Get off the road for a real thrill

Ray Cleaver | 18th March 2010

CLIMBING onto a trail bike for the first time in many years was an interesting experience for me on the weekend.

A little trepidation turned into a yee-ha however, once I opened the throttle on the spanking new Yamaha TT-R230E and let rip.

Some things you don’t forget, and riding cross-country on a trail bike is a buzz that every red blooded person should encounter. The thrill of riding on two wheels certainly goes up a notch when you get off the road.

This 223cc machine has all the grunt you could want and it’s nicely balanced.

Six gears to play with and the lightness of the machine (116kg with a full tank of gas) allows for a versatile ride. Not that I ever got into top gear.

As well as snazzy lines, this bike has plenty of power for a good ride and no lethal power band that tends to throw you backwards on steep hills. I remember a few frightening bikes I rode in the past that were determined to do backward flips at random.

And oh the joy of electric start. In my day that was unheard of on trail bikes. It’s good to save all that kicking energy for actually riding the machine.

It’s high enough above the ground for any terrain - the 300mm clearance is enough to deal with any kind of trail.

A heavy-duty clutch and great knobbly tyres will take you anywhere.

Brakes were positive, a front disc and rear drum provided more than enough stopping power.

Riding road bikes is really nice but you enter another world when you leave the tarmac. Suddenly the rules have gone, a bit of adrenalin kicks in and you can test a few limits. It’s a lot safer knowing there’s no sandpaper road surface below you if you come off, a bit of mud and grass wont do much harm, and you’re not likely to reach dangerous speeds.

A few specs – this model is 223cc, four-stroke with single overhead cam.

I’ll never be a motocross rider but trail riding is very appealing and a machine like this would be just the ticket.

Incidentally motocross racing goes back to 1924 in Surrey, England when cross-country racing began. It was called scrambling them. The name motocross is a mixture of motorcycle and cross-country. These were the days when custom-made AJS, Norton and Matchless bikes ruled the off-road world.

Off-road bikes today are wonderful. Hell I remember back to the 60s when Johnny Callender in New Plymouth began making his ‘Mountain Goat’ bikes, basically a home made machine, really low to the ground with a little two stroke Suzuki engine. Terrible things to ride but they could go places where other bikes couldn’t…more of a work bike.

Lightweight trail bikes today, like this Yamaha, are a breeze to ride and the experience should be compulsory and taught at every school.

Get the accident carnage off the roads and put in the paddocks! Seriously though, off-road riding is a lot of fun.

Trail bike riding is historically more recent, and in Taranaki there’s weekend rides around the place, especially in Eastern Taranaki…lot’s of great hills to charge up!

You watch people riding off-road and you think ‘noisy buggers, why don’t they take up tramping! You ride off-road and you a totally different view.

Adrenalin buzzes should be mandatory, they are what we are built for, and remind us that we’re still alive.

I’m fired up now. I want one. Life’s too short not to have one! I want to get out every weekend and feel the wind rushing past and get airborne.

Driving home in the car suddenly seemed very boring.

If you want a machine like this check out Union Yamaha in Stratford. For $7000 you can open up a whole new world. There’s a farm model too, for farmers who want to do more than chug along on their quad. These have headlights, handguards etc and you’ll have the cows in the shed in no time.