well i found my love for MX and at the same time i found out my raptor cant take the beating of MX so im stuck having to get rid of it this spring if i wanna do MX. I know theres a yfz out and i know although there is an aspect of balance on a quad (especially in agressive turns +riding) its not as much as a dirtbike.

A yfz is around 7k. Plus tax which brings it to about 7500 or a little more. a yz450f is 6100.

IVe never owned my own dirtbike but my friend has a xr200 and everyonce in a while i give it a spin and he says im pretty good on it. Im not an amazing rider, but i do jump it and ride my agressivly than he does and he owns it.

But heres the question... if i get a dirtbike, it is pretty much a guarantee that no matter how careful i am eventually im gonna get hurt? I mean of course, ill wear teh chest protector and all that stuff and i dont mind getting scraped up and even maybe once if i break my arm it wouldnt be the end of the world but i really dont wanna get broken ribs and bruised lungs and all that serious crap happening to me.

waddaya guys think? whats the deal with dirtbiikes?

 

If I'm gonna wreck on one of the two, I'd prefer to go down on the bike. If you ride aggressively, you're gonna go down on either machine. There's no easy answer here.

Bear in mind also that an XR200 and YZ450F are like night and day in every aspect other than the fact that they both have handlebars and twist throttles.

selector

 

"Guns dont kill people - people kill people" Same goes for bikes and quads - the rider defines how dangerous it is, bike or quad.......IMO

I recently bought my first bike (after riding quads exclusively for the past 13 years) and the "crash factor" is about the same. Kinda depends on how fast you want to go and how far outside your envelope you are willing to ride. Often times the envelope expands by mistake and then ya crash. But, to improve ya gotta push the envelope but in a controlled way.

Stay heads up !

 

o yeah i know a scrawny 200 has nothing on the 450 but do u think the 450 would be ok to start on or would that be stupid? I dont wanna be like those people that never rode a quad or anything for that matter and go and buy a raptor and kill themselves, but im trying to say im pretty decent on a dirtbike considering how little practice i have. I know im probably better starting off with something a little smaller but i really cant justify keep seeling and switching vehicles.

thats why i said ill take it slow to start. Im pretty good when it comes to knowing my limits.

 

yeah, i agree guns dont kill people either, dangerous minorities do. lol, sorry to sound racist but i like that t shirt.

I know if i dont know what im doing and try to drive insane ill crash. Same goes for a quad, but i just thought there was more of a crash factor in dirtbikes because the lack of the balance aspect.

I mean, God knows i ride my raptor like a maniac and ive never crashed or flipped. But there have been a couple of times where id hit terrain that would make me slightly lose control like thick mud or something and because i was on four wheels i was fine. If i hit that same mud on two wheels, the bike would go down. I dont really think theres anything u can do on a bike to get out of that situation. But maybe im wrong, i mean now that i think about it if i didnt have certain technique on my raptor, four wheels or not i probably woulda lost control so maybe theres technique to safely handle those situations on a dirtbike too.

I mean when i ride my raptor i tend to flow with the bike and not be stiff on it. I sit above the seat and when i hit rocks or any kind of bumps i let the quad bounce around under me but it doesnt actually bounce me because i stay loose. if im taking a turn and the rear end bounces and flies out to the side, ive seen most people jacknife with the quad and have a real close call. But me, im loose enough where my body stays and i let the quad do all the movement. Dont know if i explained myself well or if anyone knows what im talking about, but i know this works.

IF you go down on the MX track like on a turn or something do u usally do any real damage to the bike?

 

Ha! if you want safe...play your ps2 and stay on the couch.

you sound just like my friend. he goes back and forth...losing money on his investment everytime. bike..quad...bike ...quad. my advice to him, was to buy a cheap pos bike and get comfortable on it before selling your quad for peanuts. he did'nt listen. he never does. mean while...i've advanced in riding/MX. hell....i beat him on the track everytime. and he's on a CR250. thats sad.

while he continues to find which one is safer. i'm getting better and better. try and stick to one or the other. your throwing your money out the window and increasing your learning curve.

FYI....i see more Bikers go away in ambulances at our track than quad riders. on the other hand. the only fatality i've seen was on a quad.

IMO theres nothing like power sliding a quad. plus there are more trails to ride in NH on a quad than on a dirtbike...don't know why. but they are slowly closing out the trails on them. And i ride all year round. he's done in the winter.

 

The modern 250-class (450cc) 4-strokes are hot bikes - real hot. The 250 (125-class) 4-strokes are just as good. I'd say if you can handle a big 'ole Raptor, a 450cc bike won't be much of an issue. You may find yourself going off the back end once, but you'll figure it out. Just wear your protective gear.

I probably should have been a little more clear in my initial reply. If you're pushing the envelope, regardless of sport, you're gonna get jacket up sooner or later. I ride my dirtbike 95% on tracks. Tracks have jumps and obstacles designed to be taken in the air. I ride my quad in the sand for crusing, not air. So relative to my styles of riding and personal preferences, I'm much more likely to go down on the track than the sand. If I rode both machines under the same conditions with the same intent, my preference would be to go down on the bike. Something about and additional 100lbs that has a propensity for following the user to the ground doesn't sit well w/ me.

There's no way to escape the risks associated with using either machine other than just not riding. I'm 37, married w/ (3) kids and have done a ton of stupid/crazy things in my life and have somehow mellowed out a bit. I understand my limits and don't really push 'em. That's how I minimize risks.

BTW: If all I rode were trails, I'd use nothing but the YFZ.

selector

 

well its not necessarily a matter of i cant decide which one i want or only which is safer. Its that i CANT keep my raptor. So a dirtbike is 6100 and a quad is 7k. I just was wondering what people thought i was better off getting. i know its worth 7k for what u get, but thats a lot of money. Then i gotta buy nerfs.

Selector- have u every broken any arms or gotten hurt at the track with your bike?

 

o and i was wondering if there was a trick to the twist throttle. I have always had a prepencity to accidentally get it stuck in wot. Like if for some reason i uncontrollably have my weight back where my body is being held up by grips/bars, the throttle will twist and send me flying and its hard to regain myself. I usally just remember to pull the clutch in luckily.

and also. Is there any way to take a right turn while skidding the rear tire? Not really right. Cause i know on my quad i fly at the turn then at the very last minute jam the rear brakes which will make the rear slide then i quickly make a transition for the brakes being locked to wot in acceleration and thatll keep the rear end sliding and accelerating aroudn the turn. I can see if i wanna skid around a left turn i would just lean and hit the foot, but on a right turn if i do that i wouldnt be able to put my foot down for safety. no?

 

sorry not nothing against you but i been riding dirtbikes all my life i am going to atv's but a 450 seems a little much i rode xr's for years before i moved up to those beasts those things are a pain to handle you need to start out on xr you willl learn much quicker on how to do everything then move up this is my opinion from riding but you dont have to take my word [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]