Hi,

Looking for a bike to buy which can take me off the road +80/90 km/h for longer trips on better roads. I am 1.90m height, 90kg weight. Currently I have Honda Africa Twin 750cc but with all the luggage its heavy to control off the road.
Any advice on what to look for to start?

2 stroke or 4 stroke? 125cc or up to 400cc 600cc?

I am considering 2 bikes at the moment Zuzuki DRZ400 or Honda XR400. Any other similar bikes to consider?

I do want more off road(street legal) than a trail, greenland bike.

Budget anything up to £2500

Thank You In Advance

This is a perrenial problem: one bike to do two things.

You need to start by ditching your luggage. Off-road and luggage don't mix. It is possible -indeed adviseable- to only have a small pack touring around 30 litres. There are plenty of people who are evangelical about this -e.g. Dave Lomax and Austin Vince, you can usually hear them talk at Ripley meeting.

The second piece of advice is to get a small bike rather than a big bike: anything from 250 up to 600cc.

Having a bigger machine for road sections is really nice but not nice to pick up off-road more than once. So the compromise is: road comfort against off-road comfort. This is your call and depends on your confidence off road and brute strength. The ideal is two bikes.

DRZ are good, I have a 400 and would like more power but I also have to pick it up quite often so it's about right for me. I had an XR600 but found it too tall and brutish (i'm 6'2"). If I were more skilled offroad then it's good but you really want an electric start!

I wouldn't get a two stroke these days.

Most dual purpose bikes are capable of most things in the hands of the right rider. As your level of competence increases then larger bikes become more suitable.

Basically you know what you want so start looking around and when you find one that make your heart skip a beat, that's your bike!

The little Suzuki DRZ400 is an awesome choice is you will be riding offroad most of the time. For tarmac you will prefer a larger capacity bike which will keep up with the flow of the traffic. Something akin to a YAMAHA XT600E or a YAMAHA XT660 will do that job nicely. Other budget possibles include:

Kawasaki KLR650
Honda XR650

A 600cc plus bike will cope happily with huge amounts of luggage as well as heavy riders.

For more technical trails the little DRZ400 is truly in a class of it's own. The DRZ is also probably THE most reliable 400 to be found (anywhere).

Pity there are'nt any decent (low milage) DR350's left..

For me the planning and anticipation is almost as enjoyable as the journey itself (but then again I'm sad like that).

Whatever you decide on, I wish you well.

Stay SAFE!

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Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

Thnaks for advice.

I an thinking to keep AT for my europe (good roads) travel and will look for small dirt bike to go on weekends here around London to learn offroad driving skills so luggage is not important for my small bike as it is important for it to be road legal to go to tracks and to handle jumps and side drops while learning .

I read that Honda XRs are not as good as Suzuki DRZs ofrroad but will try also to look for other options possibly KTM or Qvarna

H D MT350 or there are still some Suzi 350s about. If you go bigger then look around for a KTM LC4 if you have the leg length to handle the height. Or, there again, Yam have the XT660 range if you want something with a bigger engine.

I feel for your dilemma; it is no consolation but I have the same one.

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Dave