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December 14: Beginner/Intermediate ride at Hidden Falls

Good on you for taking the GS out there! I used to take mine to the single track at SHNF every once in a while - it was ridiculous, but hey - why not.

Regarding a good cheap dirt bike. Yep- totally get where you are coming from. Back to the GS - first time I ever rode off road after years and years of sport biking and having never ridden in dirt was in BBNP on River Road on a GS1100 with street tires. By myself. That was a long and humbling day - and kind of stupid to be honest.

Anyway, after that I was like - you know - something lighter with knobbies may be more fun...

So - back to good and cheap - you know how it is - good and cheap rarely go together and cheap is also a relative thing. I would not put a 500 EXC in the cheap category, but don’t know your relative viewpoint. Good - heck yes! I love mine!

There are lots of cheaper ways to get a very decent street legal bike - I started with a used WR450F and put a street legal kit on it. Actually did that twice before going with the EXC. That WR was a beast - I mean a beast! Had a blast on both of them - but jeez - they had a lot more power than I had talent.

If you want to go new and cheap, the WR250R is a good place to look for a street legal out of the box solution.

Ultimately it depends on what you want to do with it - everything is a compromise. At Hidden Falls, even the 500 EXC is a big bike on some of the trails, though I ride there when I can and enjoy the training it provides.
 
So I ended up going with another GS rider on Saturday. Wow that was a lot of fun! We stuck to the ATV trails and 3 diamonds and below. It was difficult, but about perfect level for us. North loop was the hardest trail for us, but what a blast. I can't imaging what its like on a dirt bike.

Out of curiosity what is good inexpensive dirt bike, something 4 stroke that I could ride on the streets? KTM 500 EXCF? View attachment 250481
500 is a great bike, not sure about that inexpensive part, lol.
 
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