Honda SL230 vs XR250
 

Hi all!

I'm planning a RTW trip and working on the choice of bike.

Here are my requirements:
- I won't do extreme offroad. The suspensions only need to be soft enough to overcome unpaved roads and sandy trails.
- I wish it would cruise at 80km/h easily

And now there are 2 options:
- 2000 SL230, 70000+km completed, @1650USD
- 2006 XR250, 20000+km completed, @3480USD

I know that the honda XR250 is one of the all-time favorite of small bike riders so its performance should have no doubt defeat SL230. But in the above case the SL230 is a lot cheaper.

Also I'm worried about the ease of maintenance of SL230 because it's far less popular and it has a tubeless tyre in the rear. I wonder if the availability of parts is a problem when traveling in South America and Africa.

Advice is appreciated. Many thanks!


Cheers,
Kei from Hong Kong

I think either would be a good choice but 70,000km is a lot on a 230 engine and chassis, you could end up spending the difference between the two getting it up to scratch, I would buy the XR250 for that reason alone.

Hi Kei,

XR250's are very common and therefore easy to get spares for.

The 230's however are as rare as rocking horse droppings, outside of Japan, so I'd spend the extra and go with the XR.

Regards

Reggie

Thanks y'all

Just did some search today and I found that some parts seemed to be generic for both SL230 & XR250 (like the brake disc and sprockets), as claimed by the websites selling them.

Has anyone tried to fit XR250 parts on an SL230? Would be grateful if somebody can share the experience.

bier