Kicking a Yz450

[BergArabia]

I have spent the last couple of weeks thinking dreaming obsessing of a new bike... In my mind it has been CRF450x or YZ450F...

The YZ is so much cheaper here in Dubai. 800 dollars less.. but I am coming off a Husaberg 600 with e-start, I am 49 years old only been offroad riding for 6 months and I am 5' 6" and 140 lbs... So I didn't want to be out in the desert when it is 110 degrees and stuck trying to kick some bike over...

Anyways thought the CRX would be OK but needs to be uncorked. I am not a motocross or an enduro rider, my riding here is more Glamis style. Straight up very big dunes as fast and far as possible. I have a paddle on the berg and will probably do the same on the next.

Kept thinking to myself. If I could learn to kick one over and get confident with that I could save myself 800 dollars and have a no compromises high performance bike (no need to uncork the YZ). I am also leaning to the Yamaha for ease of maintenance and general reliability.

So I needed some kicking practice. Found it hard to kick YZ450 or CRF450R in my street shoes. Came back to the dealers with my riding boots. Every kick on the YZ450 resulted in ignition. Tried it about 20 times hot and cold. Not the same success on a CRF450R.

So here I am I love the YZ450, feels great, but I was standing up with the bike held up by the bar in the axle. So yeah I can start every time on a stand in the shop but what about in the desert.

Thinking about fixing a side stand to it. Any advice???

[nilson]

You can easily put on a kickstand and also lights if you wanted. Good mods, IMO as long as you are not racing MX.

[BergArabia]

Thanks Nilson. A quick search based on your advice took me to this site:

http://www.endurocomputers.com/promoto_billet/pmbkickstand.html

They sell Pro Moto Billet and Trailmaster kickstands that will do the job...

[NAFLASH]

Pro Moto Billet probably sells the best kickstand on the market.

[Slowmotion426]

Is that you in your avatar?

[BergArabia]

Is that you in your avatar?

If you were refering to me Slowmotion then yes it is. Though I don't always dress like that... In the summer I use the rag (gutterah)... ?

Nah I was just kidding around one day...

But I am guessing that is not you in your avatar... ?

[Birdie426]

BergArabia-

What kind of riding is there int he emirates? I was in Abu Dhabi for a while in January, but was working 18 hour days and didn't see much of the local area...

Also, for what it's worth, I have a WR426 (non-happy button). I added Hot Cams auto-decompression cams (which makes the older WRs and YZs similar to the 450's), and have no problem starting the bike on the trail...hot or cold. Yo will love it! I also have a Pro Moto Billet kick stand installed. Nothing better!

Birdie

[BergArabia]

Hi Birdie,

There is a motocross track between Dubai and Abu Dhabi so there is quite a group of MX going here, including for the kids on the small machines.

There is also the Desert challenge every year and there are guys and teams that gear up for that which I guess you would call Enduro or Baha. Mostluy guys riding it here use XR650s with big add on tanks and suspension mods etc. etc. oh yeah and of course KTMs.

Then there are the locals who mostly just have fun and go crazy.

They have the Moreeb dune challenge 200km south of Abu Dhabi in the desert during winter. There is a nice 300 metre high dune will a very steep (I think around 45 degrees slip face) This is just a test of brute power and traction and paddles are not allowed...

The fun an crazy stuff in the desert happens all over the place but about 45 km from my home is a range of 100metre high dunes which lots of guys just go and play around in., That is what I like....

Hope to see you down here again sometime where you don't have to work 18 hours per day..

Thanks for the tip on the YZ I am pretty sure I will go that way. ? Now the only major challenge left is softening up my wife to accept the big news.... ?

[Slowmotion426]

If you were refering to me Slowmotion then yes it is. Though I don't always dress like that... In the summer I use the rag (gutterah)... ?

Nah I was just kidding around one day...

But I am guessing that is not you in your avatar... ?

That is my face photoshopped into the White Gorilla's head.

[MotoGoalie]

That is my face photoshopped into the White Gorilla's head.

My avatar is what I look like at 2am after you have been drinking Hurricanes all night long.

Berg, I've always thought that where you live and the whole MiddleEast in general could be a spectacular travel destination for offroading, sightseeing and vacationing. You mention Glamis, which is a very cool area but I'm sure its miniscule compared to the areas you have access to.

Maybe someday we can all get along so well that we can travel freely from one part of the globe to another. ?

Anyhow, I'm betting others along with myself might like to see pictures of your local areas if you are able to do this. AND, my yz450 starts half way through the kick usually, first time. It's seriously the easiest starting bike i've ever had. What about the WR450? It's electric start no?

[grayracer513]

Berg,

I'm older than 49, and I ride a lot of desert, although we find something else to do when it's over 100 out there. ?

Since you were thinking about the CRF-X, have you thought about whether a WR450 would be more like you? ?

They can be lightened to near YZF levels and the engine pepped up to YZF levels for a lot less than you could e-start a YZF ($1200 using OEM stuff). Plus, it would be a wide ratio 5 speed for the desert. Just a thought.

[BergArabia]

Maybe someday we can all get along so well that we can travel freely from one part of the globe to another. ?

Anyhow, I'm betting others along with myself might like to see pictures of your local areas if you are able to do this. AND, my yz450 starts half way through the kick usually, first time. It's seriously the easiest starting bike i've ever had. What about the WR450? It's electric start no?

Motogoalie, you and everyone else are certainly very welcome here. ? Toursim is big business here. It may be on the other side of the world but Dubai has more in common with Las Vegas than it does with Iraq for instance.. It is safe and a very happening place here... (Imagine Las Vegas without the gambling but with the big theme hotels and then throw in indoor snow skiing and the most opulant malls you can imagine with a lot of rich oil sheikh types spending money everywhere and alot of us expat types keeping the place running and that is Dubai)...

Yes we have a lot of great desert.

I have only just started offroad biking. I have been offroad driving in the dunes here for years in a 4x4. This is the club I belong to here.

www.dubai4x4.com

if you go to the gallery you can see lots of photos of our desert....

Some UAE desert

[DUBAI4X4]

.

They have the Moreeb dune challenge 200km south of Abu Dhabi in the desert during winter. There is a nice 300 metre high dune will a very steep (I think around 45 degrees slip face) This is just a test of brute power and traction and paddles are not allowed...

Hey Mark,

It is a 65 degrees slip face and you have to start from the bottom with no run to gain momentum

[TexN343]

You have to register to see the pictures. Could you post a few here? I just recently went to the dunez(lil Sahara) for the first time and can't wait to go on another adventure to some bigger dunez. Maybe I will take a vacation over there when ever you get some slots ?

[Code]

Pro Moto Billet = THE BEST.... Got one on my 426, light weight, don't get in the way on track or trails ? ++++

[tnl]

A properly tuned yzf should not take more than 2 to 3 hot kicks to get it started if stalled. That is assuming it's not flooded. Considering the price of a yzf where you're at it may be the way to go. Also, give grayracer513's comment a thought.

[BergArabia]

Thanks for the good advice and encouragement I picked up my new Yz yesterday ?

[kekoo]

Could anybody tell me why motocross bikes dont have an electric start ? Sounds like everybody would love one but is it that the manufacturers dont provide or is it rules ? I'm new to this hence the basic question.

[grayracer513]

Could anybody tell me why motocross bikes dont have an electric start ? Sounds like everybody would love one but is it that the manufacturers dont provide or is it rules ? I'm new to this hence the basic question.

Simple. The weight of the motor, battery, wiring and bracket work is generally regarded as an excessively high penalty for the convenience.

BTW, the big Husky MX'ers do have one. Of course, they're heavy.

Oh, and what you just did is called "hijacking a thread". You asked an off-point question that changes the original subject. It's better etiquette to post the question in a new thread. No big deal, and you weren't that far off point, just an FYI.

[acguy]

I have a weighted flywheel on my YZ450. I just push on the starter and she starts right up. The rear traction is awesome too.