LMAO that ending I think a 400 or 500 cc bike is reasonable for someone who is going to be responsible and respect the power of the bike. It's not insane but it's likely not going to feel like it's way too weak either.
Don't be in a hurry to move up in size! You will learn more than you realize with a smaller and lighter bike. Practice your maneuvering skills in deserted parking lots or somewhere safe without traffic. Hone your skills to perfection on the XR and then move up to the 450 or similar sized bike. This is your best opportunity to master the basic skills. Learn how to countersteer. It is super critical to becoming a safe rider, IMO (it can literally save your life).
There are minor modifications that you can make to get a little bit more out of it. Three popular mods are a re-jeting of the carb with a 115 jet and then open up the air box by removing the snorkel and then removing the spark arrestor. Also going down to a 16 tooth front sprocket will make it feel more zippy off the line with the mods . This is a dual sport and does well off road as well because it is so light and manuverable . If you do go off road, make sure you have your spark arrestor on .
My wife and I have had our xr150s for a couple of months now and we love them. We have many open countryside roads that have 45-55 mph speed limits so we can ride all day and take it off road if we see an interesting trail. We go for the laid back relaxing rides, we have friends with 300 - 500 cc bikes and the vibration on some of them is just too much.
In terms of street bikes vs. dual sports, the cc's just feel so much different. My fiance has a 2022 KTM 500 EXC-F Dual Sport and I have a Honda Rebel 500. They're both 500's but my bike is just way more capable on the street, and his bike works phenomenally in the dirt. I wouldn't ride anything under 500cc on the street, but a 450cc dirtbike is too much for me (and too tall) LOL. Dual sports, in my opinion, are better for mostly dirt riding, with the added benefit of being on the street, but I wouldn't personally daily a dual sport. I was looking at the XR150L and the TW200 since I started on dirtbikes myself, but decided to just get a dedicated street motorcycle and have a dedicated dirtbike. I think the MT-07 would be great, or even a CBR500 (They have the same engine as the Rebel) but as others have said, it really depends on the style of riding you want to do, but ALSO it depends on the ergonomics and how the bike feels under you. I love to watch sportbikes but I'm more of a cruiser type of rider, (plus I'm short) hence the Rebel... :) Where you live, in a more suburban area, you can get away with the XR150L. Where I live, in a more rural part of the county, most of the roads are 50-55mph, so I would be miserable on the XR150L LOL. But you should definitely still keep the XR150L, and maybe someday trailer it (or ride it if you dare) out to Ocotillo Wells and go explore offroad!
the XR150L is not comfortable at 55 mph, the revs are high and the bike is so light, any bit of wind throws you around. The MT07 is looking like the bike I want to get! OOOOooo Ocotillo Wells, I will have to look that up!
@@tairamosmoto I think you should buy a KLR650 or XR650L, it will be more reasonable, and the XR150 is for use on offroad or light trips!!! I wish to live in a country like yours. Good conditions, good price cars & beautiful roads. In Vietnam, dual sport motorbikes are very expensive :(
Simplicity is a strong selling point...... w/ reasonable care it's difficult to hurt these bikes which has been proven by its being sold for like 20yrs now in S.American -n- Asian markets. I'm looking hard at this little bike, the only drawback is that you've got to ride in a defensive posture whenever you ride an under-powered bike - I mean when you can't go the speed limit you must be careful & share the lane. Staying off the interstate highways will make it much safer. This bike will be running long after the CF450, that's the beauty of a Honda power-train.. I don't trust the Chinese bikes but that's me. Good luck
It sounds a bit like you're still trying to figure out what kind of riding you want to do long term? Are you going to be strictly street riding? Or looking to be able to head out into the mountains and dirt roads? If you're looking to upgrade soon and really like the XR150L feel, there are other dual sports with a bit more oomph: the Honda CRF300L isn't too crazy expensive and has more power without being too dangerous (though not quite enough oomph to feel comfortable on the freeway for extended periods), Honda also has the XR650L which is basically just a more modern beefier XR150L, or the Kawasaki KLX300SM (they also have a 230S/SM but that's not a major upgrade over the XR150L).
Exactly dude. I am figuring out that I want to do more street and light freeway riding to start. When I bought the bike I told my gf i wouldnt ride on the freeways but now I have a change of heart. Its not that I want to go fast but it would be nice to have day trips and get out of town once in the while. I may keep both if I got another bike lol
Quick question if you dont mind , I was wondering about how hard the clutch lever pull is like hard soft ect , I broke my 2 left forefingers and wasnt sure if i could even pull in the clutch thank you !
The Honda XR150L is a great bike. However, to do the type of riding you want to do, you need at least a 400-500cc street bike. Virtually all dual sports, including the venerable DR650s are all pretty much tapped out at 75-80 mph. Can you go faster? Sure. Is it sketchy? Yep, sure is. I have a 300cc dual sport that I built and while it will do 90+ mph if I wanted it to, it gets super sketchy with anything over 80 mph due to the aerodynamics of a dual sport not really being suitable for those types of speeds.
Learn, and master everything that bike will do, on road, and off. I would leave it stock, if you decide to sell later, a bone stock bike gives the appearance of "not thrashed" as opposed to a "modded" bike. Trying to get more out of a 150, usually isn't worth the trouble, because it's small to begin with.
@tairamosmoto cool yea that seems like the move, do go pros capture audio without a seperate mic? ig if you make a video it'll answer my questions but I'm wanting to get a lil recording set up myself and wonder if just a go pro and mount would do it or if it's better to get a microphone for inside the helmet as well, thanks for the info
if i was able to just flat out buy whatever i want (idk ur situation).. i would keep the 150 as a putt putt bike, buy like an mt03 or something, or just not such a big jump from 150 to 500cc+.. then with that secondary bike id buy, trade, and sell, whatever it is, with that bike and upgrade or change that one out as your riding style develops, but keep the 150 or even get another smaller bike like a grom type bike and then also have the, at some point in time, larger 450+ or 600cc bike. maybe you are a speed demon, i know i just got a 450 dirtbike and thought, damn thats all this things got? ive ridden like my whole life tho lol. but maybe also youll find that the 300 ish or 450 ish cc range is perfect for you, like that cfmoto you talked about. personally idek what that is tho id buy japanese only. just my personal biased opinion lol
haha you should check out the cfmoto 450ss, it looks rad. I talked about the interconnectivity with the bike with your phone in the vid and I think its awesome. It just has all the bells and whistles that my bike definitely doesn't have. I do agree though, japanese bikes are going to have better support if and when my bike needs major repairs
@tairamosmoto I must've missed that part of the video last night or maybe I didn't finish it i cant remember now but yea im sure you've heard it from a lot of people to go with something Japanese, you do whatever you want man, only way people are gonna find out whether or not cfmoto is reliable is if people like you get out and buy them and keep them running for a long time. if they run for a long time with minimal problems I'd say it's perfectly fine, doesn't matter who made it. cheers bro, I just found your channel last night and watched all ur riding videos, I like finding smaller channels with NOT millions of views and subscribers, just for things like this interaction were having. and also just feels like I'm really watching a real person in their life and not some big youtuber that doesn't even interact or has some default bot reply to comments, I like the interaction with smaller youtubers, so keep up the vids! lol. i wanna watch more
If you want freeway and want to stick to the dual sport class, DR650 will hold 80 all day and it tops out at about 100, me personally I’m good cruising at 70-75 but it has room to go more once the bike is broken in, I have canyons and two trails I go to in my local area that’s why I have it but yeah 300-600 is fine in the dual sport class as they aren’t quick like a sports bike, don’t get a CF motto that’s Chinese garbage
while i already commented on the short highly recommending an upgrade because a 150 isn't fast enough to be safe on the street, i would be cautious if not hesitant about going with the a sport bike, the cfmoto in particular i am an extremely, extremely flexible man, i can touch the top of my head with my feet while standing up. despite that, starting on a zx6r is still one of the most uncomfortable decisions i have ever made, and i'm not 100% sure i would make the same choice for a first bike if i could go back in time a year, for the sole reason that it's so goddamned uncomfortable. the ergonomics of a sport bike are "go fuck yourself", ESPECIALLY if you're tall by any means. i do believe the cfmoto's 450 is a standard sport and not a supersport, meaning it would be much more comfortable, but if possible i would still sit on a ninja 400 or 650-bikes with the same ergonomics as the 450-to see if it's something you could see yourself sitting on for hours at a time the other thing putting me off the cfmoto is chinese reliability, or the lack of proof for it. the bikes seem well made, and i'm well aware that 95% of the products we have in the states are made in china and work perfectly fine, but the brand is a baby compared to the "big 4". if i had to, i would bet on the bikes being good, but the unfortunate reality is that the company has just not existed long enough to have a reputation as reliable manufacturers. there is absolutely no way for you to know if that bike would still be running well in 5 or 10 years, unlike the other japanese brands where you know you can throw rocks in the oil and they'll still set track records
Yeah man, like i said in the vid I dont regret the purchase because its perfect for first learning how to motorcycle but ive been riding so much now, I feel like im ready to venture out but the bike’s top speed prohibits that
@tairamosmoto As an around town on roads up to 45, it's great fun. Also, as a daily, I am willing to ride in not perfect weather and I am less afraid parking than with my bigger bike.
LMAO that ending
I think a 400 or 500 cc bike is reasonable for someone who is going to be responsible and respect the power of the bike. It's not insane but it's likely not going to feel like it's way too weak either.
I wouldn't recommend upgrading a bike immediately if you're not even confident doing u turns
Don't be in a hurry to move up in size! You will learn more than you realize with a smaller and lighter bike. Practice your maneuvering skills in deserted parking lots or somewhere safe without traffic. Hone your skills to perfection on the XR and then move up to the 450 or similar sized bike. This is your best opportunity to master the basic skills. Learn how to countersteer. It is super critical to becoming a safe rider, IMO (it can literally save your life).
There are minor modifications that you can make to get a little bit more out of it. Three popular mods are a re-jeting of the carb with a 115 jet and then open up the air box by removing the snorkel and then removing the spark arrestor. Also going down to a 16 tooth front sprocket will make it feel more zippy off the line with the mods . This is a dual sport and does well off road as well because it is so light and manuverable . If you do go off road, make sure you have your spark arrestor on .
My wife and I have had our xr150s for a couple of months now and we love them. We have many open countryside roads that have 45-55 mph speed limits so we can ride all day and take it off road if we see an interesting trail. We go for the laid back relaxing rides, we have friends with 300 - 500 cc bikes and the vibration on some of them is just too much.
I’ve had the XR 150 L for four weeks now and I have not suffered any ill effects of vibration. surprised as even 125 cc scooters gave me numbness.
@@Eagleburger90 Yep, it’s a surprisingly smooth ride
In terms of street bikes vs. dual sports, the cc's just feel so much different. My fiance has a 2022 KTM 500 EXC-F Dual Sport and I have a Honda Rebel 500. They're both 500's but my bike is just way more capable on the street, and his bike works phenomenally in the dirt. I wouldn't ride anything under 500cc on the street, but a 450cc dirtbike is too much for me (and too tall) LOL.
Dual sports, in my opinion, are better for mostly dirt riding, with the added benefit of being on the street, but I wouldn't personally daily a dual sport. I was looking at the XR150L and the TW200 since I started on dirtbikes myself, but decided to just get a dedicated street motorcycle and have a dedicated dirtbike.
I think the MT-07 would be great, or even a CBR500 (They have the same engine as the Rebel) but as others have said, it really depends on the style of riding you want to do, but ALSO it depends on the ergonomics and how the bike feels under you. I love to watch sportbikes but I'm more of a cruiser type of rider, (plus I'm short) hence the Rebel... :)
Where you live, in a more suburban area, you can get away with the XR150L. Where I live, in a more rural part of the county, most of the roads are 50-55mph, so I would be miserable on the XR150L LOL. But you should definitely still keep the XR150L, and maybe someday trailer it (or ride it if you dare) out to Ocotillo Wells and go explore offroad!
the XR150L is not comfortable at 55 mph, the revs are high and the bike is so light, any bit of wind throws you around.
The MT07 is looking like the bike I want to get!
OOOOooo Ocotillo Wells, I will have to look that up!
For a country like my Vietnam, the XR150 can meet all criteria. Not quite where you live because the traffic flow is quite wide and fast!
Exactly! In california, there are alot of nice freeways and highways on the coast. The small bikes dont do well on those roads
@@tairamosmoto I think you should buy a KLR650 or XR650L, it will be more reasonable, and the XR150 is for use on offroad or light trips!!! I wish to live in a country like yours. Good conditions, good price cars & beautiful roads. In Vietnam, dual sport motorbikes are very expensive :(
Thanks @tuannguyen-sx5pi
Simplicity is a strong selling point...... w/ reasonable care it's difficult to hurt these bikes which has been proven by its being
sold for like 20yrs now in S.American -n- Asian markets. I'm looking hard at this little bike, the only drawback is that you've
got to ride in a defensive posture whenever you ride an under-powered bike - I mean when you can't go the speed limit you
must be careful & share the lane. Staying off the interstate highways will make it much safer. This bike will be running
long after the CF450, that's the beauty of a Honda power-train.. I don't trust the Chinese bikes but that's me. Good luck
I just saw you down on the beach riding.... good video
It sounds a bit like you're still trying to figure out what kind of riding you want to do long term? Are you going to be strictly street riding? Or looking to be able to head out into the mountains and dirt roads? If you're looking to upgrade soon and really like the XR150L feel, there are other dual sports with a bit more oomph: the Honda CRF300L isn't too crazy expensive and has more power without being too dangerous (though not quite enough oomph to feel comfortable on the freeway for extended periods), Honda also has the XR650L which is basically just a more modern beefier XR150L, or the Kawasaki KLX300SM (they also have a 230S/SM but that's not a major upgrade over the XR150L).
Exactly dude. I am figuring out that I want to do more street and light freeway riding to start. When I bought the bike I told my gf i wouldnt ride on the freeways but now I have a change of heart. Its not that I want to go fast but it would be nice to have day trips and get out of town once in the while. I may keep both if I got another bike lol
Quick question if you dont mind , I was wondering about how hard the clutch lever pull is like hard soft ect , I broke my 2 left forefingers and wasnt sure if i could even pull in the clutch thank you !
Get a MT 03 that way it’s in between 150cc and 500cc that nice sweet spot
Good advice!
Ooo another video!
You know it!
The Honda XR150L is a great bike. However, to do the type of riding you want to do, you need at least a 400-500cc street bike. Virtually all dual sports, including the venerable DR650s are all pretty much tapped out at 75-80 mph. Can you go faster? Sure. Is it sketchy? Yep, sure is. I have a 300cc dual sport that I built and while it will do 90+ mph if I wanted it to, it gets super sketchy with anything over 80 mph due to the aerodynamics of a dual sport not really being suitable for those types of speeds.
Yeah im thinking of upgrading soon but may ride it out a bit more and just practice,
There are many types of bikes and riding. I don't know if you have clearly identified what you're considering.
I think i am leaning towards the cfmoto 450ss or the yamaha mt07 or yamaha xsr700
Learn, and master everything that bike will do, on road, and off. I would leave it stock, if you decide to sell later, a bone stock bike gives the appearance of "not thrashed" as opposed to a "modded" bike. Trying to get more out of a 150, usually isn't worth the trouble, because it's small to begin with.
True yeah I keep going back and forth, ill probably end up keeping it for a year and just practice
what do you use for a camera/mic set up, or do you have a video on it? i suppose i could check lol
Hey man! I'll make a short on it! but pretty simple: Mic in helmet that plugs into a gopro which is mounted onto your helmet
@tairamosmoto cool yea that seems like the move, do go pros capture audio without a seperate mic? ig if you make a video it'll answer my questions but I'm wanting to get a lil recording set up myself and wonder if just a go pro and mount would do it or if it's better to get a microphone for inside the helmet as well, thanks for the info
I recommend a Honda nighthawk 750 it’s great for touring and easy to handle! I have one and I love it
Oooo interesting
if i was able to just flat out buy whatever i want (idk ur situation).. i would keep the 150 as a putt putt bike, buy like an mt03 or something, or just not such a big jump from 150 to 500cc+.. then with that secondary bike id buy, trade, and sell, whatever it is, with that bike and upgrade or change that one out as your riding style develops, but keep the 150 or even get another smaller bike like a grom type bike and then also have the, at some point in time, larger 450+ or 600cc bike.
maybe you are a speed demon, i know i just got a 450 dirtbike and thought, damn thats all this things got? ive ridden like my whole life tho lol. but maybe also youll find that the 300 ish or 450 ish cc range is perfect for you, like that cfmoto you talked about. personally idek what that is tho id buy japanese only. just my personal biased opinion lol
haha you should check out the cfmoto 450ss, it looks rad. I talked about the interconnectivity with the bike with your phone in the vid and I think its awesome. It just has all the bells and whistles that my bike definitely doesn't have. I do agree though, japanese bikes are going to have better support if and when my bike needs major repairs
@tairamosmoto I must've missed that part of the video last night or maybe I didn't finish it i cant remember now but yea im sure you've heard it from a lot of people to go with something Japanese, you do whatever you want man, only way people are gonna find out whether or not cfmoto is reliable is if people like you get out and buy them and keep them running for a long time. if they run for a long time with minimal problems I'd say it's perfectly fine, doesn't matter who made it. cheers bro, I just found your channel last night and watched all ur riding videos, I like finding smaller channels with NOT millions of views and subscribers, just for things like this interaction were having. and also just feels like I'm really watching a real person in their life and not some big youtuber that doesn't even interact or has some default bot reply to comments, I like the interaction with smaller youtubers, so keep up the vids! lol. i wanna watch more
If you want freeway and want to stick to the dual sport class, DR650 will hold 80 all day and it tops out at about 100, me personally I’m good cruising at 70-75 but it has room to go more once the bike is broken in, I have canyons and two trails I go to in my local area that’s why I have it but yeah 300-600 is fine in the dual sport class as they aren’t quick like a sports bike, don’t get a CF motto that’s Chinese garbage
while i already commented on the short highly recommending an upgrade because a 150 isn't fast enough to be safe on the street, i would be cautious if not hesitant about going with the a sport bike, the cfmoto in particular
i am an extremely, extremely flexible man, i can touch the top of my head with my feet while standing up. despite that, starting on a zx6r is still one of the most uncomfortable decisions i have ever made, and i'm not 100% sure i would make the same choice for a first bike if i could go back in time a year, for the sole reason that it's so goddamned uncomfortable. the ergonomics of a sport bike are "go fuck yourself", ESPECIALLY if you're tall by any means. i do believe the cfmoto's 450 is a standard sport and not a supersport, meaning it would be much more comfortable, but if possible i would still sit on a ninja 400 or 650-bikes with the same ergonomics as the 450-to see if it's something you could see yourself sitting on for hours at a time
the other thing putting me off the cfmoto is chinese reliability, or the lack of proof for it. the bikes seem well made, and i'm well aware that 95% of the products we have in the states are made in china and work perfectly fine, but the brand is a baby compared to the "big 4". if i had to, i would bet on the bikes being good, but the unfortunate reality is that the company has just not existed long enough to have a reputation as reliable manufacturers. there is absolutely no way for you to know if that bike would still be running well in 5 or 10 years, unlike the other japanese brands where you know you can throw rocks in the oil and they'll still set track records
Im thinking of getting the MT07, that bike looks amazing to me
This is probably not your style but I love my Triumph Speed 400. 5K MSRP. I would keep that 150 to tool around town and teach the girlfriend. 🤙
Good advice! Thanks dude!
Get a used Ninja 400, or other
Yeah man, like i said in the vid I dont regret the purchase because its perfect for first learning how to motorcycle but ive been riding so much now, I feel like im ready to venture out but the bike’s top speed prohibits that
I think stick with the xr, its perfect bike for commuting and is so cheap!
Totally true…again I may keep it and get another one 😁
If you take care of the 150, it'll last a LOOONNG time, and may (one day) be worth more than you paid for it.
I believe that
Slow? I have a Grom.
I live near alot of hills of highways and the xr kind of struggles a bit on those. What do you think of your grom?
@tairamosmoto As an around town on roads up to 45, it's great fun. Also, as a daily, I am willing to ride in not perfect weather and I am less afraid parking than with my bigger bike.
try offroad, it's safer because you can't go fast