Hmmm the big question is how are you getting to the dirt..If your trailering or putting it in a p/u you’ve or tons of options..
However, if you’re planning on riding to trails, your looking at needing something that can sustain highway speeds for a period of time. If you get caught in crap weather or get a call, you’ll need something you can slab home on
I’ve owned several and here are the pro-cons:
Past:
Dr350se - big for a 350, I had one of the later one with adjustable suspension , little anemic on the highway but could do 65-70 without it feeling like you were beating a baby seal thanks to a 6th gear. I put an aftermarket tank, exhaust, and loved it.. I wanted a bit more for adv riding, and sold it.. Wish I still had it, and keep and eye out for another, but while cheap relatively speaking, unmolested one don’t appear often.
Drz400sm.. had dirt wheels as well. Great bike, but it’s only a 5speed so gearing options (sprockets) become important if your doing both dirt/street same day. You will sacrifice one for the other. To uncork it, you need a carb from the dirt model, exhaust, and you need to buy some added stuff to protect motor components (case savers, rad Protection. The bikes are bullet proof, but if you go down hard without the protecting stuff, you will be walking home.. sold it to go adv riding
Ktm sxc625 dirt/motard wheels.. best off-road bike, all surface riding bike I have ever had, but unlike the smc motard only, it had smaller oil capacity and required frequent oil changes. So while great to ride, pain in the ass to work on, which you had to do a lot. Sold it because I wanted to ride more wrench less
Honda Xr650l.. it’s big and heavy but it’s a tank. I had the motor rebored for a bigger piston as the motor started blowing oil as the P.O. was a tad careless. It’s air cooled, so you need to check oil and temp level, but it’s a Honda. I put a lot of hard miles with a bigger tank and exhaust, on it.. Sold it as I had kids and wasn’t riding it much
Ktm990adv.. great bike, but huge offroad.. Took some official off-road classes and could ride off road but as it wasn’t cheap. Riding off-road wasn’t fun as you worry about dropping a 10k+ bike.. it was a great sport touring bike.. With kids I wasn’t traveling much, sold it and bought the cb1100
Still have
Krm620EGS-E. This the predecessor to the 640adv, but with lower pipes. It’s huge, almost as big as my 990 (huge) as it’s gotta giant 7 gallon tank. It could do double duty as a paint shaker, as it makes donuts when on its side stand.. it’s a pita to change the oil, but it’s got standard oil capacity so I can deal with it.. it’s not great in the tight stuff, but it’s well balanced and with patience and picking your line,
Nothing stops it.. it’s the best all purpose bike I found with some dirt riding in mind as part of the trip
Bikes I’d consider
Later model dr650.. oil cooled, cheap, dependable, but dated and 5 speed.
Klr650. Bigger so handful off-road, water-cooled, but they take more abuse and Are heartier than the drz. More all purpose than dirt friendly, but you can do dirt on em
Wr250r.. modern, reliable, ton of aftermarket support.. unfortunately,
I’m a big guy, and it’s a little small. Plus unlike my dr350se, that had torque/grunt, the wr is peaky.. I’m a bigger dude so I didn’t buy one new when I was riding technical. I’d buy a well cared used one in a sec if I was doing tighter stuff for the right price.
Yamaha t7... This isn’t even out yet.. it’s got the Fz-07 bit set up as a full on adv bike..
