Bike selection

[WLC]

It has been a while since I have ridden and am out of touch with what is a good bike for dual sport ridding. I have ridden street and dirt quite a few years back.

Suggestions?



Thanks

WLC

[tomcycle]

Whats the budget

How much off road vs road

Two of the most forgiving bikes would be the Suzuki DRZ400 and the KLR 650 both good at what they do.


TT

[WLC]

I am planning to get serious about DSBC. Does the Suzuki 400 do well on the highway.



wlc

[skidmark43]

The DRZ will cruise well above 130 on the highway if you leave it stock. The seat will be your only complaint; but Corbin will take your $$$ in exchange for a very comfortable seat.

If you plan to ride a lot of offroad, and just use a licensed bike to get to the trails get the kawi klx bikes or Honda XR650L....if you plan to ride a mix of pavement, fireroads, and some trails try the Kawi KLR650....the new 2008 KLR is a good riding bike, but rather heavy for hard-core offroad battle....oh and the stock tires are junk.

[WLC]

Thanks.

In relation to the 650's what kind of weight are we talking about.

[04klr]

my centerstand equipped KLR 650(and misc bits like barkbusters) fully wet tips, er,, crushes the scales @ 426 lbs., (but feelsmore like 410lbs. on the trail, yuk yuk), my 03 KLX 400 (legalized dirt model), which is absolutly the same as a DRZ 400 dirt modelweighs in at a much more reasonablefully wet 300lbs.

[c337b]

Claimed dry weights

2006 Models

Honda XR650L - 324lbs XR650R 277lbs

Kawi KLR650 337lbs

Suzuki DRZ400E 262lbs DRZ400S 291lbs

[WLC]

Thanks for your help



wlc

[yamafan]

I recently moved up from a yammy xt 350 to a 05 klr 650. I was hesitent about the weight and seat heigth of the KLR. Neither one turned out to be an issue. I use it for just about all kinds of riding and find it to be an awesone all round bike. One buddy (drz 400 rider)used it for about 100km one day and now calls it the "big comfy couch". He said that he felt it was way more comfortable than the DRZ on the HWY. He said that he couldn't see himself riding the drz over the Coquahalla(yeah I know I cant spell). He felt that the drz was likely a better off road bike and Idon't doubt that he is probablyright.According to him the drz is quite a bit more nible and has better throttle response. The klr more torque. A couple of weeks ago a different buddy and I did about 2300km on an Island /Sunshine Coast trip. My buddy was on a CX 650 street bike. I easily kept up to him while passing other traffic. His backside was a lot more tender after a long day in the seat than mine was. The only little issue I had was that the speedo seems to be inaccurate. when it read 120 km, my gps consistently said I was going 112km. Not a big deal unless your trying to avoid a ticket. Another consideration is the fuel capacity, DRZ 12 liters(I think) KLR 23 Liters. That also needs to be factored in when looking at wet weights(what does 10L weight?? maybe 15-20 lbs??)and distance between fill ups.


I beleive both bikes to be worthy of consideration, just depends on where your gonna ride. More dirt/single track= DRZ, More logging roads and street/ hwy = KLR, either one = tons of fun!!