21J Doubles Up

It’s a twofer

In the past few months I bought not one but two bikes. A 2020 Yamaha YZ250F four stroke motocross bike and a 2018 Husqvarna FE250S, the Husky is a street legal dual sport bike.

None of this, of course is about need, there might be a little greed however. It’s all about pure and simple want. I guess I could say in order to give these purchases a little bit more creditability; here in good ole CA they have at this point in time done away with the Red Sticker program. The Red Sticker was just that a red sticker you put on your bike that allowed you to ride in State OHV parks and in the forests trail riding most of the year, there were exceptions of course.  Basically starting with 2022 models if they don’t meet current State emissions standards which virtually none do they are not allowed to be ridden anywhere except private riding areas like a motocross track. The State is basically cutting its nose off to spite its face, the Red and Green sticker programs have been from a revenue stream standpoint one of the best if not the best revenue generating programs ever. Over the years the State has borrowed somewhere in the area of two hundred million dollars from the program with no intention of repaying it. So I can’t believe they will just let a cash cow like this just dry up, but who says they’re smart. And the environmentalists have their hooks firmly planted in this State.

One of the results of the disappointing State’s decision was 2021 new models and used model sales have been through the roof. Typical deals on new bike sales were hard to come by and used bike prices dramatically increased all in anticipation of no red sticker program on 2022 models. 2021 models qualified and existing Red Sticker bikes are grandfathered in.

I decided I wanted to have a motocross bike again to practice and when you can’t ride on the trails because it’s too dusty, which it is right now. I decided I wanted a 250F motocross bike this time quite frankly I don’t need the power of a 350 or 450. I’ve come to terms with the fact I don’t want to even try jumping over anything anymore. If I can get up on top then jump off the end that’s good. Besides today’s 250’s have more than enough power for anything I might want to try. They feel lighter and don’t get away from you as easily, just more fun to ride. I kind of prefer going on the outside of corners so it’s perfect.

I did end up putting a Rekluse in it, but quite frankly I don’t think I really needed it. I put a new rear tire on, had Bucky at SBB revalve the suspension, I couldn’t believe how stiff the stock suspension was, it was un ride able for me it’s good now.

It had 21 hrs on it when I bought it may have 23 now. I didn’t even ride it on a track until a few weeks ago.

The Husky is an interesting story. For the past few years I’ve wanted to try another 250F four stroke trail bike. I had a 2015 Yamaha YZ250FX and liked it very much. Last year or maybe the year before now, 2020 was a blur to say the least. I bought a 2017.5 KTM 250SXF factory edition, it worked very well on the trails except for the air forks and I couldn’t make them feel right for me. So I sold it and bought the 2021 Husky TE300i. End of story until one night I’m on Craigslist and I see this Husky, I call made a trip to Santa Clara the next day and buy it. It had 2300 miles on it and the young man who rode it had put supermoto wheels on it and rode it around town. He did ride it on some trails, but I can tell you it had never seen mud. The dad was a former Pro road racer so they knew how to tune the little motor. They did some minor things with smog equipment etc tweaked the TPS and put on a JD tuner; it runs very, very well.

I installed a Rekluce some good tires and tubes stiffened the suspension and have thoroughly enjoyed riding it as a dual sport and trail bike. I’ve been really impressed at how much power it has especially the low end. It has a lot of weight to haul around when I’m on it. It’s geared 13/49 and low is to low but second through fifth are close and sixth is like an overdrive. At 55-60 it isn’t really buzzing the motor and there is hardly any vibration at that speed. It feels light and handles well; the motor is predictable and would be very hard to whiskey throttle.

2019 was the last year KTM and Husky brought the 250F street legal dual sports into the US, they just didn’t sell. Based on what I’ve experienced what a shame, I assume buyers wanted the 350 or 500 and passed on the 250’s. Of course it also depended on what and where you were going to ride, for what I’m using it for its perfect. Will it or can it replace my TE300i, no not really, but there are times when I get behind in my steering on the much more powerful 300 that’s a little harder to do on the 250.

I now have six bikes and can still only ride one at a time, but what’s that old saying about who has the most toys. Besides that I don’t drink, smoke and certainly don’t carouse around anymore so what the hell.

At this point I assume I will just split my time on all these bikes one at a time, ah it sucks to be me.

Doug 21J