Jimmy and friends, for a long time I have wondered why manufacturers don’t
make a offroad bike with good suspension and strong, torquey motor for
shorter people, women or younger people wanting to ride offroad! All that is
offered is weak playbikes and high strung racers.At this time I decided to build the ultimate mini! I took a used 03 Honda
CR85 expert and saved a yamaha blaster engine from being imprisoned in a
quad! The work was pretty extensive, cut and rebuilt the cradle, mounts and
exhaust system. A lot more work than I would like to list in an email! It
took two years to finish the project and as predicted, this thing rips! It
has a ton of low end and mid range. Totally useable power in a competitive
chassis.I have about 2500 invested in this bike, about half of what I had in my ttr!
And its about five times the bike! I did the work myself and have a lot of
time invested so my time isn’t figured into the cost.It was a fun project and I just thought I would share with youJoey Santos
Colfax, CA
Joey,This bike sounds awesome for the trails and I never thought of the Blaster engine, but that is a perfect one for that you are using it for. Air cooled and 200cc, these are not much better for torque and light weight.And as for the manufacturers, they have a problem in thinking the market for this type of bike is non-existent, when I for one see a lot of older riders looking for the short seat height, low maintenance, decent suspension bike. But the one thing they require is electric starting and often times a license plate. KTM has this very interesting Freeride 350 in Europe, but it is cost prohibitive for the US. $9000 for a trail bike is a bit steep!JIMMY
