Newbie: first road/trail bike purchase

Hi folks,

I'm a recent subscriber to this bubbly group and as is custom I'm sure,
I have a proverbial first post. I'll try to be as specific possible, but
I admit, I have develop questions quicker than answers or decisions.

I'm 23, 75-80kg, 175cm or something, and have had my bike L's for a few
days. I'm capable on a motorbike but not confident. I am very confident
on a pushy, both on road and off, and am optimistic of gaining
confidence on the motorbike.

I've owned an old modified 4WD for a few years, and have come to the
point where I'm sick of driving it on the road. I hate travelling - for
me automobiles are entertainment first, commuting/travelling grudgingly
second. Unfortunately I'm doing a lot more travelling these days. I
always liked motorbikes, but never owned one and very occasionally
ridden one.

I want a bike that I can commute short distances (seriously, commuting
would be 10k's a week, but around town jobs would be another 20-25
maybe) and take on the trails when I want (difficult to predict how
often, but I'd say 2-3 times a month for starters). I also want low
maintenance. Not that I'm not mechanically minded, I am, it's just that
I do a lot of (modification and maintenance) work on the 4wd and do not
want or have time for another mechanical project.

I'd like the option of taking the very occasional trip on the highway,
up to 300k's, perhaps once or twice a year, but I really favour the
"trail" style bikes over the "tourer" mainly for styling and agility.

I'd like rego up front. I couldn't be arsed with blue/pink/rego before I
even get started.

Now here's what I'm looking at and my impressions so far:

DT200 - too agricultural; want the fuel
efficiency/mellowness/sophistification of a four stroke.
KLR/KLX 250/300 - Dunno about reliability or air vs water cooling;
seriously concerned about engine size limiting versatility, suitability
on road, growing pains; attracted by significantly cheaper green slip.
DT650 - not agile, light, "zippy" enough? But better on the road?
DRZ400 - basically haven't seen any 2nd hand ones around. Seat looks
high. Can't see advantage over XR.
XR250 - inspired by reliability, but same concerns as KLR/KLX
XR400 - my sweet spot as far as I can tell.
TT350 - simply can't find much info/support on the web!
WR400 - cool, but too sporty oriented, too highly strung for the road.

Right, so that's the models I've been looking at. The other (very)
significant thing is price. I'll be honest, I set out intending to spend
3000 on a 99-00. When I discovered that's not really the way they go for
clean bikes, I was tempted to go cheap, so my first purchase wasn't a
big investment/mistake.

This is the quintessential model:

Bike 1991 YAMAHA TT350 B ENDURO
Price $2,000*
Kilometres 19,800
New seat cover, bark busters, good tyres, good strong bike. $2000 ono.

But I decided older than '95 is getting too old (I don't know how true
that is), and was happy to get a loan for $4000. One of the conditions
for the loan was the vehicle had to be less than 10 years old anyway.
Here's the quintessential model in this range:

HONDA XR400 98 model, good tyres, chains, sprockets, long reg, DM-308
$4150.

or maybe (price, year, riding gear sounds good, it's a lot further away
though):

Yamaha TT350 2001, reg 26/5/2006, excel cond, 4450kms, riding gear, $4000

Anyway, I went around to the dealers this morning as sort of a final
check before making an offer on the XR400. There was nothing in my
range. I got home and realised I had perhaps unfairly discounted one
bike. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it's the better
deal. It's an XR400, 2003 model "immaculate" for 6000.

That's definitely more than I intended to spend at the start, but I
really didn't know what I was getting into. I could afford that kind of
money, naturally at the sacrifice of other wants. The way I was
rationalising it was to think that if I could get it for 5500 (or with
some protective gear) it's ~1500 more than the '98, which is 5 years
older (quite a bit in a 8yo bike) and I'm essentially getting a second
hand "new" bike. As I understand it, it's not going to depreciate much
in a few years.

So as you can imagine, I'm now very confused! I can't even decide
whether to spend 2000 or 6000! Any comments appreciated. Shoot me down
if you wish - I don't mind the flaming if its based on solid information.

I'll be sure to update with any progress. I plan to write a bit of a
guide for people in my situation once I've completed the process. Tis a
daunting and frustrating procedure!

Cheers,
Heath

--
Heath
________________________________________________________
| *Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool* |
| _\|/_ |
|________________________________________m(. .)m_________|

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 20 Jan 2006 02:27:48 +1100

If you want a dual sport type bike, then you might want to chat to the
dual sport club.

http://www.dsmra.asn.au/

Zebee

 

OK, I'm seriously out of date re dirt bikes so just some general advice:

Your initial thought to go cheap and cheerful initially was on the
money, as a beginner you don't yet know what you like and don't like, a
lot people start on one style and migrate to another, a lot of people
sell their first bike quite quickly when they find the ergonomics or
what ever don't suit.

Most people on the other hand want something nice and shiny and new
Without fail every time I've gone shopping for a vehicle I've started
out "sensibly" like you did and ended up spending way too much money on
something that grabbed me So don't feel lonely on that progression.

The flip side is the old dunger may be so crappy you never ride again
because it ain't fun.

The 03 XR400 will probably lose you less money if you sell it in 12
months going by the price on the 98 (dunno if that's typical), on the
other hand I would suggest minimising expenditure now so you have more
money for gear and the absolute value of your loss on resale is
minimised (people get too hung up on % deprec, 2grand is 2 grand
regardless of whether it's 2% or 50%).

BTW you understand incorrectly if you think they're not going to
depreciate much, most bikes depreciate horrifically (it does vary wildly
though) and as I understand it dirt bikes are up there with 600cc
supersports for plummetting values (because Kms matter less than how
thrashed they've been as I understand it)

Just a thought though, have you considered getting a 50cc or 125cc scoot
for the daily commute (much cheaper to run and register, 2grand for a
50cc brand new, and it has more storage). A 50 will top out at about 70
K usually, 125s usually pull around 100K - good enough for urban runs.
If you're out of town or will spend time on freeways might not be so
good an idea). Get a dirt bike as well of course cos you can never have
too many bikes ;-)

One last thought, you may find a better long term compromise is to get a
cross over (dual purpose bike), they'll neither be excellent road nor
excellent dirt bikes, but most of them are surprisingly good at both
considering the compromises made. They'll be a lot more pleasant to
commute on than true dirt bikes, and are very capable on crap roads
(dirt or bitumen) but generally a bit out of their depth for serious off
road. Bikes of this type are BMW F650, Aprilia Pegaso 650 (learner legal
in NSW), Suzuki DL650, there's probably a few others I'm not aware of
(errm a "freewind" or something ? Kwaka maybe ? Who's was that - Ash I
think ?)

JL

 

Buying an expensive dual purpose bike may defeat your intentions in 2 ways:

1/ in the dirt you won't want to "go for it" for fear of expensive damage &
a larger 4 stroke isn't anywhere near as agile & fun off road as a light,
smaller capacity 2 stroke which is also a lot easier/quicker to
maintain/rebuild after a weekend's abuse.

2/ for daily commuting your tyre choice will be a poor compromise at
best...universal tyres don't work well in the wet, road or dirt.

I would suggest you look at dividing your intended outlay between 2 bikes.
A reliable 4 stroke commuter & a cheap 2 stroke bush basher. (depending upon
where you live & ride you may not even have to register it)

For a learner I firmly believe the best investment in your future well being
& safety is to buy a cheap, older 2 stroke dirt bike up to 250cc. Then
outfit
yourself with appropriate protective clothing & join a group/club of weekend
bush bashers/trail riders & practise falling off for the next 12 months
under all conditions. If you don't drop it at least once on each ride then
you're not really trying/learning. lol.
You'll have a much better chance of survival then on your road bike when the
inevitable "oh shit!" situation arises.
Best wishes,
Grump.

 

I'm the OP, back with a follow-up. Thank you all for your comments and
suggestions. All very much appreciated. The '03 XR400 was sold next
time I went to look for it, and pretty much nothing else suitable came
up in the next couple of weeks. I went back to the '98 XR400 and had
another look.

$3900 later and I'm a Honda boy!

'98 XR400 clean and straight, 9000k's. Blows some smoke when cold,
haven't seen any with choke off. Starts easy. No tears, small plastic
scratches. Well maintained. Steering lock key missing!

So first question, what do I do about the steering lock? New key,
new lock or different lock?

Heath

 

In aus.motorcycles on 31 Jan 2006 21:48:15 GMT

Ignore the steering lock - it's only an illusion of safety.

Buy a disk lock - the u-shaped ones perform best in tests as the flat
ones seem to break more easilyt because of the way they are made.

Add a bright coloured curly cord (available from the place you got the
lock) as a reminder it's fitted.

The disk lock should be enough for casual trips to the shops. If it
parks somewhere regularly, even if that's your garage, get a solid
high-strength chain and lock the frame of the bike to a solid object.

Dirtbikes are high on the list of garage-breaking thieves, so make it
as hard as you can for them.

Zebee