Soup up a Woods bike or tone down a MX bike?

[Loopie]

Hey Guys,

I'm about to buy a bike, I'm new to Moto riding but am coming from a DH MTB background...where I hit doubles up to 30', drop off cliffs up to 15' high and do mach1 thru the woods downhill. So I expect to progress fast with a motorcycle.
There's lots of trail riding here (Kamloops, BC) but I know I'll want to hit jumps too. I won't be racing however. I'm 200lbs, 5'10.
My Bro just bought a 92 RMX250 and I rode it for about an hr, pretty sweet ride.

Here are a couple bikes that are available right now.....93 KDX200, 96 CR250, 96 WR250....for $500-600 more there a couple 01 KX250's too.

I'm leaning towards a 250 MX bike and then modify it as needed for trails, while still being able to jump it....is that a decent plan of attack???
Or maybe the KDX and beef it up for jumping. Is it underpowered though when you wanna open 'er up?

Thx,
Derek
.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

I think you'd like a 250 motocrosser with a flywheel weight and maybe a few other mods.

 

[mxmatthew]

i have a 96WR250. It's a lot different from the new wr's (as in it's not toned down). It's fairly close to a yz but with the big tank for woods and the wide ratio gearbox. I ride track and trail and I have no complaints.

 

[91-YZ250-Chris]

definitly tone down a 250 moto. way less expensive, just add a flywheel weight and adjust some suspension components.

the older wr250's as mxmatthew stated are literally a yz250 with a bigger tank, and different gearbox, lower first gear for extreme torque and a tall 5th gear for high speeds. I would highly reccomend it

 

[Loopie]

Thx.
Ya, I've looked into the'96 WR's a bit and it is actually sounding like the perfect bike really.
Now to actually get hold of the guy selling it to see if it's still available! I haven't been able to make contact yet.

 

[blanc]

If i wher you id buy a GasGas or TM250...practically a mx bike but better suited to woods riding! Trust me I have both and have owned a 1996 cr250. Id reccommend the enduro bikes as they are easier to ride for woods, seem to last longer between rebuilds and are well suited to jumping!

 

[DougRoost]

Thx.
Ya, I've looked into the'96 WR's a bit and it is actually sounding like the perfect bike really.
Now to actually get hold of the guy selling it to see if it's still available! I haven't been able to make contact yet.

Yes, they were what I wanted when I got back into the sport, but Yamaha turned all WRs into 4 strokes soon after that '96 model.

KTM and GasGas are the 2 companies with a strong focus on woods bikes, offering modern versions in both 2 and 4 stroke engine choices. For lowest weight and most grins/$$, I think the KTM 200/250/300 2-strokes are unbeatable. As with most dirt bikes nowadays, get as new of one as you can afford, since suspension improvements are made most every year. Nothing wrong with converting an MX bike to woods, but you'll want to add a spark arrestor, flywheel weight, 18" rear wheel, O-ring chain, etc to make it legal and better. KTM and GG save you that expense and offer wide ratio transmissions to boot.