Well as the winter is fast approaching ive been pondering on the idea of an off road bike to do a few trails and maybe some enduros to keep me on a bike while my road bike hibernates. Does anyone have any sugestions on something i could pick up with a price upto £1500? Id prefer not to get a Motorcrosser so that i can have it road registered, else getting it around is just a pain. open to sugestions on 4T + 2T
Cheers peps!
Bike for winter
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Scotty
- Learner Driver
- Posts: 816
- Joined: Mar 22nd, '07, 19:31
- First Name: Simon
- Location: The New Forest
Re: Bike for winter
It all depends on how much you want to spend. If you're a first-timer or relative novice off-road you definitely don't need anything bigger than a 250 4-stroke, or smaller if a 2-stroke, no matter what you ride on the road. Thinking "Oh, I've got an R1/Gixxer thou/Blade or whatever so I'll get a CRF450..." will end in tears, I promise you. 
Something like a Honda XR250 is a good starter bike - dead simple mechanically, light, easy to ride, reliable, easy to get parts for, and not over-endowed with power. A Yam WR250 is newer and has nicities like an electric start (later ones do anyway) and is more powerful, but heavier (battery, radiator, starter motor etc.) and will be more expensive. The F model is an Enduro bike (may not be fully road-legal) and relatively highly strung (short service intervals) - the R model is similar but road legal and a bit more of a trailie than an out-and-out race bike. A bit more modest would be a Honda CRF230 - like an update of the XR really, a bit more modern.
Where from? Ebay has some good ones, but a lot of tat as well, beware stolen stuff. Off-road forums are good places, as is the For Sale section of the BMW GS forum (though you need to pay £10 to join, but it's a very good forum - it's where I found my WR), and the classifieds section of TBM or TMX News.
Then you'll need to buy kit too - DON'T ride without body armour and decent boots....
Have fun
Something like a Honda XR250 is a good starter bike - dead simple mechanically, light, easy to ride, reliable, easy to get parts for, and not over-endowed with power. A Yam WR250 is newer and has nicities like an electric start (later ones do anyway) and is more powerful, but heavier (battery, radiator, starter motor etc.) and will be more expensive. The F model is an Enduro bike (may not be fully road-legal) and relatively highly strung (short service intervals) - the R model is similar but road legal and a bit more of a trailie than an out-and-out race bike. A bit more modest would be a Honda CRF230 - like an update of the XR really, a bit more modern.
Where from? Ebay has some good ones, but a lot of tat as well, beware stolen stuff. Off-road forums are good places, as is the For Sale section of the BMW GS forum (though you need to pay £10 to join, but it's a very good forum - it's where I found my WR), and the classifieds section of TBM or TMX News.
Then you'll need to buy kit too - DON'T ride without body armour and decent boots....
Have fun
"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting"
Steve McQueen
Wheelies - they ARE big and they ARE clever
Steve McQueen
Wheelies - they ARE big and they ARE clever
Re: Bike for winter
Well i use to ride a KDX200 off road so already have all the gear (body armour, boots helmet etcetc) But ive not ridden off road or had any deals with off road bikes for about 6 years so dont really know whats worth looking at now so thxs for the info =)
I'll check out the bikes you've mentioned and see what i think =) thxs!
I'll check out the bikes you've mentioned and see what i think =) thxs!
Re: Bike for winter
Let me know if you want a CRF230 as a friend has a hardly used one for sale near Tavistock for £1500.
Will be mega reliable & cheap to run but not as exciting compared to a KDX200.
You could have my XR400 for £1300 and I'll then buy the CRF!
Will be mega reliable & cheap to run but not as exciting compared to a KDX200.
You could have my XR400 for £1300 and I'll then buy the CRF!