Hey people, I am looking to buy a new ride that must be a dual purpose next year. My dad has a 2005 KLR650 and that is cool but mega heavy for off-road. I am 14 and weigh 120. Before you guys flame me for being so young and saying i dont know what i am getting into just humor me. And PLEASE dont throw out the whole daddys payin for this spoiled brats ride line, i am not buing till next year because i dont have the money yet. ANd if you are wondering why i am not just going MX bike its because my first car is a 9MPG truck and i have a school that is about 60-75 miles round trip so i nees some decint MPG.

now with that said...I have been going back and forth on the KLX and the D-RZ400s for some time now, but do you guys think i would be able to handle the KLX like I would any dirtbike next year at a weight of about 160ish?


Thanks in advance.

 

why not wait till then and test ride both of em
theres so many factors involved in stating which would be better for you its not even worth the effort.... when the time comes take a test ride on both then make ur decision.

 

LOL, a little defensive, are you

Hey, I think the KLX is a very nice bike to have. The stock set up is not going to over horsepower you, you will be in pretty much 100% control all the time. You can't go as fast, jump as far, and go as hard as say an MX bike, or really any trail bike... but that can come with your second bike.

I'd say the only draw back is the fact that the rear blinkers might break off after repeated dumps, but you could probably remove them since you are not going to be hitting the black top for a few more years. Beyond that the bike offers a very nice mild dirt machine that would be perfect.

 

With the KLX, depending on your driving habits and the speedlimit of the roads on your commute you would burn about 1 gallon/day per stock. With the mods in my signature and running @65mph (indicated) for most of my 15 mile (one way) commute I get 52-58 mpg depending on how hard I get on it between gears. So your mpg would be great compared to the truck, however that is a tank of fuel per day. I'm not too certain I would want to subject the bike to 70+ mile pavement rides daily as you are running 6000+ rpm @ 60mph, while its probably not terrible for it I'm sure it doesn't help it. For around the same price you may want to look into a mid sized streetbike like a 500 or so for that type of commute. The KLX is a bit on the weak side to regear for highway duty and as such would be even worse on the trail if geared for the highway commute. On the otherhand NoBrake's 331 KLX with the pumper carb might be perfectly suited for such a job if it was regeared considering the snap is has now with the stock gearing.


Between the DRZ and the KLX I don't really know which would be the better bike for your situation, I never test drove either bike I just picked the KLX because of what I've read hear and on www.advrider.com and it was the 2nd bike on my list behind the Yamaha XT225, however no local dealers had any of the XT. I must say that I'm very happy with the KLX though.

 

yea i had never been to this forum but on others i go to we always get guys that are hard on the younger riders thinking big bikes, so i thought i would attempt to prevent an argument but i now see you are all goo people.

 

i wonder if Elka or an equivalent makes after market shock for the back that is better suited for jumping. Also does anyone have an estimated price on Insurance in Illinois for my situation?

 

My friend has the DR400 and i have to say, with almost twice the horsepower and a bit bigger frame, it is hands down the better streetbike.

Now, on the dirt, its not near as nimble as the KLX 250 and it tends to burry its front end in the soft stuff due to its weighty front forks...)

Some things to consider that I share from personal experience.. I weight 175 with no gear, and when the DR 400 gets past 45 degrees, I have to really really work hard to keep it off the ground...(nick, if your reading this, I never actually dropped it....)


I took my road test on his bike, then got to check both of them out in on the dealer floor side by side. I knew id be putting the bike I would eventually buy into some interesting dirt bike postions so I sat on them, leaned them, rocked them and for me, the bike that handled the best was hands down the KLX and I have been very happy with the bike.

The thing thats different with your situation is that your planning on lots of road driving.. Something I avoid if I can help it .. If your on any kind of major roads AND thats the majority of your riding (vs dirt), you should give serious consideration to the DR400.

thats my two cents....

 

my wife's bike is a good bike too, if I could get it started......GRRRRRRRR stinking cold weather. Even my bike being jetted and all it still took me 2 minutes to get it started.

 

Ok no flaming, Your are going to put on 40 pounds in one year? Are you going on steroids? LoL

Ok I will trade you my 40 pounds that I am triyng to lose. I am 43 and 180 pounds heheh 5'06" to boot. Just joking
Now that the ice is broken...


You will like the KLX 250 for what it is> You mentioned commute and fuel mileage first then fun. Some folks on this forum use the bike for dirt only ie; riding street legal to the site and then back no trucking involved some make them into sm's pretty hot machines mav and tremor come to mind. It is up to you but if you can test ride a couple of specimens please do so . If I had only 5 thousand I would prolly by a ninja 250 to go to school and a used dirt bike or enduro but if I could only have one, Dual Purpose is the way for me..

Good luckand stay in school. Everybody here is awesome and very helpful .

Welcome to the forum

 

well those last three replys have helped me alot. Although i think i wil be riding to school on the bike alot it is a different case getting my dad to agree with that. and he isnt a big rider on the KLR so I being very trusted by him he would probably let me ride the KLR if i really got heavy on commuting or gas prices went crazy. Although i dislike admiting it( it destroys my excuse for buying it), i realize i will be buying this bike as a ,simply put, street legal dirt bike to just go for a sunday cruise on and still have the ability to avoid tickets from cops. [sm=innoc.gif]unforunately i will have to also dish out 300-400 bucks for the "under-18" motorcycle registration course so I can get my bike liscense. Damn screwy Illinois[:@]