Anybody like your old bike better than a new one!

Did the flywheel weight reduce the engine braking? What else would you describe it as? Feel free to be detailed lol.

Sold my carb GG 250 MC and bought a 24 GG 350F. Love the e-start, hate the rest. Going to a rebuilt TBI 300 now. 

I have spoken about this before, my only bike these days is a 2007 kx250 2 stroke, the last of the  2T, I did lap times back to back on it and my mates KX 450 works edition and the lap times were within the same second..

Maybe I would get faster in time on his bike, but I had 100000x more fun blasting berms on the old 2 banger trying to stretch the throttle cable..

going faster isn’t the bike, it’s the brain telling you when to brake and how hard to gas through corners etc

Still riding a 2011 I have yet to ride a newer bike that made me think I could justify $10k for it.  They just aren't that much better and aren't going to make me $10k worth of faster.  That's the issue with bike prices.  $4500 125s back in the day yep give me a new one every other year.

There are two new bikes that I was disappointed in:

I moved to Yamaha in 1997 when their YZ125 was a complete world-beater. Just a fantastic bike. The following year, I went back to Suzuki and made a move to the 250 at the same time. Between realizing how much the Suzuki handling was twitchier and the extra power, I hated that bike! Fortunately, I had not sold the YZ125 yet, so I sold the RM, put a few bucks into the YZ, and really enjoyed life again, haha. 

Also, in 2004 I went with literally everybody else in the world and bought a YZ250F. I tried to like it. I really did. But every time I rode it, I felt slower and slower. I raced that horrible contraption for an entire season and never learned how to make it jump or change direction, so I went back to 2-strokes and once again really enjoyed life. I will NEVER buy another 4-stroke. 

yes

I suck at riding moto so it doesn’t matter if I’m on my cousins brand new YZ250F or my 2008 CRF250R, I’m still slow as a snail. 

Two different worlds but I do trust my old CRF more than I do my brand new ZX6R that was meant to be my track bike. Kawasaki’s recalls make me weary of getting on the throttle. 

It's a tough call between the '75 RD and '97 YZ

Have found I prefer my 2022 YZ450 vs a 2024 about 90% of the time, even after making a lot of mods chasing stability. 

It happens.

Many such cases in just my own past: 

09 CRF450 was lightyears worse than the 08.

98 CR125 terrible compared to 97. 

12-14 KX450 were better than 16-18. 

09 YZ450 was better than first backwards YZ450 in 2010. 

I’m sure some will agree it was a tough day when we had to switch from the ‘09 YZ450 to the 2010. 

I have fond memories of my 09. Maybe I'm looking through rose colored glasses but I think it was my fastest lap time bike I ever had. Stolen out outbof my trailer in palm springs a few hrs after racing an rem race in 2020. Im from Canada.

     Good Lord 38, that RD is gorgeous !  My dream bike thru high school.

When I was 15 I went from an '02 YZ125 to an '05 KX250. First time i remember pulling off the track because of arm pump lol. Never got comfortable on that thing!

Edit to add: I also went from a yz250 smoker to a 2018 crf450r and regretted that one big time. 

After upgrading my 200SX, I then got a smoking deal on a 22 YZ250F, but 200 power mods had the 250 lacking. Then a good deal on a well set up 24 300SX. Best bike ever, but it destroyed a cylinder. I rode both the YZ and 200. The 200 just has too much joy, handles good and it brings out aggression. The 300 is easy on my old body, but dang that 2hun is just me and it will do my speed and gap bigger bores with similar level riders.

Very clean after market exhaust look . Good  choice I used to see a lot of them around here .  I saw the new ones at dealers too.  The yellow& black cafe racer was Hot 

I had a 22 Husqvarna fx 350 that I absolutely loved.  It had quite a few hours on it so I thought I would sell it and try something else. So I went with a 24 yz450fx which I absolutely hated. I sold that bike and went to a Beta 300 race which I’m some conditions I loved and others I hated.

So it seemed like the logical thing to do was go back to a 350…..

Loved my 2011 150sx, 

Loved my 2017 150sx, 

Absolutely despised my 2018 150sx even though it was the same as the 2017,

Loved my 2020 125sx.

Loved my 2023 gas gas 125.

Why I hated that 2018 I don’t know, really weird.

Preach it my man! 🤪

I absolutely LOVED my 2009 YZ450F and always Felt like a moto-hero on that bike! Despite years of Yamaha loyalty, all the way back to my trusty 83 YZ125, I was just NOT inspired by the new Yamaha 2010 model and skipped a new bike choosing to stick with the beloved 2009…let the 2010 & the 2011 model pass and when Yamaha dropped the 2012 with minimal changes, I took the plunge on a a brand new 2012 Honda CRF450R! Figuring I really liked my brothers 04 & 08 CRF450’s 🤔 … W R O N G ! ! ! 

WORST BIKE & biggest mistake of my moto life! While Honda makes a killer product, that 2012 was just AWFUL for me! I just could not comes to terms with anything about it and gave up six months into it, sold it and bought the cleanest 2009 YZ450F that I could find & life was good again! 
I think it really is true that the grass is NOT always greener on the other side of the fence, or in this case the other bike! Ha! 😎 👍❗️

I want one of those 200s bad just had to pass one up that was close by.

Your story inspired me to try the 23.5 clamps on my 2023 Crf250 and while I was happy with the stock setup, man did those clamps transform the bike!  I cannot get off of it now!  Amazing!  I was going to try to purchase the 250we but not anymore...gonna ride this one longer!

Certain bikes just have a special combination of capability and character that makes them fun, special, and often quite fast even after technology moves on.  The 2001 CR250R fits that bill for me, as does the XR650R, and my '19 TX 300 is shaping up to do so as well, though not without work (ports moved up so it'll rev, different head, and kyb A lot).  I've yet to ride a 300 I like better than that '19.  

I did the same thing.had my 09 yz550 and drank the Kool Ade and got the '10. Horrible decision. 

And I should have known better....back in the late 90's I sold my 96 Honda CR 250 and got the aluminum 97 CR 250.  

Yep, I had a YZ250 that worked so well but figured if I wanted to compete in the vet class I needed a 450. A mate was selling his 2019 CRF 450 so I bought that off him. I raced it once and did 2 practice days trying to sort it out and never could. I rode a random guys 2020 YZ450F at the track for a few laps and went to my local yamaha dealer on the monday and traded the Honda in for a new 2021 YZ450F which I still have.

Now that I am finished racing the 2 stroke bug is starting to bite again though

Stew remembers. 

This 86 cr125 i had now i wish I would have kept. Had some rare parts swingarm subframe. Was totally pro circuit modded out. 

I saved up for a year and bought my first ever brand new bike. This 01 Cr125. It was a big disappointment. It was like where's the power? Everything else was nicer on it. But it had like no power. The 86 was faster. 

I traded the 01 in on a 02 yz125 the next summer. Loved that bike it was much faster and made me a much better rider. 

But I fell for the 4 stroke bandwagon and bought a 03 yz250f. Could not gel with it never got comfortable. It was too big n cumbersome for me. Restarting it was a nightmare at times. Put a vortex x10 ignition on it. Still hated it. 

Got rid of it and got a 04 kx125 which brought all the joy of riding back. Still on two strokes never bought another 4 stroke and haven't bought another Honda since. 

Those Heritage Huskys pictured above are the shit man. IF I was getting another I'd be looking at one of those. Beautiful.

Naw, man. Profesional says those CR125's are really fast