What To Consider When Choosing A New Dirt Bike

Riding a dirt bike is a great way to spend time outside and to get a better sense of the world around you, and it’s just plain fun! Picking out a dirt bike on the other hand can be a frustrating process if you aren’t familiar with what to look for in a dirt bike that you’re buying. Both new and experienced riders fall into this category, but you shouldn’t let inexperience hinder your decision making. Here are a few key factors to consider when choosing to buy a new dirt bike.

Consider Your Budget

The first thing that you should do before making any major purchase, and especially a dirt bike, is to think about the budget that you have for buying a dirt bike. This should be something that you think about before you even consider what type of dirt bike you want, primarily because choosing a type of dirt bike can often dictate the amount of money that you feel like you need to spend, when the reality of your budget should be dictating the types of bikes that you may look at.

You’ll also be able to search for bikes within a certain price range and will be far more likely to stick to that budget during your search than if you were to come up with your budget on-the-fly, based on what bikes interest you the most.

Consider Your Riding Style

While the way a dirt bike looks may come into play later, first you should consider your riding style when choosing a dirt bike. You have three primary riding styles that will dictate the bikes you can choose from: track, trail, and dual-sport, and each type of bike has its own benefits and drawbacks.

Track bikes are geared the lowest, usually with two gears: one to get you going and one to help you accelerate. This type of gearing gives you better acceleration, allowing you to accelerate out of corners more easily or clear large jumps with ease. You also won’t find much (if any) instrumentation or warnings lights on your track bikes.

Trail bikes are geared higher, which limits the amount of throttle control but makes it easier to ride on longer trails that have less of a need for regular deceleration and acceleration, although some riders will gear their trail bikes lower for better throttle control. This means that you won’t have to ride the clutch as much over obstacles and these bikes work well on gravel, among other road types.

Dual-sport bikes give you the best of both worlds, and are often tuned somewhere in-between track and trail bikes. They have all the necessary instrumentation, safety features, and warning lights to make them street legal, and are obviously geared for all-around riding. That being said, most advanced riders will gear their bikes specifically to fit their riding style and the type of terrain that they are most often on, even on dual-sport bikes.

Having a street-legal bike is important if you don’t want to waste a lot of time hauling your bike around on a trailer (or if you don’t have a trailer), since you can ride the bike on the road and easily get to wherever you’re going.

Two Stroke or Four Stroke?

Choosing between a two stroke or a four-stroke engine is largely a trade-off between ease of maintenance and longevity. For years, two stroke engines were largely being phased out because they were louder and smellier, but they have recently made a comeback as they are lower cost, easier to maintain yourself, and lighter, with much greater agility. The power band is also different, so switching between a two and four stroke can require a brief ‘breaking in’ period.

Four stroke engines are larger and with greater longevity, but with the trade-off that they require more intensive maintenance on a more regular basis. That being said, they are better for leisure or beginner riders because of their predictable power band and better low end torque.

What’s Your Skill Level?

Being honest about your skill level when choosing a dirt bike is extremely important, as buying an overpowered dirt bike doesn’t just make it hard for you to learn to ride, it can be downright dangerous. A high-end or high powered dirt bike can be alluring, but if you’re a beginner rider, then you have no business going near one, at least for the time being.

Do You Need Electric Start?

Just like using a four-stroke engine, electric start is a more modern convenience that many beginner riders will love, although it adds to the cost of the bike. That being said, if you’re looking for a dirt bike that you can ride for fun, then an electric start just makes things easier and more enjoyable for you. For many riders, this will be a great option, but at an added cost.

These are just some of the questions that you’ll most likely ask yourself before you begin to look at bikes seriously, but each of these questions are important to ask yourself before getting too far down the path toward purchasing a bike. Red Fox Power Sports has a wide collection of bikes to choose from, and we’re always happy to help you figure out which bike is right for you.

What bike are you leaning toward? Let us know in the comments.

JT Ripton is a freelance business, tech and lifestyle writer out of Tampa, FL. When he's not writing, he's consulting with start up businesses around the area helping them succeed, and checking out the newest things in tech.