The best MX/offroad bike you've EVER ridden and why?

I am going to agree 100% with you and add my 07 Crf450 with the Athena 488 kit and now my current 23 Kx450SR.

Stock: 1998 KX250. To this day, the best box-stock motorcycle I’ve ever ridden/owned. I had a 98 YZ on order as I was switching from Honda after the atrocious 97 beer can special. I hopped on my buddy’s brand-new KX and knew half a lap in that I was canceling the YZ and getting a KX. Great, easy-to-ride motor, great box-stock suspension, and good handling. No, it wasn’t the rocket the CR motor was mid-top, but for a Junior-level rider like I was, it was far easier to ride.

Modified: Tie between my 07 CRF450 and my current 21.5 KTM 450 FE. My CRF had the Factory Connection parts and coating book thrown at it, as well as a couple motor tweaks and was phenomenal. To this day some of the best suspension I’ve had. 
 

My KTM is outstanding as well, although I’m still tweaking the forks a bit (6500 cartridges/springs). If it weren’t for the stock fork settings that year, I’d have listed it with the KX. Modified, it’s every bit as good as my CRF, possibly slightly better due to the motor and handling. 

1991 RM250, because I was young enough to go fast on it and it was fun enough to let me. 

I enjoyed the 98KX250 a lot. That was a bike that I had fun on right away. 

My current 2019 KX450.  At 6’3”, I’ve never had a bike that fit me as well.  The adjustable ergos are a huge plus for me.  The chassis is so comfy, the rougher the track gets, the further up the pack I finish.

1977 Hodaka "  Combat Wombat "

The name...just the badass name alone...

J/k  81 RM 125 light years ahead of anything prior ever.....

2nd ) 93 / 94 CR 250 like McGrath said " That steel frame & Motor "

( not against E bikes...but they have to be affordable for the average guy ) 

The tracks, trails and places to ride have changed over the years.  I all but slept with a 73 highly modified CZ I raced for a few years, but wouldn’t say it was the best but good for it’s time.  The newer bike are so much better than the old bikes we rode back in the day.  If I were young and still racing my favorites would be much different.

I want to say it was an 84 model YZ250 that I really liked.  It did pretty dang good, easy to get around the track on.  It started first kick, very reliable and pretty dang fast too.  Started having back issues and had to quite riding, hated to sell it.

I liked a 2014 YZ250F too, just sold it a few weeks back.  If it had electric start It would probably still be in the garage.

Haven’t rode it but a little less than an hour but the 24 Beta 300 RX I recently came home with is best I’ve owned/ridden.  Didn’t take long to figure out either.  Dipped a toe and tweaked my knee and had to put it on the trailer but ride it enough to really like it.  Knee is getting better and will have a heavier rear on it in a few days.  The Beta doesn’t have the good feel when you set on it like the two Honda setting beside it in the garage, but all that is forgotten in the first corner.  Very easy to ride as long as you adjust power valve.  As it comes from the factory in sunshine mode with factory PV settings, it hits like a freight train.   Adjust PV which is a turn of a knob.  Or swap power valve springs which takes about a minute.  Switch to rain mode and it’s a good old guy bike for the track, off road, trails whatever.  It’s pretty much a Swiss Army knife best I can tell.  I’d guess this Beta will be in the garage a long time.  It’s going to be for me hard to beat.

So for me it’s the new Beta 300 RX that followed me home.

1997 YZ 125 . It was the bike I was most comfortable charging obstacles on . 125s were never really a good bike for me because I just wasn't aggressive enough but this bike was an exception . It actually had a broad powerband for a 125 and it handled great . It just inspired confidence .

2005 of the same bike. SSS forks were awesome, could bang out 30 minute motors with ease thanks to it being a 125 and keeping it pinned everywhere makes me feel like I’m actually fast.

1994 or maybe 1988 YZ250. Both well balanced with "Happy" motors ! ! u know the way some years the motor just never seems "happy" lol. Broad power and easy to ride fast. 

Worst........last year of the air cooled CR500. What sloppy mess that thing was. Fast though.

The fuel tank on my KTM started leaking years ago at a hare scramble.

Some guy I never met before heard I was out and loaned me an older RM250.

Ill never forget how well that bike turned, like nothing I’d ever ridden before or since.

Best part was passing my buddy on the outside of a big sweeper, almost flat tracking.

We still talk about that epic bike.

Shoulda bought one.

For my, the 14+ YZ250F. I've owned a few over the years and ridden others. Just the way the engines run and the overall chassis just is perfect for me. I've tried other bikes, even 350s thinking that would be better for me. But I always go back to the YZF. My current one is nicely set up and I have no complaints, amazing bike.

08CRF are great bikes. Cool that ppl are still talking about those bikes now. I would also throw 06+ YZ125 in there also, just for being so well rounded and fun. I can't put it as my top pick, just because a 125 as my main bike is tough to do. But it's still a bike that should always be in the garage. I'd also put 17-22 KTM450 up there too. I'm not a 450 guy but I do love those bikes.

You sure it was an '05 YZ125? I ask because the '05 YZs came with the AOSS forks and '06 was the first year for the SSS. I remember this because I never got happy with the forks on my '05 YZ250 but was stunned how good the ones on the '06 were.

I've heard a number of people say they couldn't really telll a difference between the two years, but to me it was huge.

"I would also throw 06+ YZ125 in there also, just for being so well rounded and fun"

I've still got an '06 YZ125 and an '06 CR125... and fun is the operative word. Nothing else makes me grin like these two scooters. Granted, I'm not out trying to climb wet, moss covered rock hills with them, but for where I ride them, they remind me why I started riding to begin with: because it's just exceedingly, outrageously, incomparably fun. 

And isn't that what it's all about? 

Absolutely. I've sold a few of my YZ 125s and once I would go a year or so without it, I would really miss it and buy another. At this point I've told myself that I will always have one as a 2nd bike lol. 

I agree with you above post as well. 05 YZ125 was amazing, when it first came out. I didn't have an issue with the fork, like some ppl seemed to. But once you rode an 06, it was obviously a noticeable upgrade. 

Also, ATKPilot, I agree about the 97. I had one and was blown away by it, when those came out. I don't think, at the time, any 125 had a power profile that could let you charge, like on that bike. I think even the current philosophy of the YZ125 is based on the same idea. That was the first year that I felt a 125 could get into the power so easy and just give confidence and not punish mistakes, like a typical 125 does. 

2003 KX85.

My brother was always fast, and I raced 80 beginner from 7-13 years old, and this bike transformed me.

89 KX 500 because it had better suspension and was easier to start than the 84 CR500. 

I would rather still own my CR 500.

2006-current YZ250- the best all round MX/ offroad bike ever. End of story.

My 1996 KTM 300 EXC (first of the orange colour scheme).  Nice broad powerband, Ohlins shock, and the conventional Marzocchi 45’s are still some of the best forks I’ve ridden on.

For off-road I really liked a 07 wr450 I had. Bone stock minus the free mods (grey wire and cutting 10mm off a fuel screw on the carb i believe). Never touched a clicker and that bike was so damn stable in high speed stuff. 
 

I haven’t owned a lot of bikes, but I’m really starting to like the 23 350 for mx. 

Had the most fun on a '96 CR125 back in '01/'02.

'Best' bike so far was a '19 tc250, very impressive and just a cool bike despite the trippy side panels.

2006 RM250 2stroke.

It was the culmination of RC’s dominant bike from the year prior. The frame flexed so much you could feel every pebble under your feet. Turned on a dime, heaps of torque with an adjustable power valve. Ended up selling because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find stock parts. 

I was lucky enough to ride a few works bikes, but the best was an 82 Suzuki 125. That bike was light years ahead of anything I rode back then. 
 

 I got to ride a full PC 87 YZ125, great bike, but that Suzuki was way better. 
 

 Fast, super usable power, great suspension, I could hit anything as fast as I wanted, and great brakes for that time frame. It was such a fast, easy to ride bike. 

Another vote for the 2008 Honda Crf450. It was a great bike, loved that thing.

but my 2023 Yamaha 450 is pretty great too.

Probably my 2001/2006 400 KTMs (the 350's ancesters) . Did every thing with that bike, going to pick up groceries, quiet trail riding, off road races, MX... Easy to ride slow, easy to race fast. Whatever you sent at it, it was at least good and most times perfect. And ultra-reliable and low maintenance.

1983 KX80; the first watercooled model. I'd been racing a 1981/82 aircooled uni-trak model and getting on the '83 was like a whole new level. Power, handling etc - everything was awesome. Those things were head and shoulders better than every other 80 at the time.

Any chance you have one of those old bikes sitting in the garage?

02 YZ250, with fully worked PC forks. That bike did everything right, it was light, fast enough and easy to ride. I can’t remember what the stock forks were called, but they needed some help, PC had a setup that worked great but didn’t have the buttery smooth feel of the SSS. 
 

I sold my KX500s and spent about 5 years on MTBs before I got that YZ, the transition to the Yamaha was so easy..

Has to be 1992 Honda CR250, was fast and handled awesome. Easiest suspension ive ever set up, followed MXA settings and was only 1-2 clicks off. Raced that bike for maybe 5 years! Honorable mention is my 81 YZ465 holeshot everytbing with 3rd gear starts, and my 2018 CRF450, easiest bike ive ever ridden to go fast on.

I'll 2nd that one as far as a mini goes.  Those bikes were game changers to the mini world, basically legal cheating they were so good.  Big bike, it's a tie for me......  99 YZ 125, and an 05 RM250.  Both those bikes excelled at everything in my eyes.