Opinions on best dual sport bike?

[helterskelter400]

75mph is 120kmh in our money. the drz will do it but its not going to be a relaxed cruise. a 650 sized bike would be better at doing these speeds for 100s of ks on the road and still give you a good rort on the tracks

a mate had a 92 dr dakar and it was a good relyable bike but even a 94 is getting old now. another guy i know has (for sale) a '97ktm620e - one of their electric start road trail bikes. excellent handling & fast & everything but cant sell it. how come noone buys 2nd hand ktms??

the way i see it if you're considering a drz youre willing to swap some road speed & discomfort for some more track fun!! however as youve already got a special off road bike you might as well go bigger.

 

[WR 250]

DoubleTrouble,

Thanks for the f650 link, man! I came super close to buying a '01 F 650 GS in Anchorage this weekend and damn, had I bought it I would have been fuming a few minutes ago after I read about the $1000 dealer rebate! I called the Fairbanks BMW dealer and confirmed it. Geez, $1000 rebate for the dealer if I would have went for the .9% financing. I had a feeling it was too good to be true.

I just want to say that this site is great! I didn't even have a question about a dirt bike proper and I was helped out. Thank you! :)

 

[Whaler]

Thanks guys. I checked out the dual sport site and was pleased to find info on the KLR. The internet is amazing! At this point I have just started to mull over the possibilty of getting a bike. I'd like to get one this summer but I ordered a snowmachine so I have to save up for that. By next year I will be ready to go. The dual sport site said the KLR had been manufactured for 13 years. Does anyone know if Kawi is planning on a new model? Next time I'm in Anchorage I'm going to have to check out the DRZ 400 S. The seat height could be a problem for me depending on how stiff the suspension is.

The weight of these dual sports is intimidating. 400lbs for the KLR is downright scary. Do they make a larger tank for the DRZ? Are their any new dual sport models rumored to be coming out? I was surprised to see that Yamaha doesn't offer anything bigger than the 225.

It's all about trade-offs... More weight is actually nice on the road, up to a point: heavier feels more stable, tracks better going by the big trucks, smoothes out the bumps, reduces fatigue -- pretty much the opposite of the way weight works in the dirt.

Yamaha has the WR series. Nice bikes, plenty of juice, but a little closer to their YZ-MX-brethren than the KLX Kawasakis, or the CRF Hondas. The newer Honda XRs, the Suzuki DRs and the Kawasaki KLR are yet another step away from the abrupt power and stiff spring-rates of the motocross bikes. You get a little more road-ability and little less dirt-ability.

In my state (Oregon) we're increasingly stuck with bikes that are born as dual-sporters if we want to ride on the roads, as our DMV is starting to shut down the licensing of the dirt-bikes with Baja kits (allegedly for EPA reasons). (Now that everybody from California has moved to Oregon, we're getting stuck with all the Californian laws and regulation. The crime came up here too! :yell: )

Don't be intimidated by the KLR weight. It's an easy-riding bike, especially on open road. They're also durable and comparatively cheap to buy, particularly if you're willing to buy a 2006 or earlier bike. Kawasaki made some improvements to the KRL in, 2007 or 2008. Better suspension and a couple other significant tweaks that I'm told are very nice. (I've only ridden a 2005 KLR, and it's been piped and rejetted. It's no hot-rod, but it's not a complete slug either. It doesn't want to wheelie without bumping the clutch, but it's comfortable on the highway at 60 mph for 50 or 70 miles, and you can poke around in small towns all day long. Some of the adventure riders I see at rallys and camping events ride their KLRs 300 or 400 miles per day without difficulty, and there are tons of cool accessories available for them too. Not bad for a 650. The Suzuki 650 is great too, and not that much heavier than the 400 -- also cheap.

If you want to step up the performance a bit in a lighter bike, the Kawasaki KLX 450 is a great possibility, assuming Alaska will license a Baja-kitted bike, as they're light and they have a great powerband from the factory. Here's the other cool thing: although they have been softened and adjusted from the KX-MX bike they're based on, the same accessories bolt right on to the KLX, including the mx pipes and other easy performance enhancers, so you could have a very light, fast, custom dualsport. It would be okay on the highway for short trips, and still be AWESOME on the sand/dirt/logging roads. (That's what I'd like to do, as I already have a road bike I love.)

If you want great all-around performance, and you're not poor like me, I think the best dual-sport options are found in the KTM line. The 530 EXC is a road-legal dirt bike that goes like a scalded ape. It will eat the KLR. The factory seat sucks, but that can be fixed. Of course, it's likely to be more maintenance too. It won't like it if you blow off oil changes for 1,000 miles, while the KLR probably won't care. (No, I'm not recommending it.) The bigger KTM 690 is probably the ultimate dual-purpose travelin machine under 700 cc. I haven't met anybody who didn't love that bike, but they're pretty spendy.

Finally, if you want a bike that will make you want to stay in the saddle all day long, test ride the BMW R1200GS. It's a totally different feeling, but a wonderful one that's addictive, and the bike does everything but wash the dog. It's not a Gixer, but does have 105 hp, it will wheelie without dumping the clutch, and it will track like it's on rails as you blast by a semi-truck at 80 mph. It will also scrape the foot pegs in the corners. I've had a lot of bikes (I'm old), and the BMW GS is the most fun I've ever had. It's not fast, it's not the best at anything, but it's good at everything and it's just plain fun. It corners better than my old race bikes -- effortlessly. I've had some bad wrecks over the years, and my back gets to hurting on most bikes, but I can still ride my GS for 400 miles and end the day with a smile on my face. My buddy's tell me the big KTM 990 Adventure is better in some respects and worse in others. Regardless, don't spend a bunch of money of a highway-riding dualsport without riding the big Beemer and KTM. Good luck. :cool:

(Now that I've written a windy book :blah: , I plan to retun to lurking. I don't usually have this much to say...

 

[_JOE_]

Umm, this thread is almost 10 years old. I think alot has changed and this guy probly figured out which bike to buy by now.......

 

[Whaler]

Ha Ha ha... Yikes. Dumb. I didn't even notice... Sheesh. That will teach me to come out of lurker mode.

Thanks.

 

[tarter]

xr650l

xr all the way bro...you wont regret it...i even motocross mine...just ask big lou!!!!!

 

[Tony Williams]

No body mentioned the KTM-450 & 530-EXC and Husqvarna 450 & 510-TE, both of which are street legal. Ok, they didn't exist almost 10 years ago when this thread was started !!!!

Both bikes are much more dirt than street, with the proper paperwork to make a legal dash down the highway.

 

[Tony Williams]

Finally, if you want a bike that will make you want to stay in the saddle all day long, test ride the BMW R1200GS. .... I've had a lot of bikes (I'm old), and the BMW GS is the most fun I've ever had..

I like that bike. I plan to get one for an upcoming African ride.