Best dual sport and where to buy
 

Hi Everyone,

I purchased a 200 cc dual sport a few years back and would like to purchase another. What is the biggest(displacement) and most dirt worthy bike available? Any links? I was looking at the
PitSter Pro XTR T4 250 LC 250cc Dirt Bike

Welcome!

Do you have a link to the bike you're looking at?

 

I am a fan of the SSR SR250 since it seems like it can really take a beating. I have a comparable bike right now and have put it through hell with no problems to show. In my opinion the bike is a perfect commuter/trail rider combo, but it wont be able to keep up with full dirt bikes when riding the trails.

I noticed you didn't specify a budget or brand preference. I assume you are looking at china bikes only, but if not I would HIGHLY recommend a Suzuki DRZ400sm or Yamaha WR250R. My next bike is 100% going to be the DRZ, I just need the money to make the purchase :D

http://www.atv4usa.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TMEC200-1

I would start here--tell them 'Simon' sent you; speak with Alan or Wade. These are low-cost 200s, but Excalibur backs them up very well. Of course, with this site, repairs and upgrades are but a post away, but this one needs pretty much nothing.

I bought a used TMEC 200 back in 2012 with unknown mileage since the speedo cable was broken and the hub was missing. Over the next 18 months, at 600 miles per month, I put over 10,000 miles myself. My commute is about 33 miles round trip daily. In the summer, I commute the 16.5 miles home in temperatures reaching 115 F. There were a couple things over that time I should have looked at, such as engine bolts that had left the bike (solved with locktite and such, but I did not do that!), which expedited the engine needing directly to be welded to the frame, and I still rode it for months like that. Finally, I decided a new one was in order which I bought and started riding at the end of last May. In late October, an errant driver pushed me off the road, onto the curb, resulting in some scratches, bent pedals and such to the bike, but laid me out for a month with a broken arm and collarbone, so I did not ride it the last week of Oct. until 4 weeks later.

I have daily commuted since then, and have 4910 miles now, and no problems since the accident!. I do change the oil religiously monthly at 600 miles.

Anyway, call them and see what kind of deal you can get on one of these bikes. The Pitster Pro and SSR are good bikes, no doubt, but they cost about twice the TMEC. The TMEC is available in both 17/17" street tire combo, or 21"/18" knobbies. Since, ironically, Yuma is mostly beach sand, I just stick to the street (I have the 17/17" wheels and tires), and will save up and get a 4 wheel something for the sand trails and nearby Imperial Sand Dunes or Glamis.

I should mention, I had taken the rear wheel off my old bike to get the tire, and it was sitting like that in my driveway all last summer, kind of in two. I had taken out the battery (a gel aftermarket battery) and put it in my new bike.

Months in the driveway, a friend who works as an errand guy at a custom motorcycle shop said he wanted the old bike, flaws and all. I hooked up the new bike's battery (which I wasn't using) after letting it charge for a day, and vrooom. The old one started right up!

My friend took it to his work with his boss' permission, and he and friend welded some new motor mounts, and other things, and got the bike back together, and my friend commuted on a route he figured out through agriculture fields and rural county roads to his work. He did tell me he sold it to another guy at work a few weeks ago, but that means the Chinese bike I bought used, and put over 10k miles on it, is still running.

I, not being a mechanic by any means, but able to work on things like changing the CDI or spark plugs, or tightening the chain, brakes, etc. have kept going on two bikes, 16.5 miles each way to work and back (33 miles daily) for over 2 years now. I guess, looking back, I did not need the new bike, only a friend(s) who knew motorcycle basics. But the new one, I can't complain, and I do know everything about it since I am the one who got to start with it brand new!

Thank you for the help. When I go to the site you provided I am asked to login but doing so I can never add the bike to my cart. I'll have to look around....

This one?

http://www.atv4usa.com/proddetail.as...EC200-1&cat=17

The main site is www.atv4usa.com

Suzuki DRZ400SM---Add a tachometer?
 

Anyone on this Forum know of, or want to recommend, an after market tachometer for adding to the Suzuki DRZ400SM? :shrug:
The DRZ400SM has pretty good instrumentation except for lack of a tachometer and a gear light, (what gear you're in), in the dash panel.
I can get along fine without the gear number indication, but would really want a tachometer!
I'll be waiting for any helpful product suggestions. :hi:

Take a look at the Trail Tech computers. I have one installed on my Honda CRF250X, and I love it. :tup:

http://www.trailtech.net/digital-gauges/vapor/752-301

http://www.trailtech.net/media/catal...vapor_2_32.jpg

Trail Tech computer/dash
 

Spud,
Thanks for the suggestion. I had forgotten all about TrailTech products.
Also, do you have any suggested supplier for a larger fuel tank for the DRZ400SM? 2.6 gallons is too small for distance back trail exploring.
ICW :hmm:

Clarke plastic gas tank
 

I found a larger fuel tank for the Suzuki DRZ400SM. It's made by Clarke and it holds 3.9 gallons. Quite a nice increase in capacity compared to the 2.6 gallon stock fuel tank. Won't have to worry about running low or out of fuel while out in the bonnies. :clap:
And it will fit with my Sargent Adventure Seat.

You made a good choice. :) I installed a Clarke, 4.7-gallon fuel tank on my Honda XR650L, and a Clarke 4.1-gallon fuel tank on my Yamaha XT225. Clarke makes excellent fuel tanks; I am very pleased with mine. :tup:

gear light..... Why....





.

I've wondered about that myself. All that matters is, is it time to shift up or time to shift down. And you learn that very quickly, by ear. ....ARH