What is a decent dual purpose 250 cc bike
 

I will be travelling to New Zealand in Feb 09 for a six week tour. I am only licensed to ride 250 cc. Can anyone recommend a decent bike with off road / dirt capability? Any idea how much they may cost in New Zealand?
Further does anyone know a model with a decent sized fuel tank?

Hopefully Nigel Marx will comment. He showed me some great sheep bikes that almost got me to switch from my old POS Ducati to a new Japanese bike.

I guess it depends on what is available, rather than what is recommended? But a 250 with a decent tank - Honda xr250 Baja (if i remember from seeing them in SE Asia they've got a big tank as well as the HUGE twin lamps).An older alternative would be the Honda AX-1, which gave me fantastic gas mileage in Thailand so reducing the need for a big tank.But they're a trail-style so off-road'd be a handful... but with decent knobbly'ish tyres i reckon would give it real potential!

My KLX 250 is a good allround bike, with a low seat height compared to most dirtbikes. The new Yamaha dual purpose wr250r is more high tech and built for low service intervals. I would have tomorrow if not for the tall seat.

I paid $3500 for a 1993 Yam TTR250 almost a year ago in Christchurch. It was and excellant all rounder and I would definately have another one.

Butch

Check on TradeMe
 

In NZ, the on-line auction site is TradeMe, not eBay.

Linky linky:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...0001-0026-.htm

You will get a fair idea of prices there.

If you are on a budget, remember in NZ the learner laws mean that 250cc is the biggest you can ride too. That means the price of 250cc bike is relatively higher. Look for bikes like the XT225 Serow or the DR200 Suzuki. They are fine for bopping around NZ, where the average traffic speed is not much over 90km/hr.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

I'd choose the DRZ250, NZ has quite a cold climate so the air-cooled DRZ would be the lightest, most reliable choice imo.

The newer TTR250 is a nice simple, reliable and e-start bike... you can fit the Acerbis XR400/600 22 litre tank to it easily too...

xxx

Morning Andy,

well I reckon my trusty XT250 Serow would be ideal.

I get over 260kms out of a tank, which holds a little over 9 litres.

She cruises along at 56 mph all day long and weighs in at under 130kg.

So if you're a gentle off roader then this could be an ideal choice.

By the way, mines less than three years old and has covered over 55,000 miles so far.