Well as my title says I have driven my buddy's bike a couple of times and I really liked it a lot. A couple of years ago I owned a Yamaha TW200 and went driving with my biking partner but couldn't keep up with him going thru the trails. His '97 XT225 really absorbed the bumps while I felt every one on the TW200 so I sold it! But now I just purchased a leftover '03 and can't wait to get out on it in May once all this snow is gone. I know that we'll have a great time riding our XT225's and we're both over 50 years old. I'll do a more in depth report once I get some miles on this little baby. By the way my buddy has put 8000 miles on his bike and hasn't had any problems with anything, he just thinks it's the cat's meow!!