One day, Max noticed a dirtbike at a friend’s house and asked me if he could have one. It was a memorable moment, and I was thrilled to see his excitement. As a street biker with no experience in dirtbikes, I decided to start with an affordable trial bike from China. I quickly discovered, however, that this wasn’t the wisest decision.

The bike sputtered to life alright, but shifting gears felt like wrestling a stubborn mule, and the handling? Let’s just say it was less “smooth operator” and more “drunken sailor.” After a few hours of coaxing it along, the poor thing threw a proper tantrum—turns out the gearbox had decided it’d had enough and went broke in spectacular fashion.