when the bike took off like a rocket and it was all I could do to hang on for dear life. I came off the throttle, locked up the brakes and stalled the bike out at the top of the hill. It scared the crap out of me. I rode the bike back to the house with a wide-eyed look, never daring to take it out of first gear. "This thing is scary fast," I told Craig. I'll never ride it again.
To me, the bike is nice but there's way too much power for the type of riding we tend to do - woods riding with a lot of tight turns. I'm sure Craig, as a much more experienced rider, can handle it, but I got the sense from my brief ride that it wouldn't be long before I'd hit a tree with it. (And it would climb the tree.)
I'm sticking to four wheels and four-stroke motors.
