I have been reading through this forum as I think about getting a second dirt bike for myself to complement my KTM 200 2 stroke woods bike. I am hoping to get some feedback on what bikes I should consider from people with experience.
I am a life long mountain bike rider that got into dirt bikes later in life when I was 30 (43 now). I love riding dirt bikes in the woods, have raced enduros and hare scrambles, and ride every chance I get. The difficult part is land access and distance to drive...and kids. I can ride out of my garage and hit a mountain bike trail, to ride dirt bikes I have to drive 1 hour when I get an invite to private property, so it's never up to me when I can ride the dirt bike.
I have woods behind my house that I can ride but I don't want to draw attention, I take my kids (8 and 4 year olds) to the woods behind the house because they are on a PW50 and a Stacyc which are virtually silent. I'd love to have a trials bike I can hone skills on, and enjoy the woods with my kids right by my house without having to drive anywhere that is silent.
I have played around on trials bikes but have never ridden or owned one extensively. I do zap, double blip, tire tap, and aggressively drop the clutch on my 200 while looking for the biggest hill with rocks and logs in the middle when I ride and find that enjoyable. On all our rides we spend some time basically riding trials on trail bikes because we enjoy the challenge. I have even taken a trials class on my 200 and really enjoyed it. I am probably a decent C rider to very mediocre B lever rider, but have a knack and enjoyment for more technical riding.
I am not looking to replace my well sorted KTM 200, this is why an alta or stark are not on my radar.....yet. I am looking to complement it with something like a silent trials bike that will be ridden in my back yard, and in the woods behind my house. It will get abused...there are steep technical hills, rocks, and technical sections where I will by trying things that are out of my comfort zone. Range is not a concern, the woods are 2 min. walk from my house. Priorities are skills cary over to the 200, longevity, robustness, parts availability, and preferably (not absolutely required) a clutch so that the technical practice carries over to my 200.
That said, I really like the Electric Motion with the clutch and that is why I posted in this subforum. Would this be too much bike for a trials rookie like me and what I want to do with it? Should I be looking at something one level down? I am wondering if a sorted sun ron would be a good compromise, or maybe an oset?