Ideal SOStunt Bike?

No. 26 in a series of idle thoughts:
If you could buy a SO bike for practising stunts on, what would you
get, and why?

The main point of such a bike would be to ride it to learn machine
control without the fear of binning a bike covered in plastic.

Main points it would have to have would be the ability to kick it back
into shape, to be withstanding of a good thrashing (and denting), cheap
to run (and fix).

 

I remember reading about Martin Child, stunt geezer, who used to tie old
tyres on either side of his b12 when practicing rolling burnouts ,doughnuts
etc. The idea being to protect the bike when dropped.

 

Gixxer thou, ovviously.

Naked/streetfighter gixxer thou then. At least after the first few
practice sessions.

Define 'cheap'.

 

£650 max.

 

I'd spend £125 of your budget on a day at a wheelie school [1]

Once you've learnt how to do it properly then you can spend the rest ofyour
budget on clutch plates, head-bearings, chains & sprockets for the Daytona!

[1] IIRC you were going to do this anyway?

 

<sigh>
A trail bike obviously and do your practicing on soft ground or beach/gravel
quarry.

 

Per session? No problem then. Gixxer thou it is.

 

Suzuki DR400. Probably got enough grunt to learn with but it's light
enough to try stuff on ... and it'll bounce quite a bit before it
breaks.

 

I disagree. I used to be able to wheely wealy well on my XT500 - doing
it on the gixxer is a completely different kettle of worms.

Mine dew, the 20 years between the two might be relevant too...

 

Want to become a stuntman eh? Well, VTR Firestorm obviously, you can do a
nice roll over the bonnet when you hit the car....

I'll keep you posted.

--
Spete
www.gimmemoney.mine.nu
www.spete.homeip.net

Occasionally, I'll be consistent

 

I would take no-one's advice on this, except for Veggie Dave's. He da
man.

 

You have a few options to go at...

A 50/80/100cc kid's motocross bike, such as a Honda XR50. They're crash
proof, require just as much skill and control as a full-sized bike, as
long as it has a foot operated rear brake (which the XRs do) then it'll
teach all about controlling the bike via the brake and it'll fit in the
boot of your car so you can practise anywhere with it - even your back
garden if it's bigger than a matchbox

A 'motard, but it really needs to be a four-stroke. They're almost crash
proof, have loads of bottom end to get the front up with, you won't be
going at 100+mph so less legal hassles or life threatening moments when
it all goes wrong. They're less threatening than a big inline-four
sports bike and have wide 'bars that help control the machine more
comfortably. The only downside is long wheelies are actually much harder
on a 'motard as you don't have the wide rev range of an
inline-four/sports bike, so you have to be able to get 'em high to get
any distance. Great for learning, but they won't let you get away with
the usual bar room bullshit that an inline four will

An old Fireblade. You can pick 'em up nice and cheap these days, the
engine is perfect for stunting as it's beautifully smooth while the
chassis gives more than enough feedback to the rider while remaining
absolutely stable at all angles, whether you're on the front or back
wheel. You can also get stunt crash bars for 'em that allow you to
seriously throw 'em down the road without the engine or 'bars even
touching down. Obviously, there's also a huge selection of second-hand
spares to go at, too. The downside is the 'Blade will hide your
inadequacies a little too well, which has a habit of leading some people
to pull wheelies where they're howling through the gears, using all of
the Honda's engine power to keep 'em up yet the rider thinks it's their
skill doing the work. Then something goes wrong and the rider discovers
they're not actually in any sort of control after all... Plus, you can
be doing well over 100mph very easily. A bad landing at those speeds can
produce remarkably unpleasant tank-slapper type moments that you won't
want to repeat. And, if you can't wheelie any slower than that then you
really don't have much, if any, control over the bike - time to take a
step back and start learning all over again

Once you've got the hang of it a 'Blade is the best bike to go for -
preferably a FI model - but if you go that route straight away, please
try to differentiate between what the bike's doing and what you're in
control of. Absolute smoothness and control is the goal

--
Veggie Dave
UKRMHRC#2 BOTAFOF#08
IQ 18 FILMS http://www.iq18films.com
Extreme Racing http://www.veggie-dave.co.uk
Toxic Shock Syndrome Gets More Girls Than Me

 

A tatty old thou EXUP would be my choice, preferably a late one with
upside-downers, and 6 potters.

--
HedgeHog AKA Paul Hendrick
YZF-R1 Bultaco Sherpa
BONY#3 BOTAFOT#101

Remove KHH to reply by email

 

Heavy. Early Fireblade I reckon, should be plenty around cheap and
can be streetfightered easily enough.

 

But... by that token he would have to ignore your advice too. I think.

My head hurts.

 

The jury is still out on the thou then.

--
Molly
Who am I? http://www.MollyG.net/intro2molly/about-me.htm
http://www.ads-training.co.uk
"Kneesliders Sponsored by Cane"
"Gower School" By Appointment".
GSX-R1000 (a girly bike), Triumph Thunderbird, GS500, GHPOTHUF#27
TGF, UKRMFBC#7, Two#24, BOTAFOF#11, YTC#9, GYASB#1. SbS#23.
DFWAG#2, DS#2, DIAABTCOD#20. remove "thisbit" in the reply
http://www.mollyg.net (our own endurance team) http://Team-ukrm.com
"Nemo repente fuit turpissimus"

 

A GS500E. If you can wheelie that you can wheelie most things. Dead
easy to get your kneedown though.

--
Molly
Who am I? http://www.MollyG.net/intro2molly/about-me.htm
http://www.ads-training.co.uk
"Kneesliders Sponsored by Cane"
"Gower School" By Appointment".
GSX-R1000 (a girly bike), Triumph Thunderbird, GS500, GHPOTHUF#27
TGF, UKRMFBC#7, Two#24, BOTAFOF#11, YTC#9, GYASB#1. SbS#23.
DFWAG#2, DS#2, DIAABTCOD#20. remove "thisbit" in the reply
http://www.mollyg.net (our own endurance team) http://Team-ukrm.com
"Nemo repente fuit turpissimus"

 

A stunting female biker? I think I'm in heaven...

--
Veggie Dave
UKRMHRC#2 BOTAFOF#08
IQ 18 FILMS http://www.iq18films.com
Extreme Racing http://www.veggie-dave.co.uk
Toxic Shock Syndrome Gets More Girls Than Me