Chinariders Meet, Invade Nickelmine - Without Chinabikes?

[TurboT]

Well after joining the forums and partaking in numerous discussions with my good buddy Weldangrind; we finally made a 'date' and hit the trails together.

W&G was nice enough to allow me to tag along to his favoured riding spot, the 5 star camping resort known as Nickelmine, just outside of Hope, B.C. Yes folks, 5 stars! Comes with MX track, miles and miles of trails, count them, TWO OUTHOUSES, and the nicest darn access road you can imagine. Yes, the kind of road that makes women thankful for sport bras and me happy I had a 4x4. Yes, we took the chicken way in, the one reserved for RV's, and I'm glad my 20 ft bus/Dodge Ram didn't have a 10 ft trailer behind it. I expect with my excellent driving skills it would have dragged me down the 3000 ft cliff that drops perilously close to the edge of said road.

Now I say all this this lovingly of course, because nothing says a good time to me than some adventure in the outdoors with gas burning, noise making machines.

While all of you who are regulars know W&G and I both own Chinese made equipment, none of them made the trip this time. I brought the YZ and W&G brought his newly assembled XR 200, and his old reliable PE175 for his son to ride who came along to witness my outstanding riding abilities.

Nickelmine is a beautiful spot, with trails for all experience levels of riders. From wide windy trails big enough for my truck to drive through, to some Gnarly single track through the trees, up hills, and through water etc. I think we managed to hit a small sampling of them all. Starting slow since I was being a bit of a sissy, worried the loose gravel was going to send me sprawling and end my day early. At the beginning of some trails were some loose gravel/dirt downward slopes and made me feel a bit uncomfortable on the bike..but once I got used to it the speeds picked up.

I do think my favourite part of the whole day other than some instant comraderie with my riding partners, was challenging myself through the before-mentioned single track. The path was just wide enough to keep the weels in the trail, where it went down, sideways, over tree roots, in a straight line with a 50 ft drop beside on the one side (scary for me Mr. Don't like Heights) and then up a twisty hill to end it. It was challenging and rewarding to get through it without a broken bike or body part.

I tried to take some photos, but only a couple turned out due to some heavy abuse to my NEW Blackberry Storm. Below are a few shots.

Side view of the YZ looking up the trail, just beyond you'll see the trail drops into what I'd say was a good 40 degree, 20 ft drop we rode up to the "plateau"


Side view of W&G's Honda XR 200. Check out the nice shiney decals! In hindsight, wished I would've taken some video of W&G roaring up the hill and pulling a back wheel bunny hop at the top.



..and here is a photo of the three bikes, and two riders. (Third war behind the camera) Thanks W&G for holding up the YZ, the lack of kickstand annoying for times like these.



I'd say my favourite story of the day would be 'open throttle time.' After riding for about 1.5 hours through some fairly twisty trails, where there wasn't much room for more than second gear, we came to an area that could best be described as a 'narrow road.' W&G tells us he thinks this would be a good spot for some, "How fast can we go?" time. We roll up one way and end up hitting the end of the road, turn around, and take turns taking off on the 'runway.' I get up to speed well, banging the gears out till I hit the top end of third. At this point, it feels like I'm about to take off, trees are roaring by, slight turns on the road. I come around a slight bend and up ahead I see what looks to be a HUGE dip in the road. Now this isn't no little whoop, the damn road is dark in this hole, which stretches right across the width. Now I'm doing probably about 50KM/HR and have zero time to do anything but yell, "OOH S&*T!!" Two seconds later I'm still doing 50km/hr and still on the bike. I think I was going so fast, and while the dip was deep it was wider than the tire, so I managed to go over it without the wheels sinking much, and what did was soaked up in the suspension. As I come back to check out this spot, it's clearly erosion from a stream, that has dug itself a path into the road over time..if it was any wider I think I'd still be flying. When I caught up to W&G I could see that smug bugger smiling at me through his helmet. I still can't figure out if he knew that was coming or not! ...however I think he almost soiled his pants almost not making a turn further up.

Overall it was a great day, with weather in the low 20's C. We rode for 3 hours or so, and only quit as it was getting dark. As we got down the fun road, it was time for headlights, so I think we used as much daylight as possible.

A highly recommended riding spot, great company, and a great day! I think there's talk of going back, SOON.

P.S. AZ200cc, I actually did in fact witness, a short but stylish wheelie performed by one W&G. No photo or picture, but take my word, it happened.

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for the report T. You make it sound even better than it was.

Of course, you meant my nice shiny decal (singular), since the other one peeled off on the highway. :( AZ200cc, the front tire on my XR250 is one of the tires I found discarded behind the local bike shop (second photo).

I gotta say, despite both T and I riding 250 four strokes, his pulls like a freight train (I guess there can be considerably higher compression with liquid cooling). This was my first ride on my XR, and it suits me so far. I took T's YZ for a rip, and the tears were flowing down my face. The thought that struck me as amazing was that his bike is available in a 450 version. 8O No thanks.

TurboT, you forgot to mention that Son of Weldangrind was required to bring up the rear all day, because his old PE175 was killing mosquitoes for miles.

[FastDoc]

Too much fun guys! Thanks for the report.

[SpudRider]

Thanks for the great report, TT! The only thing better than good riding is good fellowship.

Spud

[AZ200cc]

Nice report, And some good pics...........But I see no proof of a wheelie. But i Bet You did one crossing that rut

You just need a cheap little triangle stand to carry with you if by some chance theres not a tree nearby.

[TurboT]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Thanks for the report T. You make it sound even better than it was.

Of course, you meant my nice shiny decal (singular), since the other one peeled off on the highway. :( AZ200cc, the front tire on my XR250 is one of the tires I found discarded behind the local bike shop (second photo).

I gotta say, despite both T and I riding 250 four strokes, his pulls like a freight train (I guess there can be considerably higher compression with liquid cooling). This was my first ride on my XR, and it suits me so far. I took T's YZ for a rip, and the tears were flowing down my face. The thought that struck me as amazing was that his bike is available in a 450 version. 8O No thanks.

TurboT, you forgot to mention that Sam was required to bring up the rear all day, because his old PE175 was killing mosquitoes for miles.

My apologies for miss representing your true CC value in my report. I do not know why I thought your Honda was a 200cc air cooled, and not a 250?? Must've been long day brain or something kicking in.

Son of Weldangrind was a trooper, having to be behind ME all the time, plodding down hill slower than one can walk. I should've let him go in front of me some, as a little two smoke doesn't bother me much, plus I hate skeeters might've kept them away from me that way.

I tried to find out the horsepower rating of the YZ today, as per our discussion end of day Sunday. Can't seem to find much other than the 450 is 52 HP, and the 2 - stroke 250 is 47. There were changes to the powerband in YZ 250F's in 04, but cannot find a definitive number. Perhaps the 37-40 range is correct. Still impressive on a one cylinder. 12.5:1 compression according to my .pdf owners manual.

[TurboT]

Originally Posted by AZ200cc

Nice report, And some good pics...........But I see no proof of a wheelie. But i Bet You did one crossing that rut

You just need a cheap little triangle stand to carry with you if by some chance theres not a tree nearby.

Haha, you know I struggled enough with the phone/cam taking the photos I did. I'm kicking myself for forgetting my 'real' camera.. Filming the wheelie might've been a bit tricky either way though, considering I was behind the subject, with two hands on the bars in motion.

The thing that bugs me about the triangle stand is I have gone to a few places, with the intention of buying one, only to be stymied by 'sold out' every time. Might have to just order one online.

[TurboT]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

Thanks for the great report, TT! The only thing better than good riding is good fellowship.

Spud

Very well said, Mr. Spud!

[AZ200cc]

Well I once dated the hottest triplets in north america, But sorry I have no pics or vid to prove it

Holy snot W&G those tires are still in great shape...Sigh I need to find place with those laying around.

And I looked for a stand also, Same silly story....Said screw it and two days later my stand arrived UPS.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by AZ200cc

Holy snot W&G those tires are still in great shape...Sigh I need to find place with those laying around.

That's one of the better tires I've found, but I often find stuff that's certainly suitable for bush riding. The tires on Son of Weldangrind's PE175 are both used as well. I like free.

[TurboT]

Originally Posted by AZ200cc

Well I once dated the hottest triplets in north america, But sorry I have no pics or vid to prove it

Hahaha well you know, if I had claimed to do the stylish wheelie on my own, you may have a strong argument point.. however, I was vouching for another party, as a solid reliable witness. It did in fact happen.

What site did you buy your triangle stand from?

[FastDoc]

Originally Posted by AZ200cc

Well I once dated the hottest triplets in north america, But sorry I have no pics or vid to prove it

Holy snot W&G those tires are still in great shape...Sigh I need to find place with those laying around.

And I looked for a stand also, Same silly story....Said screw it and two days later my stand arrived UPS.

I dated the other two.

You do not want to see the pictures.

Still a medical mystery. 8)

[AZ200cc]

Yah but Pic would have been cool.....Bragging rights I got my stand from rocky mountain ATV.


I don't know if we wanna see pics Doc.....Not sure You can be trusted lol