Hi All,
New to the forum, and new to motorcycles (not new to travel, or vehicle based adventure).

I am looking for my first motorcycle. I want something reasonably good on and off road, reasonably fuel efficient, and reasonable for a 5'8/180lb/30" inseam 30 year old rider. My budget is a target of about $4000 for the bike, with an upper limit around $5500.

So far I've been looking at the RE Himalayan, XT225 and 250, and honda CRF250/300.

Someone on ADVrider also just recommended the Versys-X 300 which I'm going to look into (but I've gravitated more towards offroad bikes that can do okay on road (dual sports), than onroad bikes that can do okay offroad (adv bikes) so far). I've also been considering the BMW F650GS Dakar, since there are a few used ones for a good price in my area, but I'm a little wary of buying an older cheaper BMW (are these bikes expensive to maintain, high maintenance, or a red flag when being sold cheap?)


Do you think that a small dual sport (250-300cc range) would be a silly choice for a first timer planning a typical ADV type trip of mostly onroad, lots of gravel/dirt road, and some true off road? Considering that (1) I'm not in a rush (2) I'm not a tall / large rider (3) I'd try to avoid interstates, but will probably do considerable travel on secondary highways (4) don't mind (and in fact prefer) going a little slower and taking scenic routes (5) but would need to carry sufficient equipment for camping/traveling for extended period of time.

Ideally a bike that was light, fuel efficient, good off road, but could do 70mph and was reasonably comfortable and stable at a sustained 65 or at least 60 would be ideal. Is this unrealistic to expect with a fully loaded 250? particularly the XT225?

Any thoughts or pointers or constructive criticism?