So here's the plan

During the summer of 2007, I will be going on a "languages abroad" tour to Costa Rica. Want to know the beauty of it? I dont have to pay for a damn thing! School financial aide pays for it, except for personal expenses (Souveniers and drinks and all that B.S.). SOOOO for my genius plan. I want to rent a motorcycle and tour around for a few days before the program starts. The cheapest bike i have found has been the XR250 at about $55 a day for 3-6 days. And a DR200 for $45 a day. I'm thinkin the honda.

What yall think?

Flogging someone elses XR250 for $55 a day sounds like a fun time.
If only you could find a CRF450X for $75 per.

has anyone ever had the experience of riding the an XR on the hwy for a couple hours at a time? How about rough gravel/dirt/potholed/softball sized rocks etc.? Have enough umph to go down the hwy? Speed limits are about 80km/h on all the main roads and about 100km/h on the freeway type things. Most of the time, the speeds are much less... I wont have much if any luggage with me (backpack) with my essentials.

I got plenty of time to decide... so no worries. What do yall think?

Man, your gonna be paying off students loans forever! I hope you make the most of the language classes, maybe you can bail out to CR?

I guess most of the guys here ride dual sported 650's and stuff in the dirt
(and street) but the XR250 is, for now, my main dirt bike. It is a very capable little bike and in technical single track will out run any 650 dual sport.

I ride with CRF's, WR's, KTM450s, XR650's, whatever. No problem keeping up.
When things tighten up and get knarly the XR shines. In the desert the bigger
bikes can get away and I bottom out trying to keep up (speeds over 70)
other than this type of riding it's really not bad. Its easy to pick up and is
handles really well (better than XR400 or DRZ400).

Costa Rica has some knarley muddy jungle if your up for it. Not begginer
stuff. Also lots of paved, dirt, gravel and mud to explore. You could spend a
couple months. The XR250 is actually pretty good on the highway for a 250. Its a 6 speed wide ratio tranny and can easily cruise at 65 mph all day. I've done it. Top speed is maybe 80 mph? Not bad for 20 hp bike.

A friend of mine used to own and run Motoaventura, a bike rental and tour
outfit in CR. He sold out long ago. They had DRZ400e's back then.
Too heavy in the mud and really hard technical stuff you can run into.
I'd prefer the 250. But on roads the DRZwould is better.

Man, $55 a day is outrageous! Guess the glory days are gone down there!

Glad to see you are making the most of your college years.

No dude... its an "undue financial burden" and its for a class credit... and the school pays for over half ).

Yeah, I have a KLR and can handle it in the mud, rocks, potholes and stuff.... slowly, but surely ( even in the woods i have only layed it down a couple times this year) knock on wood. So no doubt a light bike would be good. My main concern was comfort and ability to ride all day on the pavement and gnarly roads and stuff. I have been twice, so i know what to expect... and not to expect of the roads. Damn, i remember that time when we were coming back to san jose and got off the main hwy to go along this mountain road..... came to junction that you could barely see.... and we stayed on the road we were on... low and behold we end up on the beach asking directions back to San Jose... the junction had no signs and looked like an alley-way to the next hwy.

I'm thinking about bringing light camping gear so that I can stay at some of the places i found the last time i was there.... and-or maybe stay at my last transporter guy's house outside SJ.

I will be riding by myself for all i know but thats ok, i get to enjoy it.

And another reason i want a small light bike.... is incase of course i get out in the middle of no where and the bike gets stuck... i can just kick it over and get it out the same way it takes 2 people to do a KLR. But I can just barely give it a grunt and upright a less than horizontal KLR (fell over in some tractor ruts). I think i might go with the XR250.

oh and the price includes gear rentals... i wonder if i brought my own stuff i could get some money off? And im guessing my Darien jacket will be too heavy duty and hot for the task down there huh?

I used to have a 1986 XL250R that I used for city commutes and playing. It would run 60-65 mph no problem on the highway. I did do a couple 500 mile weekenders on it. Lots of fun. Not very comfortable for longer rides but I liked it a lot. I wish I still had it. I think it would be PERFECT in Costa Rica. "Stephen" and his son went there a couple years back and I remember him telling me that a 650 single is way bigger than necessary down there.
Stephen, chime in here anytime....

I live in Honduras and have an XR250 and feel it is the perfect bike for down here. It will go anywhere, runs on any fuel and is reliable. The roads here and in CR are not very well maintained which makes them perfect for a dirtbike. Many of the roads in Honduras and CR are not even paved. The Honda XR's are the perfect third world bike.

In CR this is probably whaat your XR will look like, it is called the Tornado.

Howdy slideways. I think im goin with these.

sorry cant link the pic

check out the rest of that website... prolly who im going with.

I think the 250 will be fine. There aren't any US style Interstates down there. HWY 1 (the main road though the middle) is a single lane (each way) 'B' grade road and even Multi lane express ways around San Jose are very rough and speeds of 100km/h don't happen anywhere other than these roads. "You ain't in Kansas anymore Toto..."

It's wonderful down there and I'm jealous already...
Have a great time

Have you been on the road to Monteverde? Particularly the one between Tilaran and Monteverde. (as if you were going around Lake Arenal to Monteverde)

You know... this one
We definately blew out the shock on our rented POS Jeep Grand Cherokee



This is the kind of stuff that I want to travel on... screw the major hwys... until I get there. I think I am going to go from San Jose to La Fortuna, via Monteverde and Santa ELena and there is a camp ground in ciudad Arenal. I dont know why they called it a city, twas only 2 blocks wide for 5 blocks .

The scary thing is that it took us over 4 hours to get from La Fortuna to Monteverde (only going avg of about 20mph). Because my dad had a bad back... so slow me went. On the XR i could prolly do the same distance in about 2 hours or less.....???

Anyone interested in meeting down there?

Yes, I have.

In some daewoo or something.

250 or 200 would be fine. Perfect.

In ten days, the highest speed limit I saw was 90 kph, out in Guanacaste. The XR would be plenty of moto. The studliest bike I saw down there was KTM 360 2-stroke, and it looked enormous. Oh, saw a couple of oilheads, and they just looked stupid big.

Have fun, ya big stupid jerk.

By the way for real detailed biking info on Costa Rica try a PM to Mopti.
He's done lots of biking down there, and is an ex-owner of Motoadventer tours (of Costa Rice). A very nice guy. I'm sure he'll put you straight.

55 bucks 'll buy a lot of diapers

Yeah, i know, right?

really, have a good time and be careful. some little person is counting on you being there.

I was kinda thinking the same thing. Only 15 years later, it's always buying alot of something other than a trail ride in the tropics.

Thats what I was thinking.

thinking thinking....there is a ADVrider living in Costa Rica.....

what was his screen name?....oh hell it is over a year away so it can wait