First bike help

[xable0162]

1) your physical size (both height and weight are important)
5'6 180 pounds
2) How physical / aggressive are you ? very
3) what do you plan to ride- MX/SX tracks, woods, fields with friends or ?????
plan on just fooling around in the desert or on trails with friends

4) Do you have any riding experience? Yes but not much
5) Do you think you will race ? probably a fool around race in the desert but nothing serious
6) Are you mechanically inclined and will you be doing your own bike work?
no i have a friend who is an experienced mechanic on dirt bikes who will do the work for me
7) Do YOU have a preferance to a brand/ motor choice (2 or 4 stroke)?
more interested in yamaha's because i hear they are the most reliable and was looking at the WR250 4 strokes
prefer 4 stroke over 2 stroke
8) Do you have a dealer close by your home that you might use and what brand(s) does he carry?
every brand that i know of (mission motorsports)
9) How much ($) do you plan to spend on a bike?
max 2000 (i found a WR250 for 1500 he asked 1800 o.b.o he said he would take 1500 planning on checking that out with my friend)
10) Do you live in California? Yes
11) Your age? 17
12) anything else that you think would help form an opinion

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

What year is that WR250?

Keep in mind that the older WR250 bikes are two stroke, not four stroke. $1500 would be a fantastic deal on a four stroke WR250.

As for reliability, I believe all the major brands are going to be very close in that category. High performance racing bikes need a lot of maintenance. The lower performance "off road" models can get by with much less.

Since you live in California you need to be familiar with the Green / Red sticker issue. California requires all off road vehicles to be registered in order to ride on any public land. Many of the high performance bikes are limited to "red sticker" which restricts the riding season dramatically. Fortunately, the WR250 is green sticker eligible.

Being eligible doesn't mean it will have one. Many people avoid the registration and ride without. At many desert locations you can get away with this but you do run the risk of getting a ticket. Many of the smaller OHV parks, especially the ones that have a ranger Kiosk at the entrance, won't allow you to bring an unregistered bike in at all.

A bike that was previously registered and let the registration lapse can cost you a bundle when you go to register it in back registration fees and penalties. If the bike has changed hands several times without being properly registered getting a clear title can be a very difficult task.

If the bike has never been registered in California (common on bikes that were brought in from out of state) then getting Title and green sticker is feasible but still a pain in the butt. I have gone through it twice. First time took me many months. Second time only required two trips to DMV and one to the CHP (with the bike). Consider what a couple days of your time are worth when comparing the cost of a properly registered bike to one without proper title.

Make sure you have the budget for all the proper riding gear. The minimum set:
Helmet
Goggles
Boots.

Very highly recommended:
Gloves
chest protector
knee pads

Highly recommended
Riding pants
jersey

You had best plan on spending $50 or more an outing on maintenance.

Rod

 

[xable0162]

thanks i ended up picking up a 2004 CRF250 its red stickered but the places i go to are all year round only one that isn't is octoillo wells and there aren't many rangers patrolling around