Frankencelery
05-30-2006, 09:56 AM
My buddy's new 250SX, which has been sitting in my garage since it was purchased a couple of months ago, now belongs to me. He wants to focus on his 200X, so we made a deal. I thought this was awesome, since he knew the SX was what I've always wanted anyway.
Anyway, we put swingarm bearings in it this weekend (thanks for everyones input on that) and finally got to take it out and ride it, and I wanted to share my thoughts about my newest ride.
My daily riders have been hardtails up until now, mostly my friend's 185s and my daily rider 200s. So getting a rear suspension is pretty cool. That feels awesome compared to getting thrown around on the 200s.
Second, my first thought when sitting on the SX and taking off was, "Wow, it feels like a quad!" There is something definitely quad-like about the feel of this trike. I think it's the way that you sit way higher in comparison to the handlebars. Of course it has the effortless steering of a trike, not the heavy-handed feel of a quad front end.
Third, the gearing is unusual compared to the trikes I've ridden. First gear is (I'm sure there's a technical term for this, but I don't know it) very short. So short that I almost want to start out in 2nd. You're in first gear for about one second before going to 2nd. My 200s is exactly the opposite. After that the gears seem fairly normal.
Naturally, we raced it against the current champion, my 200s. in a straight flat 1/4 mile The 200s pulls out about 15-20 feet ahead of the SX and stays there the whole time, so they're just about perfectly matched. So by 20 feet, the 200s is still the undisputed champion in my garage.
Yesterday we hit the trails. It's been raining a lot, so things were pretty muddy. I've never gotten that muddy riding before. I wish I had brought my camera! The SX handled itself perfectly and got me out of a couple of mudholes, and I got myself out of trouble twice with reverse. It felt like cheating...:twisted: As far as handling, at my admittedly limited skill level I did as well as I do on my buddy's 200x. We switched a couple of times, somewhat against his wishes. Last time we were on these trails, I took his X and ran it into a tree. Fortunately my head took most of the impact. Anyway, no trees or helmets were destroyed this trip, and Dave said that the SX handles almost as well as his 200x. I agreed with him.
The one major disappointment about the SX was my hands falling asleep every 5 minutes. I think it's because of the way you sit up on top of it, and your hands are down on the handlebars with some weight on them. On the 200x you sit down into it and your hands are up higher. I've got some carpal tunnel and this is a problem for me, but I've never had it this bad on a trike before.
All in all, the 250SX performed admirably, but having to stop so often to give my hands a rest was a real drag. I really like it, but the jury's still out on whether it's a keeper.
Anyway, we put swingarm bearings in it this weekend (thanks for everyones input on that) and finally got to take it out and ride it, and I wanted to share my thoughts about my newest ride.
My daily riders have been hardtails up until now, mostly my friend's 185s and my daily rider 200s. So getting a rear suspension is pretty cool. That feels awesome compared to getting thrown around on the 200s.
Second, my first thought when sitting on the SX and taking off was, "Wow, it feels like a quad!" There is something definitely quad-like about the feel of this trike. I think it's the way that you sit way higher in comparison to the handlebars. Of course it has the effortless steering of a trike, not the heavy-handed feel of a quad front end.
Third, the gearing is unusual compared to the trikes I've ridden. First gear is (I'm sure there's a technical term for this, but I don't know it) very short. So short that I almost want to start out in 2nd. You're in first gear for about one second before going to 2nd. My 200s is exactly the opposite. After that the gears seem fairly normal.
Naturally, we raced it against the current champion, my 200s. in a straight flat 1/4 mile The 200s pulls out about 15-20 feet ahead of the SX and stays there the whole time, so they're just about perfectly matched. So by 20 feet, the 200s is still the undisputed champion in my garage.
Yesterday we hit the trails. It's been raining a lot, so things were pretty muddy. I've never gotten that muddy riding before. I wish I had brought my camera! The SX handled itself perfectly and got me out of a couple of mudholes, and I got myself out of trouble twice with reverse. It felt like cheating...:twisted: As far as handling, at my admittedly limited skill level I did as well as I do on my buddy's 200x. We switched a couple of times, somewhat against his wishes. Last time we were on these trails, I took his X and ran it into a tree. Fortunately my head took most of the impact. Anyway, no trees or helmets were destroyed this trip, and Dave said that the SX handles almost as well as his 200x. I agreed with him.
The one major disappointment about the SX was my hands falling asleep every 5 minutes. I think it's because of the way you sit up on top of it, and your hands are down on the handlebars with some weight on them. On the 200x you sit down into it and your hands are up higher. I've got some carpal tunnel and this is a problem for me, but I've never had it this bad on a trike before.
All in all, the 250SX performed admirably, but having to stop so often to give my hands a rest was a real drag. I really like it, but the jury's still out on whether it's a keeper.