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Which Supermoto to get

FightingIrish

FightingIrish

New member
Joined
Jun 6, 2007
Location
510
Moto(s)
Black '01 FZ1
So i'm going to sell my Ducati and get a SM.
there are alot of choices out there and i really don't know much about them.

I have looked at every thing from the DRZ to the Aprilia.
Which SM do you guys think is the best value for the money and which one would you avoid all costs.

Thanks
 
i rode a friends drz sm.... and ended up buying a new one the following week! this is my first motorcycle and i think it rocks!!! just my 2cents...
 
It depends on what you want to do with it, if you want it to be street-legal, what your budget is, what your tolerance for maintenance is, whether you want to race or if you want to do goat trails/street hooliganism, if you want to do a lot of freeway and just like the cachet of the styletard, if you're just testing the waters and want an all-'rounder to get a feel for SM, etc., etc.
 
Roadstergal said:
It depends on what you want to do with it, if you want it to be street-legal, what your budget is, what your tolerance for maintenance is, whether you want to race or if you want to do goat trails/street hooliganism, if you want to do a lot of freeway and just like the cachet of the styletard, if you're just testing the waters and want an all-'rounder to get a feel for SM, etc., etc.
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+1
need more info
 
Roadstergal said:
It depends on what you want to do with it, if you want it to be street-legal, what your budget is, what your tolerance for maintenance is, whether you want to race or if you want to do goat trails/street hooliganism, if you want to do a lot of freeway and just like the cachet of the styletard, if you're just testing the waters and want an all-'rounder to get a feel for SM, etc., etc.
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I'm defenitaly looking for street legal. my tolerance to maintenance is high i own a ducati. not so much interested in the racing more oakland hills and maybe some goat trails. any freeway riding would be minimal ie enough to get you to the twistys. the budget is enough for the right bike.
thanks for the replys guys.:twofinger
 
I don't own one yet, but I'd have to say the DRZ is the best deal out there. So many used, you should be able to get a deal. Plus I'm getting tired of hearing all this crap about top end! It's a supermoto, don't be fooled by this talk. Oakland hills! Thats where I got hooked. And that was passing sport bikes on the XRL :laughing For what you spent on that Ducati you could get two sm's. One street, one track!

My :2cents

Ps Don't rule out the track, tons of fun :teeth
 
i really like that husky. is it that much better that the DRZ to warrant the extra expense.
how is it on maintenance, i have heard the drz is a oil,gas,go kinda bike.
 
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If you can tolerate the lard of the bigger SMs, the KTM 690 looks like the way to go. Having an SM as your only bike is tough, they're not great for covering distance like you're used to being able to do on the Duc. You have to recalibrate your patience meter coming from a sportbike.

I'd recommend the Husqvarna 610, too, as it's the best lookin' beeyatch out there :twofinger , but the '08s seem to be having some teething issues with the EFI, they might be a pain to get set up and running the way you want it to. I could be wrong about this, though. My '07 SM610 is a wonderful bike, super easy to wrench on, and I pretty much just check the tire pressure and lube the chain and go, but it looks like you have to be ready to change out the cam chains on 'em somewhere around ten or fifteen thousand miles- not a big deal, you can do it in an evening, but it steers some people who don't like to play with the wrenches away from 'em.

For no-compromise plated tards, an SM510 is hard to beat, but you have to be ready to drop the oil all the time. The equivalent KTM (530?) is another badass bike, if you like orange, and rebuilding water pumps (just kiddin').
 
i am assuming that the SM510 you mention is a husky model. why do you have to drop the oil all the time. to be honest the husky SM510 is the one i am most interested in.
or i may just chicken out and get a drz sm.
the SM is going to be for fun no commuting.
are any of the SM suitable for running around carnigy (spelling), not the hilly parts.
 
i have 2008 sxv 550 for sale if you're interested... 650 miles, no problems, no mods, still under warranty...
 
The 510 - along with the Aprilia SXVs - are really more race-bred bikes than street-bred, and they're finicky accordingly. The DR-Z is very much a street bike, with street-bike lack of worry. The other positive, since you say you want to ride dirt, is that it's easy to pick up a set of S wheels for a DR-Z and have a convertible SM/dualsport.

You can do trails on an SM on street tires, though. ;)

The general advantage of the DR-Z is that they're easy to find used and inexpensive to buy used, and there's a metric fuckton of aftermarket accessories to make it the bike you want it to be.


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i went dirt riding for the first time last weekend and it was the most fun i have ever had on two wheels. maybe a drz is a good idea. i didn't know you could just switch out the rims. how does that work with the front brake etc.

t-stizzel..................how much, i have a old ducati trade???????????
 
You'd have to use an SM rotor. I think that's pretty much it; nadrojp did the switch from SM to S. Slydrite did the opposite switch, with an SM-ed S, but he has an aftermarket front brake anyhoo. ;)

You'd need an S speedo drive to make the speedo work with those wheels, but they're pretty cheap.

They make the SXV in an MX flavor - the RXV - but I haven't a clue about wheel interchange with those.
 
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Yep, I'm talking about the Husqvarna SM510, which has to be the coolest of the hard core tards- not to take anything from the Ape SXV, which is the gnarliest monster ever (just took the overall at Pike's Peak, I think), but I'd have a hard time recommending one as I believe 'em to be too finicky. The Husqs are solid.

You have to drop the oil all the time because they just don't carry enough of it. If you're hard on the clutch, the oil is done after one serious ride.

I forgot to mention, that the F.I. ('08) 510s seem to be having some issues, too- like insanely bad gas mileage. These may be isolated cases, dunno. I haven't really studied up on the supposed issues, so you have to do some homework, maybe visit the stiffnecked dweebs at ThumperTalk to see if they are getting their 510s sorted. You have to factor in a power up kit, exhaust, and remapping, although it looks like there might be a plug and play Power Commander type application coming.

The derned fuel injection is going to be awesome when it's a turn-key setup, but it sounds like an expensive pain in the arse, so far- maybe there are some '08 owners around here or at SMJ that could shed some light on this.
 
I have a 07 510 and it flat out rips. Like CYDO said if you are hard on the clutch you need to change the oil more frequent. Ive been running Shell Rotella T in it ( $18 a gallon ) from Walmart so I don't mind changing the oil every couple of hundred miles. Most of the time it comes out as clean as it went in. I change the filter every other change as well. Holds almost 2 quarts ( 1.8 with a filter change, 1.6 w/o filter).
Valve checks are a little intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it, you can do a oil change and valve check in about 35 minutes.....it uses the same size shims as the honda ( 9.48mm). Hotcams makes a shim kit with every size you will possibly need for the life of your bike too. Heres a little video of a valve adj on a husky TE250....same exact process on a 510. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf0AKO-_tI4

The few things i didnt like about the bike:

If you are going to be doing any night riding, the stock headlight sucks. I had my stator rewound and had the ground floated from Baja Designs so I could run a HID. Stock puts out about 60 watts, after rewind its now about 155-160. Perfect for a HID and some handwarmers for the colder months.

No Cooling fan......Some people have added a fan and others have bought the cast Y connector from George at uptite racing and have used water wetter and h20. The stock T doesnt really push water to the right side radiator and some have had it melt.....
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Whaddup, bruddah? That's ^^^ an unfair example, that's the Five we all wish we had. :p Even as delivered, they're still the sweetest SM around. If it were me, I'd see what it takes to get the '08s sorted and deal with it, or look for a clean '07, and start ripping.
 
FightingIrish said:
i went dirt riding for the first time last weekend and it was the most fun i have ever had on two wheels. maybe a drz is a good idea. i didn't know you could just switch out the rims. how does that work with the front brake etc.

t-stizzel..................how much, i have a old ducati trade???????????
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:laughing That's because you haven't ridden a tard on the street yet:p
I said the same thing the first time I rode my plated WR250F on the street in 2001, and I've been a dirt rider forever:)

I second the 610 as a non-finicky choice. My `07 has been an absolute joy to own. Yeah, I had a few oil leak issues when it was brand new, but nothing a little ingenuity and a new o-ring couldn't take care of. It doesn't really feel like a true tard to me, as it is heavier than my plated KTM450 and it takes a bit more input to get it to do what I want it to do, but compared to a regular streetbike it feels teeny tiny and super-flickable. I pretty much feel like I can do anything on it. I also like that I can slab all day at 85mph.

I wanted a TE610 (dirt wheels and suspension) but there wasn't a new `07 left in the country. I didn't want an `08 with FI and no compression adjusters (way to go, Husky:rolleyes) so I went with the SM instead. The FI on the 08 610's isn't as bad as the 510's and 450's, as it has been FI in Europe for a year or two already, but I think it's ludicrous to spend top dollar for a Husky, then have to spend even more on a power-up kit and pipe and whatnot just to make it run correctly.

The 610 has been, by far, the most fun streetbike I've ever owned...hands down:thumbup And it's pretty fun on dual-sport rides in the dirt, too. If you click on the "610-ness" link in Roadstergal's 2nd post, you'll see that you can, indeed, ride it at places like Carnegie and have a great time doing it.

I also think it's one of the sexiest-looking bikes on the market:love


WoodsChick
 
DRZs are boring. Everyone has one. Go with either the Ape or the Yamaha WR250x.
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