[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Dragon

I've been out of the DS scene for a while. But want to get back into riding dirt roads.

So, I found a Honda NX-250 (liquid-cool thumper) made in 1988 with low miles.
It runs but need carb cleaning, and a lot of cleaning up (bearings, brakes, etc)
So, it probably means a lot of elbow grease to make it running reliably again.
I plan to ride in the remote wilderness-->so reliablility is 100% important.

Question is about reliability: Is it better to buy a $1500 brand new China dualsport (like TMEC)?

Or is it better to buy a $1000 used Japan bike and spend a couple hundred bucks to restore it?

I know Honda is the cats-meow. But when I look at a used bike, I usually don't feel good thinking what sort of hidden problems are there.

As far as reliability is concerned, I think a new Chinese motorcycle will be more reliable. Until you own it, you can't know for sure what might currently be wrong with a used bike. Also, you can't know what will soon fail next with a 25-year-old motorcycle.