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Recommend me a dual sport

TiTRD

TiTRD

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
87
Messages
1,282
Loc
Wilmington, VT
Looking for an on road / off road bike.

I've ridden 4wheelers my entire life, but have very little time on a dirt bike or motorcycle. Consider me a noob.

Budget is $3k.

Seems everyone is proud of their shit pricewise these days.
 
XR600 or XR650.

Find something you can just step off and not worry about when you're getting through the low speed crashing phase of learning.
 
for 3k you might be limited to xr650s and xr250s

dont get me wrong theyre good, theyre just not a fancy orange ktm:laughing:

sometimes you can find crf450x's that are "converted" to be street legal too
 
Add DR400 & 650 to the list too. Used bike market is crazy right now. Showroom floor are pretty cleaned of new inventory in my area, and used bikes are definitely holding value.
 
Italian era (red/white) Husqys. Parts are starting to get a little hard to find but they have been rock solid in our group.

or XR 400/650
 
2008 and up Yamaha wr250r. Dont be afraid of miles.
 
Im partial to red and orange, but budget and all. You can find a decent older rfs bike near your price point. I just sold a mint drz400 for 2500.
 
DMG said:
2008 and up Yamaha wr250r. Dont be afraid of miles.
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This is what I'd like, they're all listed at $4k+

Budget seems to fit DRZ400 and KLX250.

Im not in a hurry as its winter, hoping prices start coming down.
 
Depends on your size. but the Honda 250 is a great motor that sips fuel. Great for weekends out camping with just you and the bike.
 
TiTRD said:
This is what I'd like, they're all listed at $4k+

Budget seems to fit DRZ400 and KLX250.

Im not in a hurry as its winter, hoping prices start coming down.
Click to expand...

I paid $3k for mine 5+ years ago and it came with a ton of extras. I did have to drive 100 miles into BFE Ohio to collect it.
 
The Yamaha xt225 is a nice bike but on the smaller side.

The klr is also a very a sound bike but a nice one will push your budget.
 
My big bore xr400 has been my fav bike to datr out of xr600r, xr650r, and ktm525.

xr250r is a keep for life bike, but prices on them these days are kind of high
 
Ebs said:
How much street vs dirt use?
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The golden question.

I put 7500 miles on my DRZ before I sold it. It was a great, reliable bike and can easily be found for 3k and under. Could easily do road trips and rip up the woods trails. Super reliable, lots of low-end grunt for putting through the trails. Good for shorter road trips (like riding a couple hours away to go camping.) Not the best for super long road trips, but it can do them. I took one 5-hour trip and one multi-day, all-day riding road trip and needed to take a lot of breaks because sustained high-rpm highway speeds gets a little tiring. The bike doesn't mind at all, though. Needs a couple items for comfort and reliability so if you wind up buying one feel free to PM me and I'll tell you all about it. Also might want a bigger tank if you want to go on longer trips. I've heard a WR250 works similarly well for this type of use but they are more expensive and have a smaller motor, so less torque and higher rpm at 65mph. I think they have a 6-speed gearbox, though so that should help.


If you want more road manners but still be able to do trails, KLR650 or DR650. My best friend rode his 09 KLR from south Mississippi to visit me when I was living in Anchorage, we rode all around Alaska, up to Coldfoot and back, he again rode through there up to Deadhorse, back through northern Canada and back down to Mississippi. 18k miles in one summer. All he had to do was change tires, change the oil, and a quick valve shim job at my house when he first got there. KLRs are tanks and you can't kill them. You can take them off roading as much as you want as long as you don't mind the extra weight - they weigh about 400 lbs. My DRZ was 300 lbs.

Either way you go is a good choice. I'm a little biased but I think a DRZ is the ultimate do-it-all bike, with KLR in second place (only in my opinion) because I prefer trails to road riding, but enjoy both.

Good luck on your search!
 
$1500 KLR650 with $1000 of upgrades. See, I can list what I ride too! :flipoff2:

DR650 might be a better choice if you're *really* gonna do 70% trails.
 
montrose818 said:
My big bore xr400 has been my fav bike to datr
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Hell yes! I loved my XR440. Everything but kicking that bitch. Definitely forces you to keep your carb game on point cuz you don't want to kick it more than twice.
 
CR500, go hard or go to hospital:flipoff2:
1985-honda-cr500-4-000-not-for-kids-or-pussies-you-47781031.png
 
I have a DRZ400, and I'm very new to it. Getting better all the time, but I'm pretty helpless in sand. We got my wife an XT250, and that thing is a lot of fun to ride. Pretty gutless, but great below 45mph out here in flat land. But it is definitely more approachable and beginner-friendly than the DRZ, and that's saying something. People have asked about road percentage, but the other important question is road speed. If you're ok staying below 55mph, these smaller bikes are great. If you need 65, I'd be considering the heavy pigs. But I wouldn't enjoy one of those on the single track.

If you're like me, and effectively a 40 year old beginner, I'd say avoid the powerful bikes. Everyone on the internet talks about how a DRZ is about as low as you can go power-wise. I'm 240, and haven't found it underpowered yet. Just realize that people always recommend bigger and better equipment than is actually necessary. But what you might need instead is the most approachable stuff you can find. Whatever you get, GET E-START! Nothing worse than trying to kick a finicky two-stroke in an off-camber situation.
 
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A CRF450X is within your budget. I sold one in great shape for 4k a few years ago. Not a scratch on it.
 
OHV Wildcat said:
I have a DRZ400, and I'm very new to it. Getting better all the time, but I'm pretty helpless in sand. We got my wife an XT250, and that thing is a lot of fun to ride. Pretty gutless, but great below 45mph out here in flat land. But it is definitely more approachable and beginner-friendly than the DRZ, and that's saying something. People have asked about road percentage, but the other important question is road speed. If you're ok staying below 55mph, these smaller bikes are great. If you need 65, I'd be considering the heavy pigs. But I wouldn't enjoy one of those on the single track.

If you're like me, and effectively a 40 year old beginner, I'd say avoid the powerful bikes. Everyone on the internet talks about how a DRZ is about as low as you can go power-wise. I'm 240, and haven't found it underpowered yet. Just realize that people always recommend bigger and better equipment than is actually necessary. But what you might need instead is the most approachable stuff you can find. Whatever you get, GET E-START! Nothing worse than trying to kick a finicky two-stroke in an off-camber situation.
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Another great thing about DRZs is that 99% of them have e-start, and you can add a kickstarter kit as a backup just in case. DRZs are great beginner bikes as long as you're tall enough and strong enough to move it around. They're surprisingly tall.


Weasel said:
Didn't know the DRZ was a 2 stroke?
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It's a 4 stroke. I did have a street legal Honda 2-stroke dualsport a few years ago, that was a fun bike
 
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