The other day I was driving on I55 in chicago and noticed a dual sport looking bike approaching from behind quickly. As it passed I recognized it was a 2 cycle bike. It had a head light and a tail light. There was a motorcycle "license applied for" tag taped sideways on the very back of the fender. I had to do 90+ mph to catch up to this bike. No turn signals, no mirrors, and no speedometer! He was doing 80 mph and the engine sounded like it was just beginning to get uncomfortable. By the sound of it, that bike had lots more left in it and it could do 80mph all day. It also had moto cross knobby tires on it. It looked like a mid to late 1980's bike and I saw the "430" on the side as I was checking the bike out.
The rear sprocket looked normal sized and the bike looked very well worn/used.
Do these bikes have a significantly wider gear spacing as compared to say, my 1995 yz 250? I rode my first street bike a few months ago and the gear spacing seemed the same as my yz 250. As soon as you are doing about 25 mph, you can be cruising in top gear. The street bike was a 1982 xj650 that had 11,000 miles on it and it was shockingly slow compared to my 250.
The reason for all this is I have a Baja Designs kit on the yz250 for a few years now but only use it off road because I was beginning to think it would be a waste of time on the street because I would not be able to keep up with traffic at expressway speed. When I saw this old bike moving like it did, I think my newer 250 should be able to do the same thing. What do you think? Is it time to get to the dmv and be street legal?
Jim
The rear sprocket looked normal sized and the bike looked very well worn/used.
Do these bikes have a significantly wider gear spacing as compared to say, my 1995 yz 250? I rode my first street bike a few months ago and the gear spacing seemed the same as my yz 250. As soon as you are doing about 25 mph, you can be cruising in top gear. The street bike was a 1982 xj650 that had 11,000 miles on it and it was shockingly slow compared to my 250.
The reason for all this is I have a Baja Designs kit on the yz250 for a few years now but only use it off road because I was beginning to think it would be a waste of time on the street because I would not be able to keep up with traffic at expressway speed. When I saw this old bike moving like it did, I think my newer 250 should be able to do the same thing. What do you think? Is it time to get to the dmv and be street legal?
Jim
