I would appreciate advice on what type of bike to buy

 Bikers,
I'm thinking about buying an enduro type bike. Most of the riding will
be street, but I would like it to have some off road capability. I'm
not going to be doing much mud riding, but would like to be able to
ride on forest service roads, and easy single track stuff. If anyone
lives or rides near Auburn and Foresthill, you would know what I'm
taking about. I'm in California, so I'm looking for a "street legal"
bike, which is apparently now hard to find thanks to the rather
draconian regulations in this State. Any advice would be very much
appreciated!

 

advrider.com is all about that sort of riding.

My personal experience is with the Suzuki DR-Z400S.  It's more slanted to
off road than on road.  Reliability (and weight) is akin to an anvil.  Stock
power is adequate, but the DR-Z400 forum at thumpertalk.com offers many
discussions on getting much more power out of the the engine.  Most owners
wish for a six speed gear box.

 
Thanks. I'll check it out.

 Dave Smith wrote:

I rode a DRZ400S for 3 days in California. I'd hesitate to say that it
was more dirt oriented than street other than it was more dirt than my
Goldwing.

The DRZ400S has too much rear brake for best off-road use. The
suspension is wimpy too.

But I agree it would be a good choice for the beginner. Should have a
lot of selection of good used bikes from $1500 to $3000. But beware of
used motorcycles, there is a lot of abused machines out there that may
be pretty but are not worth much at all. Mileage is not all that
reliable of an indicator as to a motorcycle's condition.

As others have recommended, a new Husky would be much better off-road
than the Suzuki. The Husky may not hold its resale value as well, which
can be to your advantage if you can find a good used one. Start at the
Husky dealer.

 Fuel injected, 6-speed, water cooled, street legal (in CA too).
$1,000 rebate on in-stock '08 models and most '09 models.

<http://rickramsey.net/TE610.htm>
<http://rickramsey.net/TE310.htm>
<http://www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com>
<http://www.cafehusky.com/>