Yamahatt-R90er

YAMAHA TT-R90ER

RIDES 2K3

Spoiled-rotten brats!

JIMMY LEWIS

DON’T GET ME WRONG, I LOVE MINIBIKES. AND I DON’T really mind kids, as long as they aren’t mine. But put those two together and I get a little upset-oh, and not for the reasons you’re thinking, either.

It’s pure jealousy. I mean, if you ask me, these kids have it made. My first bike just plain wouldn’t start, no matter how many times my pals and I kicked it over. And now Yamaha is offering the TT-R90 with electric start for 2003? Where’s the character-building brought by learning to boot-start a motorcycle? The hardest thing with this Yamaha is learning where Daddy hides the key if your report card stinks.

Talk about cool looks. My first pressed-steel mini barely looked in place on the bumper of a motorhome, and that’s probably what it fell off of before I got it. The TT-R’s shapes and style have that big YZ look, and no steel gas tank here; that’s real plastic, son. Motor-wise, that sohc horizon-

tal 89cc Single runs through a three-speed transmission with an automatic clutch, just like my first bike, but this thing flat hauls. It has torque enough to ride around in second gear all day, but banging shifts is more fun. Forget maintenance, just add gas and go.

I don’t even want to tell kids how good they have it in the suspension department. When I was their size, my machine was always in two pieces ’cause I insisted on jumping it. Now, at 180 pounds, I flew this thing again and again, and could not break it. Lucky little twerps...

Drum brakes handle stopping just fine, the 24-inch seat height fit kids from around 42-inches on up. Real knobbies on the 14-inch front and 12-inch rear wheels make me wish I was young again, just so I could start on equipment this good. Hey, hold on.. .maybe I’ll have a kid and buy one for his/her first birthday. That way I should have a good three or four years before they’re big enough to ride. □