Buying an off road 125cc

[heartsgibby]

Hi forum,

New to this forum so looking for some help/ideas.

I am going to buy a second hand off roader, 125cc.

I have had a blast of a YZ and a 2003 KTM to which both are pretty fun. The KTM was more anjoyable as it was a newer bike.

I am looking for info on what bike to buy. I will be using the bike for off-road only and I am looking for advice on the best crosser to buy.

I am looking to spend around the £1000 mark, give or take.

If it can be cheaper all fair and well, any help on what to buy would be good.

Cheers guys

[G]

Are you going to just be doing motorcross, or other stuff?
If not, will the off-roading be purely non-road stuff, ie no green lanes?

[heartsgibby]

It will be purely motorcrossing. I will be taking the bike in a van up bings etc.

Green lanes? What's that, excuse my ignorance?!

Thanks mate

[G]

Green lanes are trails which are also public roads - so you require a fully Taxed/MOT'd bike, but that doesn't stop them getting pretty technical in some case.

I'm not that up on pure-motocross stuff, but I suspect it will be a case of finding the newest/best condition bike you can for the money you've got; from what I've seen it's a bit like 600 sports bikes While magazines etc will find loads of 'differences', they are all pretty similar and it's more a case of getting the best deal when buying second hand.

[heartsgibby]

Thanks again for the reply G,

I am just looking for any ideas on what types of bikes are decent and available. I'm not going to jump straight in and buy a bike although I do want to.

Just any ideas ranging from KTM's & YZ's. Don't really fancy a DT, more of a road-bike in my opinion. I'm looking for a total crosser.

If you have any odeas or can get someone to advise me, that'd be helpful.

Cheers again bud, appreciated

[heartsgibby]

Thanks again for the reply G,

I am just looking for any ideas on what types of bikes are decent and available. I'm not going to jump straight in and buy a bike although I do want to.

Just any ideas ranging from KTM's & YZ's. Don't really fancy a DT, more of a road-bike in my opinion. I'm looking for a total crosser.

If you have any odeas or can get someone to advise me, that'd be helpful.

Cheers again bud, appreciated

[heartsgibby]

Any ideas would be helpful?

[2006 _p1]

[G]

[heartsgibby]

Cheers for that i'll have a look.

I'm thinking of getting a KTM, going to pay around a grand.

Any ideas on what type of corsser i'd get a for a grand?

Would it be a decent bike for that money?

Cheers again, appreciated mate

[G]

I think the KTM crossers may be a little over priced in the lower regions, but really not sure.

I would just have a look at the sticky at the top of this section and go through the 'motocross' sections seeing what is available for £1k. Should be able to get a perfectly reasonable bike for that.

[2006 _p1]

[G]

What motorcross bikes have you had 'experience' with? Is this from two specific bikes, or a wide range of different bikes?

I haven't had a great deal of physical experience with them myself, but have looked into the whole area a fair bit from my interest in enduro bikes.
By far the general consensus is that 2 strokes need less and simpler maintenance as well as costing less if it does go wrong due to the simpler engine design.

As an idea, these are the main engine things that have to be done every 20 hours on the latest KTMs (or every race):
4 Stroke:
Change Engine Oil
Clean oil screen and sump plug
Check and adjust valve clearances
Clean the spark plug and check for tight fit.

2 Stroke:
Check gearbox oil
Clean the spark plug and check for tight fit.

4 strokes are generally considered a bit easier to ride, though do weigh more (ie 90kg vs 98kg for the above bikes(.
The older 4 stroke competition bikes tend to have even harsher service intervals; my Husaberg is listed as 10hours for 'trail' riding or 5 hours for 'competition' riding I believe, though as it's an enduro you don't have to look at valves quite so often.

If something goes wrong on a 4 stroke there's a hell of a lot of moving parts to sort out and mash together.
On a 2 stroke the piston etc is separated from the gearbox, so something like a seized piston is a lot easier to sort out than on a 4 stroke where there's likely to be damage to a lot of other gear, possibly with debris getting into the gearbox, etc.

[2006 _p1]