Hello all,

I'm a (quick learning) newbie.

I work remotely and am beginning a nomadic lifestyle in the American west (for now), with hopes of an epic journey within several years.

I am looking at lightly used dual sports to help me get going on my first steps of this journey.

I have a Tacoma and a lightweight offroad trailer (being made) and want to get around on a bike to lower my overall MPG AND get to WAY cooler places... not to mention learn to be a good trailer rider.

Tongue-weight probably matters a fair bit. I think I've narrowed it down to the KLX250s and the CRF250L.

It seems the KLX250S seems to always need a mod to ensure that it starts up well... that is to bore out the enrichment / starter / pilot jet to 0.018" / #77 (using a pin vice drill). I'm not sure that rejetting for altitude would be entirely necessary after reading more. It seems like a "good thing" to do, but perhaps not a "necessary thing" to do. Though it's a bigger deal to run too lean, I gather that running super duper rich can effect the lubrication of the cylinder wall... but, I'm not sure that that sounds worth worrying about.

The CLR250R sounds heavy for the trailer, somewhat tame compared to the KLX, but really pretty practical between good MPG, EFI convenience, and easy riding. But, it has some cam chain tensioner issue that scares me a bit. It seems easy enough to get a manual one that is supposed to fix the issue.

Being that I'm going to be on the road and have minimal tools with me (I'm sure I can find some to borrow some way, some how)... minimizing fussiness is really high on my list.

Don't you think that both of these mods are pretty tiny and not something to base a purchase of or the other on?

If I was to do the rejetting, do you that's enough of a concern to choose one over the other?

Any input on this choice is highly welcome.

Thanks for your time and energy!
Ben R.