Reccomendations for me?

[Kevin K]

Hi I am going to be buying a used dirtbike soon. I am 14 6'3" tall and 200 pounds. I have been riding since I was 8, so i do have some experiance. Last year I sold my XR250 for a quad. I hated that bike even with a pipe and a rejet it was still way underpowered. Last year my dad and I took a trip to the UP in michigan. I made him ride the 250 and i rode his DR350. It had more power but still wasnt enough. In august we sold that bike and I tried a quad, an Arctic Cat 300 4x4. Fun...but really slow. We are going to sell the quad for a bike. My dad wants to keep some of the money from the quad sale so he would like to spend around 1500.00 maybe a little bit more depending on the bike. I dont race or ride MX, most of our riding is wider two-track. We dont do alot of single-track. I was thinking of a 125. My dad prefers four strokes but I like 2 strokes better. What would you reccomend for me? Would a 125 not have enough power for me? My dad thinks a 250 would be way too much bike for me. He wants me to get a 4 stroke, a DR350 like his. I was looking at getting a big bore kit for it like a 435cc, but he is afraid it would not be very reliable. I was also looking at KDX200 and 220's. So would a 125 be right or under-powered. Any help would be appreciated, Kevin

 

[bikepilot]

A 125 will have a lot less power at low rpm's than your XR, at high rpm's it will have a little more power. Given your power requirements and price range I think a 2-stroke 250cc MX bike would be excelent for you. The KDX's are great bikes (the 200 is the more powerfull of the two), but not much faster than the XR250. At your size and height I don't think a 250 would be too much for you. There are 4-stroke options that would also be good (DRZ400, CRF450x, etc), but they are going to be much too expensive. The air cooled DR's are not a great platform for mods, I would recomend getting something else if a stock one is way underpowered for you.

An XR400 might be a good alternative. You might be able to find a used one for close to your price range. They are considerably stronger than the DR and have excelent low end power. The top end is less than a 250 2-stroke or the newer race style 400+ 4-strokes.

If you do go for a 250 2-stroke I would recomend looking at 97-98 KX250's. They were the best available at that time (imho) and should be close to your price range. The 2-stroke WR250's are also excelent. If you want something a little bit more tame, look at the RMX250's.

good luck

 

[Kevin K]

Were any of the 250 MX bikes less powerful than the others? Or would they all be about the same. Any of them have more low-mid range power than top end. I have never ridden a 250 2 stroke but i have ridden my cousins 125, but that was a couple years ago. My dad has never ridden a 250 but he has ridden the 125 also. I wish I knew someone with a 250, I cant even test ride a 125 because my cousin doesnt ride anymore he sold his RM125 and his KX125 just recently.

 

[cr250can]

Do you do any kind of jumping? Here is my experience with bikes. I had a buddy that had a xr400 it was a good bike that went any were. we went to the dunes, trails, some tracks (though he hated the whoops and big jumps) and every where in between. I did the same thing on my cr 250 and we traded bikes on occasions. The xr400 was better for climbing and really slow speed stuff. but it was a hulk to change directions and landed like a ton of bricks from any jump over 5 feet. My cr was harder to ride on hill climbs (becuase it required I hit it with more speed) and didn't have the slow speed grunt the 400 had. Moral of the story? My cr 250 was a better al around machine. for you size I would go with a 250 MX bike or an xr 400

 

[cr250can]

where in MI are you

 

[n_w t_ b_kes]

sounds to me like a 250 2stroke mxer would be good for you. Also you could look at the new 450 4 stroke mxers if you wanted to (yz450f and crf450r). That is only if you could afford to spend $3.5k+ though. With about $1500, i think you could easily get an older 250 2 stroke mxer. Man your 14, 6'3", 200 lbs. I wish i was that tall.

 

[Kevin K]

I dont live in michigan, I live in Indiana but we usually go somewhere in Mi every year to ride. Last year it was the UP. The year before it was the muskegon area. We are thinking of doing wisconsin or minnesota this year though. I really want to do more jumping and MX but we probably wont be doing any actual MX tracks. I havent ever jumped the dr350 and the Arctic Cat hurts so bad to jump with...but i have done it. The third bike I owned was a late eighties RM80 I did a little bit of jumping with that bike and it was definately fun but i dont think i will do any MX. My dad hates riding tracks.

 

[YZ125jk]

Cr 500

 

[bikepilot]

All of the 250cc MX bikes are very similar in power output. The differences people talke about are extreemly minor, but hey, we'v got to have something to talk about. My top pick varies depending on the year-range you are looking at.

For a mix of trail, woods and mx the KX is typically a great pick. In general, it's motor is a bit more low-mid oriented, its chassie is a tad more stable and its suspension on the plush side of things. This is more or less true from the early 1990's to about 1998. By 1999 the honda CR's really improved and became more rounded. The 99 CR was known for having an excelent motor for trail riding as it had milder porting which gave it great botom end and a smoother powerband. The 00 and 01 CR's were also very good. Honda introduced a case reed motor in 02 and lost some bottom, but gained some on top. Still a great bike, but probably not quite as good for woods.

I raced a 93 KX250 in harescrambles and MX up through 2000 and never found myself at a big disadvantage to the newer bikes.

Botom line is that if I had my choice I'd be on an older KX or newer CR, but my descision would primarily be based on the condition of the bike rather than the brand. A well cared for RM will be vastly better than a ratted out CR any day.

good luck