Advice welcomed - looking to buy my first MX / Enduro bike

[Britzilian89]

Hi All

Newbie to PistonHeads here and looking for advice on MX / Enduro motorbikes.

As with most things nowadays, there is a huge range of options and it never hurts to bounce ideas around. I appreciate there are lots of MX forums out there, but wanted something more UK focused who understand what I’m talking about when it comes to daytime MOTs etc.

Thanks

I used a template from another forum to create the basics and give me a starting point:


1. What is your skill Level (be honest)?

Beginner/New Rider - when it comes to Motocross and Enduro green laning. Been riding for 15 years and have some trackday experience (circa 1 a year).

2. What's your height & weight?

6foot and slender, around 11 stones hence normally go for lighter weight bikes

3. What year, make, & model of motorcycle are you coming from? And, what do you want the new bike to do better?

Currently have a Yam FZ1 (150bhp) for work commuting and fun. Never owned an Enduro or Motocross, but have ridden older KTM 450 and Honda 450 owned by friends. Enjoyed the power and ease of use but appreciate they are heavier.

Motocross / Enduro bike will need to do 3 miles on normal roads to get to our byways. Will be used circa weekly or fortnightly for Green Laning rather than MX track. May use it for short ride outs in warm weather

Reliability, easy and cheap long service schedules preferred over the latest greatest bike

I like the idea of a 4 stroke 450 as I can then use it for short ride outs. Day time or full MOT, don’t mind sorting a Day time MOT


4. What's your ballpark budget?

£2-3k max as this is for fun and not commuting like my FZ1

5. What types of terrain will you be riding?

Green laning / byways. Generally light ish work. No MX tracks

6. Will you be racing or just play riding?

Play riding only, no racing

——————————

Thanks all - hope the above helps. I can see that MX bikes are WAY cheaper than buying an Enduro and tha lt makes sense considering one needs servicing after every ride and the other every 6,000 miles!

Current thinking:

MX Honda 450 then get daytime MOT
Yam 450 same as above

Thought of KTM 350 Freeride but it has no kick start... I’m going to be falling off a lot and will drain the battery super quick



Sorry for the long post but thanks for any responses

[crofty1984]

Can't help, but I'll be watching with interest. Think a bit of greenlaning is on the cards for me next year.

[V8RX7]

Covered regularly on the FB Groups

Firstly you don't want an MX bike - they aren't road legal and they need rebuilding every 2 minutes

Many would say you don't need a 450, 250 is certainly the most common

The "usual choices" are a CRF250L or WR250F as they are both fairly bombproof

I went with a KTM 450 RFS - if I'm honest mostly because I like orange !

But also because they are very reliable IF they are maintained properly and they have loads of torque so cover your mistakes 03-07 and prices start at £2k, 525's don't cost much more (I've got an SM one, it is noticeably faster)

You DO want elec start - when you're knackered and stuck in a rut or on a hill it's worth it, WR250F elec start is infamous for breaking and IIRC they are 5 speed.

Typically a 450 is only 10kg heavier - although my KTM 450 is lighter than a CRF250L

I'm told a 250 "feels lighter" and is better for technical stuff but I wouldn't know, it's true I rarely use all the power - knobblies and mousses prevent that but I do use the torque.

Edited by V8RX7 on Wednesday 6th January 20:41

[Ilikemotorbikes]

Get something like a WR250F for £2-3k

Offroad when the bike is full of mud and st you'll easily add 10-15kg if it's sticky mud. Doesn't sound a lot but when you're picking it up for the 10th time that day you'll wish you had an even lighter bike so don't start with a heavier one.

For 3 miles on road to get to lanes the power difference for a 450 will be neglible for a newbie.

I'm pretty sure the majority of the WRs came with kick and leccy start.

For what it's worth don't get an mx converted bike. They're designed to be thrashed and hit huge jumps, not pootled and soak up holes in a trail. Plus they rarely have lighting kits which is always useful if you end up out later than expected

May get a ktm 250 excf in budget too but I'm sure a 350 would be out of price range.

Again, lightness is your friend. If the bike feels small (it probably won't) you can get bar risers to adjust the position you sit/stand in.

Get some training. Off road is a hugely different beast and 1 days training, even after doing various off road stuff for a couple of years brought my riding on no end!

[kingb]

I bought a EXC-f 350 KTM at the end of Novemeber - £3,500 got me a decent bike with low hours.

Its meant to be a sweet spot between 450 power and 250 usablilty - Seems marvellous for a a newbie like me.

Dont worry about draining the battery - just get a decent one - I crashed so many times on my first enduro practise day (it was v v wet) and couldnt think of anything worse than trying to kick start after struggling to drag the bike back onto a slippery trail!


Brilliant fun though - get it bought

[gareth h]

I’d go with a 250, I had a 200 gas gas, but decided I needed more power so bought a 300 (both 2 strokes), never really scratched its potential and it was way too quick for the green laning that I do (the 200 was a peach and should never have sold it).
Bought a 250 Excf from a mate a few months back and it’s pretty much perfect, much easier to ride through the technical bits than a 300 or 450.
They hold their value so start with a 250, if you lust for more you can always flog it and buy a 450.

[Britzilian89]

Hi Guys

Many thanks all for your replies, appreciated.

From the above the basics of the advice is:

- maybe hold off on the 450s for a while. Heavier and more power / torque than you will need
- Yes an MX is way way cheaper to buy as a first bike, but they are highly strung and do require servicing after almost every ride (I don’t mind doing the basics by the way)
- get an Enduro 250 ish. These are expensive (2005 for £2.5k when I can get a 2013 MX 450 for around same) but best for green lane
- Don’t throw away KTM. 350s I agree is probably my sweet spot and what I should focus on I think. Perfect mix of the two

So my next question probably is - MX or enduro KTMs 350... anyone have any experience? Should I worry about reliability and servicing one that is around 8 years old but fairly well looked after?


Thanks all

PS Yes B, it’s F here...

[Krikkit]

For any of these bikes, unless you can be shown recent receipts, I'd budget for a bit of servicing required. They're not difficult to work on if you have any want for twirling a spanner.

Quite a few BB'ers have KTMs and they're the default choice for a lot of folk. Generally pretty reliable if looked after, but not as unkillable as something like a DRZ or WR which trades weight for reliability.

[stigthecadman]

"So my next question probably is - MX or enduro KTMs 350... anyone have any experience? Should I worry about reliability and servicing one that is around 8 years old but fairly well looked after?"

I've owned one of the first 350EXC enduro bikes since it''s launch in 2011. It's now done well over 700 hours of racing (enduro and rally raid) plus many trail rides. It's been totally reliable and only needed the usual wear items. The most important thing to keep on top of is a clean air filter if riding in a dusty environment and regular oil changes (about 1000 race miles or 200 trail miles; there's no need to go silly on more frequent changes if you use a decent oil)

Graham

[Ilikemotorbikes]

Once again, MX bikes aren't designed for what you are trying to achieve.

Yes they can do it but the suspension is completely different set ups.
Engines are similar but without looking at every bike basically it means an MX bike typically will be easier to stall on slow going stuff as its designed to be being thrashed, enduro is the opposite.

KTM enduro bikes don't have linkage rear suspension (so you don't smash it on rocks or so on) I think I'm right in saying the MX bikes do.

They don't have lights or all the other kit generally required for an MOT. Yes you can get road legal mx bikes but generally it's not done very well as people do it cheaply.

Just buy an enduro bike, yes they're more expensive for a relative year but that means it'll also be worth more if you decide to sell.

You wouldn't buy race prepped bike to commute on so why are you trying to buy and MX bike to pootle on green lanes?

[Hungrymc]

To add a further exc350f comment. I’ve had one for two years. It’s done green lanes and enduro days. Has been reasonably well maintained (lots of oil changes and air filter cleans) and has been 100% reliable. Also, it’s been very tough, has been throw into all sorts of ditches, rivers, rocks. Has taken it all in its stride.

And it’s every bit as fast as I will ever need, is a great laugh.

[Britzilian89]

Graham and Hungry - thanks that makes me feel a lot more comfortable with the KTMs. We have one guy in a motorbike group who owns a KTM and he is regularly having to do something with it, hence the background to my worry (sorry B).

Was good to hear as the 350 KTMs are indeed an interesting bike I am dabbling with!

ILikeMotos - thanks for the feedback and understand where you are coming from. I agree that I don’t need an MX animal for Berkshire light trails and one off tough rides... it’s just that I’m very much a tight @rse and struggle with the idea of buying a 2004 XYZ for £2.8k when for the same money there is a fairly good Motocross 450-350cc from 2011-2015 going for around the same money, some of them even already have their daytime MOTs...

Anyway, this is great thanks guys and nice to use up some little spare time related to something I love in between meetings about EU and FCA Regulations!

Thanks and happy to receive any further advice



PS at lunchtime today I decided to go for a quick green laning session on my 125cc moped while wearing wellie boots (no MX kit yet) to see what all the fuss is about and whether I would really enjoy it. 15mins later I’m absolutely exhausted but wearing a big smile. Thank god my 125 weighs just under 100kgs. It’s baby wheels were sh!te in the thick wet mud and I’m lucky if I hit more than 15mph at any point. Great way to exercise and slight rerouting from the post office task which was the reason for the outing. Maybe I could just get some child MX tyres for the moped...? 🤣

[Steve Bass]

As has been said above, DO NOYT buy an MX bike for green laning. Wrong bike, wrong suspension, wrong motor characteristics. You might be as tight as a duck's arse but you'll be wasting your money, not saving it.
A decent Enduro bike is what you want, even look at the 2T bikes as they're easy to run, cheap to maintain (with good oil) and are lighter and easier to ride.

[Gee68]

Another vote for KTM here.
I have the 300 EXC and have done MX track day's and enduro events on it,never once let me down.

Don't worry about having a kickstart as the last thing you'll want to do after a couple of hours is to kick it.

The only thing I would add is don't scrimp money wise as the bills soon mount up if you buy a shed.............ask me how I know.

Beaten to it by Steve.

Edited by Gee68 on Thursday 7th January 16:08

[poo at Paul's]

First MX bike, 11 stone and you are thinking of a CRF450!

Good luck with that, i would order a couple of spare pair of arms if i were you!!

[anonymous-user]

Britzilian89 said:

We have one guy in a motorbike group who owns a KTM and he is regularly having to do something with it, hence the background to my worry (sorry B).

It is also the bike thats been in the group the longest

[Britzilian89]

Killboy said:

It is also the bike thats been in the group the longest

That is very true! Fair enough. There must be something about them for people to love it so much!

[Britzilian89]

poo at Paul's said:

First MX bike, 11 stone and you are thinking of a CRF450!

Good luck with that, i would order a couple of spare pair of arms if i were you!!

I have heard that the 450s are a handful... I did ride a Honda and KTM 450 (MX) which were easy but albeit heavier than I would have wanted.

But I didn’t give either full beans which I think is your point

[V8RX7]

Britzilian89 said:

I have heard that the 450s are a handful... I did ride a Honda and KTM 450 (MX) which were easy but albeit heavier than I would have wanted.

But I didn’t give either full beans which I think is your point

There is a big difference between the older and the newer bikes. I've down geared my 04 450 as I don't need to do 100+ mph and it wheelies very easily but it isn't scary where as a mate bought a year old WR450F and it regularly threw him off under acceleration - he went back to a crf250L which had a much comfier seat than my KTM but acceleration felt like stretching an elastic band.

[BobSaunders]

WR250F with electric start.

Stay away from 2 stroke.

For 2-3k, staying on top of maintence, you will easily re-sell it and be able to upgrade it.