Showing my ignorance. Dirtbike vs SM

I bought a KTM 500 exc with the intention of swapping out dirt and motard setup. The suspension was way too soft for the dirt and when I stiffened it up and added dampening, it was too stiff for the dirt. Ended up making it a full time motard and sold the dirt wheels. Also prefer two strokes off road. They are just more fun to ride.

 

Take a look at the CRF250L. Yes, it's slow, it's heavy, but it has maint intervals measured in galactic epochs, it'll run on non-refined weasel piss and it's dirt cheap NEW out of the crate. I have a friend with one, he's been all over hell with the thing, regularly does woods rides with us, and has taken it motocross racing with us to boot. It does nothing well, but also doesn't do horrible at anything.

 

Yea like others have said, it really depends on what you want to do. If you just want to be putt'n around, pretty much any dual sport bike can be made to work. Since this is a racer forum, I'm assuming you might want to race supermoto too? If so, you can do it with just wheels and a bigger front brake rotor and a stainless steel line. If you really want to be competitive you should start with a 450MX and need to have your suspension setup for pavement, slipper clutch, triple clamps with a lot smaller offset (I use a 14mm Xtrig currently), and I would recommend a 16.5" front wheel and 5" rear wheel. Plus down the road you might want to upgrade to a trick Beringer front brake setup but I haven't gotten there personally.

Again it all depends on what you want to do and what level you want to do it at. A DRZ400 either SM or S would be a good place to start. You can dabble in both dirt and supermoto with those bikes and see what you like or don't like. After that you should have a good idea on which direction you want to go and how you want to do it.

 

Hard to go wrong with those bikes. They are like a SV650. Cheap buy in, dead nuts reliable, and if you don't yard sale it too bad, you can more than likely sell it for what you paid for it once you've found out what direction you want to take your dirt/SM riding to.

 

KTM 500. Stock it comes with dirt rims. I bought a set of rims for it and toss them on when I ride street and race. The suspension will be really soft if you just swap the rims from a stock dirtbike. I have a set of SMR ohlins forks that I swap now when I ride/race sumo. also a big front rotor and brembo radial brake system for the front. Its easy to swap back and forth.

 

Do you really want it to be street legal, or do you just want something that you can have fun on kart tracks AND offroad? Any older dirt bike that has a big enough swingarm to fit a 17" rear would work for that.

Streeting it gets a bit more complicated, and limits your options because you need a title. Converting from off-road to on-road title is easy where I live (you just sign paperwork swearing that you added lights, a horn, and a mirror), but actually installing said items involves a $500 kit, or a fair bit of research and motivation to put one together yourself.

WR250x with a set of dirt rims would check all the boxes for me, but it wouldn't be race winning equipment in any environment.

 

I have the same bike. I dropped three teeth on the rear sprocket and it will cruise at 80 comfortably. Fun bike. I bought some triples with less rake and that really helped the handling

 

Unless your going fast on the street..a DRZ S will do basically the same chit the SM version will do. Just not as quick and flick-able. All the while doing offroad much better. I live about 10 minutes from Deals Gap (don't even ride it anymore) and otherwise have TONS of tight rough chip-seal road, FS rds, dirt, trails, etc. Even then, I'm on the dirt wheels 24/7 now.

The DRZ SM when pushed to race pace (yes I know, dumb bla bla) would start to get unpredictable. On transitions from full lean to full lean...both wheels would come off the ground from suspension unloading, and the roads center crest effect. Front and rear were sketchy too, compared to my 07 750 (Ohlins). Sometimes letting go out of the blue.

But it'd still rail and it NEVER had any problems with any non-local.


Goes offroad fairly well, as long as I keep the speeds down. Even in rock nar chit. Otherwise, the sub par suspension and excess weight soon make themselves known.




About to turn right, straight up the fall line. No prob.


Most versatile bike I've ever had. Camping trip along the Parkway.

 

Unfortunately, no.

 

I wouldn't hesitate ever again to buy one. By far the most capable bike I've owned thats not a road race bike. People complain about the weight but honestly you never really feel it even on low speed stuff, would it be better to have a ktm 300 2 stroke for woods riding? Yeah, but if you want a bike that can do it all...690 all day.

 

Clubman legal too.

 

This looks like my dream bike for the moment. What Kind of tires are those?

 

Perilli MT43 trials tires. Rear lasted over 3k. Front about 3.5k. Still had tread left when changed out recently. Now have the same on the rr, but a cheap Trakmaster 2 knobby on the front for winter duty.

 

Is that an SM with Different rims?

 

Yes. Ebay wheels. $475 shipped.

 

I agree, but I just happened to get my 300 because the deal and timing was right. But from what everyone said, I agree. I fucking love my 300 and have no intentions of getting rid of it anytime soon. So much power, everywhere, and so damn light. Love it.

 

I'll be getting one in feb/march. I just want to get a plate for it which is impossible here but I'll figure it out.

 

What's the deal with green vs red sticker in CA? I had a friend with a plated 2016 TE300 two stroke (that I think was factory street legal) so I just looked it up and saw this article:
http://www.cyclenews.com/2016/08/article/quick-spin-2017-husqvarna-te-250300/

It says "plated and red sticker". Does that have some limitations on what roads you can ride on or something?

 

It's for OHV parks. No road registering a bike that has a green or red sticker in California. You can only ride green or red stickers certain times of the year. It's ridiculous. You skate all that by having a plate. So worst case I'll register mine in South Dakota.