The dragons have been slain. Going forward, the biggest issues for dual-sport bikes have nothing to do with weight, suspension, power or any kind of performance. Today’s street-legal dirt bikes aren’t all that different from full-blooded cross-country bikes. What’s left? Price! Who would have guessed that we would ever have to pay $12,000 for a dual-sport bike?
That’s what makes the Honda XR150L special. It’s a legitimate dual-sport bike that’s approved by every government agency that has a say in the matter, and it sells for $3099. You could have four of them for the price of one Husky dual-sport.
The 2024 Honda XR150L sells for $3099, making it the most affordable, legitimate dual-sport bike in the U.S. Even the Yamaha TW200 is $2000 more expensive.
We installed DOT-approved knobbies on our test bike. The stock tires are very pavement-oriented. The drum brake is decidedly old school but gets the job done.
TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
There are motorcycles that cost less than the XR150L, and some of them have all the equipment to look street-legal. Most are fake. In order to be legitimate on the street, a bike must be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation. Some states will issue a license tag for virtually anything, but they leave it to local law enforcement to sort out legitimacy. Very few of the imports from mainland Asia have actually gone through the expensive and time-consuming certification process required by the U.S. federal government. The Honda XR150L has, and somehow it’s still less expensive than most of the purchase-online counterfeit dual-sports.
It’s easy to see where Honda shaved production costs. The little XR uses technology from 30 years ago. It has an air-cooled, two-valve motor with a real-live carburetor. Don’t ask us how that slipped by. The rear wheel has a drum brake, and the suspension is non-adjustable. It does have electric start, a six-speed gearbox and a hydraulic front disc brake. If you want to jump in a time machine, you can go back to 1995 and pay $3149 for a Suzuki DR125ES with most of the same features.
The most important factor in the Honda’s price tag is the place of manufacture. It’s assembled 1000 miles south of El Paso at Honda of Mexico. So are a number of Honda’s small-displacement street bikes and several automobiles. It’s still a Honda with all the same checks and balances as anything made in Japan.
WHEELS AND GEARS
No one expects to get a premium dual-sport bike for $3000. Not these days. So, you have to adjust your expectations. The XR150L is cheap transportation that happens to be capable of off-road excursions. The XR has performance that’s similar to a Yamaha TT-R125, but with considerably more weight. It comes in around 270 pounds without fuel, whereas most small-bore four-stroke trail bikes are about 200 pounds. You have to plan all your off-road adventures with that in mind. Hard-core trail riding and racing are off the table.
If you accept those limitations going in, the XR performs extremely well. The motor is a little gem. It fires up instantly with the touch of the button and doesn’t need nearly as much warm-up time as most small-displacement four-strokes. We didn’t know that carburetors were capable of this. The motor runs without missing a beat to about 9000 rpm and produces around 12 horsepower. If you’ve been around for a few years, you remember bikes like the Honda XL175, which had similar numbers in the mid-’70s. Compared to bikes of that era, the XR150L is capable of miracles. It tops out at 70 mph, so it can keep up with highway traffic. And, it’s a six-speed, so it has gearing that allows trail riding as long as the hills aren’t too steep and the ground isn’t too soft. Plus, the bike is truly comfortable. The seat height is an honest 32 inches, even with a thick, cushy seat.
The technology might look like it’s straight out of the ’70s, but the XR runs much cleaner and starts more easily than the four-strokes of that period.
DOS AND DON’TS
Here’s what you can do with an XR150L:
—You can commute to work or school.
—You can go on leisurely trail rides as long as you trade the stock tires for rubber with real knobbies.
—You can put it on the bumper of your motorhome for transportation around the campsite.
—You can go over 70 miles on a gallon of gas.
—You can get away with very little maintenance. Nothing will break, but you might have to charge the battery and oil the chain.
—You use it for transportation in the pits at the track.
—You can sell it for almost as much as you paid in two or three years.
Here’s what you shouldn’t do with the XR:
—Don’t try to keep up with full-time off-road bikes. The weight and ground clearance are the two biggest limitations, followed by suspension and—oh, yeah—horsepower.
—Don’t go hill-climbing. The stock tires are too street-oriented, and the stock gearing is too tall. On the flip side, the clutch can deal with surprising abuse and doesn’t fade.
—Don’t jump anything. Again, the bike will put up with abuse, but make no mistake, jumping more than a few feet on the XR is abuse.
We don’t understand how some street-legal bikes are allowed to have carburetors and others aren’t. It has something to do with fleet averaging.
ALONG FOR THE RIDE
We love the XR. It gets thrown into the truck for almost every race and photo shoot. Clearly, you have to measure the XR150L with a different standard. Back in 1973, the editors of Dirt Bike pictured a Honda XL175 in a pigpen and made it the brunt of jokes. Today, we would love to have an XL175 back, especially if it sold for the same price it did back then. The XR150L isn’t that cheap, but, adjusted for inflation, it’s close. And, in 2024, that’s what we need more than longer suspension travel and more horsepower.
Source : DirtBikeMagazine