Looking for a bike...

[oly va ha]

1) your physical size (both height and weight are important)
6'1''-6'2'', 180 lbs.
2) How physical / aggressive are you ?
um never ridden a bike before but i love racing cars and im pretty aggressive with that
3) what do you plan to ride- MX/SX tracks, woods, fields with friends or ?????
probably woods/fields w/friends at first, but i definetly plan on hitting the tracks once i get better
4) Do you have any riding experience?
no
5) Do you think you will race ?
definetly want to
6) Are you mechanically inclined and will you be doing your own bike work?
yeah
7) Do YOU have a preferance to a brand/ motor choice (2 or 4 stroke)?
been looking at this yz250f for 3grand, want a 4stroke (make it dual sport)
8) Do you have a dealer close by your home that you might use and what brand(s) does he carry?
there is a big store down the street, honda/yamaha/susuki
9) How much do you plan to spend on a bike?
max at 3000
10) Do you live in California?
sadly yes
11) anything else that you think would help form an opinion
i want to make it dual sport, but that can happen leter, or even with a different bike, i just want to have fun, i'm really geared toward a trail bike and making dual sport cuz i have no way of transporting the bike unless i ride it there and unless my friends are heading out to prarie city i dont got a ride

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

What do you consider "dual sport" to be? If you consider that to be a street legal bike, and you live in California, then your best bet is to buy a bike that is already dual sport and registered for the street in California. It takes more than a headlight and turn signals to register a bike street legal in California, it also needs to meet the emission control standards and if the bike wasn't designed for it the job would be pretty hopeless. The tires that are street legal will suck in the dirt. A good set of knobbies are not street legal and would be torn to pieces on pavement.

Basically, forget street & MX dual sport, the two just are not compatible.


If the idea of racing appeals to you then buy a MX bike, such as a YZ-anything. The MX bikes have much better suspension and higher performance motors. The high performance motors come at a cost: they are a bit more finicky, tend to be harder to start, have higher compression ratios (use premium gas) and have no protection against you abusing them. The two strokes are generally easier to start and maintain than a four stroke.

I would recommend against trying to take a YZ-anything and making it dual sport. You would be starting off with a bike that doesn't have a headlight or even the generator that would power it. You would be much better off to start with a WR250F, assuming that "dual sport" is enduro and MX rather than Street and MX. The WR series is pretty darn close the YZ series except they add the headlight and later models include a battery and even electric start.

The idea of riding your bike to a spot to off road just sends shivers down my spine on several levels. First off, I can't recommend enough to NOT ride alone! You are going to crash. If that crash leaves you lying at the bottom of a ravine with a broken leg and out of sight of other riders that might pass by you could die out there!

Another very likely scenario is that the bike is what is broken. I have had to nurse my bike back to camp a number of times with a number of different impairments: unable to shift because the shift lever broke, unable to use the clutch because the clutch lever broke off or a flat tire. A couple of times I had to sit and wait while my buddies went back to camp and got a tool and spare parts to jury rig something to get me going again. Once I had to sit and wait for the trailer because the engine seized. If you are going to play aggressively you are going to break your toys. You need someone who knows approximately where you are and that you are overdue back to base.

The idea of riding the bike to the off road area is a bad one. I do know a number of people who do that, but they live in the desert. They ride down the shoulder of the road, cut through a few back lots, hit an undeveloped area and then are in the BLM open area. They have cell phones and the entire area has coverage. They have a bunch of friends who are just 10 minutes away by truck who would come save their butts if they broke down.

You can ride a bike on a flat for a few miles to get back to base. You are not going to make it 20 miles down a highway. Plenty of options for transporting a bike. A small trailer that will haul a single bike can be picked up for cheap, perhaps even free. Such a light trailer can be pulled by anything and a lightweight trailer hitch can be added to any car for a couple hundred $$. If you have a class three hitch (big square receiver) you can buy a motorcycle carrier for about $200 that mounts in place of the hitch. If you have a truck you can buy a ramp and load it into the back. If your car is already a beater you can buy these little basket thingies that bolt to the bumper and the wheels of the bike fit in (I imagine it would be a real bitch to pick the bike up and put it in those baskets, especially by yourself.....)

I see from your profile that you are 18 years old so I suspect that money is a big issue for you. The bike can be the cheap part, there will be other gear and maintenance to go with it. You will need:

Helmet: $140
Chest protector: $50
Boots $120
Knee pads $ 20
Gloves $ 20
Goggles $30

You will want:
Riding pants: $50
Jersey $25

You will want to buy chain lube, gas cans, bike stand, a repair manual and replacement parts as they break. You will need to change the oil frequently.

If you can't afford the equipment, you can't afford the bike. You would be better off to buy an older, cheaper bike to get started so that you can spend money on the essentials (such as a trailer).

Okay, now for some specific recommendations.

You live in California, so you have registration issues to deal with. I highly recommend buying a bike that has current California registration. You will need it to ride in the parks, like Prairie City. I would recommend a bike that has a "green" sticker instead of a "red" sticker so that you can ride year round. Again, the places such as Prairie City restrict Red sticker bikes to a season of mid October to mid April and I suspect that it is enforced there. The good news is that in your budget range you are looking at a bike that is 2002 or older in which case it will be green sticker eligible.

So, my recommendation would be a late '90s YZ-250. If possible get one that has a US forest Service spark arrestor on it (not the most common) as Prairie City requires it and probably checks. You should be able to pick up such a bike for around $2000 which will leave you a little left to buy the necessary gear to go with it.

Rod

 

[2 strokes for life]

I am with rmc_olderthandirt, you shold get a older 250 2 stroke for cheap and then later buy a baja desings dual sport kit and call it done.

 

[oly va ha]

oh dang i didn't that there was that much stuff going on for a bike...

ill get myself a bike (X out the dual sport) and try to get my dad to get a bike and then he can take me, or i can just ride around in the fields because i live less than a mile away from a field, would that destroy my tires if i rode it there on the street?

so i should go with a 2 stroke? why a 2 stroke? why not a 4 stroke?

 

[2 strokes for life]

The mile will not hurt the tires unless they are the softest tire out made for mud and sand.

There is no reason not to go 4 stroke or 2 stroke. There are just ups and downs.

2 stroke, is light, has a low buying price, matinence is low besides the new top ends, and there so much fun to ride in the powerband. You have to mix gas, it smells bad too some(not me), and dose not ushally lug that well with a few exceptions.

4 stroke, sound cool, no mixing gas, great for trails if not a MXer, have a nice amout of torque, lug very well(most of them). Their heaive, soo are really loud, more matince, and cost more in all.

 

[oly va ha]

oh and sorry for "sending shivers down your spine on several levels"

i found a 2000 KTM 380 for $2200 that comes with: 2 paddle tires, extra desert tank, extra front fork springs, a stablizing bar(cuts turning radius in half)for the handle bar. after market front forks, head light and three sets of pipes front to back, helmets, gear, parts, and what ever he has for it, should i look into it? cuz thats definetly in my price range

 

[oly va ha]

and dose not ushally lug that well with a few exceptions.

lug very well(most of them).

whats lug mean?

 

[Blackcat]

I am pretty sure you can't make a dirtbike legal for the streets here in Cali. You can buy an older one that has a licence plate already. I seen a CR250 that was street legal in the cycletrader the other day. but they wanted like 3900 and it was a 92 I belive. But good luck on getting that done now the new emissions laws won't allow it.

 

[oly va ha]

yeah so i have found out...thats why why i said "X out the dual sport"

just looking for a good dirt bike

so what do you guys think about that KTM 380?

 

[2 strokes for life]

The 380 has one of the best bottom end power deliverys of most 2 strokes. I think you should go for it.

 

[oly va ha]

and would it be good for me since im a beginner

also i have a very limited budget so buying a begginer bike then moving on to something else is out of the question, i need something that will good now and later...i think i can handle the challenge if its sort of difficult in the beginning but if its a bike thats gonna have me on my butt the whole time i dont think im ready for challenge just yet

thanks for all your help guys

 

[oly va ha]

talked me padre and he said no on 380, too much bike for me right now...

my friend said i should look at crf 125's...now i want to paly in the fields and do some forest riding, in the field by my house there is a track that i can get into free through a back way so i might get on that after a while just to get the feel but i really want a trail bike

oh and im gonna start going to pismo (a beach) during the summer with my friends, so does that limit my options?

can anyone let me know what the perfect bike is for me so i can buy one adn stop drolling over all these bikes lol

thanks

 

[2 strokes for life]

There is no such thing as a CRF125. You have the CRF100, 150, and 230 for family fun bikes. Aslo, look into the Yamaha TTR230 and the CRF230. Both bikes a great for beginers and have a low sale price. Good luck.

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

whats lug mean?

"Lug" means to operate the engine at too low of a RPM.

Do you drive a stickshift car? Lugging would be to drive 25 MPH in 4th gear.

With a four stroke you can get away with some amount of lugging. It won't develop anywhere near the power it would if you shifted down but it will at least run.

On a two stroke, if you drop the RPMs too low and open it wide open it will likely just fall flat on its face and stop running completely.

The basic principle of operation on a two stroke is that the intake and exhaust are happening at the same time. When the piston is all the way at the bottom the exhaust port and the intake port are wide open. If the RPM is too low a significant portion of the fresh intake will just go right on out the exhaust. What's left has had its mixture so screwed up it won't run.

As the RPMs increase to a point that the 2 cycle starts to perform you still lose a little bit of fresh air & fuel, unburnt, out the exhaust. This is one reason that 2 strokes have poor fuel economy and so many emmision issues. Two stroke outboards are already banned for sale in the US and I suspect it won't be long before all two strokes in general are no longer allowed to be sold in the USA.

As a two stroke RPM increases a bit more a bit of magic starts to happen: the pulse of exhaust from the previous cycle is still on its way out the exhaust system. Air has momentum, and as it is leaving the exhaust it will actually pull a partial vacuum back at the engine. This will literally suck the exhaust out of the engine, making it breath much better. You will hear the term "on the pipe" a lot, which means that the engine is operating in the range where this effect is the maximum.

To ride a two stroke effectively you need to keep the engine "on the pipe". If you have power to spare its not so much of a deal, but if you are riding a 125 two stroke the only way you will make it up the steep hills is to keep it on the pipe.

As for the KTM:
Sounds like a good deal, considering all the extras thrown in and especially condsidering the fact that you plan on going to Pismo beach.

Normally I advice newbies not to overpower their first ride. You really don't need that much power for riding in flat terrain and you can easily over power going up a hill and get into trouble.

Sand dunes are different, that is one situation where more power is always better.

I would buy the KTM. Just be careful that you don't kill yourself riding around in the field.

Rod

 

[oly va ha]

since im going to be in teh field the most i think im gonna go with something smaller...pismo would for 1 maybe 2 weeks a year, so a 250 4 stroke sounds fine right?
what bike should is a good trail bike?

 

[oly va ha]

bump

 

[sarN]

but if its a bike thats gonna have me on my butt the whole time i dont think im ready for challenge just yet

thanks for all your help guys

do you not plan on sitting down? :nener:

well, if you plan on being in the fields a lot and not really racing then a 250 4 stroke sounds pretty good. I, my dad, and my ex gf's dad all ride 250s, and everyone but me weighs as much / is as tall as you were.

If all else fails though, keep saving money, empty the junk out of your house on eb4y, and you could probably by a real nice bike in no time! (thats my plan)

weird, you cant say eb4y on these forums?

 

[oly va ha]

lol thanks for the input...250f is what i've looking for especially yamaha, but yeah im gonna have to do the ol' eb4y and craigslist some time to get the money together, prolly have to wait until i get back from alaska after working at a fishin lodge....i really want one now....whatever i guess it can wait since i want something good not a pile of junk