First time offroading...

Big grin, it is.

But fornicate me, that DR650 is heavy if you don't know what you're
doing and accidentally end up on one of the goats path that are
labelled 'bike paths' around here. No, I didn't drop it (not that would
have affected the bike much, it's a bit "experienced") but it got rather
unwieldy.

Probably time to go shopping for a road legal 125 or 250 if I want to
continue this "learning by trying to not fall off" lark.

 

More than 120kilos is hard going.

A lightweight stroker such as DTR125/KMX125 etc is often enough to get used
to offroading. 4-strokes much smaller than 250 are pretty lame. Mind ewe, A
Serow or equivalent works well for some.
Do it. Often. You will really get to enjoy it. To the point of looking at
passing scenery thinking mmmmmm, I think I could climb that.......or, could
i get it up there, or out of that river just _there_.....

JB

 

I would put the basic 650SE at about 150kg, but mine's also got a 6.6gal
Acerbis tank on it. Fortunately it was only half full.

Finding a used stroker over here that isn't from the 70s is going to be
a problem for something road legal. You can get fairly modern strokers
but they're all not road legal which means I'd have to trailer them to
the public lands. Loading and unloading them would probably take longer
than riding them over there but you don't want to be caught on an off
roader on the road here. Plus, some of the cool dirt roads into the
mountains would be off limits on the bike then.

We're fairly close to the edge of our little town here and 10-20 minutes
riding will get you out into the high mountain desert. It would be shame
not to make use of that, even though at least in certain parts you have
to stay on the trails. Which is fair enough, otherwise there would be no
vegetation left.

 

Nothing wrong with a four-stroke bike for off-road shenanigans and a 250
is plenty unless you're looking at some watered-down bag of bollocks.

The WR250F I rode in Wales last year was a hoot, weighed about the same
as a gnat's arsecheek, and felt like it had more go than the DR-Z400 I
rode in Fuerteventura the year before.

 

That's what I'm thinking - if I can get a 250 that'll do about 60-70mph
then I can replace the DR650 with it (which I use to commute on) and
have something that's light off road and still reasonable on the road.

Hmm.

Local dealer has a 2005 Yamaha TTR250 in with about 100 miles on the
clock, looks brand new as it should.

That's pretty much what I need, especially when I try more of the bike
trails.

 

One of our club uses his TTR250 when he comes out with us. He never seems to
have any problems keeping up with the nutters on their enduro bikes. Plus he
uses it for local commuting too.

CRF230 would be another option in that case.

JB

 

JB wrote:

A young lady who lives not too far from you owns one of those. I don't
think they're up to staying at 60-70mph for any distance but are
reasonably competent off-road for a beginner.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

I think you're right. 55-60mph would be more realistic as a top end cruising
speed. Much above that on any trail/enduro type machine will **** the tyres
in short order though. If the tyres are decent offroad types of course.

JB

 

That approach doesn't usually work, unless you won't ever be riding
loose surface trails. Riding on mud/sand with tyres that'll last more
than a few days on the road tends to be so frustrating & knackering
you'll soon give up.

Also the good modern 250 4-strokes tend to have tiny oil capacities,
needing very regular changes. Use one for commuting & you might find
you're spending more on oil & tyres than it would cost to run a
separate commuting bike.

 

Krusty wrote:

XR400 oil change intervals are something like every 500 miles, I think
the 250 is the same. Was a PITA too being a dry sump system with oil in
the frame.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

We only really get mud in the winter and a lot of trail riders seem to
use 80/20 type tyres on their bikes.

That's not taking into account the exorbitant inswearance cost out here,
though, but I can see your point. Doing oil changes every other week
could be somewhat annoying.

 

That's good to know, thanks.

They don't seem to be road legal though, unless you bolt out a kit with
lights and all that. Not sure how you get it properly legalised out here
but I'm sure I can find out.

 

Oil's relatively cheap in merkania, a low as ~$2/quart for Rotella 15W-40
at Wal-Mart.

 

Check out Progressive, assuming you aren't a mobile disaster area, they're
quite reasonable... ah, as you were, then.

I switched all my insurance (home, bikes, cars) to them from other carriers
and saved thousands. The nude lady's nice, too.

 

yebbut your quarts are less/fewer than ours.

 

Yeah, true enough- but you don't buy oil in quarts do you, our quarts are
near enough to a liter as makes no earthly difference, they're about 5% less
than a liter (0.946 liter = 1 us quart) while your quarts are a liter + 14%.

 

Not by name, but 2 pint cartons of milk are pretty common.

 

Yebbut you are barely out of nappies. Back in the good old days when beer
was sold in glass bottles it was sold in quarts.

 

Merkins buy milk by the quart I think.

 

No shit.