Peanut’s New Ride

We picked up a new bike for Abigail. It’s a 2009 KTM 50SX Senior.

It’s a full-on dirt bike.

She had gotten too big (frame size) for her JR50. Standing while riding was ridiculous, because she’d tower over the bike. The KTM, though the same engine size, has a taller frame and more suspension.

But it’s not just frame size that’s different. It’s a meaner machine. It has all the characteristics of a bigger bike – liquid cooled, higher compression engine, tunable spring/oil suspension. It’s just a smaller CC engine. It makes the JR50 feel like a toy.

The previous owner was an 11 year old girl who’s had it for a few years. She’s now moved onto a KTM 65. Seeing how quickly Abigail has taken to the new characteristics of the KTM 50, I doubt we’ll make it to 11 before we’re looking at 65s.

Another pseudo cool aspect of the whole deal is that we checked out the bike in the dark. How do you test ride a bike in the dark? You use lights!

The night prior to looking at the KTM, we rigged up her gear with my mt bike night riding light and tested things out. She took off like it was day. No issues whatsoever. Lauren rode too – without a light – in the dark. Scared the hell out of me, but she loved it. Down the road at some point I can definitely see lights for each of them to extend their riding time.

– b