Greetings ladies and gents, just wanted to stop by and introduce myself. My name is Connor Frankhouser and, like many of you, I have a passion for all things two wheels. Be it a Japanese or Austrian or Spanish make with cams or with ports and power valves, I love them all and have ridden most of 'em and wrenched on many of them.

Anyways, I am a 23 year old recent uni graduate from TEXAS teaching school here in Shanghai, P.R.C. Not mixing up bean oil on Sunday mornings is killing me and I stumbled across this forum and thought I could ask the men and women of this forum a few questions on how to get into the MX/ Enduro or dual sport culture here...

1- Is it possible to buy a decent Japanese Dirt Bike here (125 2-stroke or 250f at minimum...preferably a 250 two stroke or 450 four stroke). Two or four stroke does not matter, though I do prefer the 99 and up Yamaha YZ 250s (2 stroke) or an 08 and up KTM- but I suspect the Katooms will be too expensive here. If purchasing a bike from Japan or Austria is not possible, are the Chinese dirt bikes worth a hoot? Where do I go buy either a real Suzuki/ Honda/ Yamaha or a Dongfeng Guangdog Province Special... I haven't seen any good Japanese machines on craigslist or the for sale section here.

2-If I did acquire a machine, where does a laddie go to ride? I have seen people allude to going to Sichuan on a train to ride while lurking on this forum. Do people really do this?

3- How much RMB will a decent machine cost? The number I am thinking of is what it would cost for a good used bike in America, multiplied time six to get the RMB price.

A little background... I raced around Texas in the Texas State Championship Enduro Circuit a bit (TSCEC) with my dad who is one of the fastest 40+ year old A riders in the American South. He has ridden with Randy Hawkins and all kinds of other enduro and GNCC royalty and held his own. I once saw him lose to Guy Cooper (a venerable MX God to people from Oklahoma and Texas) by only four bike lengths at our local MX track in 1998. This was not even a decade after Coop was the 125cc national champion. I am just proud of my old man I guess, so I digress

After I went off to college I stopped riding as much but still kept up with the sport and riding... just not on each Sunday like I used to. My preferred weapons of choice are a 99-04 YZ 250 with a 9 oz Steahly Flywheel weight and FMF Gnarly Pipe or my Dads 01 KTM 525 EXC or Husaberg 450 FE for High Altitude Applications. I also enjoy riding around on his KTM 950 Adventure
when he lets me, which is all too seldom.

If any of you guys want to bench race or talk about moto or the sport in general I am in Shanghai... add me on wechat.... cfrankhouser or drop me a line at connor.frankhouser@gmail.com I have attached a picture of me and my dad about to hit the trails in New Mexico. I am on the left on the Husaberg and he is on the right on the trusty big bore KTM.


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