Agri-bikes for touring?
 

Friends down under, I was wondering if you could help me: For my next trip I'm planning on visiting Australia. Instead of shipping my trusty Guzzi, I thought I'd buy a bike in Australia, ride it, and then sell it. I deduced that agri bikes must be the perfect weapon for (slow) touring in the outback: They are cheap, seem very reliable, and the racks on the back and front are made for carrying a load. However, I'm not sure if it's possible to register an agri-bike - is it?

I wouldnt, but...
 

Hi!

A friend of mine had a Honda 200 Agri-bike. It was powerful, but not comfotrable. I wouldnt do that on the long road. But here in Madagascar you often see people with 100 and 200cc Yamaha Agri-bikes go long distances. That is usually a company vehicle and there only transport.

Have fun!
J

[and front are made for carrying a load. However, I'm not sure if it's possible to register an agri-bike - is it?[/quote]

Hi, great idea and bike, yes Ag bikes are road registerable, as long as its road worthy. Lots of bike shops have them new and second hand, although the second hand ones ive looked at are in rather bad condition. If u do do it and u want to sell it afterwards, give me a shout, i may sort something out with u. all the best Brian B.:thumbup1:

I would, but...
 

There are a couple that spring to mind, The DF200 Suzuki Trojan, the Honda CT200, and Kawasaki 250 Stockman. All very very strong bikes that have been made for years, parts in every back-country town (well they have to, all the farms have them) and people with experience in fixing them (well they have to, all the farms have them, umm I think I already said that). I'm pretty sure Aussie is the same as NZ; if you use them on the road, they HAVE to be registered.
The Honda CT110 is still usually the biggest selling single model in Aussie, and plenty of people travel big miles in Aussie on them every year, some on charity rides.

Honda CT110 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm sure someone FROM Aussie will kick in with the full legal position.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

Certain year models of the Honda CT & CTX200 were ADR (Australian Design Rule) compliant, some of them not so. The compliant machines are identified with a compliance plate, attached to the frame, detailing month/year model & relevant ADR numbers, engine/VIN number, registration for on road use is only OK for plated machines. The Suzuki Trojan is not compliant as far as I know, the Kawasaki Sherpa is compliant. I think the best way out, is to use a Suzuki DR250, as it will be more resaleable at the end and would be in better condition as a second hand purchase, Most farmers only sell their AG bikes...when they are worn out :-)

Ok, thanks for your input, all. I'll consider the DR250 proposition as well.

A problem with them could be fuel range - they tend to have small tanks as they only get ridden around the farm so don't need a big tank. The CT110 guys fit tanks off trail bikes to get a bigger range.. could be a solution for the others too?

Good Luck. Err don't know what there crusing speed would be either ... you'd want at least 80km/h. OZ is a big place .. 80km/h would make it a bit bigger. but doable.

Sure you can
 

I have done several 1000km+ plus trips with an Agri bike. I use mine exclusively for trips and have done 18000km + in total.

See Trailrider - Adventures & Ride Reports

Hi, I spent some time looking for second hand Ag bikes that had compliance plates & were registerable. They do exist but are very few & far between. The closest I found for sale to me in southern Vic was almost 1200kms away, & this was looking regularly over a 6 month period. I came to the conclusion that buying new would be easiest - Honda CTX. We needed two. ............. Have ended up buying a Honda SL230 with a factory rack & a DR-Z250 with a gearsack rack.

I would consider an ag bike a great choice for a slow trip if you can pick up one with a compliance plate. Most farmers pay several hundred dollars less for a model without compliance plate. When I enquired at the local Honda dealer if it were possible to get a compliance plate for an uncomplianced machine they told me "technically it is possible & Honda can provide a 'letter of compliance' to show the registration authorities, but in reality Honda may or may not, & could take a long time to do either". It didn't sound promising.

I'm not sure that an Ag bike is the best way to go for touring in Australia, poor fuel range, lack of seat comfort, vibration through steel foot pegs. They are intended for low speed, stop start type riding. I'm not sure that you will get anywhere special that a good touring bike, setup correctly with panniers and tyres, wont get you.

If you intend doing any really serious Outback touring, you need to have a bitumen road fuel range of at least 350kms, ideally at least 500kms, if you are on "hard" (sand, mud, badly corrugated or rutted) roads your fuel range can be halved. You'd need to carry a small (10lt) jerry can for fuel taking up space for luggage.

The racks you get on Ag bikes are all "pile" on, putting your centre of gravity very high - not good for handling on any type of bike or road.

Comfort - after 200kms you'll know every bump in the road.

There are plenty of good used touring bikes for sale, with panniers and racks, maybe put some good universal tyres on for bitumen/dirt road use.

You may run into some problems with an Ag bike with selling in another State, there are some differences between whats allowed and whats not. Some States have registration specifically for Ag bikes so that farmers are covered for third party (injury) compulsory insurance. BUT the registration is conditional on the bike being used on or near the farm.

Ag bikes are great

All come with hand guards, racks, double side stands, fully enclosed chains

Things not mentioned yet too consider - they are geared very low - 1st, 2nd are almost useless. 3rd gear is more in-line with a "regular" 1st gear. Most have 5 gears, the Kawasaki Stockman has six - its basically a super sherpa with racks.

The Yamaha AG200 can be road registeres, you want the AG200E. They sell a kit for the AG200L which is the same bike without blinkers. Most of them come with a road worthy kit becuase a lot of farmers need them to legally cross roads through their farms.

I currently have an AG200 in the stable and its the best balanced bike I've ridden, though its lower geared in the first three gears than the Honda 200 I had previoulsy. The honda had a great pulling engine but annoyingly had sidestands that were too close to the bike - always tipping over on damp/soft/ground

I'm partial teh the yamahas mainly because we had an 1978 AG100 that saw work duty for 18 years with barely any attention at all. It was held together with fencing wire in the end and still kept running

The seats are really soft, maybe too soft for sitting all day, but you get over it.

Yes they are slow, and in the wind but what do you expect from a loaded 100-200cc bike?

Take your time, smell the roses

Couple of overloaded posties attacking fraser island in this link:
Charge Of The Midgets_Cape York Posties Pt.1 - ADVrider

I'd go for an ag bike - has the racks and twice the cc. Seen some good second hand deal in shops that hobby farmers have realised weren't flash enough for them when the best new quad came out

Martin & Jo spring to mind - two Australians on what they called 'bush bikes' I met in Argentina in 2003, they were going RTW on them.

Pull start, two sidestands, hand guards made from cut down milk cartons, if memory serves they were 200cc bikes.

A slight alternative to the agri-bikes is this company, who are Qingqi's Australian distributor. Before you start with the Chinese bit, Qingqi's two enduros (given good reviews if you read the reviews on the link) are actually Suzukis. Qingqi is the OEM for the Suzuki DR200 engine and frame, and cost less, so just another bike to consider. The Qingqis are labeled as Argin in Australia, the local importer/distributor.

Arqin Motorcycles Australia

Postie bikes
 

Check out this link of a Japanese rider who bought a Postie bike from a dealer then proceeded to ride it around the continent. The only problem he had on the whole trip was 2 x foot peg rubbers falling apart. One Ten Mototcycles - CT110

Cost of a Postie bike from this dealer is approx. $1200 to $1600 AUD depending on quality you want.

I have just bought one from an auction at $700.00, add registration and you are looking approx. $1000 or there abouts ride away. Can't beat that for cheap travel.

I plan to ride mine to Cape York in August this year :scooter:

Glen