Here's the story... A couple of years back my brother-in-law (Santa Claus) bought his two children gifts for Christmas. A 80cc for the youngest girl, a 90cc for the boy and a 225cc for himself. Every time we visit at their house I take advantage of the opportunity and ride the 225 a little bit. "A lot of fun", I'd keep telling my wife.
I used to ride dirt bikes with my sisters, cousins and dad when I was young so I'd tell my nephew about the trails we had at my grandmas. He always listened so closely until one day he looked at me with big 'ole puppy dog eyes and made a brief statement. "One of these days you'll have to take us riding at your grandmas". That was all it took.
I immediately started pricing new bikes...too expensive. Then I started pricing used bikes...too beat up in most cases. Before I was able to find a bike we scheduled the ride. What am I going to do? Surely I can't watch these kids ride all day and not join in!
Somewhere in all the excitement my wife was taken by the dirt bike bug. She wanted one for her own. This may have been the second most happy day of my life (superceeded only by my wedding day)...score one for me! With only a week before the ride the search was on.
The search was over in one day. We drove my little Nissan pick up truck to Cincinnati to pick up my 1995 Honda XR-600R. She is scarred by the battles she's fought, but her heart still beats strong. I'll take it! During the ride my wife noticed one of her leads was in Cincinnati as well. We can't leave without looking at this one. It was only about 40 miles round trip out of the way, so we stopped and looked at it. It's a 2001 Honda XR-200R. It's only got a few bruises...still many years of battle left. SOLD! We didn't have the cash on us for her bike so another trip to Cincinnati was scheduled for the next day. The one week deadline was met!
The ride? A wonderful life experience! We had a total of (5) motorcycles running, until my cousins showed up with (3) four-wheelers. We all chased each other around a path through the old cattle field for hours on end. When we grew tired of that ride we explored the recently reclaimed strip-mine out behind the house. A day we won't soon forget.
The 200? We got 'er home and cleaned the air filter. She was still a little hard to start so we replaced the spark plug. After this tid-bit of maintenance she was ready to run! It fits my wife perfect at about 5'6 and 120 pounds. The balls of her feet just touch the ground and she's strong enough to position the bike anywhere she wants on the trail. This is her first bike so she's got a lot of riding before she's ready for something that'll take the doubles. I see this as an excellent starter bike for a young man in his early teens or a young lady eager to learn. More later as we get to know the 200!