I'm 6’, 200 lbs, advanced skills but with back injury and quickly becoming an old fart. I have a 09 klr650. I ride about 60/40 highways, mostly 2 lane blacktops but I do some trails and dirt/sand playing with hill climbing/ditch crossing, etc as well. I’m willing to give up some comfort on the road to have better dirt abilities and less weight. I’m thinking 2 possibilities. Keep the klr for strictly road use and get a smaller duel sport for dirt. Or sell the klr and replace it with a lighter duel sport. Either way it has to be street legal (no conversions). My wife has a 09 klx250s (we got them at the same time) and I’m just not satisfied with the power, or lack of… so I’m not sure I’d like any of the 250’s. The only bike I’ve found that I think would fit is the drz400. Questions: Are other 250’s out there much better than the klx250 and would compare favorably to the drz? Are there other bikes in the 400cc range I’ve missed? Remember… has to be street legal. I’m not interested it trying to plate a crf450 in NC. First choice is to replace the klr simply for financial reasons. I’d love to have a third bike but it would be an extreme stretch right now.

A DRZ 400 sounds like exactly what you want.

The DRZ owns the market in the 400cc range. I think you would be quite happy with a DRZ, at least I know I am! I disagree with those who say that the DRZ is not happy on slab....I can run mine 70-75 all day long and it doesn't complain. Comfort is very subjective, but I have no problem being in the saddle of the DRZ for a full day. I have the Suzuki low gel seat, and it works great.

Edited by shawplat, 15 June 2012 - 09:54 AM.

Did you have to change the gearing? I've found I had to go down on the front AND up on the back on the klr to get the gearing low enough for singletrack. This puts me at 5K at 60 mph. Higher than I like but it's more important me to go slow than to go fast.

Also I'm new to this site. Is there a place where I can see all the recommended mods/upgrades/must fixes to the drz? Doing this on the droid cause the pc crashed and searching multiple threads suck!!