Dirt World
Gotta give a shout out to Ron at DIRT WORLD over by Albany NY ...
Ron has sent me a few parts from time to time and answered some questions over the phone, but I can't say I have contributed much to his net worth....
So I picked up my 08 husky 125 on the cheap about a year ago to test the small bore waters .... Of course I'm still screwing around with it .... but I'm thinking maybe a 200 would have just a bit more juice... be a little easier to ride in certain situations ... ron runs the netra harescrambles with his son who rides a 125 .... So I drop ron a line and tell him I'll be riding sweep at the rocky mt harescramble in alton NH. If he has a used 200 kicking around it might be nice to test one out. He says "sure we'll bring something for you to ride" .... Sunday I walk over to where he is pitted and ron is nowhere to be found but a very shiny 09 six days ec 200 is sitting there ... "Crap I hope he isn't sending me out there on that ... it looks brand new!!!" Sure enough when I catch up to ron it is the bike he brought for me to ride and while not exactly brand new ... 25 or so miles on the odo doesn't exactly qualify as used. Of course part of me was totally jazzed, sweeeet!! another part of me was a tad worried ... the bike was new and it did not have any skid plate or other protection. There is a reason it is called Rocky Mt ....... Last thing I wanted to do was go down in the rocks and bring back a banged up bike. Of course I did not let my apprehensions get in the way of a good test ride ... so naturally I mounted up and rode off.
...... it gets better ....
I go out and do my sweeper duties don't wreck or even scratch up DIRT WORLDS sweet looking test bike. I roll up, drop the bike off and thank Ron for the use of the bike. we chit chat about the track and tire choice a bit. As I'm getting ready to climb on my 300 he says "So you want to give the 250F a try??" "Aahhh" There was as slight hesitation on my part as MVTR does not like having, correction does not allow C riders to sweep the A class. The speed difference is obvious but also, and I can speak from experience on this, the track gets chewed up and you never know when a c rider stopper will pop up. The last thing you need is some poor c rider tangled up in some tight single track blocking the trail when two AA's come charging through nose to tail. Which of course makes perfect sense to me. But the man is offering me a test ride on a 2010 Gas Gas 250f!! In real world conditions no less!! Of Course The A Riders aren't suppose to be creating short cuts out on the river loop at clough state park when they do their weeknight practice runs either .. but that doesn't seem to stop them from doing exactly that ... What the hell, if they can do some boot leg short cuts I can do some boot leg sweeping .. and with that moral dilema resolved I looked at Ron and said "250f?? Hell Yeah!!" and with that we headed off to Jim Senecals pit!!! Sure enough next to Jims race bike is a shiney 2010 EC 250f and it was mine for the afternoon!! Sweeper skill level rules be damned!!
I had a brief moment of dred riding away from jims pit thinking with my luck I'll get tangled up in some rut while poor jim comes along trying to make some time .... but I got over that real quick!! (for those not from New England Jim won the Netra Harescramble Championship last year and he is pretty much the only Gas GAS rider out there doing battle in a sea of orange .... the last guys whose race you'd want to screw up if you were test riding a gas gas!!)Nobody gave me any grief about being a c rider heading out to sweep for the A's. Of course they could all see I was on a very sweet test bike and I don't think any of them wanted to or would have demanded I stay off the course... I went out with a small crew before the race started and we parked our selves on the big long dusty uphill and waited for the inevitable dust storm pile up. Being in the middle of all that on foot all that was a trip in itself!! As far as the bikes go its the classic what do you want 2t zing or 4t grunt and traction. The 200 was bone stock. I just hopped on it and went. No clickers or sag setting etc etc. At first I wasn't digging the ride in the rocks, The suspension was a bit too stiff for me in the rocks and I was still nervous about getting it back to ron in good shape. I stopped after a bit and went out the compression and the trail got quite more open and less rocky so I was able to relax a bit. At some point I figure out it wan't my 300 and you really ought to run it a bit higher in the rpm range. Once I got that figured out, thats when things got fun. Classic light weight 2t, throw it around in the woods on the pipe riding. With the cockpit dialed for my ergos, a bigger sprocket on the back and the suspension dialed for new england it would be miles of smiles on that puppy.
The 250f was also quite a trip to ride. the bike looks totally trick and is a definite head turner. I know this because when I was sitting at the sweepers rondezvous point everyone that walked by gave it a good look over. You can't help but feel like a hot shiet burbling through the pits on it!!! too bad my skill level did not match its capabilities. The one over whelming thing I remember about about the 250f was how strong the motor felt. The first thing I though about it once I got out on the trail was "holy crap, this baby wants to run!" I have limited ride time on 250f's a ktm 280 a year ago and an 05 honda with a fresh 270 kit this spring. There wasn't anything about this motor that made me thing it would need a 270 or 280 kit. Seemed like a nice strong motor to me. As far as ride etc etc ... typical planted 4t. Again shiney new bike kept me from really doing anything stupid. Assuming the ergos fit the rider I don't think anyone would be to bummed to have one of these in the shed. Especially with nicely tuned suspension. Weight was never an issue but I guess thats the whole idea behind 250f's. My impression of this bike was that it was a very capable bike that a very capable rider could put to very good use.
If I had to drop some money on one of these bikes ... and I just might ... I'm thinking I'd probably go with the 200 for the small bore zing .... but I have no doubts that I would be faster through the woods on the 250f, traction in spades and no real weight penalty that my sorry C riding butt could notice.
The fact that a dealer who had sold me a few parts over the phone and answered a few questions about my 300 over the net would not only drag over a bike for me to test ride at the rocky but bring over an essentially brand new bike for me to run through the rocks and then have another almost new 250f available .. So a Great big THANK YOU AND "HELL YEAH!!" goes out to Ron Brundige and DIRTWORLD CYCLES!! I hope the Distributor get the brand out ther eand thing up and rolling so you have more buyers than bikes!! Oh and I don't know if Jim Senecal brings that 250f along to every race as pit eye candy but I'm sure glad he brought it along to the rocky! So he gats a big Thank You and HELL YEAH! also ... and you looked good out there on the course buddy!!
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08-12-2010, 06:42 PM
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