I’ve had a chance to ride quite a few bikes this year. I’m not a motocross racer. I mostly ride trails and forest roads.
Ttr 250- my favorite, fairly soft ride on rocky trails but decent enough suspension to get aggressive, the seat is the most comfortable, lots of low end power, almost never stalls, totally foolproof air cooled engine, this is more of a trail bike and really fits my needs, comfortable to go down the highway at 60 mph for about an hour tops, being super inexpensive makes it more fun because I never worry about dropping it
Wr250f- overall it has “better” suspension and more power than the ttr, easier to stall in technical steep stuff, the power band seems narrow to me
Exc 450- way more bike than I need, didn’t want to run after being dropped when it was hot, overall the most fun to ride but also the most frustrating when it wouldn’t start
Beta 390- super nimble, fuel injection is great, power is at about the sweet spot, good low end and top end, this would be a very hard bike to beat, if I can find one in my price range in a few years I will buy it
Beta 200 2stroke- didn’t want to idle, I generally dislike 2strokes for the noise and complexity of oil injection on the beta (I have no idea what the failure rate is but it’s just one more thing that could be an issue), I found the clutch to be sticky and hard to deal with at low speeds, the weight to power ratio is insane, hopping logs is easier than anything I’ve ridden, super wide power band and more powerful than a 250 4 stroke by a fair amount
Overall if I had a bunch of money I would buy a beta 390. Otherwise I think a guy is best served with a cheap, simple 250-350.