Best 250 'tard.

[Fryin Finn]

Yamahas WR250 has the most powerful 4 stroke single around, rev forever and come with a street legal kit. Also the wide ratio gearbox makes higher gearing easier than trying to convert a MX bike. They have a pretty good reliability record too.
Motu are you saying your DT230 makes as much horsepower as a 450 MX bike.
They are dyno'd around the 40hp mark - I dont think so

[Motu]

The DT230 is a 2 stroke,it is listed as 39hp,but 40hp sounds better.Most likely not a real 39hp,but then that goes for all advertised power claims.

[ridespy]

To reiterate this needs be a perfect bike. Perfect for the open road mission. Perfect for the daily commute, perfect for the gravelly fun and perfect for the occassional off road adventure. Oh and it must be cheap.

Oh yes, we all want that perfect bike, If some one made one it would be sitting in my garage. But all bikes are a compromise in someway or other. Basically the better the bike is for the open road mission the worse it will be for the off road adventure. XR/DR/TTR are good options 4 stroke options and a DT/RMX/CRM are good 2 stroke options if you go down the trail bike route.

People often talk about the amount of maintenance a 2 stroke needs, yes this is true you will need to do more maintenance but the costs are a lot lower and a lot easier than the maintenance costs of a 4 stroke.

If you look after your 2 stroke besides the normal maintenace, you will only need to put new rings in it, and thats a very easy job. And you may never need to do that, depending on how many K's you do on the bike

[warewolf]

G'day,

Although belated (just found this thread), as a DR-Z250 quasi-motard rider, here are a few ideas.

Wheels

The original rims have pure street tyres fitted for commuting and on-road sorties; Metzeler ME33 / ME55A combination. Mainly for extra life and because knobbies get out of shape when ridden on the road for prolonged periods. The road legal knobbies heat up faster but the grip runs out sooner.

It has a second set of standard 21"-18" wheels (hence the quasi). Currently fitted with intermediate motocross NHS tyres, rim locks, larger rear sprocket for lower gearing in the forest. For trail rides I remove indicators, mirrors, swap wheels, and also swap to smaller front sprocket. Raise gear and rear brake levers to suit standing ride position & motocross boots. Oh, and remove ventura pack frame but leave the L-brackets fitted.

I don't rate the standard street tyres as too far below intermediate road/trail tyres for gravel road grip. One of the best rides I've had recently was on the gravel between Waitomo and Puketiti (SW of Pio Pio) on the street tyres. Woo hoo! Power slides, brake turns, whatever - huge fun! To my mind, intermediate road/trail tyres don't have enough advantages over street tyres. With two sets of rims, for adventure riding I'd fit the gnarliest road-legal knobbies to the second set - something that would out-perform street and intermediate tyres in the mud.

Brakes

The front brake will make a road/trail tyre (i.e. road legal knobby) slide when the tyre is punished, eg coromandel loop. Not when running the full street tyre. If you cock up a corner at 100km/h don't expect the standard brake to stop you like twin discs on a sports bike. However, the lighter weight does help. And remember you have to use a lot more rear brake than on a sports bike.

Power

The bike tops out at 139km/h on road on the flat. I spent an afternoon trying to get more than that, didn't happen. With a dirty air filter, it'll only do 125km/h, and get there sluggishly. Clean air filter, it will briskly follow the throttle at 110km/h. Dirty filter... nup. Keep your filter clean.

Hmm, what else? The bike can run all day with litre-class bikes, but you spend a lot of the day at full-throttle above 80% rpm... so change the oil regularly... like every 1500km. They'll go by on the straights, then you go past them in the corners. Just watch that you're not too close coming in, 'cos if they hit the picks big time you won't be able to stop like them.

Suspension

Oh, the rear shock has been revalved by Craig Brown @ Colemans for a couple of hundred bucks, and the forks have raised oil level. The difference over a stocker is dramatic. Money very well spent. Craig's focus has been improved handling for enduros, especially Woodhill whoops, but it all helps the on-road manners, mainly because he's made it all a bit stiffer.

One of the nice things about this class of bikes is the long-travel suspension to soak up the bumps and they are light enough to chuck about. Soaking up the bumps means confidence in the front end equals more corner speed.

Tank size

The DR-Z is plastic, 10.5L. But it seems you can't use all the capacity - the right-hand lobe doesn't drain into the fuel tap on the left-hand lobe. I get 200km+ around town (into reserve) and about 30km less chasing litre bikes (with a clean air filter - dirty the fuel economy drops further.) There's plenty of big or extra tank options, but they're probably not warranted in NZ. You just gotta fill up more often.

The Ultimate?

I reckon that a 450 motard would be the ultimate NZ road sports bike, e.g. Husaberg FS450E. But for a cheap, reliable, fun, multi-purpose bike, you can't go past this combination. At an entry level, you don't need to double the price of the bike to fit 17" motard road wheels & big brakes. Instead, spend a thousand on suspension upgrades, stronger more comfortable bars, grips, hand guards, and maybe a lighter plastic headlight unit.

Any of the DR, TTR or XR (kick start only) will be very similar. The DT230 sounds like it's in there, too. I was initially attracted to the Djebel/Baja/Raid bikes, but apart from a decent headlight and luggage racks, they are down-spec JDM bikes compared to the NZ-new trailies in the same family. The biggest difference is that they have cheaper, simpler, softer suspension. Some of them have lower seat heights and power outputs, too. Good for commuting, mild adventure rides and off-road learners, but not enduros. I did my time on a DR200SE, but it ain't no trail bike.

Perfect off road - perfect on road - cheap... choose any two!

Well, I hope this is useful and food for thought.