Prior to Pacific's takeover GT was a good quality mid-priced brand. Now, there is no telling.
I found one online review, and I'm posting the link for that below. Older GT reviews will be of little help, as they are likely reviews of pre-Pacific bikes. Pacific owns the label and they can stick it on anything they please, good or bad, so beware of advice that "GT's are good bicycles."
PS:I'm looking for something that I can take off road and play with not a super fast racing bike.
- Pick up Dirt Rider magazine. They always have a classifieds section and reviews of products and bikes, check out what they say are some good deals.
- Peruse your Sunday paper. People often sell second-hand dirtbikes in the paper, check that out. Make some calls and see what people have to offer.
- Hang out at your local track. People are ALWAYS bringing excess bikes to the track and setting them up with For Sale signs. Those guys know their stuff too so they will usually ask a fair price.
- Make sure you do your research. Talk to the gys at your local dealers and have them make suggestions for you. They can recommend bikes for the way you ride or tell you about features you might look for. That way when you DO find somehting for sale, you know what you're looking for and what to ask.
- Lastly, check out this website for tips, tricks and an online marketplace.
http://dirtbike.off-road.com/dirtbike/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=264387
Good luck!
For trail riding, I would recommend against a moto-x or "racing" style bike. The gears are too close and the lowest ones are often too high for real technical trail stuff.
Some of the ones I am familiar with (through ownership) are the
WR-250 and the XR-250.
I moved up to the XR-250 from an XR-200 and it is a WORLD of difference. It surprised me greatly, so make sure you start carefully moving up from an 80. The engine is vastly superior, and it can do 3rd gear wheelies without popping the clutch
. It's among the best off road machines I've ever ridden, the powerband is perfect. It also has disk brakes on both tires (unlike the 200), which you definitely want.
The racing derived bikes, like the WR (based off the YZ), is basically a racing bike with different gearing and a few trail oriented changes. Usually they keep the same high-output high-compression racing motors, which can be finicky. Some of them even recommend a rebuild after every racing season (or more frequent!), though trail riding doesn't put as much strain on it. The XR has an air cooled engine, which I've noticed can get VERY HOT in the summer when your not able to move very fast for a while. The racing derived bikes tend to be liquid cooled, but are a tad more high-strung. I've had issues with both bikes with hot starting, especially after being dropped (the XR not as bad, but sometimes it can be stubborn). If you get a bike that uses a decompress to help start (WR does, XR has one but doesn't need it), it helps if you can get one with an auto-decompress exhaust cam (greatly eases starting), or electric start (though I personally won't ride a bike that ONLY has an electric start). The WR I believe has come with a decompress standard for quite some time now (and I think electric start now too), but I had to retrofit my older model with the cam. 2-strokes do tend to start easier, I will concede that to them 
.
Things you want in a trail bike:
tons of low-end torque
disc brakes, front and back
lower, wide ratio, trail gearing
comfortable (enough) seat
probably more I'm forgetting…
almost all bike manufacturer's make a good trail bike around that displacement class. Hit up the bike forums and reviews and see what people have to say about the bikes your looking at.
best of luck on your decision and have a blast!
edit: forgot to mention, if you like the Honda CRF250, check out the CRF250X model, it is the Honda equivalent to the WR, with the different gearing, etc. from the full out racing bike.
