Recommendation Needed

ExpoScout · May 24, 2012

Hey guys, looking for suggestions for my (possible) first bike. I'll start out with saying/admitting I've never ridden ANY motorcycles on the street. My experience is limited to a small amount of dirt bike riding, and not very technical riding at that.

Anyway, I'm looking into a first bike and don't want to go too crazy. Also, I'm about 6'4" so that may or may not affect my choices. I don't want to get something that I will grow out of too quickly, but at the same time I don't want to get too much bike to start out with.

I realize this is a pretty broad question, but I expect with your collective experiences you can point me in the right direction and at least give me some options where I can start looking.

Thanks.

Adventurerider · May 24, 2012

If I missed it, what are you going to use the bike for??? Off road, around town, traveling (long distance)???
I would start here:
A Yamaha wr250f, great bike, you can ride it on the street and the dirt, it's a great starter Enduro. When you ever decide to move up in size, if you ever do, they have great resale values!
There are tons of great accessories for them, they are super reliable, light, fun & very reasonably priced! Can't go wrong for a first bike!
Go to a riding school, if you need any help finding one I can point you in a good direction, but you will learn a lot.
Also remember, buy a good helmet and get it sized correctly at a good shop!!! Don't buy a cheap one, get an Arai, Shoei or Troy Lee Designs!
Good luck, riding will set you free, really!

MarcFJ60 · May 24, 2012

You're going to have to describe what type of riding you're looking to do. For instance, do you plan to ride dirt or street or both? How much time do you anticipate spending on each? What kind of dirt (gravel roads or gnarly single track), what kind of road riding (backroads or highways)? Just you or riding with a passenger or loaded with gear?

The more accurately you can anticipate what type of riding you will be doing, the better chance at keeping that first bike awhile. Of course, most people only think they know what kind of riding they'll like and be doing. It usually takes a half dozen bikes to figure it out. :bike_rider:

I would recommend buying used. If you get a decent deal on a motorcycle, you can typically sell it after a season for very little loss.

ExpoScout · May 25, 2012

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it.

I spend a lot of time on fire roads in the mtns of NC as it is, so I'd like to be able to take it up there. And I'm sure it would see a lot of around town use as well on nice days. The main reason I started looking into it is that it's a very good possibility I'm going to be relocating in the next year or so out west (WY). If I do make it out there I WILL have a bike, and I'd like to have some riding experience before I get out there.

I plan on riding both dirt and street. I don't anticipate doing anything too gnarly, mostly gravel roads/dirt roads since there are a ton of those to explore in WY. My wife will possibly be a passenger at some point, but not until I feel comfortable...so it could be a while. It's also possible she will have her own bike at some point. I fully expect to upgrade from this bike to a higher-end bike at some point, so keep that in mind as well.

To be honest I am leaning more towards something like the wr250f just due to the fact that if I upgrade to more of an adventure bike like a vstrom or 1200gs then I will still have a bike that will be better for more technical riding and playing around, if that makes sense.

ExpoScout · May 25, 2012

I'm thinkin' I'm gonna have a tough time finding something better than the KLR650...but I'm open to suggestions.

MarcFJ60 · May 25, 2012

Did you mean the WR250R (the street legal Yamaha 250)?

If you're fairly certain you'll be getting a second, bigger bike it's hard to argue with getting a nice small DS to start. It certainly isn't a good 2 up bike, but it's a great compliment to a bigger adventure bike. Especially if you move out west. Honestly, I can't imagine ANY thumper being good at 2 up for an extended period. I know people do it, but I also know people eat liver - Blech.

But if you get a decent deal on a KLR (and not spend money adding goodies to it), you can always sell it later and recoup most/all of your initial investment and start again. Given your size, a KLR would probably be a good fit. Possibly an XR-L (or even a plated XRR) would be great for out west.

Frank · May 25, 2012

This topic seems to be spoke about almost every few days now. If you just go through some of the more recent threads, this topic has been torn apart several times.

ExpoScout · May 25, 2012

MarcFJ60 said:
Did you mean the WR250R (the street legal Yamaha 250)?

If you're fairly certain you'll be getting a second, bigger bike it's hard to argue with getting a nice small DS to start. It certainly isn't a good 2 up bike, but it's a great compliment to a bigger adventure bike. Especially if you move out west. Honestly, I can't imagine ANY thumper being good at 2 up for an extended period. I know people do it, but I also know people eat liver - Blech.

But if you get a decent deal on a KLR (and not spend money adding goodies to it), you can always sell it later and recoup most/all of your initial investment and start again. Given your size, a KLR would probably be a good fit. Possibly an XR-L (or even a plated XRR) would be great for out west.

I believe the wr250r is what was intended...I was just quoting the wr250f as suggested above. But after looking into it, it seems that you're right, the R would be the on-road version.

I just don't want to get in over my head and I can find KLRs for very decent prices around here and once I feel comfortable riding something like a Super Tenere might be in the cards.

Frank · May 25, 2012

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