I have a lot of buddies who did the same thing years ago. Very cool recon to be able to cover a variety of terrain legally. Why dont you get the WR and have it shortened. It can be done fairly simply. All you need is a spacer in each fork leg and 1 in the shock. I did it to my XR200 years ago for my wife and her short legs. She has moved on to quads now and Ive been meaning to remove the spacers for a while.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: reconranger

Picked up a leftover 07 Yamaha XT225. Sweet, mellow, easy to ride little machine!!! They redesigned the bike and bumped it up to 250cc for 08, so I got a real good deal on the older model.



Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I have gone over to the dirt bike dark side, but there is such a sense of freedom when I can legally ride around the streets and not have to look over my shoulder for the sheriff! I live close to excellent riding (Reche Canyon) and I have 350 acres of private land available, but I have to run the gauntlet of about 4 blocks of streets to get there, and that takes a lot of the fun out of the ride. It's so great to legally ride out to the hills, then just jump onto the dirt and go......



I will always prefer a quad over a dirt bike for hard core off road (especially in the desert), but with all the trail closures, dual-sport may be all that we will have left at some point in the future!



I can see handing the little XT down to my son pretty quickly. The new water cooled and fuel injected WR250R is a full on long travel suspension off road worthy dual-sport machine, but perhaps a little tall for my short legs....but I am going to be thinking in that direction in the future.</end quote></div>






If you don't mind me asking w/ price brkt is the yamie in?

 

I got me a WR450 it was leagal in Idaho but not in Nevada unless I put turn signals and a mirror on it. But if the cost of gas keeps going up I may consider it. That would give my husband something to ride to work when it isn't crappy out. LOL. I seem to fit on it just fine. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Welcome to the club!
Have you gone to www.advriders yet? www.xt225.com is good too. Theres lots of high quality photos of dual sport riding, and lots of good information....youll like it.
My best friend has one of those xt225, but its a bit older. He got a sweet deal on it, and its almost in brand new shape. The older guy who owned it before him only used it 3 or 4 times. Now my buddy rides it to work...they get fantastic gas milage. I average over 85 MPG on my Kawasaki Sherpa, thats whether I rev the crap out of it, or putz around.
Enjoy the new ride

 

Yes I used to love my Honda XL600 it was heavy for the trail but OK if you just rode along without getting to fancy,but on the road it could criuse at 85mph all day long without working hard and top out at 105mph if need be.

I like the new 400s like the DRZ Suzuki 400 they have now, light enough to have fun on the trails,yet powerful enough to cruise at freeway speed limits.

 

KTM owns the performance dual sport market. They are basically race bikes with the minimum parts to be street legal. I bet that Yammie will serve you and your family well for years, enjoy.

 

Congrats on the new dual sport reconranger. I also just figured out that dual sport bikes are a lot of fun. I have had dirt bikes for decades, but never a dual sport bike. Then I was at the local KTM dealer a few months back, and was standing there looking at a dual sport 530 EXC R, and had the thought hit me that it would be great fun to be able to ride from my house to the trail without having to load the bike into the truck or trailer.

About that same time diesel fuel prices were going into orbit, so I bought the bike and parked my usual dailer driver, a one ton dually crew cab Duramax. I've been having tons of fun riding the bike to work and back every day. And every night I take a different "long way home" from work, which includes several miles of dirt trails in the foothills. I've had the bike stuck in mud so thick the tires wouldn't turn any more. I've had it in the snow. And I've had it on the freeway at 80 mph. I'm having a blast. Not to mention, I'm not buying as much fuel these days. The last month I drove my Duramax as a daily driver it cost me $409 for a months fuel (on the Phillps 66 credit card). Last month driving either the dual sport bike to work, or my Jeep, it cost me $137 for a months fuel. Thats almost $4000 a year in post tax money, that comes out of my wallet every year. In two years time the bike will have paid for itself, and thats two years worth of fun, ... for free.

Have fun, and get out there and enjoy the heck out of that little Yamaha. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

DV

 

I paid around $4,000 OTD, which I think is very good for around here.

I checked them all out again today, and the WR is very tall (it is made to be easily lowered, but only by ~1"). The KLX 250 has just arrived here in Calif, and it is marginal....but I might be able to make it work (???).

In the end, I picked the XT225 because of price. I really like the new XT250 and the Honda 230L is also ok (I had a 230F, so I know that engine well), but for a starter machine that I may hand down to the kids, the 225 made economic sense!

I put on a few miles today in soft stuff. The power company blades the service roads every spring, and it turns them into miserable dust until the first rain, which won't be until Thanksgiving. The little Yamaha had a pretty hard time, but I am thinking a tie change is going to be necessary....