12 year old Yamaha XT250 or..
 

Hey Guys,

New to the forum but I've been recently looking into getting a chinese dual sport and after some advice from a few forum members was deciding to wait until orionpowersports.com restocks their RXB250L at the end of May however at my local Craigslist I'm seeing a post for an 08' Yamaha XT250. What is everyone's thoughts on a 12 year old yammie versus a brand new chinese made bike. I'm not too overly concerned about it being made in China ...hell everything nowadays is and the quality and reports from everyone here seems to suggest that they can be quite as reliable. My dilemma is that for the 08 Yammy, I'll be spending roughly 2400 or use that towards a new orion.

Thoughts? Advice and suggestions highly welcomed and appreciated. :thanks:

One thing to note is that the XT250 has 14.5k miles on it already

Get a Brozz 250.

14.5k is a lot. Not knowing if the oil and air filter were changed as they should. Just too much for the Yamaha. I might give $600 for it.

I actually was looking into the Brozz 250 as well but found from other members on here mentioning that the Orions was much better equipped for the dirt. Already have a Street Triple R for the road so looking at a dual sport primarily used for trail/ light woods riding :D

The only reason I was considering the Yammie for around the same price point was because its a Yammie and I didn't feel 14.5k was too too high of mileage for a legend of a bike that the XT is. Alot of people seem to love them. Straight forward bike.

14500 miles for a motorcycle is actually a low millage. That's not the problem, the real deal is if it was loved or just trashed around.
If they did follow the mfg service time then the engine should be just broke in.
If they trashed the engine, then those 14500 are to the engine like 1450000
Just to give an idea i clock per year around 11000 miles and that's not even a high amount miles... Some delivery boys amount much much more per year.

I'd look it over. If you can get him down to $2k, and it seems well maintained, I'd buy it. The owner obviously rides it more than most Americans, and while 1k miles/year isn't a lot, if it runs now, there's a certain amount of care that can probably be assumed to have taken place.

Orion...
 

I have a CSC TT250, that I use for street and bought an Orion RXB150L for trail riding. If I had the extra $500 and a way to haul it to the trails I would have gotten the RXB250L. I can fit the 150 in my old Caravan and it only weights 160 lbs, so I can do it myself.

One of the more knowledgeable posters (Megadan, I think) mentioned that the Orions have very good components (i.e., suspension) vs. other bikes in this price range. His is an opinion I trust.

The thing to watch out for is sloppy assembly. Not the nuts and bolts, but where wiring is run, how the headlight assembly is put on, etc. I have a full list of what I have had to do in some of my posts (search Goob). I know it is in the post "My RXB150 arrived today" by ss27gogetta. He bought one too and we have been comparing notes.

Also, you will need to get some jets and tune the carb. Mine sucked as delivered. ss27gogetta gave up all together and got a spigot mount VM26-606 (much better carb, I am getting one for my TT250..just ordered). I have been getting them from Jetsrus.com and they arrive in about 2 days. If the RXB250 has the typical flange mount Mikuni (like my 150 does), then the Mains are Mikuni N100.604 (M21 Jetsrus#), and the Pilots are Mikuni VM28/486 (M24 Jetsrus#).

I'll be interested to see what you decide on. Orion has been pretty good at communications, but not as good as CSC has been. But, CSC sets a high standard.

Finally, if you have the $$ and don't care about being street legal, then I would get a SSR189 or SSR250S. The 250 is water-cooled, 25 hp, 260 lbs. The 189 has only 15hp, but only weighs 236 lbs.

http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/...bike-index.php

http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/...bike-index.php

I wouldn't hesitate to pick up an XT250 with 14,500 miles on it as long as it checked out mechanically. Obviously if you can whittle down the price some I would. They are great bikes.

I have a 2013 XT250 I bought last year. Great bikes, aftermarket support, spares available everywhere, surprisingly peppy, smooth as silk (compared to my tractor Hawk), legendary reliability. But you should get the price down substantially in my opinion. For the same money a new China bike will leave you with lots of money left over for spares, enhancements, accessories, and whatever else you want. However -- important -- don't forget you will probably be "tinkering" a bit more on the Chinese bike.

That is a yamaha. It is bulletproof. BUY IT!

I bought an ‘07 About 4 years ago for $700.00 ,in great condition except it needed a tire and sprockets and chain .It had 7000 km on it give or take 4000miles .I got $2500.00 for it 3 days later .The one you are looking at is priced too high .

If yours sold for $2,500 in 3 days, how is $2,400 priced too high?

Used bike prices are based on the demand the local market. $700 dual sports in great condition just don't exist in S. California.

I'd get that Yamaha, and wouldn't worry about the mileage as long as it's been well cared for.

How about the mileage difference ?how about the age at the time ?

I understand your point, but I don't assume you and the OP are in the same market. If I was trying to sell a nice '08 XT in my area I don't think it would be difficult to get close to $3k, maybe more in an area like Orange County where these are trendy bikes to ride to the beach on.

Here is the Nada price for the 2008 xt250 .California would have inflated prices on something like this because there are virtually no Chinese 250’s street legal there ,but I don’t think the op is in California because he was looking at Chinese bikes he can’t ride there .