I've been riding my vintage TY250 since '95. I plan to keep doing vintage, but I am interested in getting an easy starting modern bike with a good power band for the novice line. The best advice so far has been to consider a Sherco 200 or even a Sherco 125. I'm 5'6" on a good day and 137 lbs. dry weight. Does anybody have any comments or know of a nice used Sherco for sale?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tom Hopkins,

Hi Tom.

I am about the same size and love my 200. (It's an '03 Gas Gas Pro.)
A 125 is easier to kickstart but I prefer the power of the 200.

BTW: Sherco says, "The 2.0 has been dropped from the catalogue as a
unique model, however a kit will be offered that will increase the
displacement of the 1.25 for those users who desire greater power."
http://www.rypusa.com/mailnews.htm

A lot of starting the bike has to do with timing your weight drop rather than compression. I am 5' 7" and 150 and have no problem with my 250. However friends have had a hard time that outweigh me by 50 lbs.

I am in Clayton if you want to come up and try my 250 and see if you like it.

Clay Nash

Montesa 4RT; easiest to start and very novice friendly!

I know we are a bit away from you, but I have my daughters Sherco 125 if you would like to try one out to get a feel of it.

Doug has Ben's Sherco 200 as well, so if you wanted you could try them both here.

I believe that Ben's is still available for sale and it is in excellent condition.

I know it is a haul, but if you could make it over here, we could put you on 2 of the bikes you mentioned to give them a shot and see if they agreed with you.

We also have 250's and 290's available to try as well if you wanted to make a good comparison.

Possibly the 3/4 December workday at TTC we will head down with bikes, or maybe the Jan banquet meeting as well something could be coordinated.

Wow, thanks for all the kind replies and offers! I'll do a little more research and then try to hook up with you folks for test rides. Again, I really appreciate the advice.

Tom:

I live relatively close by in Kennesaw, GA. I have a 2005 Sherco 2.9 you are welcome to try. It is for sale also.

Smaller displacement bikes are more forgiving in the lower class lines, mainly due to easier throttle control and less wheelspin. However, I feel they are harder to ride in many sections because less power requires more precise lines and technique.

Let me know if you want to get over to this side of Atlanta for a ride.

Brock

Power is one thing I really like about my old TY250, for sure, Brock. It's the kick starting that wears me out by the end of the day. I've been kick starting various kinds of bikes for 37 years and I'm looking for an easy way out. Boy, if they ever make an electric start trials bike, I'm there! Anyway, I sure appreciate your test ride offer, too. STRA really has good people.

Tom,
we have a 2005 Sherco 1.25 here that we have used as a trainer bike because it is so easy for novices to learn on. We also have a GasGas 125. You are welcome to try each and see what you think. Both are for sale because we'll upgrade to a newer model for next year. We always keep a couple of smaller displacement bikes around for new riders because they are so easy to ride and unintimidating. That said, I suspect that most guys would probably find a 200 like Mickey had more suitable for competition, as they have a bit more torque. But you might like this 1.25 fine, just try it & see.

By the way, Ray Peters rode a Beta 80cc bike on all the champ lines in a gate trial that we hosted, just to prove that you don't need a bunch of power. But Ray was always one to be just a bit different!

dan

p.s., we have a world round work weekend coming up on Dec. 3/4!

"But Ray was always one to be just a bit different!"

Champ line on an 80? Vive la difference!

Ray scored my Vintage C group at last year's TTC vintage trial and rode all our lines with one hand (right hand - throttle). Oh, well, I'll still be using both hands for awhile.

Back to the thread, I got a lot of off-web advice, too. Now, I'm thinking that power and reliability are more important than easy starting. Maybe I'll get one of the modern models with a reputation for being bulletproof and ride it until Scorpa puts the electric starter back on their Yamaha engines.

While I am sure the off web advice is great, if you have a hard time starting the bike all the time, it will take an awful lot of the fun out of the day.

I could probably get my wife riding if there was one out with a happy button. As it is, she just has the "Auto Start" feature installed.

Anytime she wants to ride, I automaticly go start the bike for her.

Jordan's Rookie has an Auto Start feature.
When it's warm but off, you pull in the clutch and pull it backwards. The clutch drags just enough to start spinning the motor over backwards then releases, the flywheel changes rotation and it starts by itself.
I know, I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't done it MANY times. It's purty cool except the for the first time it happened it caught me a little off guard.

I'll gladly offer may daughter's (Sara) '05 Beta 125 for test riding. I really enjoy riding it because it is very smooth riding and forgiving machine. I do miss the power of my older 250, but it starts very easily and the ride is sweat.

My brother-in-law (who "rode dirt bikes as a kid") played around on Sara's 125 for about 20 minutes one day doing wheelies and hopping logs. He loved it. Then he tried my 250 and the next thing I new the bike was verticle on one wheel and he was running behind it trying to hang on. He said he tried a wheelie with the same throttle as the 125 and it launched out from under him. The power difference really caught him off guard.

I tell that to say this, the 125's ride very well and are extremely forgiving of throttle control mistakes. Great for beginners, but when you need a handfull of power, can be disappointing.

I have been very please with the reliability of the Beta's.

Thanks for the offer, Charlie. I got some favorable private messages from other Beta owners, too. It looks like I need to get to some events soon so I can take advantage of everybody's test ride offers.

Hopefully you can make the banquet and fun ride at TTC the next day. That would be a great opportunity to try some bikes.

I will probably be down without bikes, but I am sure that there will be plenty around.

I definitely want to make the banquet since I missed it(and the door prizes) last year!

The work day at TTC the day after the banquate will be a tremedous oppotunity to ride almost every bike available ... and on trials terrain too!

Well, folks, Deborah bought me a pre-owned Montesa Cota 4RT for Christmas. I've just putted around the yard on it a little bit so far, but I think it's going be a novice friendly bike as Barry said. Thanks for all the great responses to my post!