dual sport first bike?

[qwerty]

Dualsports are good at a lot of things but not really excellent at anything. However, nothing can fulfill the variety of missions a good dualsport can. Another advantage of dualsports is their suspensions are beefed for offroad. The tough suspensions and stronger frames deliver tight, stable control on the street IF fitted with proper tires. Modifying a dualsport more towards street provides us bigger folk with much more stable and precise handling than the flex-framed street bikes. For some displacement ranges, a modified dualsport is the ONLY way to come up with standard ergonomics. Here are a couple examples:

Back in the olden days I had a Honda SL100 frame with an XL125 stroker engine with a Yoshimura top end, CB450 carb, and a Basani pipe. I mounted street tires (2.75x19 and 3.25/3.50x17), lowered the front fender to a fork brace, and swapped a flat drag bar in place of the stock handlebar. The year was 1970--perhaps the world's first motard? The handling was much more stable and precise than Honda's CB and CL models that used the same engine. I rode that bike for years. Often when "bigger and better" crowded the shop, the little SL got the miles.

My second "street" bike was a Honda SL350, with rims for 5.10x16 and 4.00x18 street tires laced to the stock hubs. Again, a fork brace provided a convenient front fender mount, and a drag bar gave some preload against wind blast. Again, people who rode the bike often commented on how much better it handled and how much more comfortable it was than the CB/CL 350 twins.

Today bikes with offroad chassis and street wheels and tires are called motards. They are geared more for the street than offroad, and are capable of surprising the occasional sport bike on curvy roads. They are easy to handle around town, absorb potholes with nary a whimper, and the larger versions are quite capable of some touring.

The ranks of oldtimers trading down to or building motards these days are growing rapidly. The reason is simple: motards work in the real world.

[Andy G]

good luck finding a decent bike to keep a while for under 2k... are you a good mechanic?

Meh. Ignore this guy.

My first two bikes (both over 20 years old...'78 and an '80 Honda) cost me 400 bucks each, and I rode them both for 5 years without doing anything other than routine maintenance.

[qwerty]

I made a list of all the bikes from the Big 4 Japanese companies that might fulfill my mission objectives: safe, economical, dependable, and comfortable transportation. The list ranged from Yamaha TW200 to Kawasaki Ninja EX250R. Every single dealer I visited today in the Fort Worth area wanted 10% over the MSRP, plus a $95 to $195 prep charge, plus $295 to $399 shipping, plus TTL. Some bikes, like the Honda Nighthawk 250, Yamaha TW200, and Suzuki DR200SE simple are not available for any price. The OTD price on a Ninja 250 that has a MSRP of $2999 was $4299.

It will be a cold day in hell before I buy from any of those thieves, just on principle. From here on out I'll drive right past those dealers, and spend my money 11 miles down the road, where I found an identical Ninja 250 for $3534 OTD.

I found a Suzuki Intruder 800, 1986, clean, 16,000 miles, for $1800. As I got off the bike to go inside and close the deal, one lucky stiff came out, put on his gear, and rode off on his new Intruder. DRAT!!!

[DerekNC]

A dualsport would be an excellent first bike. My first street legal bike was a 1987 Yamaha XT350. Plenty of power for offroad as well as highway, but very mellow and easy to ride. When you trade for a street bike you'll wonder how you'll ever get used to handling such an ill handling and awkward beast. The transition won't be so bad though as you'll be proficient with your motorcycle skills by then.

[silentx]

I bought mine for 1200. no problems so far.

I'v see Duals on craigslist under 2000. Infact I am looking to buy a dual as a second bike.

good luck

[MotoF150]

The best and top of the line Dual Sport Bike you can get is the Suzuki DRZ400S. Thats the only dual sport thats street legal and made like a full bore off road motocross bike, its the only street legal dual sport that will perform as good as any motocross, jumping 30 feet, vertical hill climbs. This bike will do 95mph on the road, handles and sticks to the road like glue, the bike is lightweight and globs and globs of engine power, it has a Yoshy made racing engine. In road power and speed the DRZ400S is an equal match as the Harley Davidson 883, same hp and torque.