What my lightest Dual Sport options

Building an expedition rig and want to hang a dual sport on the back with a nice setup. I still need it to be light though. The rig is designed to be base camp on some extended journeys. I still like riding around in the US on a bike, so road manners are still a consideration. Any suggestions?

Try the Honda F250 X (with a dual sport kit).

First, I think you mean "CRF-250X".

There is also an even lighter CRF-230.

If you are gonna put a "dualsport kit" on it, why stop there. I have a GasGas 200EC (2-stroke that has a "kit" and the bike weighs about 225 lbs.)

But none of these would have anything like "road manners" which he says he wants. It is questionable whether any small light dualsports have much in the way of "road manners", though people who are too small or too poor to ride anything else (or people who are just being characters abvout it) do ride stuff like Super Sherpas, DR200s, etc on highways.

Yamaha specically markets that fat tired thing, what is that a TTR-225, to the motorhome crowd as a back bumper camp bike to ride into town with. The basic Japanese factory 200 to 250 cc dualsports all weigh pretty close to the same. But they all have limited road manners.

I would guess a KLX250 would be ideal or if your able to add 30# maybe a DRZ. For a much lighter ride the Honda is the way to go.

I think we really need to get OP to clarify what he means by a "dualsport bike" before we can really advise him.

Does he want a plated trail bike that would be legal to connect trails?

Or does he want to ride 100 mile highway runs from his base camp? (The mention of "road manners" being important to him, throws this off for me).

For all we know he may need a KLR.

The CRF230 weighs about 20lbs more than the 250x and makes about half the power. One is a competition bike the other is a play bike.

What part of road manners and dual sport did you miss? Wwhy suggest a 2 stroke when what he has described is best handled by a 4 stroke?

DRZ400s if you want a bike that performs reasonably well on and off road, with good reliability and ease of maintenance. Lots of upgrades available too if you feel the need for more performance.

Any Husky TE if you want a performance dirtbike that also happens to be street legal.

Or a KTM if he wants to get laid more often!!! LOL

If you try the search feature, I'm pretty sure that someone has done a weight comparison on all the dual sports. If you find it, perhaps post it here again.

I purchased a BMW Airhead. Not the lightest of the bunch thats for sure! At 410 pounds, I will be hard pressed mounting it on the back of my rig. 250lbs and less would be nice. But yes, I do plan on riding all over the state with it. So with that in mind, a light "trail" bike might suck on the road. KLR is lighter than the Airhead isnt it?

My mistake. Thank you.

The part where somebody suggested a kitted CRF-250X. Yeah like that's got road manners. Lightest dualsport and road manners don't generally go together. THAT was my point. That (FOR EXAMPLE), my GG is plenty light but it WOULDN'T have "road manners".

We need clarification from OP as to how much the road misssion is and how critical the lightest part is. The guy wanted the lightest DS but it says should have road manners.

I ALSO said maybe it turns out he needs a KLR. Gee does that mean I missed the part about "lightest" too?

Impossible to tell with the information given. We need to know exactly what type and how much road riding you need.

How about this, it'd be a hit with the kids atthe campsite, too...

http://www.tryalsshop.com/ScorpaUSA/4Tricks/4Tricks.htm

Certainly light, not too sure about the "road manners" tho'

Cheers
-Simon

Ya. I am thinking maybe the "lightest" part is about less weight on the back bumper of his camper rig, and/or easier to load it. And NOT because he wants to ride the most technical singletrack, which is a more usual reason. The usual answer to the lightest plated bike Q is indeed often the kitted dirtbike like the CRF somebody mentioned, or like the kitted 2-stroke that I (and many others) have. But that is if the light weight is needed for the ride not the transport.

Yes we need to hear what he wants to do on the road with it, in order to opine on the lightest bike that would do THAT (whatever "that" is) in a satisfactory manner. Agreed.

Kawasaki says the KLR has a dry weight of 337 lbs, so it is a little bit lighter. It may be a little heavier than the DRZ or similar, but if you really want to ride "all over the state", I'd definately try to make the KLR fit in your plans if I were you.

Dry weight of the KLR 250 is about 250 Lbs. Better road manners than a 650. Top speed is about 85.

Too bad you bought already...

I'm waiting for the SXV/RXV, Aprilia guy at the IMS said it should be here this summer.

EFI V-twin
<300? lbs >70? hp

Which BMW airhead is 410 lbs?