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OK. Because you guys here are a lot more stable and reasonable I'm going to post this here rather than ADV even although it might "fit" better there. My Son has a friend of some years' acquaintance and who is like a Son to my Wife and myself. They have known each other since about second grade or so and the kid used to live right across the street. In 2012 or so his Father and I were scratching our collective heads trying to figure out how to defeat the then-burgeoning videocy that was taking place. Some dim recess of my brain lit up and I remembered that I used to throw a leg over a dirt bike back in the day, so off I go and purchase what will turn out to be exactly the wrong type of bikes, especially for me. I hadn't paid much attention to MX bike technology so I just bought a CRF450 for me and a little whyzed for him. Turns out the YZ was a great bike for him, but I hated that CRF. Too loud, too scary and altogether a wrong choice for my nascent resurging dirt bike skillz. Fast forward a year and I'm mounted much more conservatively on my BRP and a YZ250 smoker. I've upsized my Son to a YZ125 as well due to his Mother's comments of "Fat Man on a mini-bike" while watching him drag race his little mini. So now appropriately mounted we are on a 5 day trip to the desert with the aforementioned friend. His Dad has elected to go a slightly different route and purchased himself a well-known manufacturer's two stroke enduro and a 125 four stroke for his Son. So we're out there with my Son's 125, Mama's quad, my XR650, YZ250 and his little tiddler four striker. And for the life of me I saw the kid just light up. We were out there roasting alive in the desert for days and the kid just ate it up. He pissed and moaned the first night due to the extreme lack of conveniences such as steady cell coverage but rapidly adapted. He was keeping right up with me on the XR due to its' rather pokey slow pace and actually giving a fairly good account of himself keeping up with my Son on his YZ. Most of the terrain there that he was riding was fast fire roads which explains why he was riding with me on my XR a lot as opposed to trying the single track as much with the slower four stroker. At any rate after 4 days he didn't exactly want to leave either. Which now brings me to the painful part of this tale. After a few weeks back he refused to go up to Washington with his Dad who had an invite from some friends from work. The next thing I hear is this kid texting my Wife that his Dad is being Lifeflighted down to PDX due to an accident trailside and I'm absolutely at a loss of what to do. He had lost his Mom due to cancer about a year and a half before which just made it that much more unfair. Fortunately my Wife was able to help him through some of this I hope, but it doesn't do bumpkiss for my feelings of guilt. Plus the fact that I know for sure his kid "gets it" and is now hooked on trail riding for life makes sure this is going to be painful for a while. So a year goes by and it turns out his Dad WILL be able to walk, but has now lost quite a bit of function including the complete use of one leg and has a lot of ongoing health concerns. He engages legal representation and prepares to move the both of them to the East coast (his original home). The Son is just entering High School and is now completely disrupted socially which he is very vocal about after they move there. Meanwhile yours truly has an Epiphany and purchases what will become my waking obsession: a shiny Triumph Tiger 800 XCx. So this last year the Manufacturer of the bike he was riding settles along with the Dealership involved and he gets some recompense and I can go back to looking at their bikes without blinders on. He says I was invaluable to him (how I have no clue) but that is neither here nor there. The big news is that he has really gone outside himself and is allowing his Son to ride again. Of course the both of them are looking to me for advice and the first that I gave was to get a KLX 250 due to his size/weight (about 140-150 and about 5'7") and experience. He was thinking another two stroke and I rapidly quashed that even if you could convert one it would be a PITA for the type of riding he wants to do. He needs a bike with the reputation of an anvil, a bike for the Zombie apocolypse which he can grow on for the next couple of years. He's already lusting after the weestrom and I've told him after a year or two on the KLX it might be a good option but since he specifically mentioned Solo I recommended the KLX. I don't recommend Solo of course, but if you have to you have to. Make sure to go as prepared as possible with a bike that fits well and that you can manage to recover solo. Go to every clinic/School you can afford and join your local district of the AMA. Bring SPOT. Wear Armor. Post your route. Come out here for Vacation this Summer, I've got a spare motorcycle or three. As you can probably tell, I'm so stoked his Dad is letting him ride again after this. I really feel the responsibility and respect he's showing in allowing his Son to ride again and I want there to be nothing but good outcomes here. So obviously no rocket bikes and since he's totally into dual sports that kind of helps. So what else should he be looking at? He was looking at a DR400 but I nixed that as too big. I like the KLX, it has a great rep and sells for what you paid for it when you move on. The TW200 would be another like that but a bit too anemic for his purposes I think. The little KLX was able to keep up with my Tiger for most dual sport type riding that a friend and I were doing a year or two ago when he was here. And when he moved back to England he sold it on for what he paid hence my comment about value. But if anyone has any other alternatives, let me know. He asked about the WR and I said that would probably be very similar but out here at least guys like to imagine they are on YZs and beat the heck out of them. So pipe up, everyone. What first bike for a future dual sport rider? I'm not talking big touring ADV bike because he'll buy what speaks to him, as I did.