Advice sort on cheap off road bike

[Gilson]

Hi All,
This is not really an 'event' but I thought that if you ar elooking in this section then you know about off road bikes.

I did a little off road on my 1150Gs (on Tourances) and it scared the day lights out of me. It was fun, but I kept having to remind myself to breathe! So instead of converting my GS to off road, which will probably cost at least a couple of hundred squid (tyres for starters), I have been searching Ebay and Autotrader for a decent sub 500 GBP trail bike.

There are several bikes around, such a KTM 1980s, honda CRs, Suzuki RM and Kwaks KX. I realise that the bikes in general need a lot of TLC and I am willing to do some work to it.

So, what should I look for, do you guys have any for sale that are cheap and cheerful? Any general advice would be great. I know Honda's are renown for reliability but is that true for the off roads? What about KTM parts availability? Things like that would be great to know
Thanks!!

 

[Fanum]

One thing to bear in mind Gilson, is that unless you're going to ride purely on private land, whatever you get will have to have an MOT....

Personaly I'd avoid old or cheap KTM's and go for something jap, and if you can find it, an electric start.

 

[stumpi]

I have 2, 2002 ktm 250excs, and will be selling one within the next couple of weeks, but it'll be more like 1700.

Perefect for the job though.

 

[Gilson]

Thanks stumpi,
1700, way to expensive for me, althought great bikes.

Fanum, good advice...

Jap and electric start it is....now...let's see what's about.

 

[Tony allen]

cheap trail bike

Gilson.
Stick to the jap stuff. KTMs are not built to last but to win.
I sold all my KTMs when they got 12 months old.

The more you spend on a trallie now the less you spend later.
The less you spend now the more you spend later.

even a bike 3 years old may need suspension bearings ,wheel bearings head race etc. tyres, chain, sprockets. Thats around four hundred quid. just on bits.

Then theres the engine and gear box....

Trail bikes lead a hard life. if you must buy second hand the best bet is an XR400or a DRZ400. But you will need around two grand.

If you buy an old dog. you will spend more time pushing it than riding it.

Good Luck......Tony Allen.....04 DRZ.....02 ADV

 

[Tony allen]

TKC 80s

Gilson.
Have you had much off road riding experiance?

I have been riding off road for twenty years and would not go out on tourances in winter.
if you are new to off roading then that is the hard way to learn.

Get a set of TKC80s from voyager in loughton, Borders Lane.
They make a huge difference
Bring them to me on loose wheels and i will fit them for you.

Tony Allen......

 

[BAKERMAN]

250cc best ignore all this 400cc and 500cc macho bollox they can`t ride them !!!!!

 

[_pi_]

might have an xr250 for sale. leccy start version. 02 plate. pls pm if interested.

 

[Tony allen]

Gilson
I aggree with bakerman on the 250cc is enough. most people only use 60-70% of the power a 400 makes. if you ride a 250 you may use 90%....that still leaves 10%.

And green lanes are not a place to tear around on anyway.
But 250s do feel a bit lame on the road.

A DT125 makes a good quiete laner .

Whatever you buy, good luck and happy laning.
I will be more than willing to take you out on a pleasent days laning.

Tony Allen

 

[Gilson]

DR350

Hi Guys, after a bit of research and a lot of looking around, I just got a mint condition Suzuki DR350 1992. I am very happy with it and it goes and looks great.

I did have to pay 800GBP for ist because for 500 there was nothing around.

Tony, please invite me next time, I have a lot to learn.

PS anyone got some body armour and a cheap lid, ARAI size M?

Cheers!

 

[bandit]

Gilson

I have some spare body armour, it's a bit small for me (i'm 6'2)

if you fancy exploring the essex lanes let me know.

Dave

 

[stumpi]

Re: cheap trail bike

Stick to the jap stuff. KTMs are not built to last but to win.


Lol, I beg to differ.
I have 3 ktms, 2 250s that I hire out and a 525 that I use to guide with, and I do use the 525 properly.

All 3 are 3 years old and other than punters crashing them have never had an issue with reliability.

just one of the tame ole green lanes they get used on.............. yes, it goes all the way to the top, then on for another 15 of so miles.

You'll see by the state of mine on the foreground that I don't baby it either.

Do you just mean that they dont cope with UK conditons.
Mine are still out in spain and was going to bring them over.
I also have an 02 gas gas es450 enduro ( the one in the background ) that I'll be bringing over in the next few weeks.

 

[AndyT]

Re: Re: cheap trail bike

Stick to the jap stuff. KTMs are not built to last but to win.


Lol, I beg to differ.
I have 3 ktms, 2 250s that I hire out and a 525 that I use to guide with, and I do use the 525 properly.

All 3 are 3 years old and other than punters crashing them have never had an issue with reliability.

just one of the tame ole green lanes they get used on.............. yes, it goes all the way to the top, then on for another 15 of so miles.

You'll see by the state of mine on the foreground that I don't baby it either.

Do you just mean that they dont cope with UK conditons.
Mine are still out in spain and was going to bring them over.
I also have an 02 gas gas es450 enduro ( the one in the background ) that I'll be bringing over in the next few weeks.

You lucky bugger. That looks like heaven out there....

HAve Fun

AndyT

 

[Fanum]

Gilson
I aggree with bakerman on the 250cc is enough. most people only use 60-70% of the power a 400 makes. if you ride a 250 you may use 90%....that still leaves 10%.

And green lanes are not a place to tear around on anyway.
But 250s do feel a bit lame on the road.

A DT125 makes a good quiete laner .

Hmmm....nearly agree, but I'm a fat git and I'd be worried asking a 250 to pull my 19 stone bulk plus a stone or two of wet kit up a steep slippery hill....plus as you say Tony, a 250 feels wheezy and slow on the road.......

As most green lanes need to be ridden to on the road and then the road rejoined to the next section, a 250 isn't ideal...and unless it's a well tuned KTM, your average 400 isn't a scary ride at all.

Having said that, we had a 125 with us in the desert and it pulled me up and over a dirty great sand dune quite impressively.

Oh, it died two days later.

 

[kwh]

Hmmm... I'm not exactly sylphlike

..and a mildly tuned 250 thumper will drag me up any hills I've encountered so far. It depends whether you want to attack everything like you were in a competitive enduro, or are happy plodding up steep stuff. If the former, a 250 2-stroke will be all the screaming power you ever dreamed of, if the latter even a 225cc 4-banger like the Serow will do the job all day and every day.

Only lunatics and heroes NEED a bigger stroker than 250, or a bigger diesel than a 400 on the trail. Once you've ridden a big one, you soon realise that unless you are a lunatic or a hero, you'd find a smaller displacement bike much easier to ride. If you buy an XR650 for trail riding, you are probably going to regret it a lot. If you buy a mentalist KTM 640 then you probably either like hospital food or are in training for next year's Dakar...

 

[stumpi]

I know what I'd sooner be on climbing this sort of stuff...........

No substitute for ccs

 

[bandit]

have to agree.

The futures bright, the futures Orange.