Motards and service intervals.

[Ryven]

Alrighty, I'm looking for something narrow, light and ideally with a little kerb hopping potential while the Trumpy gets locked up and sits on a trickle charger... Motard is the first choice. With my research, I have noticed it's pretty freaking hard to buy a new road registrable motard these days (a few have vanished from the market)... And even more so interesting finding one with a reasonable service interval... I'm not so much worried about displacement, but it does need to be able to sit comfortably on 100km/hr for extended periods of time... And ideally be suitable for a 5,000 or 10,000 km service interval while being used for this purpose...

If I can't find something like that, I might just look at a 250 (though definitely NOT a VTR250) or RS125...

[Don]

KTM 690 SMR... ticks all your boxes. Go and have a look at one in person.

[Goofy]

Drz400?

[Magilla]

I was going to ask whether you were willing to 'tard a road/trail, but they seem to have fairly short service intervals...

[Ryven]

KTM 690 SMR... ticks all your boxes. Go and have a look at one in person.

So I've heard, I'm waiting on Causeway KTM/Ducati to get one in so I can kick the tyres, they had nothing for me to even look at. Though, I've been told they will give me a call when they get one in.

Drz400?

I haven't had a chance to look at them. Any idea if they sell them as motards out of the box with road tyres, or I'm going to need to convert, and do they have key ignition, etc? Any owners know about service intervals?

Edit: Magilla- Yeah, with the bike potentially doing 200-500km/week, I don't really want to service it biweekly...

[Don]

North city have a nice SMR (Maye an SM) with Akrapovic pipes all ready to ride...
DRZ is bulletproof, considering you may even go for something like an RS125, the power wont be too underwhelming.

The SXV 550 is superb, but from what I understand, needs lots of tlc. it is also a true motard in terms of fuel range and comfort.

The KTM is more comfy and a little more practical, but very very very good fun to ride, and not too much slower than your street 3.

As you have said, not a lot of choice for new bikes in this category.

[Magilla]

I found a DIY 'tard (road/trail) for you: the BMW GS650 XChallenge. First service is 1000km, and then the interval is every 10,000km.

2007/8 models are going on bikepoint for between $10,000 and $13,000.

They'd probably not be bad 'tarded.

Review: Used Dirtbikes-BMW G650 XChallenge review

[themadone]

The Suzuki DRZ400SM comes with all motard bits ready to go. And sexy black too!!!!

[Ryven]

I'll check them out. I think I forgot to mention having a proper igntion key as opposed to a kill switch trigger. Whatever I get won't likely be used for anything more "off road" than kerb hopping/over grass. Suitable places to use a dirt bike are too few and far between these days. I probably won't get a trail/quad again until I have somewhere to use it.

[filbert]

the KTM, Husqvarna etc are out of the box motards, there is a suzuki drz400 motard out of the box but it is detuned compared to the yellow enduro version.
Ducati now have the 795 hypermotard which is in a similar pricerange to the 690 KTM, they're all expensive for parts besides the suzuki which unlike MX base motards has a 5000km service interval. The suzuki is worth looking at if you don't ride any of the others first lol, it's cheap and incredibly reliable. I converted the enduro version myself and it is proving to be bulletproof only fault with the engine thus far is burning 100mL of oil per 120kms if i sit on 110 or higher.
Fuel range is about 110kms before the reserve on most with 12 litre tanks for spirited riding less if you really hammer it.

[AZAZL]

Try and get something below about 130kg. I don't know the KTM but know riders that do and it sounds the goods. SXV is just frequent oil change but is fantastic. Modifying a dirt bike to a good standard is not cheap. WR cost me thousands (but the quality is top shelf). May I suggest forget the 250's? Running up stairs i easier with a bit of grunt :-)

[taint]

drz400sm - service every 6k, oil every 1000-2000 depending on how you ride it. Probably more if you baby it but I don't know if I would risk it. 100km/h, not hugely comfortable

husky 610 - nice bike, decent power, ok service intervals

ktm 690 - Causeway ktm has a couple in stock, at least they did when I was there last week.

The others are race bikes and probably wouldn't suit you. No fuel range, oil every 500km, etc...

[taint]

I converted the enduro version myself and it is proving to be bulletproof only fault with the engine thus far is burning 100mL of oil per 120kms if i sit on 110 or higher.

holy crap, I never burnt oil in mine, did a trip to new norcia at a tad over the limit and it was fine. Eventually did a piston though and replaced it with a big bore item. Still no oil burn.

[Magilla]

How much are you looking to spend? What would it cost to 'tard a road/trail?

The BMW with the 10,000km service interval weighs around 175kg...

[Ryven]

The Suzuki's looking pretty good. They're cheap as. Combined with an apparently decent service range, I'll try to get some time to look at them on the weekend.

I don't have a price in mind for how much I want to spend, but if I can get something that does the same job brand new for less than second hand, like in the case of the Suzuki, I can't ignore that... It also sits a few cms lower than most, meaning I shouldn't need to lower it/carve the seat.

Motard conversions seem to range from about $1500-4000 from what I've been told...

[filbert]

holy crap, I never burnt oil in mine, did a trip to new norcia at a tad over the limit and it was fine. Eventually did a piston though and replaced it with a big bore item. Still no oil burn.

Mine has been bouncing off the redline since new, and is geared to top out at 130, i think burning a little oil is fine compared to what most motors do under those conditions, it doesn't burn any oil round town.

[damo]

http://www.perthstreetbikes.com/foru...motard-102639/

TT600S(M) more power than the DRZ, lighter than the DRZ and far cheaper
plus: recommended service intervals of 6,000km (as per manual)

[agrid]

2005 KTM 640 LC4, 150 kg, 54 hp, 175 kmh, 5,000 km services, Magura, Brembo, White Power, $6,000.

[Lach]

U dick Ryvern, just get a trail... I'll let you have a go on the EXC this weekend if you want... Fkn stupid getting a motard if you are going to commute on it everyday. Just convert the trail to motard if need be, I can show you some riding spots aswell if you get a trail

[lee]

you know motards make you break the law lots, right?