Thinking about selling the 640

[Crisis management]

$510. I'll let ya keep the back wheel for that too.

Have you thought about getting a 625SXC seat & tank for the 640? It's amazing how much more of a trailbike the 625 feels, or even just a 640E with a 12L tank. Converting the Adv wouldn't be hard. A 450 makes more sense if you're not racking up the k's or wanting to carry much gear though.

Cheers
Clint

I've tried the 640 in some moderately knarly stuff and the weight and height just don't do it for me, someone taller and more skilled may have more success.... the 450 will let me do both technical trail and trail/ adventure. For just gravel roads I will use the R80, it's as capable as a Vstrom.

wow $8000 grand and its never been dropped ay ian

Promise mister, never been out in the rain either......

Somehow I don't think the wear marks are that disguisable, my sales pitch is that it's been well run in.

[Oscar]

$510. I'll let ya keep the back wheel for that too.

Have you thought about getting a 625SXC seat & tank for the 640? It's amazing how much more of a trailbike the 625 feels, or even just a 640E with a 12L tank. Converting the Adv wouldn't be hard. A 450 makes more sense if you're not racking up the k's or wanting to carry much gear though.

Cheers
Clint

I got rid of my 625SXC because it was too uncomfortable as a long distance bike (compared to my 950) and too big & unwieldy as a trail bike. Still thinking of a 450/530EXC as adv trail bike (but keep getting distracted by old Guzzi's and Beemers).

[Crim]

Had a look at the wr450 before I got the 250. Road legal, etc. Maintenance schedule was what swung it to the 2fiddy.

what was the difference in schedules and do you know how that would compare with a 450exc?

[clint640]

what was the difference in schedules and do you know how that would compare with a 450exc?

WR250R is roadbike type maintenance, every 6000km oil changes, check the valves @ 40K km. WR-F, EXC's etc are racebike maintenance, every 15 hrs or suchlike.

I've thought about having a both a gravel cruiser & an plated enduro weapon but my problem is I often like to ride the length of the country carrying camping gear, doing some gnarlyish tracks on the way, so I'm stuck with compromise. Luckily the 640 is one of the best compromises available for what I do.

Cheers
Clint

[Taz]

the 450 will let me do both technical trail and trail/ adventure. .

I seem to recall you having a little difficulty in "technical trail" on my 525 after breaking your 200.... The 525 still wears the scars also

[Crisis management]

I seem to recall you having a little difficulty in "technical trail" on my 525 after breaking your 200.... The 525 still wears the scars also

You haven't forgotten then? I did try and put my head between the tree and the 525 you know, my helmet still shows the damage.

[GPS MAN]

Well, my 2 cents: I have a exc 530 that I am going to do some work on for adventure riding..

Presently riding my KLR...On the rode it is great in the rough no so great

Will let you know how my conversion goes ~~~

[vegeman]

Hey,
I've done many long rides with festy on his WR450 (it was because of his WR, that I got the 690...as I needed something truly faster) and I think the WR450 probably the best adv riding machine there.

I can't believe how well that bike has held together, and how much of a thrashing it has taken, and continues to take. The japs really have the reliability sorted on these motors...and I can also tell you, its not because of good maintenance...they are truly bullet proof. The maintenance schedule has been pushed in every respect, and it still rocks.

The last big ride was the yamaha safari in tekapo,..and we rode from Welly there. His bike was an enduro first, then we made it road legal and basic adventuring (which was bloody expensive) by adding, new sub frame, indicators and lighting kit, bigger front sprocket, simple rear luggage rack, upgraded to 15l tank, and used the air hawk seat cushion...and thats about it.

The bike easily sits at 120K all day, pulls 160K no problems, was getting about 240K until reserve. The gearing proved to be no problems on the trails as the big has plenty of power. Its still light and nimble to be able to do real trail rides.

I love my 690, but like your 640 its just a bit heavy for the real hard stuff and can be a bastard to man-handle in difficult conditions whereas the 450 is far better. For instance...I'm confident to perform a 180 trail turn on asphalt on the 450, but not on the bigger machines...

Another mate just bought a WR250 for adv riding, and while it rides nice, and all that stuff...I'd get pretty annoyed at the lack of power...the are too gutless which makes slabbing it on the road eye watering boring, if you get a head wind with gear on the bike...you'll be moaning for sure.

Now that the new WR450's are road legal first...then thats the way to go and good value. If I could have bought a road legal yammy 450 a few years ago...I would have, but the 690 came up instead.

[That looks like fun]

reccomended service interval for my 250 is 10000 ks oil change, 40000 ks for tappets.
reccomended service interval for the 450 was oil at 1000 ks and tappets at 5000.
If you can live with that then I would go for the 450 with the big fuel tank fitted.
All the reviews say the engine is bullet proof but then so is what you already have.
If you are looking for a smaller more nimble bike then think carefully about why you are buying.
When I decided to get a smaller bike I looked at what I wanted to do, then I brought that I believe will deliver on what I want to do
Yes the 2fiddy is a pain on the tarseal, so what? Ride to the bike.
I have still got babe if I want comfort and power on the road
I firmly believe an adventure bike is a series of compromises that end in a bike that almost meets every need but not quite

[MXNUT]

Having recently looked at the whole purchase question of ADV bikes myself
i did consider trying to have 1 bike to do it all but decided it couldnt live with that many compromises

If you can afford it i would advise to stick with the trail bike for trailriding and another bike for ADV riding.

Remember that off road, light is might.

Any ADV bike is already a compromise between road based riding and gravel / off road tracks.

Try and make that same bike perform reasonably as a trail bike as well, and you are adding more problems into the mix.

A 450/530 in ADV trim will still be a big unweildy bike on trail rides, especially in the wet.

And the buzzyness of the motor and lack of road comfort will put you off anything more than 3-4 hours on the road, not to mention the extra servicing required.

I am sure that owners of said 450/530`s will dissagree with me here but coming off the DRZ i do have some experience here.

Just my 10 cents worth.

[XRJohnny]

CRISIS, This is a subject very close to my heart.
I have had many hours of disscusion regarding this with local "hero" Friday Flash.
From my experience, i would have to agree with CLINT640 & MXNUT. It,s a bit much to expect a highly strung enduro weapon to perform so many duties that its not really designed for.
I am sure the bike will perform all those duties, it,s more about how happy you will be with all the compromises.
In my mind you already have the ultimate size dirt bike in your KTM200, & no Adventurised bigger bike could ever hope to compete with that.
I am using a Honda XR650R as a one day adventure bike at the moment, which is very limited ( but very good for that purpose )
I did use a Suzuki DRZ250 for a number of years & 20k to do everything on. ( & i mean everything )
COMMUTING every day to work
ADVENTURE RIDING fantastic on the gravel, limited to 125km on the tarmac ( but you do that on every ride! )
TRAIL RIDING bigger than i normally like, but the electric start was neat
RIDING TO TRAILRIDES, THEN RIDING HOME this is only for the "very" keen
MOTOCROSS & FLATTRACKS as you can imagine, the only road legal bike there
TOURING a 4000k trip of the South Island carrying all gear & tent
I think the best bike available to do everything on is the road legal version of Suzuki,s DRZ400. ( but thats just my opinion )

[Crisis management]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the effort put into the replies and it certainly gave me something to consider, the plan is now.....

Sell the 640, put some intermediate tyres on the R80 (it's essentially the same bike as a Vstrom) and use that as my "all roads" bike, buy a road legal 450EXC for trail and "adventure trail" rides and keep the 200 as a spare for my son to use and me if the 450 proves to be too big for the trail riding I do (don't think that will be a problem, the guys I ride with now are all on 450s').

Primarily I'm going to be doing trail riding and the odd gravel road adventure ride (that is about all we have around Auckland anyway) so the R80 will cover that and the 450 should cover all the off road riding I do.


So, anyone want a slightly run in 640?

Actually, I wouldn't mind some feedback as to what it's worth so I get a fair price rather than have it sitting around over-priced, I'm sort of hoping around $8,000, suggestions Taz, Clint, Oscar, anyone else???

[Taz]

I think 8 to 8.5 is not unreasonable.

[dino3310]

I'd give ya 8k for it Iain but im broke and i dont like LC4's


fair price