Offroad brands?

[Wes]

Morning all.

Need to buy an offroad bike, been looking around and have no clue....

Brands :
- Suzuki
- ktm
- husqvarna ( fe350 looks mean. )
- honda

Not sure what else to include...

[Tazz]

Forget brand, budget and use is what you really need to worry about first.

Every marque has strengths and weaknesses so there is no all around 'best for everyone' bike or brand.

[FlangMasterJ]

Forget brand, budget and use is what you really need to worry about first.

Every marque has strengths and weaknesses so there is no all around 'best for everyone' bike or brand.

What Tazz is trying to say is get a KTM because they're the best.

[speights_bud]

To start with, what are you going to be doing? And what experience do you have?

General Trail riding? , racing/motox/cross country? Or enduro/hard enduro/trials type riding?

Have you any preference for 2T or 4T? How strong are you for when you inevitably have to pick it up?

[Wes]

Thanks tazz, budget isnt an issue. As for use....dunno yet, i looking for a mixture of enduro and bush bashing...

[Wes]

Haha flangmaster,saw a ktm xcf 350 today,looks great.....sales person recommended it as a "mix" bike...what ktm u got? Are the xcf 350 2015 any good?

[nodrog:Me]

I had a K6 gsxr that was dual purpose, went off road heaps.

[Wes]

Speights, i have no idea just yet. Bush bashing and moto i guess. Experience....not much....played around on a few pitbikes,yes pitbikes haha. Need to get a big boys bike now. How do i measure strong? Whats the key differences from 2t and 4t?

[Wes]

Nodrog,interesting..... got a photo?

[haydes55]

Nodrog,interesting..... got a photo?

He's pulling your leg.... That or by off road he means gravel.

You sound very noob ('tis the technical wording).

2 strokes will have more power for the cc, a 125 2 stroke is comparable with a 250 4 stroke.

2 strokes have a power band that means low power in low revs, then a hard kick of acceleration in the high revs, a good rider stays in the power band. Some of the bigger 2 strokes have much smoother power band/power curves so are much easier to control for trial riding, the ktm 300 is like that. Also next to no engine braking on a 2 stroke.

4 strokes have engine braking (good for down hill slow sections), more even power curve (depending on the cc you could easily power out of a corner in too high a gear and be sweet without having to chop down).

Judging by your knowledge, you won't be doing your own servicing, so no advantage to the 2 strokes, except maybe cheaper to service? Depends on service intervals etc of specific bikes.

[Wes]

Thanks haydes55,that cleared it up.

haha i know, just wanted to see offroad tyres on his bike....
Yep still very new at everything, got more googling to do. Have to start somewhere.

Lol,def wont be doing my own servicing.

I take it 2 stroke bikes are lighter than 4stroke then?

[speights_bud]

Yes as a general rule. Who do you usually ride with? Is there anyone you know well enough who would let you ride their bike to get a feel?

That's how I ended up with a 250exc, knew I wanted a 2T (because they are just better-er) and I used to borrow a friends dad's 300exc when visiting in welly. I hardly ever got it up on the pipe with the trials type of riding we were doing so opted for the 250 and have geared right down

[Wes]

Dont ride with anyone at the moment or to be more precise,i dont know anyone that has a bike in nz. Currently have a lil forza 125 pitbike,probably not counted as a real bike. Just do some cheaky riding in the neighbourhood.

My friends (punani and poontang) dont like bikes so that eliminates that.

Do you have the ktm 250? If so,happy with it?
You in auckland?

[speights_bud]

I'm in hawkes bay. I really like the ktm250exc. It really just does the kind of work I want it to. Reliably and was good value for money. My budget was 3k and that's what I spent. It's an 04 and quite a few people say that it's not the best handling model, but it goes everywhere I need it too. Good torque for the slow technical stuff, and adjustable suspension from factory. I'm not bagging other brands but bikes of similar era my friends own just don't give me the same good feeling,but they love them so each to their own.

[Wes]

Nice,lots of land up there to ride. Im in flatbush,auckland.....suburbia...
Nice, will google of 04 models and see what they like.

The 2015 freerider looks interesting. The sales guy at the bike shop recommended 2 bikes, 350xcf 4stroke and 250 2stroke.

Really got to ride to find out i guess...