Greenlaning on a budget

[Kris]

This is for the muddy crew I suppose.

I don't have much money to spare as it is but watching Sven's coast2coast green laning videos on Youtube have got me interested in doing the local stretch of the Pilgrims Way etc.

Are there any really cheap budget bikes that suit a novice off-roader? Looking through eBay shows up the usual DRZs / CCMs and KTMs etc but all usually over £1.5k.

I'm looking for sub grand beginners bikes etc - any leftfield options that can be had for relatvely low prices?

Also, what's the recommended minimum kit for the task? Good boots and helmet & goggles enough if I team it with my HG textiles?

Ta
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[multijoy]

Can't comment on bikes, but (in my experience!) a decent pair of boots would be the only thing you need that you can't use your road kit for, and boots can be had for not much on fleabay.

I've been using my road helmet, which isn't ideal, but does the job!
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'11 CBF1000A, '99 C90, '98 CB500
silky666: He rode amazingly well considering his bike is the weight of a small van and had slicks on.

[colin1]

I bought a TT250R for £400. Never had any problems with it. I was lucky, as something to do with the starter goes when they get old, but the previous owner had that go, and he fixed it.

I use army boots, and although I have bought some arm and legg armour, I dont tend to use it. I just use a normal helmet.

A friend bought a more shiny TT250R of similar age for more than double the price from a dealer, and that ended up having the starter problem. Fortunately he's quite good with spanners, so he got the bits needed and fixed it himself. Its something to do with gears for the starter or something. Apparently its the same bit as in a thundercat.

Simple bikes, so not much to go wrong otherwise. Its air cooled, so you dont need to worry about damaging a radiator if you drop it.

I personally dont think you need any more power than a 4 stroke 250 if you are going offroad, unless you are doing motocross.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Tonka]

I bought my first bike for sub £800 to see if I liked greenlaning. The kit can be bought 2nd hand and on ebay and I'd advise MX style boots, knee armour and chest/body armour and a peaked/open face lid with goggles (mine were old ski goggles). Gloves are not a worry as anything will do and as far as clothing goes I used old mountaineering waterproof kit to start out with as it will get wrecked over time! I reckon you could be all out and ready sub £1k easily with little to worry about for a good 6 months unless you break stuff on the bike that needs mending.

If all you want to do is get out greenlaning rather than enduro style riding then I'd say go for something tried and trusted. I'd personally choose something with an electric start or even better dual start as kicking is not my bag, but you may be happy kicking for all I know. You can be clever and go for the fancy all singing and dancing MX and Enduro specific bikes, but they tend to be a bit temperamental and end up costing money.

Depending on your size you can look for anything 125-250cc engine size and have enough oomph to have fun on. Obviously if you're pretty big then you may need to go a tad bigger but no need to go over 400cc unless something irresistable comes up for peanuts!
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[J D]

Selling my kdx 250, just needs carb adjusting/ possibly replacing.


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m0l0t0v wrote: Chris, just so you know, JD is a nutter

[Suntan Sid]

You could look at getting an older trials bike, quite a lot are road registered so could be easily MOT'd.
They're in your price range as well!

[G]

I'd say you should be able to get a decent bike from around £500, possibly even a bit less if you're very lucky.
My DR600s both cost around £600 and were fine getting from A to B as well as getting dirty.

As Colin says; a 250cc 4 stroke will be fine for the dirty stuff. You only really want more if you've got a long ride to get to the mud.

For bikes that often sell a bit cheaper:
KLR250
Lots of early 90s enduro 2 stroke bikes - (KTMs, RMX250, etc)
DR250, DR350
XT350

Basically, look for anything trail style. Most 250s are fine, but when you go up cc to 400 and 600 there's a big variation in weight. Ie the DR600 is actually not bad, but the 650 version gained a decent chunk of weight and the XT660 is really silly-heavy.

Popular bikes that tend to hold their value a bit better because they're popular:
XR250, CRM250, DR350,
DRZ400 (just under £1k if you're lucky)
A bit more modern enduro bikes - gas gas are generally cheaper; KTM prices seem to be buoyant
XR400, XR600R, XR650R (if you're very lucky).


I've done off-roading in road and army boots plenty of times, but proper off-road boots are worth it.
I'd also consider some proper off-road armour.
First few times I did it purely in my trackday kit and did ok despite loads of crashes, but may just have been lucky!

[Teflon-Mike]

Well, Green-Lanes are simply unsurfaced public roads. True many of them CAN get a bit churned up, BUT, many are little more challenging than a farm driveway of gravel track.

Some, & stretches of the ridgeway are like this, actually have a better surface than some of the streets round my house! Thats due to a bit of strategy by the Ramblers who reckoned that if they made these ROW as good as normal roads, and 'removed the challenge' to mud-pluggas, people wouldn't want to traverse them with motor-vehicles any more.

Its working, too, and we are loosing more and more good trails to this, and its simply pushing the thrill seeking numpties looking for the 'challenge' to ride or drive 'off-piste', and cause even more consternation.

THAT is the first thing, it CAN be a contentiouse activity.

So I reccomend the FIRST £30 of your budget you chuck at a Trail Riders Fellowship membership.

You'll get a hand-book, with loads of advice and guidance in it, as well as a lot of other benefits, including access to the register of ROW so you can find out not just which trails are legally driveable, but also whether the trails are actually open and or rideable when you want to ride them.

ALSO very good practice to buddy up with at least another rider, incase of grief. Last thing you want is to be lost down some remote impasseable lane, with a broken ankle and no mobile 'phone signal. TRF can help you find reliable people to ride with.

NEXT thing to invest in, is some Ordinance Survey maps of the areas you are thinking of riding, so you can mark them up with 'status Confiormed' driveable routes.

Cost about £7 for 1:50K 'Land-Ranger' maps, that cover a wider area at 'useful' resolution, or £10 for an 'Explorer' 1:25K map, that covers only half the ground area, but at twice the resolution & detail. Personally I go with the Land-Rangers, but up to you.

(You wont find many GPS systems that have green-lanes in them, and certainly strugle to find one you can hit a couple of buttons and get it to give you turn by turn directions to them, and along them! As a newbie, start with good old fasioned paper maps. Less to get to grips with, and they normally still work if dropped in a puddle!)

Next bit of kit to get is a decent pair of TRIALS boots. MX & Enduro boots, tend to be rather hard. They are designed to stop you snapping your thigh-bone when you drag your foot going fast on an MX track, which they do rather well, but walking about in them aint easy, and they dont have much flexibility in them for feeling the controls. Soles are also a bit more 'grippy', useful for the odd-prod, and walking a tricky section before you tackle it. MX / Enduro boots again, they tend not to offer teh same grip as on the bike, more often you want them to slide, if they gripped when you prodded at speed, you'd snap your leg! Probably preference, but for 'laning, I reckon that Trials boots are a BIT more comfy and useful.

They are also FAR more useful than regular road boots. Normally far more water-proof, and offering more ankle support, as well as slippt surface sole 'bite'. You can pay anything from £80 to maybe £200 for a decent pair of boots, BUT they ARE worth it in my book.

Lid? cheap open face, will suffice.... but your preference.

BIKE? Almost the LAST thing on the list. And REALLY it's not THAT important.

End of the day, this is leisure riding, on public roads. If you are going out there looking for seriouse terrain to challenge you, or high speed kicks, you are in teh wrong game!

Its NOT the 'done thing'. Tarmac roads aren't a race track for testing the limits of a hot snot sports-bike, and neither are unsurfaces public rights of way the place to push teh envelope on dirt bikes.

If that's what you are looking for, get a trial bike or Enduro mount and an ACU licence & go compete for real. (its certainly cheap enough, especially trials)

Green-laning is more diverse, it SHOULD be about the adventure, getting off the beaten path, seeing whats there, takin in the scenary and IF theres some good riding along the way, enjoying it.

'Lanes that are a 'challenge' really ought to be avoided.

If they are difficult becouse they are rough, rutted, churned up, obstructed or over-grown, so much, REALLY they need to be left alone, to 'self heal' or await some maintenence to clear them. riding the 'tougher' trails can just make matters worse, and they authorities need little enough excuse to slap a TRO on them and stop us riding them, as it is.

So, for a LOT of the time, the terrain shouldn't be that challenging. An awful LOT of a Green-Lane outing will actually be on tar-top roads, getting between trails. There are very few 'long' green-lanes in this country. There ARE longer routes, but even than, tend to be made up of shorter sections of unsurfaced road, connected by tar-top or gravel track.

Sven's vids ARE good, aren't they...... but if you want a BETTER idea of what Green-Laning is ACTUALLY like, you need to see ALL the hours of footage that ended up on the cutting room floor to leave those seven or eight minutes of 'interesting' mud-larking...

Dont know whether he'll confirm this, or show some 'out-takes', but you can be pretty certain, that between those few minutes of interesting loose surface riding were an AWFUL lot of miles on tar-top.

And I SUSPECT..... more than a few of them, up and down the same 300m of country lane, trying to figure out exactly WHERE the fucking green-lane IS!?

Is it through that gap in the hedge? Is it that gate-way over there? Is it up that farm drive-way, or does it REALLY just go through the middle of that field of cows!

Then theres the 'OK, Where to NOW?" hyatus, in the middle of a field, when the track on the ground peters into nothing, and you have to work out whether to follow the edge of the field, or head straight to another gap or gate, or whether to turn tail and head back, and try it from the other end.

FAR more than the riding, is the orientiering & navigational challenge of finding these 'lost-roads', and then trying to follow the damn things on teh ground!

And given that so many are so UN-Challenging, you can ride an awful LOT of them on a pretty conventional road-bike, on conventional road tyres without major mis-hap...... and given that IF you have the 'right approach' and dont tackle anything that might be contentiouse or too difficult, backing out and re-routing.....

It should matter very LITTLE what bike you do it on. You pick the trails to suit your own and your machines capability......

Bottom line is, its a day in the countryside, theres no prizes for covering the most miles or getting through with the fewest 'dabs'.... you just do it, for fun!

That little nugget taken on board, you really do NOT need anything too sophisticated. You DONT even need a dedicated Dirt-Bike, you certainly dont need a full on competition machine, and ACTUALLY the more advanced competition based bies are probably the LESS helpful for the job at hand.

Competition Trials bikes, for example, with thier super-low gearing, and sub-terrainian seat heights, are BRILLIANT for getting up seeimgly impossible obsticles.... and if thats the sort of challenge your looking for, well, go ride trials! You wont find many sections of Green-Lane SO extreme you NEED a comp-trials bike to tackle them, and if you DID, probably not a good idea to even try.

Likewise Comp-Enduro bikes. Great for going hard and fast, but if thats your bag, go do enduro! Shouldn't find trails that are so demanding that you HAVE to have a comper to go THAT fast down them, and these are public roads, now with a blanket 30mph speed limit on them....... you CANT go faster than a bludy moped ANYWAY......

And comp-trials bikes are NOT great on the road. They have fuck all seat, to start with.... not very cofortable, and geared for about 40mph flat out, you wont be very happy trying to cover those boring bits between sections that really wont be that exiting on a comp-trail bike.

Likewise, Comp-Enduo mounts. Completely the converse of trials bikes, very tall seats, very comfortable, but not so helpful for the odd slow speed 'dab', geared for speed, they are a bit more useful on the broing bits, but with HUGE knobled tyres, half that long travel suspension can be used trying to damp the mega-knobly effect, thats akin to constantly riding on hard cobbles or on square wheels the whole time!

Riding green-lanes, being 'concervative' in your approach is very helpful.

And, remember these trails are public roads, the best tools for the job are road-bikes. OK, maybe not a ZX6. But, I've tackled green-lanes on both the VF-Though as well as the CB750... hard work, far from ideal, and LAUGHABLY inadequete in the slimy stuff, but for a LOT of green-lanes, with harder dirt or gravel surfaces, you CAN get a bike like that down one......

Over on Show & Tell, Mac_Kaliba is charting the evolution of his Honda CB200 Benley, from a restoration base, through to rat, and into old school 'Street-Scrambler'... makes interesting reading, and certainly revealing to see a 'heavy', under-powered, Honda commuter twin, being wheelied or taking some air! And he doesn't even have knoblies on it... just old fasioned, close block treads!

If you were inclined, you could grab something like an old Suzuki GP100, or CG125, and simply hack it. Maybe stick some knoblies on it & do a little hack & bash to make it a tad lighter or give it a little clerance, and that could be pocket money fun.

More practically though, you are looking at ready made trail-bikes. Things like the old DT125. 'Duel-Purpose' bikes, that are essentially road-bikes, but with knobly tyres and high level exhausts and mudguards, intened for this EXACT purpose, 'trail-riding'.

And ANY of them will do. And ANY number of them fall in to your budget.

But having established that almost ANY of them will be good enough for green-laning, deciding between them, you have to look at what else you might want it to do.

Which is a good point. On-off road bikes are by NATURE a compromise machine, NEVER ideally suited to thier enviroment, they are ALWAYS hampered in some way by concessions towards capabilites in other enviroments.

Is it PURELY for Sunday fun, or do you need to use it as an every day bike? How many road miles do you expect to do on it? Do you intend only doing local lanes, or as Sven, contemplating cross-country marathons?

As a STARTING POINT, I'm going to offer the suggestion of ONE model, for you to use as a bench-mark. That is the Yamaha DT175MX. (err, who do I know with one of them?!?!? Oh yeah.... think I have one, now you come to mention it!? ) OK, I'm a bit biased but bear with me!

DT175MX has been a reference 'Laning tool for YEARS, and for good reason. Was in production from 1978 until now... though they stopped importing them to the UK in 1983, when the 125 Learner Laws were introduced.

However, it was the first MX inspired long travel dirt bike, a pioneer of the modern breed, and proved hugely capable, and still is.

Simple air-cooled two stroke engine is not hugely powerful, about 17bhp, but its very manageable, and usually 'adequete'. Its good enough for a genuine 70mph on the road, but has enough low down stomp for most off-road situations.

Meanwhile its incredibly rugged and robust, but more, brilliantly user maintainable, but best of all, its INCREDIBLY well supported. Engine was shared with the TY175 competition trials bike, a clubman favourite, and remaining in production, getting bits for them is REALLY no problem, and they are cheap.

As a 'starter-mount', they are very very good. Cheap. You can pick up a serviceable one for £300, something road legal and ready to ride for around £5- £700, and a complete minter (Which you wouldn't want to trash on the trails!) for around £1500. A useful bike is WELL inside your budget.

Capability is there, to do what you want it to, but there is also the 'livability'. That air-cooled engine hasn't got a vulnerable expansion chamber or radiator hung off the side, the suspension is a simple cantilever, brakes simple drums. They are hard to break, and easy to fix.

More modern bikes, and I'll use the DT125LC as the reference, may be a tad more sophisticated. They'll have 12v electrics to begin with, probably a disc brake up front. More suspension travel, and more power. (Un-Restricted DT125 makes about 20bhp) But that one in-partiular will cost more than a DT175, as its Learner Legal.

There are advantages and dissadvantages to some of these features. And on the topic of 125's, the fact that they are Learner-Legal has pro's and cons. They tend to be more expensive, and they tend to have lived harder lives, but then they are also more easily sold on. 'Cheap' ones though, I'd avoid them, if I could, as more often they have been thrashed and butchered.

Two-Strokes & Four-Strokes? Well, in your sub grand budget, plenty of both about. four strokes tend to be heavier, and less responsive. Also tend to be less powerful and more tractor-like on the road. On the dirt, they can be a bit more tractable, but then the power delivery I FIND tends to be a tad more 'lumpy'... I preffer a two stroke. They are also easier to work on.... though they can sometimes demand more work. Decider for ME though is the fact that a major engine problem on something like an XL250 could pretty much make it beyond ecconomical repair, when the cam has worn through the head, or it needs a major rebuild, where a two-stroke can often be salvaged a lot more ecconomically.

BUT, down to model, again. Something like a KMX200 can be difficult to get bits for. Other, more exotic bikes likewise, and on that score, rebuilding an old Honda or Yam XT can be more do-able. which is a VERY big factor in referencing off the Yam DT's, for which all the bits are SO available.

Bigger bikes have merit, too. On the dirt they are less manageable than the smaller capacity bikes, but they are more comfrtable on the longer tarmac runs. DT175 is NOT a brilliant mount to be trying to keep up with traffic in major arterial roads at NSL! XT600 is that bit more relaxed, but the trade off is in the nadgery bits, where th DT will be in its element, while the XT6 will be making life hard work. 350's are a sort of compromise between the two. You pays your money & takes your chances!

But for a newbie to the persuit, and on a budget, ANd following the concervative aproach, I'd err towards reccomending a smaller capacity two-stroke, LIKe the DT175, as they are that bit easier to get to grips with on the loose.

They might be a tad frustrating on the longer tarmac bits, but the bit you are interested in is the dirt. starting out on a bigger bike, or a less freindly four-stroke, you are unlikely to apreciate a dirt bike on it however biased that way it is, but when you get onto teh loose, trying, as a newbie to wrestle a big less manageable bike about, can REALLY ruin the fun, and put you off entirely. Lighter, more responsive, smaller capacity two-stroke, will flatter your capability, be less of a hand full, less hard work, and simply more fun for your money, giving you an experience you enjoy and gain enthusiasm from, rather than leaving you frustrated, battered, brused, knackered, and wondering whether its really worth all the effort.


A few to chuck at you, to think about. OLDER pre 1980 'competition' trials bikes, CAN make pretty good Green-Lane tools. The larger capacity, 250 & 350, Montesa's, Ossa's, Bultaco's, Fantics, SWM's, Suzuki Beemish & Yamaha TY250's, were concieved in an era when competition trials was VERY different to todays short section trick-riding. The enviroment they were designed for was 'long trial', or riding what are pretty much green-lanes, without stopping or putting a foot down.

Too long and too high and too unwieldy in standard form for modern 'classic' trials, with road gearing, they CAN make useful green-laners, and the 350 two-strokes can be quite good fun. They ave the power & speed the smaller bikes lack, but often little or no more weight.

Bit quixotic. Prices are variable, as they are classics, but they are not THAT popular with the classic trials lads, as they know that to make them work on modern sections they have do chop the heck out of them, and do a lot of seriouse engine mods to induction & ignition.

As an asside; I'm looking out for a YAm TY175 comp-trials bike for Snowie, when I have put some penies back in the biking pot, as a 'cross-over' mount she can use on both green-lanes AND in classic comp trials. The TY175 is STILL A clubman favourite, becouse it was designed as a 'youth' bike, for school-boy competition, to be a lot more nimble than the bigger 250's. As such it was a pioneer of modern short section trials, and much more suited to modern competition, BUT on long gearing, still rideable on the road or on trails. (Though for Snowie, with her deminutative inside leg measurement, the lower seat hight to the DT is the deciding factor..... she cant touch the floor sat on my DT!) If the notion strikes, may be one to look at.

Honda SLR650 or Dominator. Big bargain at the moment. NOT a great bit of trials iron, but mainly tyre limited. Based on the XR650 motor, but HUGELY de-tuned, its very soft and manageable for a big trailie, and still works pretty well as a road bike. But main atraction is that you can pick one up for about £6-£700 ready to ride. Some-what unwieldy though and unless you have good reason, advice to look small and stroker still stands.

I'm not as clued up on more contemprary bikes. And to be honest, the current generation of water cooled fourstrokes, are probably just out of your budget anyway. There ARe cheaper & two-stoke bikes out there, like GAS GAs and Beta's, and I believe that both made 'long trail' cross-over trail/trial bikes, as well as some enduro mounts. But, as a newbie, I'd be inclined to point you towards the more tried & trusted.

Which would leave you looking at a lot of older 125 learner legal trail bikes, or older still 250 machines, probably quite a lot of four-strokes like the XL or XT's, and some of the less common newer bikes like the Yam TT's or Suzuki DR's.

Which is probably your next bench-mark bike, the old DR350. Its the classic compromise capacity, and a four-stroke, but a reasonably manageable one. If I'm honest I actually started out on its 'daddy' a 1979 SP370, which was a VERY under-rated bit of kit, and a great 'laning tool for its day. But I never did find the 'easy' way of doing things, and compared to the two-strokes I rode after, GAWD I was making it hard for myself!

However..... bottom line is..... the ACTUAL bike is NOT that critical. If it came with knobly tyres when new, its probably good enough, even if it DIDN'T have knoblies, if its roughly the right size and shape, sticking a pair of knoblies on it, could make it good enough.....

Dont sweat the small-stuff.... choose the bike on whatever ELSE is important to you....... important stuff, is to aproach the persuit with the right mind-set, and in the right way, armed with enough knowledge to keep you out of trouble.

Hence the TRF membership....... and the knowledge that it ISN'T non stop mud-larking!
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[L4Isoside]

Teflon-Mike, ffs, seriously..

i'll wait til some random oclock in the morning before i start work on that

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Personally I'd recommend motocross/enduro boots. Yes they're stiff, but it also means they support your lower legs/ankles better when you're standing up so you don't tire as quickly.
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[G]

[colin1]

Teflon mike obviously going for the accolade of longest reply ever, and I think he may have won too.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Tonka]

Teflon Mike - the greater proportion of what you have written is absolute piffle!

I've been a member of the TRF for over a year and so far have been 'invited' on 2 rides! Fortunately I had some good advice and found a group who ride out twice a week, albeit I still pay my dues as the TRF ROW (Rights of Way) work is invaluable and I personally do my bit for the TRF locally. However, for the actual riding part I would not recommend them as the first port of call. It's not a great idea to ride alone anyway, so finding a couple of others you can learn from is the best route to go - they can give you tips on riding and navigating and show you where the legal lanes are - there is no mystery, they are all clear as day on the mapping, be it the Landranger or the GPS MemoryMap software (not on normal car satnav admittedly!).

I have no idea what your definition of challenging is, but here in Dorset pretty much most of lanes are muddy, rutted or narrow and challenging. There are a few long tracks that are road bike friendly in summer, but less so in the winter/wet when the chalk turns slippery as ice. Skills you learn trail riding are on the challenging routes and that is the greater part of the appeal for most riders. It's not about speed over obstacles, it's all about negotiating the varying terrain and remaining upright!

As for the boots - get them as firm as you can unless you like having your ankles bashed, bruised or even broken. I've had two slow speed offs where I've had my ankle trapped between my bike and the ground. Good boots have saved me a much worse injury and walking in them really isn't an issue - I'm riding a bike not rambling!

It's too late for me to disseminate any more of TM's post - but like others I'll have a hearty breakfast and resume in the morning!!
____________________
'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[warped one]

[Teflon-Mike]

Well, I stand by what I've offered.
My back-ground is trials riding, my idea of 'challenging' may be some-what skewed by that.
For clarification, on a trail, my idea of challenging is something thats difficult to negotiate without falling off! For some that might simply be a gravelly bend, for others it might be a raging bolder strewn stream gulley up the side of a mountain... its all subjective.
AND to some extent missing the point, which was the mind-set and aproach, which was, dont expect non-stop mud-larkin thrills, theres a lot of pretty mundane riding between interesting bits. And when you GET to the interesting bits, dont be too ambitiouse. The persiut has its fare share of antis's, you dont really want to give them any more amunition to use against us than they already have, and the bottom line is its supposed to be FUN, its NOT a competition.

[Frost]

[G]

[Kris]

Wow, erm thanks for the replies - I think

Teflon - seriously? 3500 words in one post!

For the bike suggestion crew, perhaps I should mention I'm 6'5, 17 stone and have ridden road bikes (badly) for a decade.

Only ridden two bikes with knobblies - both up and down a residential road etc - which were a DT50 (first go on a bke ever) and a DRZ400e.

The 400 felt quite sluggish but obviously I imagine far more than is required for my local green lanes anyhow. I was originally recommended an XR250 - is that a good choice? I was eying up a used one with a broken kickstart shaft for ~£600

As for clothing then I guess I will get the boots as suggested. As I rely on being *roughly* fit and healthy to be able to ride to work everyday I certainly don't fancy being out of action to another busted ankle... Public transport quickly grates.

So, I'm thinking goggles and MX helmet (£80 for both?) and some decent boots and waterproof oversuit etc.

Ta muchly peeps.


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NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
www.prisonplanet.com

[G]

Most proper dirt bikes are fairly big, so height isn't a massive issue.
Good and bad that off-roading can be very different to road riding. Bad that you're not used to it, good that it's a new challenge which is fun to learn .

An XR250 will feel even more sluggish (though serious downgearing helps a little) than the DRZ - but wind it on and it's quite fast enough off-road and is a good choice for a first trail bike.
They aren't so great getting from A to B on road.
Make sure you get one that's setup right as far as starting goes if possible - 250 shouldn't be a big issue, but you want to be getting knackered from riding, not from trying to start it after dropping it!

What an XR250 can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJAxKjE_nGw
However, lower power bikes do make some things harder - for instance you need to keep momentum up at the bottom of steep climbs rather than powering up (a good technique if you can anyway, but chuck in a tight turn at the bottom etc), and you can't just do a low power wheelie through long water, which is often the best way to get across it.

[frank n stein]

Hi, im a newbie to the forum, and like Kris, i am thinking of taking up green laning on a budget, and was wondering what bike?
I dont think me 1200 trophy would be suitable somehow, even with knoblies fitted, however i do have a mint 1992 rm 250 which i was thinking of selling and getting something like a klr600, trouble is i would probably end up selling an A1 bike and end up with a pile of crap, so i thought about road registering the RM.
Does anybody think its a bit full on for green laning? im an old git and these days i prefer to ride a little more gently

[Paulington]

My 2001 KLX300 cost me just under £1200 and is literally mint, my '89 KDX200 cost me £600 and rides great.

They are about, just keep looking! !
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"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[G]

[joncwl]

i have a suzuki rm 80 (big wheel) good for beginners and im selling atm if your interested for about 350quid
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currently being a cager cause winter......the bike will be back out during the summer now

last bike, 1990 yamaha tzr125 (2rk model) - still after a fairing kit for it !!!!!

[SamJL]

I find off roading is fantastic for learning how to control things that will come in useful on a road bike, it really does help hone your skills
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2009 CBR1000RR
2004 KTM 200SX
2004 KTM 65SX

[joncwl]

very true plus going off road every now and again does feel really good and my old suzuki rm80 was an amazing first time experience for me, sadly i do have to sell it as its taking up room in my garden lol
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currently being a cager cause winter......the bike will be back out during the summer now

last bike, 1990 yamaha tzr125 (2rk model) - still after a fairing kit for it !!!!!