Finding a halfway decent used motorcycle at a good price can be liberating—and it’s not as hard as you’d think. Even when armed with a fairly low budget of just $2,500, you still have a vast array of motorcycles from which to choose. Sure, you’ll come across a few shady listings and some overpriced bikes (even at $2,500), but there’s still an encouraging amount of motorcycles in good enough condition to tempt you to pull the trigger.
To help sort through the endless amount of affordable used motorcycles living online, we at Gear Patrol picked out a few we’d buy right now for less than $2,500.
1996 Honda XR 600R
Honda has a habit of making a perfect desert bike and then not updating it for years to come—the XR600R is a prime example—but that by no means should diminish said bike’s reputation. Introduced in 1985 and updated in ’88 and’92, the XR600R then remained unchanged until the year 2000. This XR600R is a bit of a mid-90s time capsule, from the graphics all the way to the design. It’s a bit worrying the seller doesn’t list the engine’s hours (since it’s an off-roader, it doesn’t have an odometer), but these bikes were known to be tanks, and cheap to maintain.
Mileage: n/a
Location: Ventura, California
