That makes perfect sense warren3200gt, in my head it was much simpler, but I see why you say its a bad idea.
As for getting a smaller one to learn on, I had initially intended to get something smaller when I first thought about this and then this deal landed in my lap. Seems like in my area even small older dirt bikes come with a hefty price tag. Its not exactly the same but I do ride a 150cc scooter around the farm. The part about riding a motorcycle that scares me isnt really the operation of the bike itself which seems pretty straight forward. Its the empty headed nutjobs and whack-a-doos roaming the streets in ton and a half steel boxes that give me pause. Its not so bad when Im in a steel box too, but all exposed like a motorcycle is can be kinda cringey to think about. On the up side, I do live a bit in the middle of nowhere so there is plenty of safe areas to practice and even driving around I can take circuitous routes to most of the places I need to go to avoid people.
kzstreetfigher - that is interesting to know, and I will look deeper into that. 2 inches without the need for significant modification would be great and its entirely possible I may be able to find one of those bikes in a junk yard around here. It boggles the mind how easily people give up on automotive things. The bike I have now had been given up on as a project by at least 4 other people before it came to me. After I got it all back together the only thing I found wrong with it was a bad ignition coil. Time of course had taken its toll on a lot of other little things, like the start button and the chain and the spokes, stuff like that. The last registration sticker that was on it was from the mid 80s. Its been a pretty neat project so far.