Trail Rider Magazine

16 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com also unlikely to find a beer equipped machine brand new for $5000, and the two-year warranty doesn't hurt either. Anna: The last me I was in a NETRA race, I grabbed a nice hand- ful of throle about five minutes off the line and my fire- breathing 250 two-stroke did a 12 o'clock wheelie straight into a pine tree before I could even find my rear brake. I menon this because if you are 5'3" and a goon, bigger and faster is not always beer. Enter the PR4. This bike is sort of the an-250 two-stroke: if you have ever wished your bike had more scream, this is not the opon for you, but if you have ever wished your bike had LESS scream— well, pay aenon. The PR4's air-cooled, 230cc four stroke engine is able to lug down low and get you up hills and over trail junk with- out stalling. If you need to dab a foot here and there, the bike's narrow frame (thanks to the rear placement of the gas tank) makes it easy to reach the ground. It has signifi- cant engine braking, or at least it seems so to a habitual two-stroke rider, but this is handy in some circum- stances—you'll never stall it by locking the brakes on a hill, for example, since you hardly need the brakes at all if you downshi. In fact, thanks to its engine braking and low-end grunt, the PR4 can be ridden without much clutch work—and if you do manage to stall it, it has an electric start. And a speedometer. And lights. And a horn. It's prey luxurious, especially when you consider the price tag. One of the best features of the PR4 from the standpoint of a small beginner is its short wheelbase. I never mas- tered the old lean-your-bike-against-your-leg-and-gas-it method of turning around—usually if I lean the bike that far over, I fall over with it. There is no need to try such shenanigans on the PR4, because if you need to turn around, you can just ride it off the trail and make a u-turn in the woods. It's surprisingly maneuverable, but not SO maneuverable that it dives for the inside or squirms when you go around corners at speed. (Please understand that when I say "at speed", the term is relave!) Although the PR4 probably weighs more than my two-stroke, its com- pactness makes it feel lighter. Unlike the Sherco X-Ride I reviewed a while back, I would have no hesitaon about lining up at the start of a NETRA race on the PR4. Its suspension is robust (though it needed some massaging, in the form that I encountered it), and its frame feels, well, normal enough to deal with being hooned on—this despite the composite frame and unconvenonal gas tank placement. I suspect that my lap mes might even be improved on the PR4 as compared to my bona fide race bike, just because the former would eliminate the unplanned party wheelies. The PR4 is a great starter bike—it's much easier to ride than a two- stroke, easier to maintain than a liquid-cooled four stroke, and cheaper than either when buying new. ThE AJP PR4 has a shorter wheel base and seat height making it ideal for the smaller rider.

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