First big bike: dual sport on a budget?

[Tdibs]

It sucks this end of the bike market has gone up to stupid money for mostly really beat bikes.

Im in the same boat as you in what you are looking for and just want to echo that a transalp seems the cheapest way in to this sector, for something with a MOT, some luggage rails and not completely crusty. Seems like you can mod your way into make it quite a bit more dual-sport too.
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Previous : 09 Vanvan 125| 02' Sv650s || Current: 1999 Xj600n | 1992 DR650 RSE | 2005 Fazer 1000

[stevo as b4]

If wanting a practical usable daily bike cheaply, then you really need to avoid 80's to mid 90's stuff. Especially the more off road biased bikes and the Dakar style machines. Bikes of this era are old and battered generally, but they are seen as classic dirt bikes that are highly sought after for restoration projects and have lots of money spent on them.

Think of it like two strokes, no-one goes looking for a 25-30yr old two stroke bike as a usable affordable daily rider.

If off roading ability is low on your criteria then, aside from normal road bikes I'd simply be looking for anything from the late 90's> that comes up cheaply in decent condition. It really doesn't matter on the make or model. So anything from a Suzuki Freewind to an Aprilia Pegaso, BMW F650 or any late model Japanese singles/twins will all do.

What you can't do today is say I want a specific model of 80's Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki etc and expect to find a good one an pay peanuts for it. A KLR600, XT600 or Honda XL600R will all be seen as rare classics and people (probably some of the ones that can't afford two stroke bikes now) are falling over themselves to pick up a project, so demand is much too high.