Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

Nice! Still looks like a ton of fun.

 

Yes, sir! The road has always been a bit sketch but it was very rutted in a few spots. That, on top of the many switchbacks, made the climb up it very... interesting.

 

Right on!

 

The general advice for younger and less experienced riders is all over the place and mostly bad tbh. All the riders that have been at it for decades say something along the lines of "get the biggest you can afford but don't go crazy with a liter bike that does 90 in first or a bike that weighs 850 lbs" "you'll grow out of it too quick or have a hard time learning with something small and underpowered." But then you go on the internet and it's all recommendations to get a 250cc bike and start out in a parking lot for your first year and at least 3 leather jackets minimum at all times. Never know what's really the right path to go first starting out.
And in my experience both camps go too far

 

He came into it with years of dirt bike experience, currently has a klx 250. He's going real bored real quick with a 400. 701 has super smooth delivery and a really long throttle throw, you really have to twist it if you want to power wheelie, otherwise it's manageable, especially with throttle maps. I think it would have been the perfect bike for him.

Instead, he's now going to get a 400, take it on the freeway, and hate that cars are passing him and he can't pass them, get discouraged, hate his bike, and end up $6,000 underwater on a 2025 model that noone wants to buy because it's overpriced as fuck and he's financed it and stuck with it.

I'm not bitter, promise

 

Damn, now I'm pissed at ole boy too

 

I see more 250/300s than any other bikes by 100x. There's a reason. Not that I did that. I went from a Norton 850 to a Ducati 749.

 

Dealer up in Spokane has one of the new 2026 BMW R12 G/S's in stock. I REALLY like the looks of these..

https://www.westsideracing.com/New-...-White-Westside-Motorsports-17449404?ref=list

 

I saw a guy on the AL fb page posting about one at his dealership. I want to say the price sheet was over $20K Great looking bike though.

 

Yeah it is wildly expensive. I hope they're popular though so I can buy it used in ten or so years

 

Super Tenere was always slept on. You can find aftermarket necessities on the forums/ebay. Love my super tenere, been tempted to snatch up a low miles 2022-2024 to get a bike thats newer... but with only 32k miles on mine... meh ill ride it till the wheels fall off which at under 10k a year on it will be a LONG time.

EDIT - said it before and will say it again, the tenere 700 is really a jack of all trades master of none, for abike that size and power its not going to be fun on longer distances, its not going to be great off road compared to something smaller etc. It has its place and if you were only able to have one bike sure... Yamaha really needs to come out with a Super Tenere 2.0... shaft driven with modern motor and electronics in the 1000+ cc realm to compete with the africa twin/bmw gs/1290 adventures.

 

Yea typical

 

Meh, i think it's mostly cause they're cheaper and get passed around like watered down vodka at a highschool party as riders that participate for more than a year move on to less compromising stuff. Or just niche stuff like guys on groms or dualsports they never leave town with. I just think most riders would be better off starting with like a 5-600 and some patience and/or a good teacher vs the complete dichotomy that riders normally encourage

 

I mean to be fair you do love KTM lol. Through my years of riding when i was younger the ktm was always that fancy bike that ran great when it did run... they were normally not reliable and always being worked on.

now i still would like to own one of the ktm,husky,gas gas models or a beta (been looking at those pretty hard lately) but id prob stay away from the triplets until they get the money issues sorted lol.

ya its a bummer they have been slept on and lost the interest of aftermarket but it does happen sadly... hell the yamaha bolt i had a lot of stuff i looked into was oh thats no longer made and so on... some stuff still was but the aftermarket world had lost interest in it.

thats what my buddy tells me. he loves his t7 but he also has his wr250 so why take the t7 on tight trails when he has that? he does do longer distance rides with the t7 because thats the biggest bike he has now days.(use to have a ktm890 and hated it)

there has been rumor's of a tenere 900. where it uses that 900cc from the mt lineup in a tenere frame bike which looked really damn neat tbh!

 

The DRZ is also about 80 lbs heavier than the KTM500/350. Where I’m at the KTM was about $1500 more but you are getting way more bike. For an old guy that 80 lbs is a deal breaker for off road riding.

 

I do love my bike but ive had a few flavors and tbh there is a reason KTM has the largest piece of the pie when coming to consumers. Fit/finish/quality/reliability/general specs. The closest you get is "boutique" brands like beta or sherco.

Even being young 80 lbs all day is tiring. Turning and picking up those bikes just wears.

 

they are nice bikes but 13k for a dirtbike is still wild lol. also sherco is a newer brand? ive only heard of it i think once or twice? or have they been around a long time?
big issues right now is ktm and huskys are just sitting on lots around here..... a lot of dealers local to my area have a lot of them and they are just sitting. before i bought the tracer id look at the ktm models and ask how these are doing and atm everyone ive talked to has said terrible they are just not moving them and there is no sales on them so they sit and collect dust.

isnt it a bit more then 80lbs? sure felt like it with my old drz lol

 

No sherco has been around quite a while. But arent that common.

They arent selling well because there arent any deals being offered and the whole bankruptcy issues.

My ktm weighs 250 lbs with full tank and guards added. DRZ (previous gen) was 320 lbs without any guards added

 

The reliability thing doesn't sound right to me. I've always seen them as the cream of the crop for performance, weight, etc, but not on reliability. My buddy's 890R has amazing performance, but he's had serious issues off and on. So mad recently I thought he was gonna sell it. I know he was bouncing a ton of other bikes off me trying to find a replacement while his was busted and waiting on parts again. Not only are they expensive to buy in the first place (possibly rightly so based on performance) but the parts are harder to come buy and, again, more expensive if anything breaks/fails.

 

Laughs in BMW parts prices

Depends on the motor for reliability, some have been turds. Some KTMS are nightmares of issues, some are perfectly fine. Camshafts melting apart, TPI failing, etc. LC4 singles and LC8 twin motors are pretty bulletproof nowadays, but not likely to find that in a true dirtbike chassis.

Just gotta say again, in my humble opinion, DRZ4S is not a dirtbike, and a more apt KTM comparison is the 390 line.