Supermoto bike

When it comes to a supermoto bike, the main thing you’ll want to avoid are cops.

I converted a crf300l as a supermoto, I also opened up the airbox, ecu, exhaust, cbr stack and have cbr cams to go on it and while it's fun it's still very slow as a supermoto, I mainly decided on that bike for reliability 

I had a 2009 Husky SM450R for a few years. Once it was uncorked it was such a fun machine. Really hard to behave on it though. 

If I had unlimited funds I would have one of the new factory Austrian 450 supermoto race bikes. 

My new 890 SMT would be a little much on the dirt  but holy smokes on the mountain twisties there's nothing like it.

Ducati 100%

Everyone I know with spare rims can never be bothered swapping them. Just buy an adventure bike that does both like the ktm above

Have a look at one of the new Hypermotard from Ducati, in person.  It looks like it's made in the back streets on India, it's just terrible.  Looks like rushed to market.  The critics are canning the hell out of it.   Do a little research before laying down the $$$.   Check the swing arm and linkage, it's bolted directly to the engine, no frame down there! 

I changed mine out often.

If you are in Valdese you are close to some good roads, you can do curvy fun stuff and fire roads all in one big ride so sort of depends what you want to do. If you want to haul ass on the tight curvy pavement you'll want 17s with sticky tires. If you want to have more of a fun pace on the pavement and same on the gravel roads some good dual sport tires on the stock dirt wheels are more than capable. You can ride 99% of the fire roads in NC on street tires if its a small supermoto anyways as well. 

I switched wheels back and forth on a few bikes, DRZ-400 is honestly hard to beat for this use case its cheap, reliable, low maintenance and will happily cruise down Hwy 321 for 20 miles.

I also had a Husaberg 450 which was an awesome machine, better performance in every way with a bit more maintenance and not quite as happy to plop down the highway if needed, but it did supermoto duty, dual sport duty and also raced a 150 mile rally race. Any Austrian 500 would be a similar result.

I've had a KTM 530, KTM500, and Beta 300 2T Race Editon all setup as supermotos. Would swap wheels often with each.  I used the quick pull axles and chose a compromise countershaft sprocket that was good enough for both.  The corresponding rear wheel would have the desired sprocket on it for the setup.It got were wheel swaps were a 5-10 minute task going easy and I'd say it's very doable. 

My notes, I expected the 300 2T to be my dream toy. Outside of being so much fun as a brat bike and having random dudes come lust after it, the 4 strokes were so much better.  (I'm not a 4 stroke person by default). 

The sad truth, I had a DRZ400SM that was slower than all 3 and better than all 3 as a daily SM. It wasn't quite as fun but it never needed anything but fuel. Your CRF450X/WR idea isn't bad, I'd say find a set of 70/30 tires that you like that are grippy enough on the street but have some small teeth for the dirt and go ride the wheels off of it.  You have to be running Kart track lean angles on the asphalt to need the sumo rubber, but it sure is fun. 

A buddy of mine had a KTM 500 built up.  Triple clamps, suspension work, bigger front rotor, and slipper clutch.  Quite the bike. Then he sold it and did up a FI KTM 300 XC-W.  I think the 500 was better for street and paved tracks.  Both cool, and he swapped wheels as necessary.

I had a lot of fun on my Suzuki DRZ400SM. Did all the DIY upgrades and that bike was so much fun. I wish I hadn't sold it. 

XR / DRZ with sm kit. Cheap, reliable, low maintenance and fun! ✌️

'05 KTM625SMC

Fairly light, gobs of torque, not as highly stressed as the 450/500s.

i have a street legal crf 450r with super moto tires and love it... only wish it had a 6th gear like my cr 125.... 

Anything MX or enduro derived is a waste of time and effort,they are too slow on the road,and by the time you have messed about with brakes , and other stuff, you just wont want to swap stuff out. 

 700 Husky or Gas Gas are great , reliable on road, and usable on gravel, depending on what wheels you have in. 

As someone who has raced just about every form of motorcycle race there is, if the motorcycle gods descended from the heavens and said you can only own one bike, it would be my 450SMR and it's not even close. I HIGHLY recommend getting a supermoto if you have the means. It's the funnest thing you can do on two wheels. As far as bike recommendations go, the Austrian supermotos are great. You could have plenty of fun on the mountain roads and not have to worry about running out of power. On the west coast, I've seen them for as low as 6k. I've seen a lot of people have fun on the 690 and 701's as well, but they are heavier and not as nimble. DR400's are always going to be around. They have decent power and handling, and will be just fine if you are riding around on the roads and not planning on racing.  

Happy to answer any questions you have!

My 2020 CRF450RL

Husky 700

Man, I always think about a kinda do-it-all bike like that. I have a KTM 640 Duke that is a ton of fun on the street. Offroad though, it wouldn't work. I guess it always a matter of budget but I sure would like to build a Yamaha T7 to do a project bike like that. 

That new DR-Z Suzuki in Supermoto spec could fill out your needs. It isn't amazing in anything but it is good and great in most things. That is what I've heard at least.

I had an '06 from 2010-2015. Helped fill the void in my heart at the time. But I traded it for a 2014 250 SX at the time. Got back into moto. But yeah, it was fun and got lots of looks. Rare bikes too.

Xr650l is a blast

Stark 15/40 gearing 113mph on GPS. Was 103 with 14/40.

It was a lot more time consuming to swap the motard wheels on my CRF450, mainly because they barely fit into the swing arm. I could swap moto wheels in perhaps <5 minutes. The motard wheels took at least 30 minutes due to all the extra work.

It is far easier to just have two bikes... trail or dirt bikes also have a tiny sump. You'll be changing the oil after every ride too.