What's The Best, No Nonsense, do it all Green Lane Bike?

[johnnyboxer]

Johnny the 350 is just another bike you are going to ask about but not buy :laugh:

We were out yesterday on ktm 450's and similar in North Wales on the trails (all legal) and a DR350 would still be out there now. It seems like the older they get the better then get for those with rose tinted spectacles but the newer bikes be it KTM, Yam, Kawasaki, Husky etc kick bikes like a DR into the long grass and then some. Sure, they are (road legal) race bikes, but they can't be beaten on trails, and the combination makes them the best trail bike (thumbs)

Cheers Mike

But although a DR350/DRZ400/KLX250s/CRF250L/XR400 has less power and suspension than a KTM or Husky - it will still achieve passage along any UK trail that's still legal and it just may take a bit longer to do it, but your comment that a DR350 would still be up there, is a bit far fetched

Hell, we used to do Gwynne Fawr/Gatescarth/Dandra Garth/Foxup and many other hellish trails 25 years ago on DR's/XR's/KMX20's and the like.............it was hellish but we did 'em

Now you can't ride 'em, so I can't believe any trail nowadays that would NOT be possible on any trailbike today

25 years ago, no fecker would buy a KTM as they were dire

[Dazzer]

I loved my DR350.

It was one of the few trail bikes that you could carry a pillion on. It would cope with any trail and even with a pillion on offered good comfort and handling .

There are only a few bikes on the market that IMO are Trail bikes. ( not Big trail bikes or road legal endure bikes )

Kawasaki have their KLX 250cc, Beta have the Alp and The best on the market at the moment the Honda CRF250L.

I'm old skool and Do Not Want to have to put a piston in or do a top end rebuild every time I have been on the bike for a few hours.

[The Sarge]

This thread is getting more and more amusing for me owning a recently restored DR350, KTM 250 EXC-F and only recently selling a DRZ400S, not forgetting my 990ADV. Not one of the bikes in the stable is perfect for a ' do it all ' mount because every ride I do is different, ever day I ride is different , so I go out with the intention of getting the very best out of whichever bike I am riding that day. My state of mind, current level of fitness, the people I am with, the weather, all effect how I ride that day, and for me it doesn't matter what I am riding, just to be out there is what matters. There is no 'do it all' bike I could find fault in any of them, my advice is adapt to what you're riding and the conditions you are in and the bike you're on will become perfect !

Sarge

[Tourist-Biker]

I'm old skool and Do Not Want to have to put a piston in or do a top end rebuild every time I have been on the bike for a few hours.

In the real world for me theres no more maintenance to my current trail bike ktm 350 exc or the TTR I had years ago, its just a myth that a modern enduro bikes are high maintenance.

Like myself (first post page 8) and many others have tried to point out what suites someone will not suite all, enjoy what you got (thumbs)

This is like a play ground argument about who's dad's the hardest :laugh: :laugh:

This was posted on another forum and thought it made sense

"We blithely ignore the fact that we all want something different from our trail bikes.Thank goodness manufacturers produce different bikes, otherwise most of us would be stuck on something that was designed to suit the "other bloke"

No, no, no

There must be one perfect bike

However I think Picos has nailed it with the DR350s for the 4t class

I Just happen to have one

Happy trails everyone

Jon

[sexysi]

CCM 404e is a stonking bike. The best bits from a DRZ and the best bits from a KTM.

Best bike I have ridden off road.

si

[Dazzer]

Hell, we used to do Gwynne Fawr/Gatescarth/Dandra Garth/Foxup and many other hellish trails 25 years ago on DR's/XR's/KMX20's and the like.............it was hellish but we did 'em

Now you can't ride 'em, so I can't believe any trail nowadays that would NOT be possible on any trailbike today

25 years ago, no fecker would buy a KTM as they were dire

The good old Days. (thumbs)


It does make me smile now when I hear and see riders on what I call a Big Trail bike out on the trails we have left in the Yorkshire Dales and saying " THESE Bikes will go anywhere ! well Johnny has named some of the lanes that I believe were quite hard to ride . Horse Head pass I never saw anything bigger than a 400cc get up and over that… Fox up… A heavy bike over there would be still buried . Dandra Garth ( the hard way up ) Bikes needed good ground clearance and low down torque and a XR400 was a hand full up and over there.

All the hard trails have been closed so were left with different needs now. For me a trail bike needs to be able to keep up with modern day speed limits , well behaved on the highway and still nimble on the trails. You can take more or less any bike trail riding its just that some bikes are more suitable than others. At work I have the pick of any of the latest Gas Gas , Husqvarna or Suzuki's but for me there all competition machines and offer little rider comfort as there designed for more time spent standing on the pegs than sitting on the plank….sorry Seat

It boils down to what you want. if your just out to do a few B roads and take in some trails ,then you do not need a balls out competition machine. Rather than damaging your expensive Adv Bike would it not better to spend £1500 on a tidy second had trail bike ( DR /XR/ TTR ) and use that trail riding through the winter and if it gets dropped and knocked about its not the end of the world. (thumbs)

[tuftywhite]

Sorry, couldn't bring myself to read 10 pages of comments.

What was the answer to the OP's question?

:cheer:

[johnnyboxer]

...............

[Mike Wright]

CCM 404e is a stonking bike. The best bits from a DRZ and the best bits from a KTM.

Best bike I have ridden off road.

si

I agree the CCM is a great bike for trails and about everything else off road you could ask for.

[picos mestizo]

This thread is getting more and more amusing for me owning a recently restored DR350, KTM 250 EXC-F and only recently selling a DRZ400S, not forgetting my 990ADV. Not one of the bikes in the stable is perfect for a ' do it all ' mount because every ride I do is different, ever day I ride is different , so I go out with the intention of getting the very best out of whichever bike I am riding that day. My state of mind, current level of fitness, the people I am with, the weather, all effect how I ride that day, and for me it doesn't matter what I am riding, just to be out there is what matters. There is no 'do it all' bike I could find fault in any of them, my advice is adapt to what you're riding and the conditions you are in and the bike you're on will become perfect !

Sarge

Not being a "Sky God Enduro Trail Racer" I also use a bike that suits the occasion.
I have a DR200 Djebel, DR250xc Djebel, CCM 644 along with a Twinshock DR370.
They all have their different uses & love riding all of them when conditions & venue suit.
The Djebels have been called upon on several occasions to fuel up a thirsy very fast KTM smoker. So I guess on those trips the KTM's wouldn't have been first man home should the lanes have been reduced to a race track :whistle: