Tall, New Rider, Small Budget

J

Jay86

Hey everyone, I'm looking to treat myself to a dirt bike this Christmas, but being new to the scene I'm not sure what my best option would be.

Here's what I'm looking for:

- I'm 6'3.
- No experience on dirt bikes but some minor experience racing on 4 wheels if that counts for anything here.
- At most I'd like to spend $3,000. Anymore than that and I'd probably wait till after the holidays.
- I have an outdoor park close by that has trails, a flat area where I can learn how to ride as well as an actual track. That said, I'd prefer a bike that can tackle the trails and track once I know how to ride well.

Your feedback and recommendations is appreciated! Thanks.
 
Trfsrfr

Trfsrfr

$3000.00 is a small budget?
I wish I had access to that load of expendable cash.
You must be doing well, and "good on ya" as my Aussie friends would say.
At that level you can have whatever you want, especially for a new rider, just go buy it.
 
O

ossagp

Jay86:
Hey everyone, I'm looking to treat myself to a dirt bike this Christmas, but being new to the scene I'm not sure what my best option would be.

Here's what I'm looking for:

- I'm 6'3.
- No experience on dirt bikes but some minor experience racing on 4 wheels if that counts for anything here.
- At most I'd like to spend $3,000. Anymore than that and I'd probably wait till after the holidays.
- I have an outdoor park close by that has trails, a flat area where I can learn how to ride as well as an actual track. That said, I'd prefer a bike that can tackle the trails and track once I know how to ride well.

Your feedback and recommendations is appreciated! Thanks.
Click to expand...


You got some good advice on my favorite 250 two stroke. there are a couple of others i could recommend too in your price range, honda cr250's (another two stroke) is nearly as good as the yz if you pick the right years. my three favorite years for them are 96, 2000, and 2001.

I would steer away from the four stroke race bikes. (3000 dollar 250 and 450f's usually need some spendy work).
Speaking of work, how experienced are you in repairs?
 
J

Jay86

Trfsrfr:
$3000.00 is a small budget?
I wish I had access to that load of expendable cash.
You must be doing well, and "good on ya" as my Aussie friends would say.
At that level you can have whatever you want, especially for a new rider, just go buy it.
Click to expand...

I thought it would be solely based on the prices of used bikes I was previously looking at. They were way outside of my budget but I guess they were extremely high-end ones I was looking at. But, in general don't let the semantics fool you, lol, 3k is a lot to me so the cheaper I can find a solid bike the better.

ossagp:
You got some good advice on my favorite 250 two stroke. there are a couple of others i could recommend too in your price range, honda cr250's (another two stroke) is nearly as good as the yz if you pick the right years. my three favorite years for them are 96, 2000, and 2001.

I would steer away from the four stroke race bikes. (3000 dollar 250 and 450f's usually need some spendy work).
Speaking of work, how experienced are you in repairs?
Click to expand...

Never worked on a bike, but I've done various suspension and performance mods to my car so I should be able to pick it up fairly well.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going to look into these. Hopefully I can find something local.
 
Trfsrfr

Trfsrfr

Craigslist usually has lots of bikes in my area. That's why I have 6 of them now in my garage, and I assume your area will be similar.
If 3K is a lot to you like it is to me, then we are on the same page.
IMO, if you're a new rider but tall and/or a bit heavy, a 250 something is probably what you may want to look into.
2 strokes are all power all the time, like a light switch, either on or off.
4 strokes are more manageable, but are also more complicated and weigh more because they have more moving parts, but may be more forgiving for someone who is just learning.
I would think that you could find a good starter bike for 1500-2000.
 
Last edited:
J

Jay86

Thanks guys, turns out though I got a little ahead of myself here and literally put the cart before the horse. I'm sitting here trying to pick out a bike before figuring out exactly how I'm going to transport the damn thing. :picard:

I assumed something like the following would work without any issue - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hitch-Haul-Web-Tie-Down-System/24093683

I don't have a pickup, I have a VW GTI and other owners have recommended against it, stating my car simply can't properly support that type of setup. So I'm going to just wait a bit and buy a pickup, probably something around $2k. I need an extra car for the snow so it's not too bad.

I also need to reduce my budget on my bike to $1k. In that range I'm guessing the XR250R would be my best bet? I know it's not a motocross bike, but just starting out I'm only going to be doing trails anyway.
 
Top