I was in exactly the same position a month or so back.
Bought a 2008 WR250R from a TRF guy down in Devon; pretty happy with it as a reasonable compromise between cost and reliability.
Bit more money than I intended to spend on a bike I know I'm going to fall off, but after lots of chats with my local TRF guys, I decided it was the cost to own for a couple of years that I needed to look at rather than the just the initial outlay.
If you look at it like that, a 3 year old modern (light) 250 won't cost any more to own than a 10 year old DRZ, provided you don't totally wreck it.
I think the 250 will be great for the lanes, but I'm not sure I'd honestly want to ride it very far on the road, especially on quicker A roads and above.
Can't be sure if it's the size of the bike or the tyres that does it, but it doesn't feel very "connected" to the road at anything much above 60mph.
I suppose it depends on what your commute is like and how much of a factor using it for this is in your decision...
Whichever way you go, it's worth joining the TRF and making contact with your local group - there always seem to be bikes coming up for sale, and they tend not to rip each other off, so less risky than Ebay etc.
Bought a 2008 WR250R from a TRF guy down in Devon; pretty happy with it as a reasonable compromise between cost and reliability.
Bit more money than I intended to spend on a bike I know I'm going to fall off, but after lots of chats with my local TRF guys, I decided it was the cost to own for a couple of years that I needed to look at rather than the just the initial outlay.
If you look at it like that, a 3 year old modern (light) 250 won't cost any more to own than a 10 year old DRZ, provided you don't totally wreck it.
I think the 250 will be great for the lanes, but I'm not sure I'd honestly want to ride it very far on the road, especially on quicker A roads and above.
Can't be sure if it's the size of the bike or the tyres that does it, but it doesn't feel very "connected" to the road at anything much above 60mph.
I suppose it depends on what your commute is like and how much of a factor using it for this is in your decision...
Whichever way you go, it's worth joining the TRF and making contact with your local group - there always seem to be bikes coming up for sale, and they tend not to rip each other off, so less risky than Ebay etc.
