Don't be in a hurry to move up in size! You will learn more than you realize with a smaller and lighter bike. Practice your maneuvering skills in deserted parking lots or somewhere safe without traffic. Hone your skills to perfection on the XR and then move up to the 450 or similar sized bike. This is your best opportunity to master the basic skills. Learn how to countersteer. It is super critical to becoming a safe rider, IMO (it can literally save your life).
Here's my take. I have a HD springer in the US and a XR 150 in the Philippines. Each does well at their jobs and I wouldn't want to switch bikes in the two countries. The XR is plenty fast for Philippine congested traffic. Ain't no way I would ride that little bike in Conroe, Texas where I just came from. Too many people hauling a$$, too many aggressive drivers, too many brodozers etc etc. For what a new XR 150 costs out the door in the US, you could buy a nice used DR650 that can run with the traffic and still have that light dirt bike feel. I would never buy the XR in the US but am really pleased with it here. Just my two cents. I guess if a person lived in a small town with trails everywhere and light traffic, The XR might make sense.
Yeah, you're on an XR150L, you do have time. Not like the old XR's from the 80's where my XR200RD was 2/3 the weight of the XR150 and twice the power. I've not long bought a couple of these as ex farm bikes and wanting to get one on the road. The lack of power isn't an issue as the top speed around here is only 100km/h (60mph) and there aren't that many places I can do that.
I am about three weeks behind you bud, got my 150l two weeks ago and have been practicing locally on a property I live on. I start a Harley course next week to get my license. Stay out of the left lane, I don't care if the right lane has fifty million garbage trucks in it, stay in the right. Car drivers have little to no patience for a new rider on a bike that has a top speed of 65. Stay in the right hand lane, you'll be free of the Teslas,Bmws, Jeeps, Mercedes etc.
My Beginner bike, apart from a Moped I brought to test the water to see if Motorcycling was an option for me. A Suzuki V-strom 250SX. physically size appropriate, and the cheapest of the bikes from brands I trust that "IS" size appropriate... I can't ride a Gixxer, they are too tiny for me to fit on. and after a while, the V-strom doesn't feel as big as it looks (but the handle bars are too wide) Being Fuel injected really helps to start it, but I wish it was Carby so I could correct the fuelling and stop the constant knock from being too lean. I did ride it before getting my license, but that just prepared me for the first trip outside of town once I got my license... Nah that's bull, it was a totally new experience getting onto the open road, and a huge learning curve... Sunglasses are good, but... when you're on the Motorway and it starts to get dark, you can't just stop and take them off, however the same could be said that you can't just flip a tinted Visor up and ride without any eye protection! The hardest part is the left hand... being on the correct side of the road, I am used to changing gear with the left hand and keeping the dominant hand on the steering wheel. but going from the foot hand foot order to change gear and suddenly having to switch to hand foot hand, that screws me up occasionally. the other is finding time to turn off the indicator, taking off, changing to second, and third, doesn't leave much time to push the cancel button. on a bike with much taller gearing this may be quite different. but the V-strom 250SX can do 10km/h in first gear, (6mph) and the first few gears are so close together that it's almost a race between the hand and foot to see which can do it the fastest! I saw that... and yes judging braking distances on a bike is very different to in a car, I overshot a side road on my first open road trip, going from 100km/h to stopping took 4 meters longer than I anticipated. so, considering there is only one brake light, and 3 of them on a car... start slowing down earlier so people behind have more time to notice I guess, and it helps to not overshoot like I did the first time. All about the low speed manoeuvres? Ok I learnt on a moped, low speed was all i could do... but getting something to turn when it wants to stay upright and going straight ahead... That's actually the hard part for me! practice the downshifts... you know for sure when you get into first gear... when you let the clutch out you really know it's first gear you got down to... let the clutch out and let the engine slow you down, but give a rear brake some taps to let the people behind know too! Nervous about not having both hands on the handle bars... If it's going straight, it want's to keep doing it, not a big issue unless you have a death grip, loosen the grip on the bars, hang on with the thighs, it means you can easily let go with one hand and stretch that poor back out a bit!
If you want freeway and want to stick to the dual sport class, DR650 will hold 80 all day and it tops out at about 100, me personally I’m good cruising at 70-75 but it has room to go more once the bike is broken in, I have canyons and two trails I go to in my local area that’s why I have it but yeah 300-600 is fine in the dual sport class as they aren’t quick like a sports bike, don’t get a CF motto that’s Chinese garbage
My bmwg310r is on the way to my house as Im watching this. We are on the same boat brother. Im a beginner myself. Enjoy it, because being a noob will never happen again
Best way: Clutch in, blip the throttle, and while the revs are still high from your throttle blip, downshift and release the clutch. As you get better you can do it faster and play around with it
Well atleast you slowed down on that turn but its important to always downshift aswell, and by the sound of it you're probably in 5th or 4th gear just drop to 2nd gear, and another thing just listen carefully how the engine sounds if you dont have a gear indicator
Quick question if you dont mind , I was wondering about how hard the clutch lever pull is like hard soft ect , I broke my 2 left forefingers and wasnt sure if i could even pull in the clutch thank you !
Simplicity is a strong selling point...... w/ reasonable care it's difficult to hurt these bikes which has been proven by its being sold for like 20yrs now in S.American -n- Asian markets. I'm looking hard at this little bike, the only drawback is that you've got to ride in a defensive posture whenever you ride an under-powered bike - I mean when you can't go the speed limit you must be careful & share the lane. Staying off the interstate highways will make it much safer. This bike will be running long after the CF450, that's the beauty of a Honda power-train.. I don't trust the Chinese bikes but that's me. Good luck
Hey dude waiting on some new videos! Hope you're doing well. As for my own motorcycle progress; I took the msf advanced skills course today with my MT 07 and it helped me build some good confidence with that bike. I'm pretty bad at doing u turns on it though due to the jerky acceleration in 1st gear(also my own nerves) but I was still able to do them; which was something I was afraid to do on that bike(I had no issues with the u turns when I used their 300cc bikes). I've been hearing really good things about the cfmoto bikes recently; so it might be a good choice to upgrade to the 450 ss. Just do some research first!
There are minor modifications that you can make to get a little bit more out of it. Three popular mods are a re-jeting of the carb with a 115 jet and then open up the air box by removing the snorkel and then removing the spark arrestor. Also going down to a 16 tooth front sprocket will make it feel more zippy off the line with the mods . This is a dual sport and does well off road as well because it is so light and manuverable . If you do go off road, make sure you have your spark arrestor on .
I think that you should make the XR150L faster. I did a 222cc big bore kit, BBR cam, 30mm PWK carb, and I made custom undertail exhaust. I can easily do 68mph and am going to test a smaller rear sprocket soon.
Your reasons for choosing this bike are great. The 300l isn’t too fast but the added power and seat height would definitely make it harder to learn on.
A lot of cars? the place is deserted... you should try driving/riding in a country where the roads are too congested to fit an American sized car in a single lane! Round about ruin the flow? they create better flow than any other kind of intersection. Traffic lights with messed up Phasing ruin the flow, and often are deliberately set so deter people from using a particular road they have no choice but to use and create a massive amount of congestion for no reason other than to make people use local government owned public transport for the financial gain! (Thankyou for being like this Auckland Transport... you are the reason I got a bike)
I forget this is an issue for people who never learned to drive in a Manual. My first car was a Manual, 70% of my cars have been manual, I prefer Manual. It was just part of learning how to drive, and being into Rallying made it essential! Balls are cool, just ask a Harley rider and they will tell you they love playing with Balls. Crazy? probably just low on blood sugar levels, stop and have a full sugar energy drink... It stops the brain from having to overload on the serotonins it produces to stay alert.
KEEP the XR for fun shenanigans! It's a small dirt bike there's a lot of fun to be had with it, just get yourself a separate street bike for the fast stuff. I have a Ninja 400 I like but the Yamaha R3 is great too. You can find these bikes used for cheap as they're beginner bikes but they have just enough power for you to lose your license so you can have fun with them before you graduate to something bigger.
Thats the plan, im eyeing the MT07 but we will see, its not even about going fast, the XR just has trouble in my area because there are alot of hills. Near the beach its nice but when i hit an incline it starts to struggle
You can take that 150 to Daytona with those high speeds! I just ride my XR on the little backroad 2-lane highways to get to the dirt stuff. I'm fine without a windscreen up to 65 until I get a side-wind. You sit up high on these dual-sports so I feel like I catch more wind from the side compared to the shorter street bikes.
In terms of street bikes vs. dual sports, the cc's just feel so much different. My fiance has a 2022 KTM 500 EXC-F Dual Sport and I have a Honda Rebel 500. They're both 500's but my bike is just way more capable on the street, and his bike works phenomenally in the dirt. I wouldn't ride anything under 500cc on the street, but a 450cc dirtbike is too much for me (and too tall) LOL. Dual sports, in my opinion, are better for mostly dirt riding, with the added benefit of being on the street, but I wouldn't personally daily a dual sport. I was looking at the XR150L and the TW200 since I started on dirtbikes myself, but decided to just get a dedicated street motorcycle and have a dedicated dirtbike. I think the MT-07 would be great, or even a CBR500 (They have the same engine as the Rebel) but as others have said, it really depends on the style of riding you want to do, but ALSO it depends on the ergonomics and how the bike feels under you. I love to watch sportbikes but I'm more of a cruiser type of rider, (plus I'm short) hence the Rebel... :) Where you live, in a more suburban area, you can get away with the XR150L. Where I live, in a more rural part of the county, most of the roads are 50-55mph, so I would be miserable on the XR150L LOL. But you should definitely still keep the XR150L, and maybe someday trailer it (or ride it if you dare) out to Ocotillo Wells and go explore offroad!
the XR150L is not comfortable at 55 mph, the revs are high and the bike is so light, any bit of wind throws you around. The MT07 is looking like the bike I want to get! OOOOooo Ocotillo Wells, I will have to look that up!
You're doing awesome dude! Im a pretty new rider myself and love your videos! I agree with what you said about motorcycles. They're freeing. You feel more aware than when you're in a car.
@@tairamosmoto hey bro me too 🙏 we both just got welcomed into the motorcycle life. Stay safe out there. Quick question, do teslas try to race you too? 😂
You're doing so great!! Love seeing you progress. I found that anything over 50mph was rough with the wind as well, so I bought a windscreen for my bike, not sure if they make one for yours... hoping to make my way to the coast soon. Just have to ride about an hour from the mountains! and don't worry, I get passed by Camry's on my Rebel 500.... people just drive way too fast in San Diego. (which is part of the reason why I haven't made it out of my own town lol)
Thank you so much for the encouragement! Still trying to get the hang of things! Will try to find a windshield just to make it more comfortable, i do want a bike like yours tho, something with more power 💪lol
