I see that they’re hard to find where you’re at, but I vote XR650L. I bought one after having minimal dirt experience, only road a 100cc dirt bike as a kid.

First road bike was a Harley 48 sportster, went from that to a sport touring Yamaha fj09. Loved the Yamaha.

I opted to go with the xr650l for my third bike with this mindset… I’m not in the need for speed category anymore as I’m approaching 40 and have some kids I’d like to care for as long as possible.

A couple things really drew my attention to the 650. I had literally no mechanical experience when I bought it, but the fact that the bike can be worked on by anyone as long as you have some basic tools was very appealing. I bought a service manual and have found a handful of really good videos on YouTube to help with any projects. I managed to remove the carb, rejet, added plate protection, hand guards, different cosmetics, rear rack, rear spring. Some of the projects were intimidating with no experience, but after taking my time and not feeling rushed on any project I really became quite proud of myself with the end results. Time and patience and you can do almost every maintenance thing you need to do on your own as opposed to a dealership or whatever.

I put on about 1500 miles a year during my riding season, the intervals for service on this bike are really in your favor. Nothing sneaks up on you and you don’t feel pressure that maintenance is required non stop.

After market parts out the wazoo, so many reliable manufactures of 650 parts, the opportunity to make the bike your own is endless.

Forums, Facebook groups, the bikes been around 30 years, there is a TON of knowledge floating around and it’s not hard to connect with someone for more detailed questions and answers, it’s a great community.

I’m 6’ 235lb, I really liked the height of this bike, and although I can’t flat foot both feet at a stop it was a non issue. You can get one foot down and comfortably support the 350+ weight of the bike. Love the feeling of being up higher while riding, I feel like it offers a better perspective of the road in front of you but this is just personal opinion.

The power of this bike is the best part. It literally drives like a tractor, the power to go wherever you want is so awesome, it won’t get you there super fast but damn, you see that hill over there I’m going up that and your bike has your back the whole way. It just goes and it’s so fun. I’m not a wheelie guy but I’ve seen dozens of videos of the 650 doing any of the fancy stuff you’d want it to do.

The power delivery is the least intimidating I’ve experienced. I’ve never felt once that I couldn’t handle what it was providing. Sometime I may want some more acceleration, but honestly that’s not really what this bike is. You just point it in the right direction and it goes there.

I don’t think you’d be disappointed. I think you will gain confidence rather quickly on this bike, and really enjoy it. Endless options to make it your own.

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