Best bike for Eastern Europe on a tight budget
Hi,
I am planning a trip to Eastern Eurepe, with my girlfriend as pillion, from London to possibly the Dalmation Coast or Romania. I have a budget of around £1000 for the bike. Any advice on the best bike to get for that budget that will be economical and reliable (to state the obvious) and good for a pillion? I have had a quick hunt around and 3 early '90s Triumphs seem to come up a lot; Trophy, Tornado and Sprint. But as I know very little about tourers (only owned bikes such as XJR and Firestorm and Bandit) any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks |
Cb 750?
Honda CB750 from the mid '90ies are incradably cheap here (belgium).
Yamaha diversion Honda Transalp Suzuki GS 500 less comfy: DR650 I'de go for any not too big not too sporty japanese bike that is cheap, in good nick and not very fancy. Rob |
Any bike will do in Eastern Europe. But if you are two on the same bike and planning to cross beautiful Alps or Romanian mountains, which I recommend, go for a Honda Transalp, Honda Africa Twin, Yamaha Tenere or at least an XT600/660. Because you had experience with Bandits, big sized ones are also good choices.
Just enjoy the trip. It is less about the bike. a. can ozcan |
Hello mate,
If your looking for a big reliable cheap bike and have £1300.00 i'll give you my XJR 1200 , 29000 miles in perfect mechanical order with a givi rack,i've serviced it myself for the past 2 years and just replaced a couple of shims,it runs perfectly and i have a documented service history of everything i've done to it, Genuine bike,no worries at all,ready to tour, Just a thought !!!!!!!!!!!!!!, good luck Mick |
Any K100 or similar, plenty of bikes out there at that sort of price.
If you want something a bit more expensive but more versatile, I have a 1992 R100GS with full luggage for sale @ £1,850. |
I had a 94 triumph Trophy for years.If you want to know anything about them fire away
|
Trophy
I ride a 1996 Trophy 1200 2 up and love it.
If I were buying again I might go for the triple and save a bit on fuel costs. Rick |
thanks for your posts.
The most important factor in this trip is having a great time. I now feel, as cozcan pointed out, that the type of bike isn't really that important as long as it will get you and your luggage there and back. I like bikes to have character which is way I showed an interest in the Triumphs. They are generally highly rated and do look good. |
Have a look at a Kawasaki KLE 500 - cheap as chips, reliable as a hammer, economical, light and flickable - could do a lot worse.
H |
Hi,
For my twopence worth, there are many more factors in your question and the threads in here have lots of discussion about the answers; how long are you going for, how fast/far do you want to travel each day, what luggage are you going to carry etc? I have taken a Diversion 900 around France for a month and it was a great bike two up but so was the Blackbird that I did the same thing on a bit later. In both cases I used the same soft panniers thrown over the pillion seat/bike rack; a big bike is definitely more comfortable than the over-roader that you never take offroad, especially with your girlfriend on the back! |
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