info on dirt bikes wanted

[forced]

Complete n00b to bikes and the most trouble i suppose im having is trying to figure out what kind of bike i should buy!

After that, what do all the ****in letters mean... YZ, XR, CR, DR, KX, bla bla bla.. so many, so confusing.

Ive never ridden a bike before, and im not a ****er when it comes to knowing my limits on things that can cause grevous bodily harm, so i want something that i can handle easy and pretty sedate, im 6"2 and would make a good jockey for my height

Im looking for a 125 of some kind, but im not sure about the whole 2 stroke 4 stroke thing. I know about the basic things like the differences in torque/rpm and the way they work etc, but about the maintainence side of things. Do 2 stroke bikes really need to be rebuilt every XX hours?!

Im probably looking to spend about 2500 on a bike, and would prefer it if it was somewhat 'legal' if i was to be pulled up on a trail (i.e. have a bike with rec reg). [how much does rec reg cost, and what are the limitations of it?] Can you ride a trail bike on the road to get to the trail you are going to ride on if its got rec reg?

The XR's seem to only come in 100 and then up to a 200. The yamaha TTR125 looks like a good bike, but there doesnt look like there are many in the trader.

Im never going to be looking at being a motorcross superstar, or a hardcore trail rider for that matter, i just want a bike that is light, easy to start, reliable, and one that i can have some real fun on once ever few weeks. I know riders who have bigger bikes and they are rooted at the end of it because most of the time all they are doing is fighting the huge power and weight of the bike to keep it upright.

p.s. anything has gotta be cheaper than pouring more money into a second car..... right?

p.p.s. anyone in vic know good trails (prefer on west side of melb) that are good for learners to ride on, hassle free.

[kiwikid]

if you want somthing reliable dont go a 2 stroke....imo

[Bayvu]

Funny you should ask.......

Imo you should look at a 4 stroke 250 trail bike/enduro. I've been riding dirt bikes for 33 years, owned 2 strokes, 500cc 4 strokes and am now happy with a Suzuki DR250 2000 model. My 18 yr old 6'3" son (70kg) rides a Suzuki DRZ250 2001 model. My 15 yr old daughter rides my old 1984 Honda XR200 (bought new).

No you can't ride a rec reg bike on a sealed road to access the trails, just go the whole hog and get full rego, about $100 per year dearer.

For your size, a 125 would be too small, unless a 125 Mxer, which are a pain to keep running, hard to ride in the bush and very short fuel range. Something like a Suzuki DR250, Yamaha TTR250 which both have electric start or a Honda 250 would be more suitable.

Stay with Jap bikes, a quick clean after a ride, lube the chain, clean the air filter and oil change every 500 to 1000km and they run for years. Go to the europeans and you have to maintain them every ride, plus they really only work when ridden 9/10 and above. Trail riders are generally unimpressed with motorcross bikes and euros in the bush, but they are the bees knees for experts and competition riders.

As to price, you pay for what you get. $5,000 will get you a 2000 or later registered trail bike with full road rego, $2,500 you'd be looking at a mid 80's XR250 Honda with it's associated high mileage.

All depends on what you want to do, how competent a mechanic you are or how much you're prepared to pay to get it fixed when old parts wear......

Bought my 1984 XR200 new, still runs great with the maintenance given, now ride the Suzi, love the electric start especially when stuck on big hills, plus it pulls my 110kg better than the 200.

I'd suggest that $2,500 is a little light on to get into trail riding, guys spend more on golf clubs and they don't ride out in the middle of nowhere without support

Don't forget safety gear, helmet $200, gloves $50, boots $300, pants $150, Jacket $250, knee protectors $80, body armour $250 etc. Sounds expensive but worth every cent to keep out of hospital and feels much better than jeans and Blundstones to ride in. Plus it will last from 3 years to a life time depending on how you look after it.

I hope I haven't put you off, but set yourself up with a reliable bike and good safety gear and you'll enjoy the riding more and be around for years too.

I now have the benefit of taking my kids out and showing them the beautiful forests we have in Victoria, great value and lifts the spirits no end.

You could always join a local club or AMTRA (too much like rev heads for me!), check out your local bike shop for contacts. My local bike shop is Frankston Motorcycles, Simon and his crew are great, you can even have a smoke in there. Good prices and great advice from guys who ride every weekend.

Don't be afraid to ask more questions, advice is free.

Dave

[Pilch]

you will get many and varied opinions on all your questions, and ultimatly no-one is wrong so just make up your own mind.........

The model codes are just like BA VX TE etc with car makes........in time you will become familiar with what is what, but there is no way to just tell you in general what they mean.

first off you need to decide between a 2 & 4 stroke, and i'll only go in to what is appropriate for your budget/riding ability. I'll try and reel off some advantages/disadvantages with each:
2 stroke (Enduro bikes only)
- engine extremely simple and easily rebuilt, especially top-end.
- generally lighter weight, slimmer shape
- less 2-strokes are registrable
- motocross bikes top-end rebuild every 2-5 races
- enduro bikes, topend rebuild ($200ish) every 1500km's
- hassle of mixing oil/petrol (eg. 32:1 ratio)
- prone to fouling spark plugs, especially of not worked hard
- bottom-end rebuild less frequent the more often you do a top-end rebuild.......anything from 5-10 thousand km's life

4 stroke (older style design)
- bulletproof engine
- cheaper on fuel (no oil mixing)
- top-end rebuild every 10,000k's, but also will need the bottom-end most likely
- cost %&*# loads more for rebuilds........$2500 upwards due to being more complex
- less likely to be able to work on it yourself due to complexity
- won't foul spark plugs from light work like a 2-stroke
- severly lacking in power for the cc's produced (eg. 250 stroke will still beat a 400 4-stroke)

maintenance is fairly comparable. I'd say 2-stroke require more small maintenace intervals, while 4-stroke requires less, larger maintance intervals.

I first owned a '89 DR250 (4stroke) and have ridden plenty of 4-stroke 250's and they honestly are gutless and lacking. I upgraded from the DR to a new 2000 model RMX250 (2stroke) and still own the bike now and is still in pristene condition appearance/mechanically............its as quick as the modern 4-stroke 400+'s and costs me less due to the newer style 4-strokes due to valve problems the 4-strokes suffer.

If you go a 2-stroke get an RMX250, WR250, or KDX200.........all are good bikes and very cheap due to everyone opting for 4-strokes now. If you go for a 4-stroke you can't go past a XR250 or 400, although after a couple of months you'll find a 250 lacking the desired power. While the XR's motor will go for ever, the suspension will quite likely burn a hole in your wallet!

all these mentioned bikes can be fully registered, although recreational reg. is probably all you'll need........about $50 a year.

As far as gear goes........the only neccessaties are boots, helmet, gloves and goggles. Kidney belt comes highly reccommended.........and the only other gear I have is a jersey and pants (which are hardly necessary). Oh, and a camelback. I couldn't survive without drink attached to my back _2:

Only injury I've ever sustained is bruising to my shins 3 times, and without good boots would have broken my leg atleast one out of the 3 times.......good boots are VERY important, don't get cheapies!

hope this is of some help..........

[forced]

thanks for the info.

Yeah the 2500-3000 part was going to be just for the bike, i know how much all the safety stuff is going to cost, and there is no way im going to be skimping on it (gloves, full face helmet, body armour, very good boots, etc)

Ill probably look at an XR 250 for sure. Most people seem to have said that its the best bike for the money and for a learner and will last me for years when i want to open the throttle a bit more.

Im from tullamarine, so there isnt many trails around here, but my mates live in bendigo, and my g/f lives in montrose, so there are some great rides out that way. Will give me something to do while she's at work :

[Pilch]

Originally Posted by forced

Ill probably look at an XR 250 for sure. Most people seem to have said that its the best bike for the money and for a learner and will last me for years when i want to open the throttle a bit more.

In all honesty, all but the "open the throttle a bit more" part is absolutley correct. Yes the XR will last you for ever and serve you well, but you'll most likely find youself wanting more power when you open the throttle wide on a 4-stroke 250 (unless you get a KX-F :1syellow1 ). Undoubtably the XR250 is great for learning though! Good luck with it, dirt bikes are a fantastic recreation :sm_headba

[turboute]

I would say that after about a year you will want a bigger borte bike, I had a 125 two stroke (similar power) which was great until it came to riding in the dunes, sand will really tell you if you need more power or not (BTW I was 15 at the time and weighed in around 65-70kgs).

Start with the 250 4 stroke - It will be a great bike to learn on after a year you might want to consider either a 400(+) 4 stroke or 250cc two stroke.

[AUII_Forte]

I learned to ride on a 90 model worked CR250 2 stroke, not a good choice!! Talk about lethal! I never actually came off it, but I found that I was too scared to try things a lot of the time because the bike was so unpredicatble, but fun all the same! My CR 250 used to absolutly smoke my mates 98 model XR600 up to about 120-130km/hr, but that's where mine ran out of legs and he passed me like I was standing still.

[BELTA]

my first bike was a RM125 97 model and was perfect got it for $2500 it was fast enough easy to service reliable if ridden right but only after few months you wanted more and was easy to throw bike around and wanted to step up to a 250, but perfect bike to learn on, i reckon you should learn on a 2 stroke, you learn the hard way then when you jump onto 4 stroke its alot more comfortable

[CAMS290]

I have got a 1999 XR400, had it since new, done 3000k, havent ridden it for 2 years due to broken ankle.
Extremely user friendly, comfortable, low tech (air cooled, not water cooled), good low down grunt.
A lot of people will tell you to go and buy a WR,DRZ or a CRF, these bikes are highly strung 4 strokes that are water cooled, they go really good, but if you are beggining, you cant go past an XR250 or 400, i used to ride with guys that had WR's and 2 stroke RMX's and KTM's, some of these guys couldn't use them to their full potential, XR's are like a comfy lounge chair, set the suspension up to suit your weight/height, put some good tyres on it, a good set of renthal bars, some bark busters(hand guards) and a bash plate(sump guard), and you have got a reliable weekend warrior.

[FNQracing]

It all depends on the kind of riding you will be doing. Trail? MotoX? Freestyle?. If its the later 2 then you'll probably be more happy with a 2 stroke. I'd personally go for a 250 4 stroke for trail riding. 125's (2 stroke) are not an easy bike to ride, but again, it all depends on what you want to do with it.

Also, will this bike need to be registered?

Give us a little more info on your intentions.

[flavze]

yep go the 250 four stroke traily, an old XR os somethin is yeah best bet if ya wanna be sensible, if not go out an buy the biggest cube two stroke ya can get for ya dollars an learn the hard way!!!! it'll be more fun til ya get to hospital!

[flavze]

oh yeah, an most of the models ie. KX, RM, DR, YZ, XR , CR an so on don't mean actually anything in themselfs as far as i know cept for the fact that four strokes an two strokes get different ones and MX and enduro/trail bikes get different ones but they are'nt actuall short for anything.

[FNQracing]

Originally Posted by forced

p.s. anything has gotta be cheaper than pouring more money into a second car..... right?

Hahaha, that's what I thought too! Seriously though, you really need to pour some maintenance money into them. The last thing you want is to throw a chain or have some other 2 dollar part go to god when your out the back of nowhere. There is no RACV out there!

Then there is all the riding gear! But you really gotta get that stuff.

[XKALBR]

Sorry I can't ad a thing that hasn't been said, you guys know the stuff. I ride Moto X but i take the CR250 bush some times.
You'll Love it.
Sorry I bleed RED ... Go the HONDA.

[Pilch]

Originally Posted by FFOracing

It all depends on the kind of riding you will be doing. Trail? MotoX? Freestyle?

I think you should also consider breaking down the Trail into open tracks and tight tracks..........if you know you'll be doing more of one than the other, it will indicate what bike you should get. On the weekend I was tour guide and took the group through some tight tracks where you're knocking bars and shoulders on trees all the time due to the "tightness" off the track. Every 2-stroke rider loved it and wanted more, while every 4-stroke rider was having a sook and whinging about it being to hard........even new 4-strokes are still fairly pig like IMO, and this proves it!

[forced]

Ill definately be going the XR250 for :

size/weight/power for a learner
reliability
ease of road registering it.

The bike will be, at first, just ridden in country paddocks and open trails, and then as i get more use to it, some more rough trails.

Ive got no problem with getting a bigger and better bike in 6 months if i like it

I suppose the only thing left now is to actualy get on one!

Any tips as to how to start them, what to look for when buying second hand and how to actualy ride!! :

[Pilch]

Probably a good choice of bike if you are prepared to upgrade further down the track (pardon the pun).

I'm not really up to date with what model XR250 you'd get for $2500, but I'd be trying to get a late 90's model for that sort of money. Should hold its value pretty well over 6 months if you get one at the right price! I'd be looking to see if it blows any smoke on first startup when stone cold, and also when revved hard..........if it blows smoke the rings are on the way out and that could mean large costs if the bottom-end is following suit.

Try to avoid an XR that may have been jumped, as the suspension doesn't stand up to is if it has been. Low km's is always good, keep in mind worst case scenario a rebuild will be needed around 10,000km's so try to get something with less than 5,000km's. Make sure all the original ADR compliance gear comes with the bike, than registration will be easy.

Than just little things like checking head stem and wheel bearings. This can be done by seeing if there is any sideways movement in the front and rear wheels..........make sure the suspension travels smooth and progressively.

Only other thing (which is not crucial) is to get a bike with good tyres, chain, and front/rear sprockets so you won't have to spend much on it during the first 6 months if you decide to upgrade.

Thats my 2c, I'm sure the XR owners out there will know some more specific things to look for! Good Luck.