Dirt Bike FAQ

If your going to get a street bike, get a real BMX bike. Norco makes some really good bike, but good street bikes can come cheaper and better if its street your looking for. If so, get a diamondBack Accoplice or joker. If its mountains your wanting, get a norco trails hardtail. you can use it on trails and dirt if you want. But BMX bikes are better for street.

While 20" is responsive, 24" wheels roll much better on rough terrain. The rule is the larger the wheel the easier it is to ride over rough stuff especially.

I like, in order:

KTM has the best suspension, lightest weight, most options and the most power. It is the most expensive and parts can be hard to get. The suspension is great but fussy to adjust.

The Yamaha is great for both racing and trail riding. YZF is better for racing and the WR for trails.

The Suzuki and Kawasaki are about the same and are good for both and they have very tough motors.

The Honda has great suspension and is easy to ride fast but the motors wont last the longest.

BTW, Cycle News sucks and I wouldn't put much trust in what they say. They mostly do street bikes anyway.

They are a great bike and could be used for trails as well as motox, but ultimately they are a race bike and set up to race.

I live in northern va. the only place i have found is in george washington forest. its free and plenty of trail. there is a place called gore that sounds good but it costs money. never been there though. out in wv theres some good places too.

Please post in the proper category
this is Cycling, as in Bicycling

try Motorcycles or Outdoor Sports

You have motorcross tracks, parks, unused land, and also trails, basically, find some woods, and ride where someone would walk.

A relatively inexpensive solid trail bike would be a Kawasaki KDX 200 or 220. they are one of the less expensive dirt bikes new and can usually find good deals on clean used ones around the $1000-1500 range.

they are set up for enduro, torquey yet with decent suspension & brakes. I have personally owned about 10 since 1980 and never had any serious problems. Parts are readily available, easy to work on, very reliable and long lasting.

likewise, at your height, it might be a little bit tall for you initially, but you can add lowering links to the rear suspension and slide the fork tubes up in the triple clamps to drop the seat height up to about 2.25 inches without loosing much, if any, suspension travel.

my son raced the area enduro circuit for about 5 years placing in the majority of the events on both a 200 & later on a 220.

There are a variety of good options for you. I would recommend a 4-stroke for trail riding for the wide powerband, the low end torque allows them to just keep on chugging. Though there are some perfectly capable 2-strokes out there for trails.
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 :P. 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.

2.1 gal tank on my 450 4stroke will be gone in roughly 2:30 at race speed through woods and some 45 mph short straight aways