Best Soft Road Bike

[AllanB]

A few of us have been thinking about venturing off road, along the numerous dirt tracks actually and wondered what bikes were available and how good they are. We are looking at new so probably Chinese cheap, cheerful, low-tech and lightweight, with or without a book.

There are a few threads running specific to one model and so far I have only seen the Lifan 200 for sale around here.

So, looking for models, prices and where to get them..and of course what you think if you own one..

[Familyonthemove]

If you can stretch to it - I'd recommend the Honda 250 ..... but if not .... I reckon the Keeway 200 is the best of the Chinese brigade. There's a trail bike version as well as "moto" look-alike with smaller front wheel.

[Richard-BKK]

The cheapest offer in Thailand for a 200cc enduro motorcycle is probably the Shineray XY200GY-10, it will cost you 30,000 THB and I was told it can now be legally registered....

With two rear shocks, and everything as simple as possible it's surely not a technological marvel... but it works... Not sure if it's the “Best soft-road bike” it's surely cheap enough to not sad if you bought it and it didn't live up to expectations...

[AllanB]

The cheapest offer in Thailand for a 200cc enduro motorcycle is probably the Shineray XY200GY-10, it will cost you 30,000 THB and I was told it can now be legally registered....

With two rear shocks, and everything as simple as possible it's surely not a technological marvel... but it works... Not sure if it's the “Best soft-road bike” it's surely cheap enough to not sad if you bought it and it didn't live up to expectations...

Looks really good, any idea of where to buy one?

[drift]

I didn't know this company existed. They seem to make quite a few bikes though. Here's the link to their Thai website. They could tell you about where the dealers are. If you do find out could you post the locations?

http://www.shineray-thailand.com/

[AllanB]

Just spoke to the guy at Shineray and he is finishing with the bikes and selling off the few bikes he has, so a bit of a dead end.

Looked at a 150cc Kawasaki Enduro a nice bike and 77k baht with a plate. They also had a Chinese something or other 125cc for 45k baht.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy0H5f7GOB4

[ll2]

go for an old klx.

chinese bikes are cheerful and simple until they broke down and you stay in the middle of nowhere on the trail and it is not cheerful anymore!

[taninthai]

Just spoke to the guy at Shineray and he is finishing with the bikes and selling off the few bikes he has, so a bit of a dead end.

Looked at a 150cc Kawasaki Enduro a nice bike and 77k baht with a plate. They also had a Chinese something or other 125cc for 45k baht.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy0H5f7GOB4

i wonder why he is finishing with them...............

gotta say at 30,000 bht that is the cheapest proper motorbike i have heard of for sale here.......then again i may be jumping the gun abit calling it a proper motorbike.

op yes kawa 150 goota be next best thing if your on a budget ,only problem they are a bit small if you are anywhere near 6ft

[AllanB]

The Shineray was designed for the Ausi outback and by all accounts is a good bike, the problem is the importer, he bought in a few samples and didn't have the way-with-all to market them. So he is selling off the samples and moving on. That is probably why they are 30k.

The Kawasaki does look good, it is lightweight and plenty powerful enough for my needs, didn't wanna spend 77k though, but may do for POM. It may be cool now, but another month or so and it won't be any fun pushing a bike through snake infested grasslands. So, cheaper than being dead.

[Richard-BKK]

To be honest the Thai importer of Shineray was never interested in the motorcycles Shineray made, but it was a distribute all products or no products deal from Shineray... So he also distributed the motorcycles, but he was more interested in the mini-vans and mini-trucks from Shineray....

Some time back I checked out a 250cc Shineray, and while it was not as powerful as the GPX ZF250, nor was it comparable with a Kawasaki KLX250 or Honda CRF250L on performance, it was a good ride for a bit off-road exploring (what most of us actually want to do).

The Kawasaki KLX125 or KLX150 are not capable to do anything seriously off-road, the only thing you do with a KLX125/150 is blocking the off-road trails for other riders who can do that climb...

[denkiblue555]

70 - 80k would get a decent used KLX250 - that would be my pick given your needs.

Edited January 15, 2014 by denkiblue555

[Richard-BKK]

Join the club, after a truck killed my GPX ZF250 I'm looking for an new off-road fun bike. The Honda CRF250L and Kawasaki KLX250 are just not powerful enough to replace the feeling of the Chinese build GPX ZF250.

Initially I bought the GPX ZF250 for a bit of fun for 2 years, the idea was that I could have a lot of fun with a bike which costed less than 80,000 THB. In the end the bike lasted much longer than the 2-years I planned.

Even when the truck killed my bike, along with a Kawasaki KLX250 from a friend, I can say that I'm impressed with the GPX build quality. While the frame of the GPX was severely bend and twisted it did not break. The Kawasaki frame did break at several places. Of course this is absolutely not scientific truth as the Kawasaki and GPX where parked at different angles and the Kawasaki was scooped by the truck first... etc...

On the last off-road ride with my friends I toke the BMW G650-Xmoto from my girlfriend, and while the G650-Xmoto is very capable to do off-road riding it has a bit to much power to make off-road riding fun.... I still looking seriously to replace the GPX ZF250, and a Honda CRF250L or a Kawasaki KLX250 are not a option, they just road bike dressed up like off-road machines.

[taninthai]

^

you don't seem short of cash richard why don't you just go and buy the proper klx or crf both stocked at respective dealers priced around 300k i believe.

richard recomends a 30k bike for off roading that most people have never heard of ,and then goes onto say klx and crf probably the 2 best selling bikes in this segment are no good for off roading .........your posts sure are bizarre richard,you seem to have huge knowledge of bike company backgrounds,manufacturing process and suppliers ,but of actual bikes not much knowledge at all......

this is just my impression from your posts ,not a personal attack , after all the years here i actually enjoy your posting style and as said you do have some good knowledge.

Edited January 16, 2014 by taninthai

[denkiblue555]

Or why not a real off-road bike second hand? - easily had for the same budget of around 80k - CRF/WR/YZ etc.

A proper off-road bike like a CRF/WR etc., even second hand, would be light years ahead of a brand new Chinese bike.

If need a greenbook (GPX is not an option anyway) - go a second hand CRF250L/KLX250S

If not needing a greenbook - go a second hand CRF/WR/EXC etc.... 250ish cc

[AllanB]

^

you don't seem short of cash richard why don't you just go and buy the proper klx or crf both stocked at respective dealers priced around 300k i believe.

richard recomends a 30k bike for off roading that most people have never heard of ,and then goes onto say klx and crf probably the 2 best selling bikes in this segment are no good for off roading .........your posts sure are bizarre richard,you seem to have huge knowledge of bike company backgrounds,manufacturing process and suppliers ,but of actual bikes not much knowledge at all......

this is just my impression from your posts ,not a personal attack , after all the years here i actually enjoy your posting style and as said you do have some good knowledge.

...hang on, he may not be strapped for cash by I am. 300k is not only about 400% over budget, but a heartbreaker if I wrecked it. Cheap and cheerful is what I want, also I have leg problems so want something lightweight, don't want to do the Dakar and there are no hills around here anyway to hold others up on.

The bike is more for exploring rather than racing, so as I see it a standard 250cc is more than enough umpf. Thought of sticking some knobblies on the Wave, but the bumps would kill a perfectly good bike, then the missus would kill me. There are some guys who convert them around here, but the quality of engineering is crap and they would last 5 minutes in the bush.

Obviously some of you guys are in a different league to me, possibly younger too, I did loads of off-roading in Europe, but with a 2 ton Landrover around me to take the hits. The 150 Kawasaki would be good, but the frame is a little small.

Second hand CRF/KLX would sound okay, but if it has been off-road it may have had a hard life, especially if it has been owned by some of you guys. The golden rule when you buy a Landrover to off-road, is don't buy one that has been off-road. That is why Discos became popular, they had only been to Tescos and on the school run and are clean and ready for punishment.

[taninthai]

2nd hand klx and crf are not really that cheap usually older klx 80-90k and the crf around 100-120k,may seem expensive but you could use these bikes for 1 year and probably sell it on at around 10-20k loss.

i bought a crf brand new used it and abused it for a year ,then sold it on at a 25 k loss, so to me it was actually cheaper than buying a chinese bike ,had great fun for a year no problems or break downs.

p.s the crf and klx we talk about for 300k are the full on motocross machine obviously different from the road going crf and klx that many have suggested to yourself,

you still have cheap options check out the lifan bikes,around 50 k i think

[Richard-BKK]

^

you don't seem short of cash richard why don't you just go and buy the proper klx or crf both stocked at respective dealers priced around 300k i believe.

richard recomends a 30k bike for off roading that most people have never heard of ,and then goes onto say klx and crf probably the 2 best selling bikes in this segment are no good for off roading .........your posts sure are bizarre richard,you seem to have huge knowledge of bike company backgrounds,manufacturing process and suppliers ,but of actual bikes not much knowledge at all......

this is just my impression from your posts ,not a personal attack , after all the years here i actually enjoy your posting style and as said you do have some good knowledge.

You can say what ever you want but the GPX ZF250 was the better off-road bike compared to the Honda CRF250L or the Kawasaki KLX250. Of course the Kawasaki and Honda are much better for on-road riding, and basically the CRF250L and KLX250 are a compromise between on-road and off-road, with on-road more dominant, what automatically means that the off-road capability is less.

The GPX ZF250 Enduro was basically a off-road bike with lights, the bike still had its pure off-road tires which where not that great for on-road riding, also the acceleration and throttle behavior was not very compatible with riding on paved roads.

Of course the whole GPX ZF250 subject is useless as the ZF250 is not available anymore.

I'm not a very active off-road rider and for the few hours per month that I actually can ride an off-road motorcycle the investment of a Honda CRF250X, Kawasaki KX250 or even a Suzuki RM-Z250 is not justified...

For the Shineray, I never recommended the bike, I just informed on this forum that the Shineray XY200GY-10 is the cheapest off-road motorcycle you can buy... I even said that it is not the “Best soft-road bike”

[taninthai]

^
Touchy this morning ,don't know why you are going on about the gpx,cause I never even mentioned it,,you may like to call it a off road bike with lights,I prefer to call it a cheap copy of an off road bike with lights which is fine if you don't mind that sort of thing ,but I remember you claiming this bike came with a yss shock and the wheels from the same supplier which honda uses for the CRf wheels ..,...keep dreaming....you never did send me the picture or confirmation of the quality of the shock on it.......oh wait if I remember you might have admitted you made a mistake with that comment.

again to the op if you don't want to spend on the crf or klx take a look at lifan plenty of info on here just search lifan,this bike is still in production and can be road registered unlike richards suggestions.

Edited January 17, 2014 by taninthai

[ktm jeff]

AllanB i think you would be better off buying a M-bike / Sym / keeway / Platinum for your needs , or a Shineray for 30,000 baht.As taninthai has admitted ,he made the mistake of buying a Honda CRF (a bike that is not in any way a "off-road bike" either in terms of performance or quality).He lost nearly as much on the Honda come trade in time (at least 25,000), after just 1 year , (when i hope he bought a quality/value bike) as the cost of buying a Chinese bike outright in the first place!.Your not a worried of falling off a cheaper bike and for fun riding this can result in you having more FUN . which is why your buying a "off-roader type bike in the first place!.

[taninthai]

^

lmfao the trolls do make me laugh ,they could probably help themselves a bit if they learnt to read.

i think i will go down my local professional off road touring company tomorrow and ask them why they bought 10 klx 250 which they use everyday for some pretty hard off roading,when apparently they are in no way capable off the task.........to think they could have had 20 chinese bikes for that money ....what idiots they must be and not a professional outfit at all.

Edited January 17, 2014 by taninthai

[ktm jeff]

taninthai , i think you missread my post.It was the Honda (HONDA)that is not up to "off-roading" due to their quality ,and issues of only one radiator/non folding levers / heavy weight.Not the KLX ,which i will be buying soon!( and spending about 40,000 baht on making it more suitable to my requirements).If you do your math(s)correctly you will find you can buy between 30 and 40 Chinese bikes for the price of 10 KLX,s.The reason a "pro " outfit buy KLX,s(and not Hondas or Chinese)is for "proper" and regular off road use they will last longer, overall , and require less maintainance.Just had a quick look at 1 year old Honda CRF,s and their values are dropping 30/40,000 baht after just about 1 year!.So thats more than a "free" Chinese bike per year.My factual point is valid.PS ,im not a troll - do i need to have lots of posts for that? Its now 9 PM on a Friday night so please go out and have some fun/beer and dont get hung up on what bike you bought/own.If its got 2 wheels , your a biker. Im a biker.Have a beer on me.

[denkiblue555]

I can't see anyone sane wanting to be on a piece of junk when you are 'off-road'.

People that like to venture off road like things that are tried and true - these Chinese bikes are not, they are cheap.

Give me an off-road Chinese-bike budget, and I'll go and buy a used 2-stroke 'proper' off-road bike (125/250cc) that will whip the Chinese thing all day every day, in every aspect. If you are here on holiday - maybe it would be worth buying a Chinese off roader, otherwise I really don't see the attraction.

[taninthai]

^

perhaps you should read some of the reviews comparing the crf/klx, before you spend your money.

if you don't make up shit about what i say in my posts i have no reason to call you a troll ,however if you insist on doing that i will call you a troll every time.

oh and the pro outfit i talk about also have crf.

p.s thanks for the beer on you ,but i don't drink .but judging by your posts tonight id say you've had a few.......

oh I'm not into slagging bike brands off , i like several different bikes from different manufactures unless chinese of coarse ,so am not the slightest interested in silly comments like crf is heavy,the crf and klx are both heavy ,at least try to bring actual valid points if you like to play the childish games of my bike is better than yours.or this brand is better than that brand blah blah blah.

Edited January 17, 2014 by taninthai

[AllanB]

I appreciate the advice and respect the views of those who have replied to the post, but I am not looking for something to race at all, just have some sensible fun.

As an experienced off-roader I know there is a chasm of difference between a vehicle's requirements for competitive hard driving/riding and casual. Having competed in the Ladoga Trophy, I know how to punish a vehicle, where only the very best will even last the day, on the other hand I have toured green lanes in the Uk and Europe, driven for two weeks without the slightest incident and certainly no damage.

My style of riding at my time of life will not wreck anything as I am not looking to wreck myself, so any bike with reasonable suspension travel and knobbly tyres will do the job.

What does concern me is how long will the engine & gearbox lasts and what parts are available when I need them. I would go out tomorrow and buy that 30k Shineray, but with no backup, that would be a big risk. At the other end of the scale of suggestions are the likes of the CRF and they are simply outside my budget, so I am looking at the best of the rest.

I assume that out of the big 4 only Kawasaki do a 150cc machine?

[denkiblue555]

As an experienced off roader, why wouldn't you simply buy a reasonably priced used Jap off-road bike and get out there?

If you know how to wrench then there are no issues - parts easily available online... yadda yadda.....

Nothing would bug me more than being on a junky bike at the base of that sweet hill and having to turn back.

Just my 2c

[Richard-BKK]

If you're thinking about a Kawasaki KLX150 I would recommend that you look at the KLX140L, which is not road-legal but is much better off-road than the Kawasaki KLX150.