First Bike

[Andrew_AAC]

1) your physical size - 6'-0", 190-195lbs
2) How physical / aggressive are you ? - moderate to very
3) what do you plan to ride- MX/SX tracks, woods, fields with friends or ????? - MX tracks, trails, woods
4) Do you have any riding experience? - No
5) Do you think you will race ? - No
6) Are you mechanically inclined and will you be doing your own bike work? - Yes
7) Do YOU have a preferance to a brand/ motor choice (2 or 4 stroke)? - No real brand preference (leaning towards Yamaha however) and the 2/4 stroke debate is one of the reasons I'm here
8) Do you have a dealer close by your home that you might use and what brand(s) does he carry? - Dealers in town carry Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki
9) How much ($) do you plan to spend on a bike? - Will likely buy used, around $3000 is my budget
10) Do you live in California? - No (Ontario, Canada)
11) Your age? - 26
12) anything else that you think would help form an opinion

After years of wanting to start riding, I've found a group in my home town to ride with and want to start next spring/summer. So I figure now is the time to start figuring out what bike to buy. After talking to my friends who ride, they are suggesting I go with a 4 stroke 250. We haven't had a chance for an in depth discussion about this decision over a beer or two (which is the only way to discuss things like dirt biking if you ask me), but the assure me they have good reason for their suggestion. But, I like to do my research and due to reasons like the fact I'm likely buying a used bike, a 2 stroke 250 seems like a better choice for me. So any input that could provided is appreciated. And if you need any more info, just let me know.

 

[mathd]

hi.
250 4 stroke may have a little lack of power for your size.
i would go with a 250 2 stroke. or bigger 4 stroke. And see for yourself what bike size you feel the most comfortable on.

For the make, i buy only yamaha, so i cant help except to say get a yamaha lol.

If you plan making mx, tracks, races. you better go with a mx bike rather thant a trail bike.

For the 2 stroke vs 4 stroke, see what fit the best for you and what you like the best.
ie, 4 stroke is good for a everyday use, less maintenance, have better low rpm power but are more expensive to rebuild and to maintain too probably.

2 stroke is more maintenance but less expensive to do so if making it yourslef is not a problem... they also have better power usually are lighter, and everything else a 4 stroke cant have :P.

 

[longtime coming]

$3000.00 will not buy a good used 250f, especially in Canada. Unless you get very lucky. That amount of money will however, buy a good used 250 2 stroke. For starting out, you might want to consider a 4 stroke playbike like an xr400 or a drz400. Or a kdx200/220 2 stroke. These can all be obtained for not much more than 3000.00. Some find the xr400 and drz400 to be very desireable, so might be harder to find than a 250 2st race bike. Some good buys are often found in the winter. :)

 

[flyingfuzzball]

yea i dont know if i would touch a fourstroke for 3000 (esp with canadian inflation on bikes) ya see these new 4T are highly strung. their engines are made to produde max horsepower at the sacrifice of reliability. dont get me wrong if properly maintained they will be perfect but if you start to slip then your taking your chances on some kind of major failure (farther you slip bigger the chances). also maintenance is also expensive for these bikes (at least compared to the 2T) they are also more complicated (again compared to the 2T) this is only for the high strung racing 4T not the honda XR's or yamaha TTR's or DRZ's.

because of this i would recommend something like a bigger bore XR or a KDX. both are great starter bikes that you wont have to drop major money into to buy or maintain. they also hold value well so if you decide you do what something with more bang you can sell them w/o much hassle.

 

[Andrew_AAC]

Thanks for the replys. $3000 is a low estimate of what I have to spend at the moment. This will likely increase as I have until the spring to save up some more cash but I am also looking to buy a house, so that will take priority. I haven't looked into XR's or KDX's, but will do that now.

 

[_JOE_]

Just don't expect the xr/kdx to be good track bikes.