Dirtbikes are amazing fun but the spend can catch up with you, especially when inflation eats away at your disposable income. I noticed when riding weekly and training for Finke last year how much my overall riding spend (and maintenance time) increased so it got me thinking about money-saving tips.

Here are a few simple tips you can add to your repertoire to save money and ride more.

Car pool. Sounds obvious, but so often at rides everyone of us rocks up in our own car. The last group ride my mates all did was 200km each way, so that’s 400km in total and about 50L of diesel worth $100. Why not halve it… or split that cost three ways? It’s also way more fun having some banter in the car. Saving $50-plus.

When you stop up for fuel, skip the crappy servo sanger and coffee. My last coffee at a small country servo tasted like it had been made with old goat’s milk and recycled grinds – Blend 43 would’ve been a grander option. The coffee and the old sandwich hit the bin. Just bring a thermos and some food and save the $15.

For overnighters bring a swag and skip the motel to save around $150. If you like a little more comfort than a thin foam swag mattress like me, slide a blowup hiking mattress under the swag for some luxury.

Work out roughly how much fuel you need before you fill up. We almost always have too many full spare jerry cans at the end of a ride, with fuel stinking out the shed and going stale. A quick calculation will probably save you around $20.

Don’t have big crashes. Sure no-one plans to crash at all, but the big ones get very exxy and are generally avoidable. Think about the cost of new gear and the price of a premium helmet, the medical bills and the new bike parts. The two key lessons I’ve learned here are:

    1. Big fatigue = big risk. Don’t push on if you’ve gassed out.
    2. Riding fast high up in the rev range means if you run out of luck (talent in my case) the damage bill is often higher. A fast-spinning rear wheel really throws the bike around, breaking extra parts just to rub it in. My last crash involved a tree stump hidden in long grass. I landed neatly in soft grass but the bike kept going with the rear wheel at full speed, finishing upside down in a forest. The bent rim and burst tube were inevitable but the broken subframe ($590), rear fender ($50 K-Tech) and handlebar (Pro Taper $200) might have been avoided if I didn’t have the throttle pinned on impact.

Riding singletrail through tight scrub shreds gear, so wear your older jerseys. Branches will spear through them new or old.

Protect your plastics. Some guys add contact over them; I haven’t tried it yet but I do add tape where Steg Pegz make contact to reduce the damage.

Be prepared to sell gear you don’t use. This year I have sold goggles, riding sets, parts from past bikes… you name it. It adds up and FB marketplace works well. Most people buying dirtbike gear are like you and it’s an easy experience. You’ll also have more shed and shelf space to fill with your cash.

Equally, buying secondhand gear in good, clean condition on FB marketplace (except helmets) can work really well, especially for kids who quickly grow out of it. My secondhand Alpinestar Tech 7 boots were almost new when I bought them and cost just $150 (instead of $470) and are still in use.

Buy premium tyres like Michelin Starcross 6. They cost maybe $10 more than others, but they pay for themselves in longevity. The extra traction is nice too. (This advice comes from Daniel Banks).

Post-ride cleaning is time well spent. Don’t pressure wash parts like chains as it can damage O-rings, and make sure it dries; turning a new chain into a long loop of rust is surprisingly easy to do. Personally, I mostly use RP7 or similar for this job. More advice from Daniel Banks, as a race mechanic. “Often guys bring bikes to me after they’re broken due to lack of maintenance. Instead, the 30 minutes to one hour cleaning and preventative maintenance post ride is well worth it, saving you time and money.”

Oil changes are essential. No racer or mechanic would advocate stretching intervals but I bought a 20L unit, from a premium brand (Putoline) for $350 on Daily Moto. Four (4) litres Motorex retails for $160. A KTM needs around 1.25 litres per change (1.2 in the engine, plus a little for the oil filter) so a 4L batch will get 3x oil changes with some left over. Works out around $53 per oil change. Switching brands and volume I should get 15 (or 16 if I don’t spill any) dropping it to $23. If you ride often enough, changing oil is a weekly thing. People can be fiercely loyal about oil brands; I just followed a few pros and mechanics I trust. At the rate I’m going it’s likely I’ll break every part on the bike before the engine goes. Your call on that one.

Air filters carefully cleaned, oiled and fitted last longer. I have tried a few and come back to Twin Air as you can buy three for the price of two Funnel Webbs, and personally I find them easier to clean and less prone to wear or damage in the process. You probably have a favourite brand already but just saying.

How much these tips help you will depend on your discipline and how much you ride. Some people ride 10 hours a year, others 10 hours a week. At the lower end of the scale it is still several hundred dollars, but at the higher end you can save thousands per year.

Put another way, the savings might be worth a new bike every few years. Starts sounding more appealing then, hey?