Anyone ride a dual sport/super moto?

[JamesG]

keep in mind that the KLR-650 is the original "Jack of all trades, master of none". It can do just about everything passably, but none particularly well. It's not very fast or comfortable on the highway, heavy and cumbersome offroad, and down right scary on twisty pavement. I had a '91, that I tried to build into a "supermoto" 70/30 street/dirt, and finally gave up on it. The second generation is quite a bit better, suspension and fairing wise, but its still compromised by its cheapness. KTM DS, and you-can't-get-them-here other makes mid-sized dual sports are much better bikes.

 

[SpeedyR]

I ride mostly dual sport these days. I've had plenty of sport bikes and such but just don't ride a ton of street these days unless it's to get to the trails.

I have always had KTM's. Love them. nothing else works like a KTM. mine have been fairly low maintenance. My main bike for years was a 2007 KTM 450 XC that I have a tag for. It is the last of the RFS motors, usually the benchmark for durability. I have over 160 hours on it and it's built like a tank. I check the valves every so often, change the oil often and just run it. It's not happy on the street but if I wanted to ride more on the street I could change a few things and make it better, but I don't see the reason at this point.

I also have a 2007 950 that I ride mostly off road. I've done quite a few hare scrambles with it and ride it pretty often at places like Highland Park. but it's also pretty comfortable riding 80+mph on the freeway. It's my go to bike these days. Now that I have this one, my 450 just sits in the garage more often than not.

your best option IMHO is to consider what your friends ride. What bikes do they have? are you wanting to ride with them, or make new friends? Seriously there are so many options for what folks call "dual sport" that you need to figure out what you want to do, or what the folks you are riding with want to do? do they have 1200GS bikes? dual sport means on thing to those riders (usually dirt roads at the most extreme). Do they have KTM two strokes that are tagged? very different idea of dual sporting there. Lots of in between.

How much pavement? dirt roads? single track trails? do you have a trailer and want to use it to get places to ride, or ride to the locations?

DRZ is a good all around option and one recommendation if you think more dirt oriented but still on a budget. KLR is more street oriented but still a good budget option.

I usually recommend budget of $2500-3000 for a good used bike, ride it for a year and decide what you really like and then sell it for what you have in it (if you bought it well) and move towards the spectrum of what you enjoy. I like more trail riding, forest service roads don't do much for me unless it's something like Flatlands or Charlies Creek. I'd rather go ride at Highland Park all day if it were up to me.

 

[CliffB]

I ride mostly dual sport these days. I've had plenty of sport bikes and such but just don't ride a ton of street these days unless it's to get to the trails.

I have always had KTM's. Love them. nothing else works like a KTM. mine have been fairly low maintenance. My main bike for years was a 2007 KTM 450 XC that I have a tag for. It is the last of the RFS motors, usually the benchmark for durability. I have over 160 hours on it and it's built like a tank. I check the valves every so often, change the oil often and just run it. It's not happy on the street but if I wanted to ride more on the street I could change a few things and make it better, but I don't see the reason at this point.

I also have a 2007 950 that I ride mostly off road. I've done quite a few hare scrambles with it and ride it pretty often at places like Highland Park. but it's also pretty comfortable riding 80+mph on the freeway. It's my go to bike these days. Now that I have this one, my 450 just sits in the garage more often than not.

your best option IMHO is to consider what your friends ride. What bikes do they have? are you wanting to ride with them, or make new friends? Seriously there are so many options for what folks call "dual sport" that you need to figure out what you want to do, or what the folks you are riding with want to do? do they have 1200GS bikes? dual sport means on thing to those riders (usually dirt roads at the most extreme). Do they have KTM two strokes that are tagged? very different idea of dual sporting there. Lots of in between.

How much pavement? dirt roads? single track trails? do you have a trailer and want to use it to get places to ride, or ride to the locations?

DRZ is a good all around option and one recommendation if you think more dirt oriented but still on a budget. KLR is more street oriented but still a good budget option.

I usually recommend budget of $2500-3000 for a good used bike, ride it for a year and decide what you really like and then sell it for what you have in it (if you bought it well) and move towards the spectrum of what you enjoy. I like more trail riding, forest service roads don't do much for me unless it's something like Flatlands or Charlies Creek. I'd rather go ride at Highland Park all day if it were up to me.

MMMMMMMM Single track.