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advice needed on a small-ish enduro please

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neatbik
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PostPosted: 22:23 - 25 Mar 2008    Post subject: advice needed on a small-ish enduro please Reply with quote
Hi, next year i am embarking on a trip to the pyranees mountains involving some mild-ish trail riding. So, i need a bike capable of getting me to spain, then riding around some mountain trails for a couple of days...
Bearing in mind the total sum of my off road experiance amounts to 10 mins in a field Laughing
I have a low budget i.e as cheap as possible, and i'd like something reliable and fairly light. I know next to nothing about enduro/off road bikes, so i need all the help i can get! Thumbs Up Laughing
Cheers, nick
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heroes legend
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PostPosted: 00:39 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
Given that you're going to spend most of the time on tarmac, i'd say get any bike, with the intention that you're likely to drop it. Therefore, metal tanks, limited fairing etc.

If you want a trailie, go for it - but it wont get you to spain without a struggle.

If you want a big traillie, you need to spend the cash - £4-5k min.
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c_dug
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PostPosted: 01:36 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
Two important points...

1)how low budget?
2)how "mild" is the going likely to be

For around the 2k mark you'll be able to find something reasonable, mayby a cheap yamaha varadero.

There's a BMW F650 on autotrader at the moment for £1500, that to me looks ideal Thumbs Up

Answer the two questions and it might be a little easier to help out Thumbs Up

c_dug
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colin1
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PostPosted: 02:14 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
heroes legend wrote:
Given that you're going to spend most of the time on tarmac, i'd say get any bike, with the intention that you're likely to drop it. Therefore, metal tanks, limited fairing etc.

If you want a trailie, go for it - but it wont get you to spain without a struggle.

If you want a big traillie, you need to spend the cash - £4-5k min.


the trip to spain is inspired by and once there, will be organised by a bloke who went round the world twice on a dr350

i read a book about a bloke who went the length of africa on an old tenere.

I dont agree that it has to be £4-5k min. Nathan did a tour through europe on a bike that I think cost less than £1000 and did some offroading.

korn did a tour to spain and through the pyrenees on a honda africa twin

he found it fine on roads but a little too big to be fun offroad, so the following year, he and ste took small dirtbikes in a pickup.

If there are enough of us going (I'm still keen) it might be worth between us buying a van for the trip going down there and selling it on return.

I noticed on the promotional vid for Austin's event, that a lot of people had come down in vans with small trail bikes in the back.

This seems ideal to me.

Otherwise if you want to do it more in keeping with mondo enduro and be bike all the way, you could get a dr350 like they had.

My tatty ttr250 cost £500, and I reckon it will be fine as long as I bring some spares and dont expect to get there fast.

As a lot of our trip if riding all the way, will be roads to get there, something bigger like a dr600 might be good, and you are big enough not to have a problem picking it up.

I know G rates the DR600 and says its not much heavier than a dr350 and is better on roads without being too road biased.

Korn had a real problem pushing his africa twin when he ran out of petrol and the bigger the bike the more tricky its gonna be offroad. He's not a small bloke and he's experienced offroad.

The nec offroad trial will be on at the nec bike show, so you could try 250 4t or 450 4t there.

Austin says on his website for the offroad route, bigger stuff like bmw 650 are fine.

You can try out my ttr250 some time if you like. Matt got a more shiny one from a dealer for about £2k.

I might do a search for korns trips and link them here if i can be arsed.

The other thing is, if you are going down with virus, you will be going down at 125cc speed anyway, so you wont benefit a lot from having a bigger trailie except maybe a comfier seat and a front fairing.

I quite like the idea of us all going down in a van, but i doubt virus will. And the who's gonna buy and whos gonna contribute what cd get tricky.

For anyone else adding to this thread, Id also say that it doesnt have to be bike all the way through france, as there is a ferry from england to the right bit of spain, so its only about 300 miles on roads to get there i reckon.

I reckon the tricky thing will getting good at doing orienteering by the time we get there but a bit of practise in wales will be fun.
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Skudd
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PostPosted: 10:48 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
colin1 wrote:
heroes legend wrote:
Given that you're going to spend most of the time on tarmac, i'd say get any bike, with the intention that you're likely to drop it. Therefore, metal tanks, limited fairing etc.
If you want a trailie, go for it - but it wont get you to spain without a struggle.
If you want a big traillie, you need to spend the cash - £4-5k min.

the trip to spain is inspired by and once there, will be organised by a bloke who went round the world twice on a dr350
i read a book about a bloke who went the length of africa on an old tenere.
I dont agree that it has to be £4-5k min. Nathan did a tour through europe on a bike that I think cost less than £1000 and did some offroading.
korn did a tour to spain and through the pyrenees on a honda africa twin
he found it fine on roads but a little too big to be fun offroad, so the following year, he and ste took small dirtbikes in a pickup.
If there are enough of us going (I'm still keen) it might be worth between us buying a van for the trip going down there and selling it on return.
I noticed on the promotional vid for Austin's event, that a lot of people had come down in vans with small trail bikes in the back.
This seems ideal to me.
Otherwise if you want to do it more in keeping with mondo enduro and be bike all the way, you could get a dr350 like they had.
My tatty ttr250 cost £500, and I reckon it will be fine as long as I bring some spares and dont expect to get there fast.
As a lot of our trip if riding all the way, will be roads to get there, something bigger like a dr600 might be good, and you are big enough not to have a problem picking it up.
I know G rates the DR600 and says its not much heavier than a dr350 and is better on roads without being too road biased.
Korn had a real problem pushing his africa twin when he ran out of petrol and the bigger the bike the more tricky its gonna be offroad. He's not a small bloke and he's experienced offroad.
The nec offroad trial will be on at the nec bike show, so you could try 250 4t or 450 4t there.
Austin says on his website for the offroad route, bigger stuff like bmw 650 are fine.
You can try out my ttr250 some time if you like. Matt got a more shiny one from a dealer for about £2k.
I might do a search for korns trips and link them here if i can be arsed.
The other thing is, if you are going down with virus, you will be going down at 125cc speed anyway, so you wont benefit a lot from having a bigger trailie except maybe a comfier seat and a front fairing.
I quite like the idea of us all going down in a van, but i doubt virus will. And the who's gonna buy and whos gonna contribute what cd get tricky.
For anyone else adding to this thread, Id also say that it doesnt have to be bike all the way through france, as there is a ferry from england to the right bit of spain, so its only about 300 miles on roads to get there i reckon.
I reckon the tricky thing will getting good at doing orienteering by the time we get there but a bit of practise in wales will be fun.
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G
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Joined: 02 Feb 2002
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PostPosted: 11:02 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Re: advice needed on a small-ish enduro please Reply with quote
beatnck2 wrote:
Hi, next year i am embarking on a trip to the pyranees mountains involving some mild-ish trail riding. So, i need a bike capable of getting me to spain, then riding around some mountain trails for a couple of days...
Bearing in mind the total sum of my off road experiance amounts to 10 mins in a field Laughing
I have a low budget i.e as cheap as possible, and i'd like something reliable and fairly light. I know next to nothing about enduro/off road bikes, so i need all the help i can get! Thumbs Up Laughing
Cheers, nick

There is a big trade off between reliable, light, able to distance on the road easily.
Do you mean small as in low seat height, or low cc engine?

How are you planning to get there and how long do you expect to take - ie are you getting a ferry straight to spain, or going through the tunnel and riding all the way down, etc?

Some idea of your budget range?

You can get bikes that weigh under 110kg which are 'serious' enduro bikes and I'm sure would be ideal for a novice on the trails if you can tame your right hand when on the trails; however they would probably need a minor service every day!

Go up in weight a bit to 125kg-150kg and there's a few more options that have reasonable amounts of power for road riding and not too silly service intervals. Won't be so easy on the trails, especially for a novice.
These should be 'ok' on the road - it'd probably depend on your expectations of pace etc.

Jump up in weight to the 155-180kg mark (and more) and there's a lot more options that are fine on the road, but going to be a fair bit harder work off road.
That's not to say you can't take heavy bikes off road - see the BMW1200GS in the dakar rally. However you need relatively more skill to keep a decent pace.

If you are going to do it, I'd definitely recommend getting some trail riding practice in on the bike you get, in the UK.

[edit]Colin posted after I had clicked reply (but before I actually started typing), however my questions are still relevant Smile.
However, if you're travelling with a slowish bike anyway, the XR250, TTR and the like are the sort of bikes I'd be looking at.[/edit]
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TUG
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Joined: 12 May 2007
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PostPosted: 11:10 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
c_dug wrote:
Two important points...

1)how low budget?
2)how "mild" is the going likely to be

For around the 2k mark you'll be able to find something reasonable, mayby a cheap Honda varadero.

There's a BMW F650 on autotrader at the moment for £1500, that to me looks ideal Thumbs Up

Answer the two questions and it might be a little easier to help out Thumbs Up

c_dug

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neatbik
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PostPosted: 11:30 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
By small i mean physical size, i.e i dont want an 1100gs sized monster that is a pain in the arse to pick up. I think i will look at dr350's/ttr's/ maybe a dr400 if the price is right.
The van idea sounds good col, but i have to agree it could be a nightmare sorting out how much everyone contributes, and to be honest i think riding there and back will just add to the trip, for me at least.
I guess bike budget wise im looking at a max of a grand, but if i can get one cheaper all the better.
From what i can gather all of the off-roading will be ready made trails, so it wont be anything too hardcore.
I suppose what i basicly need is a bike that will be reliable enough to get me there, easy enough to chuck around on the trails and have the capability to strap enough luggage to it..
I reckon the dr350's as used by mondo enduro would be ideal, but a quick check on ebay didnt reveal very many..
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colin1
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Joined: 17 Feb 2005
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PostPosted: 15:14 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
just keep watching ebay

i reckon air cooled is the way to go. i nearly bought a liquid cooled one but people on here said that simple and reliable is best even if its a bit slower

ive dropped mine enough times that i could quite possibly have put a hole in a radiator, like someone did off here who's name escapes me

i reckon buying off ebay is better than from a dealer

i got my tatty £500 ttr250 from an old bloke who told me he had replaced the starter motor gears recently

matt paid £2k for his shiny ttr250 of the same age and within a few months he had to shell out to replace the starter motor gears. it could have cost him £400, but he found out that you could modify starter motor bits from a thundercat, so it only cost him about £150

from the promotional vid, they look like rocky mountain trails.
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c_dug
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PostPosted: 17:12 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
XlonewolfX wrote:
c_dug wrote:
Two important points...

1)how low budget?
2)how "mild" is the going likely to be

For around the 2k mark you'll be able to find something reasonable, mayby a cheap Honda varadero.

There's a BMW F650 on autotrader at the moment for £1500, that to me looks ideal Thumbs Up

Answer the two questions and it might be a little easier to help out Thumbs Up

c_dug

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haha Embarassed cheers (note to self: proof read your damn writing!)

c_dug
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Proview
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Joined: 03 Mar 2008
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PostPosted: 19:23 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
If anyone come down to spain in a van with some bikes and then wants to sell them on return i would buy them off you Thumbs Up
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neatbik
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PostPosted: 20:31 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
Col, is the ttr a 2 stroke?
Ive had a search on ebay, ive come up with a honda xr250, a klr650, a dr350 and a couple of f650's.
I suppose i want something tough and reliable foremost, with 'normal' service intervals if that makes sense.
The journey to spain will be long, but im willing to do it on smallish cc bike as long as it can take it and it's easy on the trails.
Here is a dr350 ive found, any idea what a fair price to pay for it would be?
https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320232169724&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011
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colin1
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PostPosted: 20:53 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
ttr250 is a 4 stroke like the xr

austin's bird has done a lot of long distance touring on one

see www.loisontheloose.com

your best bet for a guide to prices, is to watch a few for a while and see what price they sell at.

the dr350 in that link of yours looks ideal to me, a bit old but seems in good nick. my guess would be £1000 but that is a pure guess

i reckon a dr350 wd be a good choice as it wd be a bit more comfy on roads than a 250, but not too big either, and u are a bit bigger than me so u wd be fine with its height

the 250 is good for me as its a bit lower and lighter, and im smaller
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neatbik
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PostPosted: 21:15 - 26 Mar 2008    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cheers Thumbs Up
I'll keep an eye on ebay and see whats what regarding prices. Very Happy
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