Any suggestions for a bike?

[KDSA]

I finaly have some cash and like to get me a bike again. I live in Australia and I look mainly for a Road Trail bike . I want a bike with a pillionseat so I can take my girls with for a ride from time to time.
I like to spend not more than 6000 AUS$ and had there fore a look at a KLE500, KLR650 and DR650. All bikes are in this particular Pricerange with not to much K`s on the clook.
Today I had a testride on a KLE 500, it was alright, but I miss a bit the grunt in the lower end of the REV scale.
All suggestions are welcome or even other ideas of bikes wich will fit into my purpose!
Cheers Klaus!

[kentfallen]

The Kawasaki KLE500 is a reasonable traillee but some consider it to be a bit agricultural. My pick of the bunch would be a Yamaha XT600E which isn't entirely surprising given the fact I own 2 of them! lol.

Other bikes well worth looking at -

Honda XR650
Kawasaki KLR650
Suzuki DRZ400 - pretty useful offroad
Honda Transalp (XL?) - Twin

If you want a bargain then look no further than a XT6 (any version as all are legendary RTW bikes).

[gixxer.rob]

There are lots of XT600E's out there so in some ways that shows they can do the job and cheaply. I took z XTZ660 up to cape york. That was one up but with all the luggage it may as well have been two up.

I now have a DR650 which is proving to be grunty enough, cheap and tough. Heaps of people here have picks of these bike in all sorts of places.

[KDSA]

Yeah, the DR is also on the list.
I do not know in the moment wich direction I will go!
I will see If I get the chance to testride as well the KLR and the DR!
gixxer.rob, did you buy a new DR or second hand? Comming saturday I booked in a testride for a DR with 34000k`s on the clock for 5290$ wich I think is still negotiable.
Will see how it will go.
Cheers!

[BikingMarco]

Good luck with the DR, it's an awesome bike.
They sell brand new for AU$8000 in Sydney and there's usually good offers for used ones on the usual sites on the web.
As much as I like the DR, for riding two up over long distances it does not offer too much room. So give it a try with your girl on the pillion seat before you commit.

[gixxer.rob]

Originally Posted by KDSA

gixxer.rob, did you buy a new DR or second hand?

I got mine 2nd hand with 9000k's on the clock. I think you should be able to move a bit on that price but they are a pretty tough bike and the price often reflects that.

As BikingMarco says two up doesn't leave much room for gear, depends on how long and where the trip is I suppose.

[farqhuar]

KDSA, given the passenger carrying requirement I'd be going for a Weestrom (DL650 v twin).

Much better than the KLE500 in terms of grunt, size, comfort and performance but not as much of an offroader as the DR/KLR/XT. Far better compromise (true dual purpose) bike though than any of the above.

There's a Weestrom in the flea market at ADV Australia right now for $5.5k.