street legal moto cross style bike

Chunkylover

Im still thinking of moving on from my CBR250, but now that ive been told not to waste my money on a hyusong, im looking something light and easy to use, im only 5ft 6 and not the strongest person around (christ Im really selling myself well here), anyway, is there anything out there along the lines of a motocross bike that is street legal.

Cheers

chunky

Garibaldi

Do you mean a trailie/dual purpose? Just about every manufacturer has a range of these in their...uhh...range.

Chunkylover

yeah, a trail bike, just looking throught the manufacurers sites and cant see anything

murphaph

What about a BMW F650?

Chunkylover

was thinking more along the lines of a ttr 250 ot yz250

nyh01

check your insurance on the bike as I think it is power to weight ratio will decide what category your bike fits into.

Also Motorccross bikes on the road may look cool, but they ain't that hot to ride on the road

Chunkylover

cheers, can you recommend anything in a group 5 thats not to heavy, and doesnt make me look like a courier (nothing against couriers)

CJhaughey

Firstly I think that some things need to be straightened out here,
Moto-x bikes are not in any way, shape or form suitable to be ridden on the road.
secondly a TTR 250 or 225 is not a MX bike it is a trail bike and as such has a broad stretch of power designed for using it in slippery and snotty conditions, such as (Dublins streets)
There is also a Honda XR 200 that is a fantastic bike.
I have always had off road bikes and always loved the feeling of height and control that riding one gave, granted they are not the fastest of machines but speed is not my buzz.
both the Yamaha TTR and Honda should be OK HP wise.
YZ250 forget about.

Hotblack Desiato

At 5 foot 6, seat height will be a real issue, trail bikes are high off the ground. Roadsters are lower as well as more powerful, only the very large cc trailies are really suitable for riding on motorways and other fast roads.
Have you considered an SV650, CB500, ER5, CB400, etc? Or if the budget will stretch, Bandit / Hornet 600? All of these have decent power, handle well, easy to ride and good all-round bikes.

CJhaughey

I very much doubt that a TTR225 would trouble chunkylover.
It has probably the lowest seat height of any trailie that I know of.
It may suit Chunkylover to ride a Trailie maybe he/she isn't into speed and road use?
I often see this attitude in Bikers "Trailbikes unless megatrailies are only for spotty Oiks, when they grow up they will get a real Bike, a road bike."
I would suggest that riding a trail bike offroad or even on unsealed and forestry roads is one of the most fun experiences you can have as well as teaching skills that come hard learnt on road bikes.
All the roadbikes mentioned above are much heavier than a trailbike.
Trailbikes are designed for use offroad and are easy to control and light weight as well as having wide bars which give good leverage.
These are all important attributes for a person who is their own words "not the strongest around"
I would suggest that if the OP didn't need to ride on fast roads and motorways for long distances than a small trailie would be a very good choice.

Idleater

Chunkylover wrote:

Im still thinking of moving on from my CBR250, but now that ive been told not to waste my money on a hyusong, im looking something light and easy to use, im only 5ft 6 and not the strongest person around (christ Im really selling myself well here), anyway, is there anything out there along the lines of a motocross bike that is street legal.

Cheers

chunky

I was not aware that motocross bikes were illegal to drive on public road. However they do handle quite poorly on hard surfaces like tarmacadam and concrete because of the way that their front suspension and wheels are setup so I also would not recommend them.

One option for you if you like that style - you should look out for the supermotard style of bikes. These are very similar to motocross except the tracks that they race on are mostly hard with sometimes a small bit of dirt.

These bikes are exceptionally good handling and have a very nice power curve. This is low down grunt as the tracks are short stretches (no 1km straights) so the top speed is not going to be R1 territory but you will have a lot of fun off the lights. Cruising would be okay but I doubt they are tourers.

I have seen one or two bikes of this style bike around and they come in many guises from 250 - 650 and probably more.

L.

CJhaughey

nereid wrote:

I was not aware that motocross bikes were illegal to drive on public road. However they do handle quite poorly on hard surfaces like tarmacadam and concrete because of the way that their front suspension and wheels are setup so I also would not recommend them.

A MX bike is a pure competition machine designed for one purpose only to be faster round an off road course than the competition.
They are typically Loud,100db+, have a strong midrange hit ,have no lighting, horn or other street legal niceties and are in a word brutal.
Fine offroad and on a surface where the power can be put down or wheelspun away, but on a road unless they have been geared up and slicks fitted, an absolute nightmare.
As well as being a Garda magnet;)

Idleater

CJhaughey wrote:

A MX bike is a pure competition machine designed for one purpose only to be faster round an off road course than the competition.

Aah right, but all the motocross companies do sell road versions of the motocross bikes but with lights etc. such as kawasaki or yamaha.

In any case I would agree with you and not recommend them at all.

Chunky- I'd suggest you have a look at the supermoto's if you want to go for this style of bike and will be using it on road.

Haket

Trail bikes are generally great on road as long as you choose a dual purpose or road tyre. Knobblies are not the best option for tarmac. I've had 3 different trail (aka dual purpose) bikes in the last few years and they've all handled well.

Those who say they are not probably havn't tried them. They are not going to go around corners like an R1 or be as fast in a straight line like a Busa but for city or back road riding they are tops.

Seat height may be an issue though, the Serrow (Yams 225) may be the best option there. Personally I'd go with a DRZ400SM (the supermoto version) or do the conversion yourself. I've one and its a blast, prob the most fun bike I've owned. Not a bike for touring on though, small tank and narrow seat. An XT600E is a better choice there.

Hotblack Desiato

CJhaughey wrote:

I often see this attitude in Bikers "Trailbikes unless megatrailies are only for spotty Oiks, when they grow up they will get a real Bike, a road bike."

Huh? Nobody was saying that. If the OP fits a trailie and that's what they want, then great. All bikes are compromised in some way, which makes them more suitable for certain uses (and riders) than others.