Trail riding 4-stroke MX

[OldRedd]

Hey, this may sound like a dumb question, but are the newer 4-stroke Motocross bikes trail riding friendly? Also, how good are they for tight woods racing, like the harescrambles that I do. I never had any experience with motocross bikes, only enduro bikes (2 and 4 stroke). From what I'm told it's almost impossible to trail ride a modern 2-stroke MX bike due to the high gearing, I was just wondering if the 4-strokes are the same due to their gearing and such? Thanks in advance!..

Rob

[Honda80]

any four stroke is good in the trails it should be fine for trails

[motox262000]

I actualy prefer MX bikes on the trail. A lot of that might be because Im used to MX bikes anyways, but I like the stiffer suspension and high reving engine when conquering obstacles.

And BTW, I trail ride a 250 2-stroke all the time. Come to think of it, a lot of pro's do in the GNCC. They like a machine that is very flickable and with that low-end snap.

So in other words, I don't see the gearing being much of an issue. Even if it is, you can always do a simple sprocket change.

[SidewinderX]

I love mine in the trail.

[skipn8r]

From what I'm told it's almost impossible to trail ride a modern 2-stroke MX bike due to the high gearing

First off, this is slightly OT and I don't even know the details of harescrambles racing, so take this for what it's worth (not much). Recently I've seen a few televised GNCC races as well as the Last Man Standing race (both had lot's of tight racing through trees) and they seem to be crawling with 250 2-stroke MX bikes (250SX's, RM250's and YZ250's). I'm sure they're modified, but they seem to make a good starting point for off road racing. I've ridden an '05 YZ250 and I suspect that after proper suspension tuning, pipe and maybe a flywheel weight it would make a fantastic off-road racer. If you absolutely need a wide ratio transmission, KTM is making the 250 XC-W. Recently, Dirt Rider magazine reviewed all the current 250 2-stroke MX bikes for both MX use and off road racing use. Pretty good article.

[markit]

Mike Lafferty rides a 4t in the GNCCs and is usually at least on the podeum and feels he is faster on the 400 4t but there are more guys that ride the 250 2ts. There both excelent bikes now andti really comes down to if your a 4ter or a 2ter. To answer your queston, yea there good and with a few moads

even better but you cant beat the KTM 400exc in the woods as far as 4t go.

[Twistin744]

Most GNCC racers ride 2-strokes.... Barry Hawk, Juha Salmien...Kiedrowski It is true they like the flickable bike, or snappy response. I ride a 4-stroke MX bike on harescramble trails though. Just because I don't limit my options if I want to ride track. For tight trails, I just set my idle so the bike will actually idle with the clutch in, and me off the throttle. It works fine. I've never rode anything but race bikes seriously, but I can tell you in a tight trail, it's nice to know you can Braaap! the throttle and stick the bike in a more desireable position if you need to.

[Triumphs]

Yes, it can be done fine... just as you can motocross an enduro bike.

The question in either case is whether you really want to!

[PumpkinHumper]

Bigest problem I have had running a big 4-stroke in tight single track is heat. The 4-strokes generate a lot more heat than the 2-strokes seem to. I have overheated my YZ400 in the tight nasty's so many times its not funny. I know have a 250x and that bike seems awsome in the tight stuff. Never overheated that one once.

[kawirider]

If you wanted to do the really tight stuff, you would definately need some flywheel weight, and possibly, a Rekluse clutch, but other than that they are great because they have the lugability that all 4 strokes have. Only bad things about mx bikes on the trail is that they are not quite as forgiving, in that if the revs dip a little bit too low, you can stall. Whereas on an enduro (WR, CRF-X) you would just lug right through it. Personally, I think that (for an experianced rider) the mx bikes are the best thing to have for hill climbs. Some may disagree, but that is just my opinion.