It's a pirelli MT43 trials tire.Not so good on the pavement but it's like cheating in the dirt. Here in the Sierras, I only go on pavement to connect the good stuff but being street legal opens up endless opportunitys. I'm able to run extremely low air pressures with the Tubliss system. 7lbs. in the back and 9lbs. in the front works great off road but if there is very much pavement I'll go up to 9lbs and 10lbs.
Current generation XT250-Dirtable? How about in tight single-track?
Started by calbikeman2, Jan 28 2012 10:59 PM
23 replies to this topic
Posted 13 February 2012 - 11:30 PM
150ron, you have that xt looking great! Amazing how much differen't it looks without the stock decals, front fender and huge lights. I got a new 2010 holdover a few months ago. Mine now looks much differen't than yours, in a geeky way! I bought it for hunting and put a big Cycle rack rack on it. Mounted to that is a box with a Kolpin gas can behind it. I put one of those quick removable windshields on it (what a difference that makes doing 50 plus!), and a set of hand guards. I figured I would only use it for hunting or scouting but I find myself hopping on it every chance the western Washington weather gives me this time of year. I grew up on dirt bikes and had a street bike a long while back. These xt's are great little bikes! I had a hard time deciding between the xt or the tw200. After reading all your great posts (as well as the other guys) on the long xt250 thread I went with the xt. I wanted the ability to leave from home to the places I wanted to go on the bike. My main areas require 15-25 miles on a 55mph road to get to the logging roads and trails. I got a chance to ride a buddy's tw200 and I felt like I was going to blow it up doing 60. One of these days we will end up on a tight twisty trail and I will wish for a short while I was on the tw! I hope you keep posting here, you really help make this a great forum!
calbikeman2, for me I think the xt250 will turn out to be exaclty what I was looking for. When I bought it I figured it would be used less than 50% on the road. But in reality I bet it ends up being on the road more than not. On the nice days I hope to leave from home on the bike to get the the places I want to ride. As I said above I have 15-25 miles of 55mph road and another 10 plus of slower county roads to get there. So I have around a 50 mile round trip, I would be really hard pressed to come even close to putting that many miles on when I hit the end of the pavement. So I think this will be a great little bike for me. Now if I planned on doing 90 plus percent of my riding off road this would probably not be the bike I would own. The xt is great for what it is, but should not be mistaken for anything close to a motocross bike. If you plan on keeping the wheels on or very close to the ground its just fine. If I was planning on doing almost all my riding off road personaly I would just concede I was going to trailer the bike to the riding areas and buy a bike built for that. If you really want to go dual sport and want something more taylored to the dirt in the 250 class you might look at the Kawasaki klx250, but then you are back to the liquid cooled......... I really love my bike and think its hard to beat in its class for a 50-50 on/off road, but I have to admit if I had the chance to do it again I would at least take a very good look at the Kawi. I would probably still end up with the Yami just because I have a great Yami dealer close and if you are buying new that is a good thing. Not sure if any of my rambling helped? Hope you find something you are happy with!
calbikeman2, for me I think the xt250 will turn out to be exaclty what I was looking for. When I bought it I figured it would be used less than 50% on the road. But in reality I bet it ends up being on the road more than not. On the nice days I hope to leave from home on the bike to get the the places I want to ride. As I said above I have 15-25 miles of 55mph road and another 10 plus of slower county roads to get there. So I have around a 50 mile round trip, I would be really hard pressed to come even close to putting that many miles on when I hit the end of the pavement. So I think this will be a great little bike for me. Now if I planned on doing 90 plus percent of my riding off road this would probably not be the bike I would own. The xt is great for what it is, but should not be mistaken for anything close to a motocross bike. If you plan on keeping the wheels on or very close to the ground its just fine. If I was planning on doing almost all my riding off road personaly I would just concede I was going to trailer the bike to the riding areas and buy a bike built for that. If you really want to go dual sport and want something more taylored to the dirt in the 250 class you might look at the Kawasaki klx250, but then you are back to the liquid cooled......... I really love my bike and think its hard to beat in its class for a 50-50 on/off road, but I have to admit if I had the chance to do it again I would at least take a very good look at the Kawi. I would probably still end up with the Yami just because I have a great Yami dealer close and if you are buying new that is a good thing. Not sure if any of my rambling helped? Hope you find something you are happy with!
Posted 14 February 2012 - 09:08 AM
Thanks cboom, post up some pics of your xt in the 2008 and newer yamaha xt250 thread, and check out xt225.com, great forum with lots of info for our bikes.
Before i bought my XT250, i did lots of research on the web, i checked out the KLX250S, WR250R, and even the DRZ400S, then saw the XT250, took it for a test ride and that was it, so comfortable, i was sold.
Its been a great bike, gets 60+mpg's, easily cruises at 75+mph, and climbs anything i point at it, (lol, if anything i hold the bike back), i agree with you, its definately not a motocross or a race bike, but for fire roads, trails, or anywhere else, its been great for me.
For a 16 HP air cooled bike, its FREAKING AWESOME!!! not to mention bullet proof, this guy on the xt225.com forum put 46,000 miles in under 2 years on his bike, and it still rides like new, just change the oil every 1,000 -3,000 miles, keep the air filter clean, and thats about it.
Before i bought my XT250, i did lots of research on the web, i checked out the KLX250S, WR250R, and even the DRZ400S, then saw the XT250, took it for a test ride and that was it, so comfortable, i was sold.
Its been a great bike, gets 60+mpg's, easily cruises at 75+mph, and climbs anything i point at it, (lol, if anything i hold the bike back), i agree with you, its definately not a motocross or a race bike, but for fire roads, trails, or anywhere else, its been great for me.
For a 16 HP air cooled bike, its FREAKING AWESOME!!! not to mention bullet proof, this guy on the xt225.com forum put 46,000 miles in under 2 years on his bike, and it still rides like new, just change the oil every 1,000 -3,000 miles, keep the air filter clean, and thats about it.
Posted 14 February 2012 - 05:06 PM
I agree 100% with 150ron. I was riding a F650GS which has great highway manners but I found it's offroad abilities lacking. I wanted a bike that was light and would take me anyplace I wanted to go and not be maintenance intensive. I looked at the KLR650, WR250 and KLX, they were all too tall for me. I sat on the XT and could get both feet flat on the ground. I worried about giving up horsepower but after test riding one, I was sold.
What really impressed me is it does great on the highway when I need it to and allows me to explore out of the way places. I ride mostly in the swamps and lowlands and it goes anywhere I want it and the fuel economy is great. Some of the people I ride with have faster bikes, but I have yet been able to find a place they can go to that I can't. It's a great machine, I only wished I had gotten one sooner.
What really impressed me is it does great on the highway when I need it to and allows me to explore out of the way places. I ride mostly in the swamps and lowlands and it goes anywhere I want it and the fuel economy is great. Some of the people I ride with have faster bikes, but I have yet been able to find a place they can go to that I can't. It's a great machine, I only wished I had gotten one sooner.
