You have $1400, which beater trail bike do you buy?

[troy]

OK, let's hear it. Assume you have $1,400 of "extra" cash and you want a beater dirt bike to ride farm/woods trails and to allow non bike-owning friends to ride. WHICH of these do you buy?

1997 Kawasaki KDX 200 2-stroke (has since SOLD)
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4076742842.html


1999 Kawasaki KLX 300 4-stroke
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4142349350.html


1999 KTM 200 EXC 2-stroke
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4103270169.html

[ajayhawkfan]

Troy, I'm not particular, I will be happy with any bike you purchase for me.

[troy]

While I'm more familiar with the KTM, and it sounds like the normal maintenance stuff has been recently taken care of, I'm drawn to that old KDX. It looks to be in REALLY good condition.

That KLX 300 looks in great shape, too, but for pure off-road trail fun, the 2-stroke excites me more.

[troy]

KDX SOLD.

[stimmer6253472]

I have had or ridden with all three extensively. KDX for sure. I had a KDX "buddy bike" for years. Normally cheaper to buy as there are always tons for sale and any one can ride one. I had a '01 200 exc at one time as a "buddy bike" and some beginner friends struggled with it at times. It was a kind of spastic without good throttle control. Totally different feel than a 300 exc. My cousin has a klx 300. Much heavier and you got to deal with valves. Can be hard to start at times.

[troy]

Thanks for the input, Jim--you've ridden a lot of bikes, and I figured you'd have some intel. Yeah, guys who own them and articles I read say the 300 EXC is really a different machine because of it's low torque that allows you to keep it a gear "too high" and tame it down or kick it down a gear and let it rip your arms off when you want the big thrills.

I keep hearing, "I loved my old KDX" from people over the years. That one I posted above looked GREAT...but it's gone now.

That KLX 300 looks really clean, and I bet it would be a really nice trail bike for lesser experienced folks...but for me personally, for where I plan to ride it, the 2-stroke power and weight is enticing.

I'm not in a hurry, and I sure don't need another bike!...but I do enjoy taking people riding and introducing them to this stuff. Last Sun, all 3 of my KTM's had riders and then the 300 EXC had an issue that kept it from idling. I'm going to clean the carb this week..and inspect the reed valves--something I've never done. xr-nut (Joe) gave me the 411 on those and I watched a YouTube video explaining how to inspect them. Looks easy.

[HanesAnizer]

The KLX 300 has a CV carb which is not a great carb for off road. I've ridden a KDX and they are certainly a rock solid machine with lots of available parts and knowledge out there. However, I vote the KTM 200. My sons each have 200's and you add a CEK needle and a Gnarly pipe and they are silky smooth. Plus you already have KTM's. You know how easy they are to work on and many parts on your 300 will interchange. I also believe you can get a KTM 200 for less than the $1400 budget...probably even newer.

That's my 2 cents

[Savage]

KLX or KDX for me. I have yet to open my KLX to check the valves. Pretty much every DS has a vacuum carb so I guess that makes all DS bikes not so good off-road. KLX CAN be hard to start but so can every other bike out there if they aren't tuned properly and you don't kick them in the manner they like to be kicked.
I think it comes down to if you would rather have a 4t vs 2t.

[troy]

I'm not afraid of valves. I just don't put enough hours on my bikes for that to be a maintenance headache. I feel like I've ridden my 450 hard, but in 3 years, it has only needed a simple valve adjustment.

Mechanical slides, like roundslides and especially flatslides are better performers than CV carbs for a few reasons. As already mentioned they open quicker which equals immediate throttle response. The only problem with that is when you whack open a huge carb the vacuum drops at the venturi and the engine goes lean due to not being able to suck in enough fuel. Injector pumps solved that problem and it's pretty much a non-issue on pumper carbs.

Also, with a flatslide at full throttle the slide goes up totally out of the intake path so you get the full bore unobstructed vs a CV carb will always have the butterfly in the middle of the throat. In other words, a flatslide of the same diameter will always flow more than a CV carb.

When playing in the dirt, that throttle response is nice!

I've talked to the KTM 200 EXC guy, and he'll take a little less. I have a line on a 2001 300 EXC that looks clean for $1500. I should have grabbed that KDX. Too many people just love those things, and I would have liked to have one for a bit.

[troy]

OK, so for $1,000, which?

1999 XR 250
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4124218905.html
\

1998 KDX 200
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4090424739.html

[Savage]

4t vs 2t. Which do you want? It sounds like you want a 2t. I have yet to ride a KDX, but I've looked at getting one off and on over the years as well.

[HanesAnizer]

Hmmmmm.....this is more tricky. I'd love to have an old XR as they are bullet proof machines. You really can't go wrong with either...millions of KDX's out there so parts and information is a plenty. 2 stroke is simpler to work on. XR has strong following, hard to kill (likely run for quite a while even without oil ) and probably very easy to ride.

Buy whichever is appears to be the cleanest and maintained the best.

If money was no object I'd just keep the KTM 350 you have as a great spare....when I can borrow it?

[troy]

So after mulling this over another couple of hours, I decided that old XR250 would be sweet--especially if you could get it for < $1000. I had to remind myself that my primary purpose is as a buddy bike, and many times that means folks with less experience. A screamin' 2-stroke might be a bit intimidating (and dangerous). As HanesAnizer pointed out to me, those old XRs are bullet-proof.

...but it's SOLD. What is with people not taking their ads down?! It's VERY simple to stop your craigslist ad. I'd think people would be motivated to cancel their ad just to stop the inquiries. So I posted my own "ad": http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4146480738.html

[troy]

Craigslist users flagged my post for deletion...and it is being deleted. I guess people don't like being disciplined!

If you SOLD it, DELETE your ad!

To those of you who post a motorcycle for sale, sell the bike, then leave your ad hanging around for weeks, please stop wasting my time. I don't need your noise interrupting my buying process. It is inconsiderate to all the folks that still have a bike to sell and to the buyers digging through the ads.

How to delete your ad:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/faq#deletePosting

Hey, while we're all here, I'd like to say STOP the deceitful practice of filling your ad with unrelated keywords just to get people to look. If I'm looking for a "Honda XR650", I don't need or want to see your "Yamaha WR". Guess what? If I wanted to see your Yamaha WR, I would have searched for "Yamaha WR". Likewise, if I search for a "KTM 300", I'm probably not looking for your 2001 4-wheeler POS.

Have a nice day.

I had one person email with an "AMEN!".

[ajayhawkfan]

That ad should be a required read before placing an ad.












Wr250, XR740, Cows, GS1200 Adventure, YZ400, DT360, Honda 50

[troy]

Wr250, XR740, Cows, GS1200 Adventure, YZ400, DT360, Honda 50

The funny thing is, in about a day or 2 after Google Bot re-indexes this forum, you'll be able to search "XR740" and find this post. Nice work, Eddie.

[troy]

I bought the old KLX 300. It started out at the back of the pack for me, but through the others getting sold and the more I thought about how "safe" a 4 stroke would be for noobs, the more it appealed to me. Besides, Savage rides one, so how bad can it be?!

I pick up my new beater buddy bike tomorrow evening. It will get ridden this Sat at the bird farm.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/mcy/4142349350.html

[KC]

Nice! Since you don't have room in your garage, bring it on over so I can "store" it in the trailer. Free of charge.

[Savage]

Great choice! I bought mine because I always liked the looks of the KLX/KDX's. Just bought it for a buddy bike or for my wife to use. My wife quit riding so I started putting some money into it to set it up for me. I ended up liking it better than my tagged DRZ E model with 450cc kit so I sold it and kept the KLX. No regrets.

[g1shadow]

So Troy I am now looking at old bikes how are you liking the klx300 . Got out of the dirt for a bit but is seems to be
a disease I cant get rid of . Now thinking I want a easy to ride woods bike . Thinking of either a 200 or 250 ktm
orange has kind of been my thing in the past but havent ruled out a klx ,xr or drz mild 4 stroke.