Colorado Woods Bike

[coloradodirtbag]

I need a trail/woods bike to ride near the front range.  I'm 6'4, 200 pounds, with moderate riding experience. I have about 4k to drop, is the 300 XCW still the top Colorado "woods bike"? Been looking at 150/200/300 XCWs, yz250x, crf250x/yx250fx, and recently saw the 450L.  Which would be best for someone in my situation? Low maintenance would be ideal, I'm pretty &%$#@!ed with it comes to mechanical issues. 

[tnarG224]

I need a trail/woods bike to ride near the front range.  I'm 6'4, 200 pounds, with moderate riding experience. I have about 4k to drop, is the 300 XCW still the top Colorado "woods bike"? Been looking at 150/200/300 XCWs, yz250x, crf250x/yx250fx, and recently saw the 450L.  Which would be best for someone in my situation? Low maintenance would be ideal, I'm pretty &%$#@!ed with it comes to mechanical issues. 

Where do you ride? I'm in Fort Collins, just moved here not that long ago looking for people to ride with...not too much help for your original question lol

[coloradodirtbag]

3 minutes ago, tnarG224 said:

27 minutes ago, coloradodirtbag said:

I need a trail/woods bike to ride near the front range.  I'm 6'4, 200 pounds, with moderate riding experience. I have about 4k to drop, is the 300 XCW still the top Colorado "woods bike"? Been looking at 150/200/300 XCWs, yz250x, crf250x/yx250fx, and recently saw the 450L.  Which would be best for someone in my situation? Low maintenance would be ideal, I'm pretty &%$#@!ed with it comes to mechanical issues. 

Where do you ride? I'm in Fort Collins, just moved here not that long ago looking for people to ride with...not too much help for your original question lol

I'm in Aurora, I met up last summer with a few people from this thread.  
 

Not sure if it's still active, but worth a try.

[SilvFx]

yep the KTM 300 XCW is still the swiss army knife of bikes for Colorado.  You may be hard pressed to get something decent with a $4K budget.  If you can increase that to $5-$6K you can likely get a later model (2012+) that is lower hours (50-100 hours).

Honda CRF450L has a list price close to $10K i believe so that isnt going to fit in your budget and not really needed for Colorado as its pretty simple to convert or plate a dirt bike. You can probably find WR250F/WR450F within your $4K budget.  Not sure about the YZ250FX...maybe starting to get into that price range.  I dont object to anything in your list for a decent trail/offroad bike and gives more options to land within your $4K budget.  The only thing that I would add to your shopping list is the WR250F/WR450F, YZ450FX, CRF450X, the Husky equivalents to the KTM 150/200/250/300 XCW which is the TE model.  You can also look at the KTM 250/350/450 XCF-Ws and the Husky FE 250/350/450. (four strokes)  Your limiting factor is your $4K budget.

[coloradodirtbag]

1 hour ago, SilvFx said:

yep the KTM 300 XCW is still the swiss army knife of bikes for Colorado.  You may be hard pressed to get something decent with a $4K budget.  If you can increase that to $5-$6K you can likely get a later model (2012+) that is lower hours (50-100 hours).

Honda CRF450L has a list price close to $10K i believe so that isnt going to fit in your budget and not really needed for Colorado as its pretty simple to convert or plate a dirt bike. You can probably find WR250F/WR450F within your $4K budget.  Not sure about the YZ250FX...maybe starting to get into that price range.  I dont object to anything in your list for a decent trail/offroad bike and gives more options to land within your $4K budget.  The only thing that I would add to your shopping list is the WR250F/WR450F, YZ450FX, CRF450X, the Husky equivalents to the KTM 150/200/250/300 XCW which is the TE model.  You can also look at the KTM 250/350/450 XCF-Ws and the Husky FE 250/350/450. (four strokes)  Your limiting factor is your $4K budget.

Is it worth it to spend the extra money up front for a newer KTM? If I buy a 2000s XCW will I be putting a ton of money into the bike to maintain? Which year range would you recommend? 

[nobade]

The newer the better for suspension, the engine is pretty much the same until 2016 when it got a counterbalancer. No reason an old one can't be made to work just fine. Oh, starters sucked until about 2012 or so but the kickers work.

[Padilen]

Check out the new GPX
FSE( four stroke Enduro) and TSE(two stroke Enduro).
I recently purchased a TSE250R. It exactly what I was thinking I needed. It was easily made street legal(Michigan), to dual sport too.

[SilvFx]

8 hours ago, coloradodirtbag said:

Is it worth it to spend the extra money up front for a newer KTM? If I buy a 2000s XCW will I be putting a ton of money into the bike to maintain? Which year range would you recommend? 

The 2007 and prior KTMs are smaller frame/cockpit...so would look for something later than that especially given your height.  I would say look for something 2012 and later and try to find something with less than 80 hours.  KTM did improve the starters on 2013 and later.  I have already replaced my starter on my 2012 with an aftermarket one.

My experience looking for used KTMs in Colorado is that they are bought by enthusiasts and tend to be well used (more so than other bikes).  Look for a low hour one and be patient.  When they post on CL, jump on them right away and have your cash ready to go and you can find some decent deals.  For whatever reason, was also seeing some decent deals on AZ KTMs when my buddy was looking for a KTM 300.  He ended up buying a 2014 KTM 300 XC-W Six Days with 20 hours on it that had never been dropped for $6K.  He even found a 2016 KTM 350 XCF-W with 7 hours in San Diego for listed for $7k with buyer willing to sell for $6.5k -- but he wanted a two stroke.  I told him to buy it and I will take it off his hands...and it had sold the next morning for the $7k asking price before he could reach the seller to say he reconsidered.

[firefinch]

With that budget a YZ250X 2 stroke is out too, but a nice 2stroke YZ250 MX bike could be converted for around your budget.  $3k for the a bike and spend the leftover $ on suspension and a flywheel weight.

Edited September 20, 2018 by firefinch

[MXR]

Just spend $2k more and get a much better and newer bike. In the past I’ve been cheap and didn’t want to spend the extra dough to regret it later as I spent money on worn parts and suspension that could have gone into a newer bike... without the hassle

[coloradodirtbag]

Would it be wise for me to start out on a KDX 200/220 for <2k?

[nobade]

Would it be wise for me to start out on a KDX 200/220 for

If it's the newest version, and in good shape that's a great way to go.

[MixinGasKickinAss]

Ktm and low maintenance do not belong in the same paragraph