Motorcycle question: early enduro bikes.

[aranjaloca1]

A few weeks ago, my '63 Vespa (a beautiful bike) was crushed by a Dodge Ram while parked in front of a movie theater. Accidents happen and that's whywe've got insurance. So, I "need" a new bike. I want an early-mid '70s enduro, or so I think. Like a Yamaha XT500, or something. I'm apretty tall guy. Anybody out there that knows about such bikes and might have suggestions?

[HD DON]

Hey Ryan, Not an expert by any means but the Yamaha XT500 is a 4 stroke which is a good choice.
Most of the dirt bikes in the 70's were 2 stroke high reving motors that were very quick but a pain since you had to add 2 stroke oil to mix with the gasand not as reliable a 4 stroke motor.

start here: http://ljthomp.tripod.com/xt500.htm


Good luck...

DON

[wishihad]

it all depends on what ya want. I like the 2 stroke bukes. Had a KDX back in the late 70's early 80's. And could be street legal, headlight andeverything, but had the off road power to go with it. Good luck on the search. And when ya find somethin post it up so we can check it out.

Mike

[1Perry]

What are you wanting to do? Go with something the exact opposite of the Vespa? Are you actually planning to go off road? I never thought two strokes were agood comprimise for the street unless they had oil injection. If I just wanted something different to run around locally though and wasn't worried aboutwhere I ran out of gas I'd get a Bultaco. You certainly wouldn't pass yourself on the street every day. Honda made some excellent comprimise bikes inthe late 70's early 80's that were taller and bigger which will easily hold their own in traffic.

[aranjaloca1]

Yeah, see, that's the direction I'm looking in. I put a new crate 200 in my Vespa and it'd do 60-65 fairly comfortably, but the roads here in LongBeach suck (we spend our money on pretty traffic medians instead of potholes and patches) and I want something that I can commute on a little if I so desire.4-stroke is a bonus for many reasons, the big two being the lack of mixing and cleaner burning. It's a bike that I'd probably never take off road(that's what my truck is for), but the enduro would better handle our lousy streets. And they look a little cool...
Don, thanks for the site link; a good resource.

[Jaybird]

As was said above, it depends on what you want. It sounds like you need mostly street. Honda is my favorite, how about an XR650L? Electric start, plenty ofoff-road capability, and freeway is no problem. Pretty big bike physically, though. Suzuki DR's are great, look for a clean late model DRZ400. Lighter,water-cooled, plenty of hop-ups out there too. Bulletproof! Good Luck!