New guy in Bellingham, Wa

Hello from Bellingham.

I am currently shopping for a dual sport. I need to sell my 93' Subaru Turbo Touring wagon first. I hope to get $3500 - $4500 for it. That's what I will be working with for money.
I have never owned a bike but have ridden many of them, so not a total noob. I am looking for a used dual sport in the 400cc range to use mostly off the pavement.

With choosing a bike that is more set up for trails than the road I will at times need to transport it. I own a 91' Toyota 4x4 22RE pickup with a canopy. I have a Draw-Tite trailer hitch (currently not on the truck) that is rated for 600lbs. I live in an apartment with 1 parking space, so a trailer is out of the question. I am doing some homework on the hitch style carrier racks out there. I like this setup because of my space requirements and when going on overnight trips I like to sleep in the bed of the truck with the canopy.

I am wondering if anyone out there has a similar setup as I described and any suggestions on carrier brands and which ones obstruct truck tail light?
Will I need to beef up my suspension to compensate for an extra 350lbs or so on the hitch?
I also would like some feed back on bikes that would be good for me at 5'10 230lbs or any other suggestions that would help me out.

Very excited to be getting into this and thanks for reading from the new guy.

Welcome, HI!

Chris on here uses a hitch mount on his Explorer. I have a buddy that uses one on his small Nissan, (but he rides a KTM300 which is a lot lighter)

Don't really have any recommendations on bikes since I don't know prices. Would assume you could get a nice used 530KTM maybe?

Welcome to the forum! You might be able to get a fairly good KTM for that amount of money, or a low mile Suzuki DR Z400S for the same amount. Highly recommend either one. Suzuki= low maintenance, pretty good all around bike. The KTM= much better off-road, but higher maintenance.

welcome. Hunting for a new bike is half the fun ! Enjoy