How are they in the woods? And are they expensive to maintain? (I'm looking into the kxf)

they're great in the woods. dependability is based on your riding style and your maintenance schedule. i have a wr250f that i ride in the woods all the time. has not given me any problems yet and i rev the piss out of it somedays. a lot of people run mx bikes in the woods with a few mods. my wifes cousin has a 06 kxf. he rode in the woods and farm fields just fine, until he forgot to put his air filter in one day. and thats another story.

yea hey i have a yz250f i ride in the woods all the time.
its great. sometimes i yern for a little bit more down low... but then i get over that feeling and just nail it... [haha]
but really its a great bike for the woods if you know how to ride it.

How about when somthing goes? Does it get real expensive? (I don't have a lot of money to spend) But have been able to afford my bikes maintainance so far.

My wife rides a YZ250F in the woods. She's rode XR's & KDX's and she likes the 250F the best. Light, nimble and powerful.

jzalabowski said:

it can. again it all depends. maintain your bike well, change oil regularly, change worn out parts when they need it, keep an eye on your valve clearances. the XR series of bikes are great woods bikes. very low maintenance and easy on the wallet. the XR400r may be the most "bullet proof " bike ever built. if you want a cheap reliable woods bike go XR, TTR, KDX, or other 2 stroke.

I may take a look at a 250f soon and maybe see if i like it, if i dont i might stay with 125s.

jzalabowski said:

125s are cheaper to keep running, 250fs work so well in the woods its like cheating...I started with a twin piper CRF in Nov of 05...Loved the bike so much it made rethink my offroad riding...I'm getting close to 50, 300lbs, out of shape, but just love to rip on the trails...My KTM XCF250(315)-W was and still is the ticket for me...

I have a 07 KTM XCF-W 250 (now a 315ccBB) standard maintnance and fuel and go! I belive the 250Fs are the best woods bike made.

Well, I have crf250r(MXer) and it's sort of a toss up. The motor is great, a little soft down low, but you gotta love the hook-up. What I don't like is the gearing. I ride high desert woods and some plain desert, so when it gets technical, it's pretty darn technical and 1st gear is a clutch burner, still do-able, but the rear wheel lites up easily(130lbs) and you gotta be ontop of the clutch. Now when it opens up, it really opens up. The 5th gear is short, and cruising across the desert floor at 13,300 rpms and 65 mph is uncomfortable and truly scary for extended periods of time(cross fingers). The suspension is also pretty gnarly for me at 130lbs, but my seals have been leaking so it's a little more do-able. Another thing I like is the turning, it turns great.

Maintenance, well it's not that bad, you gotta keep on top of it but it's not too bad. The only problems I have is that I don't have enough money to fix everything at once, so I have to hope some things last longer than others.

So over all, if I did it over I would get a 250XCFW.

my '01 wr 250f is very light, but the power is not where i want it to be. I'm coming off a DRZ400, where you could punch the throttle and wheelie over anything in any gear, with the 250f, there's not a whole lot of torque, and I ride on the side of a mountain, so...I also tried a smaller gear on the front, that helps alot.

well of your just going to be trail riding, you probably arent going to be terribley hard on yur equipment... unless yur rip real hard... but if you want a good running machine for a long time to come, a good mantinence schedual is key.
the checking and changing of the oil, rad fluid, and other important stuff when needed is very important.... but like some one else said... an xr, tt-r, or kdx are also awesome trail bikes and are geared really well for trails.