WTB motocross bike

[gibsons]

My son bought a new Yamaha 250 4 stroke, and I thought about looking for something as well to go out with him but not sure what would suit me best.
I have very little experience on them and know very little about them as well. I think size wise what I would like would be a 450 with electric start and fuel injection. Reason being if I ever wanted to put a track on it, then I’m not worried about having to small of a bike.
pretty much just trail riding, and playing around the gravel pits is all we would do.
Any suggestions on bikes? Reliability and comfort is probably most important.

 

[pipes]

My son bought a new Yamaha 250 4 stroke, and I thought about looking for something as well to go out with him but not sure what would suit me best.
I have very little experience on them and know very little about them as well. I think size wise what I would like would be a 450 with electric start and fuel injection. Reason being if I ever wanted to put a track on it, then I’m not worried about having to small of a bike.
pretty much just trail riding, and playing around the gravel pits is all we would do.
Any suggestions on bikes? Reliability and comfort is probably most important.

motocross bike and comfort don't belong in the same sentence. Motocross old man and pain is a better description. Good luck with you choice.

 

[takethebounce]

Motocross bikes are designed for starting once, lots of short duration laps around a track hitting whoops and kickers. None really make a decent “trail” bike. Even stock the suspension is going to be stiff for casual riding. They can get finicky when hot, the newer ones have been a little better.

Most trail orientated bikes will have wider ratio gear boxes vs the close ratio MX bikes. Estart is common but the new 450 Mx bikes are catching onto the trend. Most trail bikes will have a more plush suspension tuned ride.

As a compromise if looking new you could look at the newer Honda CRF450X’s. It has lighting, wide ratio gear box but lots of MX influences.

Also a KTM 350XC or XCW might be worth looking into. The newer XC have the air fork which can be set as soft or firm as you want for different riding whereas the XCW is definitely a trail suspension. The 350’s do not give up much power at all to the 450’s.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

Second for the cr450x, essentially a street legal trail bike that you could put a track kit on if needed.

 

[gibsons]

Thanks guys, I’ll check them out.

 

[moyiesledhead]

I just sold my CRF450x with a track kit, and they do work very well on snow. But if you have very little experience a 450 is A LOT of bike on dirt. I've been riding for 50 years and I found it a lot to hang on to in the summer. If you're serious about both winter and summer, I'd really suggest two bikes personally.

 

[tex78]

Got a 01 Suzuki Drz400e for sale, been ported and polished, hot cams, geared down for single track and road riding, lots of new parts

Works great, love the bike, but just don't seem to have time or guys with same schedule to ride it