Motard as a first bike?

[strandedinnz]

How do you mean cheaper to buy? the DRZ400SM is over 11K, the Duke is at 7.5k? Granted it's half the power, but for my first bike I'm not looking to spend so much or am I missing something?

No don't buy new! Quick way to lose money as soon as pen touches paper to sign it over to you! My 2010 DR-Z400SM cost me $6500 on TradeMe, and it was perfect!

Motards are a little different to ride than standard road bikes as you sit much higher, but they are WAAAYYYY more manoeuvrable, they don't have enormous top speed, but do have good acceleration, lots of travel in the suspension (not quite as much as a dirt bike but not far off) so you can chose your road surface .. they are very forgiving if you crash as most of the sticky out bits fold in then spring back out and if you do manage to break something you can pretty much replace all the plastics for $200 and do it yourself in 15 minutes :-)
you can easily learn a good 80% of required maintenance on them yourself.

Take a visit to Colemans up K'road way and have a sit on the Motards in there, that'll give you a good idea.

[ZondaX15]

I started out on a trail bike, but I rode it like a motard . keep in mind that even though it doesn't have 17 inch wheels that it isn't as good. the DT200R is waaaay better on the gravel than my KTM. of course the KTM takes off way faster and pulls second gear powee monos, unlike the DT.


it seems that motards are really popular in America, and trail bikes aren't as much. if you're riding like a learner, the 17s aren't gonna make much difference at all . We all agree the spokey tard wheels look neat, but unless you're on the track or riding to the max theu aren't terribly beneficial.

so yeah. Don't just say motardd or nothing. dual sports and trail bikes are fantastic leaner bikes, in my opinion anyway. and they're damn quick, the DT can keep up with the KTM reasonably well. once it gets up to speed that is.

I'm on my phone. Probably lots of bad England

[SMOKEU]

yep Red baron are crazy expensive they wanted nearly 8k for a 05 DRZ CRAZY!!

Yeah, it's simply not worth a dealer selling a vehicle unless they're going to make at least a couple of thousand $ out of the sale, hence my suggestion to avoid buying cheap vehicles at dealerships.

[Jay GTI]

they are very forgiving if you crash as most of the sticky out bits fold in then spring back out and if you do manage to break something you can pretty much replace all the plastics for $200 and do it yourself in 15 minutes :-)
you can easily learn a good 80% of required maintenance on them yourself.

Yep, being that the DRZ400SM is just a detuned (and slightly bespoke) motarded dirt bike, it's got the dirt bike design ethos, i.e. it's been designed to handle being dropped repeatedly, because in normal service a dirt bike will be dropped repeately. If not dropped repeatedly, you're not riding hard enough... although I wouldn't suggest carrying that over onto the road.

[tias]

All the info much appreciated!
I'll keep my eyes on Trademe from now on for sure.

Any recommendations for mechanics to take a bike to to get it checked out in the Auckland region? Or even one that would do it at the location the bike is at?

Cheers!

[tobbera]

I can really recommend the Duke 200. Its a blast to ride! As a reference, I have been on a full license for 4 years and drove everything from small dirt bikes in the woods, to GSRX750 on race track. But still the Duke 200 is really fun. Light (the lightest?) to handle. Performs very good in city traffic when commuting to work. Takes of at the red light like few others. Highway touring is probably its drawback. With 200cc there is not much get-up-and-go beyond 110 kmh. At 125kmh you have basically bottomed it out with a passenger on the back.

Look out for a close to new one at trademe. They come with 2 years warranty which should calm your mind a bit.

[tobbera]

I'll help you out! Live in Auckland City and has done my share of motorbike servicing.

All the info much appreciated!
I'll keep my eyes on Trademe from now on for sure.

Any recommendations for mechanics to take a bike to to get it checked out in the Auckland region? Or even one that would do it at the location the bike is at?

Cheers!

[tias]

Cheers man! Good to know about the Duke as well. Really like the look of it,...

Still here on that 1 year visit? When are you leaving, I'll buy that Duke of ya?

[tobbera]

I'm most likely be leaving in March or April next year. Then you are more then welcome to take it of my hands.

[tias]

hahaha,... That's what I said 8 years ago when I arrived here, just here for a year, casual as.... still here.
Then again, I didn't have the good looking people of Sweden to go back to, Belgium's not known for it's babes.

I'll keep the Duke in mind, but looking to be on a bike within the next one to two weeks. it's itching now....

[Bonzo]

All the info much appreciated!
I'll keep my eyes on Trademe from now on for sure.

Any recommendations for mechanics to take a bike to to get it checked out in the Auckland region? Or even one that would do it at the location the bike is at?

Cheers!

I wouldn't mind doing a bike maintenance evening every now and then. It's quite a sociable event really hangout out in a garage drinking beers watching someone work on a bike.... sometime say 'hmmm are you sure you want to do that mate!?' or 'put the impact drive down it's only an ali 8mil bolt!'

[tias]

That would be real cool Bonzo! I'm very keen to learn, my knowledge doesn't stretch further than old 70's 50cc honda engines...

[Bonzo]

That would be real cool Bonzo! I'm very keen to learn, my knowledge doesn't stretch further than old 70's 50cc honda engines...

Not a prob. I've had a few custom builds while i was in the US and I even re built a written-off snowmobile (my hand was the shape of a rivet gun after!) so i'm not to band when it comes to that kind of thing.

[Maha]

Buy from a dealer if you have no (or very little) faith in the word of someone trying to flog their shit on TM.

As for ''No don't buy new! Quick way to lose money as soon as pen touches paper'' that applies to very thing you buy, yes even second hand stuff. At least buying new/second hand or from a dealer, you have the warranty to fall back on should anything go wrong, good luck with that scenario buying off TM.

Have a walk around a few bike shops, if nothing else, it's a good way to spend several hours.

[Jay GTI]

At least buying new/second hand or from a dealer, you have the warranty to fall back on should anything go wrong, good luck with that scenario buying off TM.

If the dealer is charging a $3000 premium, then that's a bloody expensive warranty and on a bike as simple as a DRZ, there's feck all that couldn't be fixed for that. And of course, it may just not go wrong.