Thread: Trail--Farm Bike

Looking at getting a used bike in the next couple of months to fallow my young fella around on the farm on his bike. Also use it when i go other places for the odd farm/forestry hunt. I do a lot of bino hunts.Also will keep the hours down on my work sxs. looking at a modern bike. I hate sh#$ that breaks down. Want be carring out whole animals on it. Must be four stroke
My thoughts so far are along the lines of the suzuki dr200, honda crf150 or the crf230.. Would look at a tidy xr200 if one came up. I need to have another ride on my neighbours crf230, unsure in ruff conditions it might be to much bike. The new xr's seem cheap. Rhode bikes for years in my younger days and could hold my own
Any recommendations.

Drz400 , put a carrier on the back & a decent stand ,best of both worlds regret selling mine.

To big for what i need

To big in what way , 400cc or the size of the bike ? , these things are not overly powerful got nothing on a cr , my current bike is a Kawasaki 250 super Sherpa aka Tenzing, Have no complaints but given the choice I’d prefer the DR .

@Boaraxa the seat height is one factor. I find the crf230 seat hieght high enough and has more then enough power. Havn't had much bike time for the last 12yrs. Thats why i did think the crf150f might be ok but bit small maybe.

Is the kawasaki sherpa similar to the stockman?

Make sure you buy an old school air cooled bike, not water cooled. Bike shop owner gave me that advise a couple of weeks back. If you are not caning it the water cooled bike will over heat just idling around the hills.
His recommendation was a DR.

Crf230
The dr 400 is a great bike but way to heavy for what you want.


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Originally Posted by bigbear

Is the kawasaki sherpa similar to the stockman?

Yep they gave it a name change

CRF230 is a good little bike, only issue is suspension can be a bit of the soft side.
Real easy bike to ride, and with a low seat height and smooth power it's definitely not too much to handle.

Don't get a CRF150, the 150F will be woefully under powered and the 150R is too maintenance intensive for a farm bike.
A DRZ250 is a better bike than the CRF230 but a fair bit heavier and a DRZ400 whilst plenty of power is far too heavy for what I think your usage will be.

Electric start can be handy when stalled on a hill

Not many new models have a kick start any more
What are the yamaha ttr230 like? no factory head light but see they can be fitted. I know honda's hold there money

Originally Posted by bigbear

Not many new models have a kick start any more
What are the yamaha ttr230 like? no factory head light but see they can be fitted. I know honda's hold there money

Our 3 year old crf has never not started on the button mate, gets ridden every day guess that helps.

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got a XT 400 for a $1200

KLX250/300 not too common not so easy to get 2nd hand bits for them. If you can find a late model xr200 it will be a lot cheaper than a crf230 which seem to hold their value for what they are, well used ones are still 3K+ I don't see the value in them, most 2nd hand DRZ250's and TTR250's seem overpriced for what they are too. XR200's are easy to kick start if in good nick, no battery isn't a bad thing. DR200's are fairly gutless, heavy and have a tin fuel tank which will dent and or rust. A tidy post-2000 xr250 would be ok, you can get a rear lowering link for them and drop the forks a little in the triple clamps to lower them. As long as the manual decomp is still there to clear the carb and get started when you have an off, the kick start is not too bad.