Hoping for some insight. Absolutely love the KLX250 and its styling. My worry is in the seat height as I'll be riding offroad 60% of the time. I'm 5'9 with a 31" inseam. To boot I'm brand new to the sport can handle a CRF125 with ease just a little intimidated with the transition to the KLX250 and its size difference. Any pointers tips suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

I have the same inseam and found riding a trials bike in competition to be a great help. I also had a couple of days with trials champ Ryan Young last year which was a great help. I strongly recommend getting a trials bike, get some training, and compete. I had zero confidence off-road, but now I have enough to say "I got this" much more often than I used to. Riding slow on a trials bike teaches balance, body positioning, suspension loading/unloading, and most importantly fine clutch, throttle, and brake control. I have a long ways to go and have a lot of fun. And the skills seem to carry over to my KLX and my street bike. The pix are from the Ryan Young training days: Ryan had me crossing obstacles I would never have had the guts to try without his coaching.

 

Grew up riding offroad - established single tracks, race tracks, everything, in the thousands of acres that our house was in the middle of.. Many generations of kids grew up riding that area.

.Many of my bikes were too tall for me (back then).. I would have to slide off to the side to get one leg down on lots of my bikes. I have never broken a bone. If I can do this, and do it safely, you can.

Your other choice is to ride the little street legal playbikes. As far as offroad only bikes, there are a few midsize bikes still available. The most powerful is the KTM SX105. Once my daughter got big enough and good enough, I graduated her off her CRF150RB and onto a SX105.. It's 30.5 hp and 147 lbs - it will do anything a bigger MX or XC racer will do..

 

5'6" with a 32" inseam to ground. Not much problem with the 250. Trials riding does improve skills learning when and how to keep feet on the pegs. Of course the bike could be lowered an inch or two sliding the fork tubes up in the triple clamps and making/buying a set of lowering links. Could even cut down the seat.

 

'If I can do it you can' - real helpful that. Sounds like someone I used to know well. Great at what he did but impatient with others who weren't so blessed. Came across as an arrogant bully.

I'm 5'3.5" with short legs that won't hold the bike up once it starts going down.

Been riding 'on and off' for about 18 months with enforced breaks. Bike lowered and seat scooped.

I'm quite a good rider (allowing for the above) but my confidence is shot. Half the problem is when I get to the difficult bits I no longer believe that I can. Two more offs last time out, the second one down to non-committment.

Maybe some trials practice would help

 

I will not likely ever be able to ride as well as the average trials rider, but that is not the point, which is that I can improve. Anyone who wants to improve can if they choose to do so. This is also the path to increased confidence: incremental improvement. Trials riding serves that up well, in my experience. It is a slow process, but by starting in the novice class, experience is gained on simple, but challenging sections, which for the true novice are not easy, deceptively so, and not dangerous. This is crawling, which leads to walking, running, etc. With a low seat height and weight, a modern trials bike makes the impossible for me, on my tall and heavy KLX, possible. It is an addictive discipline for many who try it. I came to trials after learning that Graham Jarvis, enduro wizard, was a trials champion. I want a little bit of what he has and I think trials is the way to get it.

 

Back in the 70s I saw an expert finish his last round on a Penton 125 ISDE. His trials bike broke and he borrowed the Penton from some kid riding the beginner class. In beginner classes at a regional trials I'd venture to say a rider could do it with a KLX. Maybe not win, but at least do the easy sections. Just sayin' it isn't about rock hopping and splatters for everyone. Gotta start somewhere.

 

Pat Smage would likely amaze us with what he could do with a KLX, though he surely could not do many of the same obstacles he cleans on his Sherco trials bike. The point is that the balance, skills, and confidence stay with the rider regardless of what bike he rides. It was instructive when I saw Ryan Young hop on my bike and do nose wheelies and flip turns like nothing. I can't yet do those moves, but may some day, it is all up to me, not the bike. And I got my MCCT yesterday, look forward to installing it and some other TAT prep parts on hand. I attempted a few trials events on my KLX, just to see if I really wanted to get into the discipline. I had major problems and only completed a few novice sections in my time riding the KLX, falling over numerous times. Sections today are set up such that one needs trials bike geometry just to make the turns without hopping, although I think the vintage bike class sections are laid out with the slack steering and trail numbers of the old bikes in mind.
Watch 13 year old Graham Jarvis when he was still learning.

 

"If I can do it, you can do it" was meant to imply that no special skills or "gift" is needed to learn to ride a "too tall" bike - as I certainly have none..

Another type of person might have said "just because I can do it, doesn't mean you can do it".. I am not that type of person..

 

You can see just how much the old trials bikes looked and were like the average off road bike back then. You are right about how tough the sections will be. I don't know if any are doing any sort of trail bike type sections considering how much different the bikes are these days on suspension and all. You do have a heck of a lot more fun on a bike built for it. My brother is really into playing around on trials bikes riding with a former expert (circa 1980) who still rides some and a vintage rider who has some great land for trials. If I still lived up there I'd have a trials bike. The difference between the average rider and the experts these days is huge! But the fun to be had just goofing around on trails that would tie the KLX in knots and over rough extreme terrain is great.

One thing that is somewhat overrated is the balancing thing for the guy out playing or doing Novice/Intermediate level. One friend and I were at the Bike Week vintage trials and he walks up to a guy and reaches over saying, "How are you doing Mick." It was Mick Andrews, 1970s FIM trials great, riding a '57 BSA trials bike. They talked for a bit and I had to ask about the balance thing. He said he never really did do the balancing act at a stop, but then back in the day if you stopped forward progress it was a 5, so no need like now. But even at that event you could see his balance and skills on the vintage bike, some of the sections for the higher level riders were pretty intense for the old bikes. My friend commented the recognized Andrews, but wasn't sure until he saw Andrews's wrists - big.

I am hoping to get back into the trials in a year or two with a good used Beta or Sherco. After I retire I would like to pick up a bike, unload a few bikes, and have the time to go ride. I have enough ground around the house to goof around a bit with a quiet bike. Electric would be really cool, but way too expensive at the moment. I could put some logs out, maybe some rocks or the like. Go out and goof around with wheelies and junk for a half hour or so. Brother says he sees decent ones for around $1500 or so. He scored a 2019 Beta with 45 miles on it, some guy tries to get his girlfriend into riding with that instead of a KLX140 or the like. They break up, she's moving and he buys the bike that is virtually showroom for $3800, worth probably $4500 had there been time, but she wanted to move it and he had the money in hand.

Have a fun summer. I doubt you will have any problems, but if you do, give me a call.