Best bike for on and off road
 

Been in Australia since Oct now have a few $ saved for a bike, probably around $4000 to put towards one, but less I spend on bike the more I have for travel. I will be doing a lot of miles on the road but want to try get on as many off road trails as I can. I would prefer something low maintainence and not to heavy either. Looked at Drz 400 and if lowered I think it would be ok, someone recommended v Strom but I think they are quite heavy. At home in n.ireland I ride a 600 hornet. So any suggestions/advice

Cant go passed an R series BMW IMHO. I did the Birdsville Track on a bog standard R65 in the mid 80s. Met plenty of riders who did the Gunbarrel, Cape York roads, Gibb River Road, etc. My wife and I often road into the Vic/NSW Alpine areas in winter - snow being pushed away by the barrels.


Just needs some universal tyres as per the R80GS models and they will go most places.

If you want something lighter than the BMW, I'd suggest something like Suzuki DR650 or KLR. More nimble in the sand and other loose stuff that is plentiful in Australia.

Arrived to Perth with a BMWR80GS and migrated to a lowered DR650 to ride around the WA - a significant difference (so much so that we almost had a DR650 sub-group within the BMW club!)

That said, if you can afford it, check out the new BMWF700GS - just got a factory lowered and it goes a charm...and more comfortable than the DR650 for longer rides. p.s. I have ridden a DR around USA and with an air hawk seat it is bearable for longer distances (it's the long straight roads that make it hard).

Thanks guys really appreciate the advice

Hi! Maggie,
Im 5ft 4inc in height and only 60kg in weight and 61 years old. I ride a KLR 650 model 2008 and it has 125,000km on odometer. I travelled South America down to Ushuaia , the US, Canada up to Prudhoe Bay and extensively in South east Asia. Now Im preparing for Malaysia to the UK in Jul 2015.
Its a solid 'mule' and going strong. I suggest a KLR. Its cheap, practical and easy to maintain.

Amzah

What's the best bike - a hard question to answer especially when a budget is involved.

Everything people have said above is true and all the mentioned bikes are fine - but what you can be certain of is that when you are looking for a specific make and model suddenly they seem to become as rare as hens teeth and/or all over priced. Instead rather than looking for a specific bike look at "what's available in the price range, your area and time frame?" Haunt Gumtree (and other web sites) and watch what's for sale and get an idea of prices, when you see something you fancy go and look at it. How much rego has it got? Are the tyres, brakes, chain etc good? Has it been regularly serviced and looked after? There is a $1000 or more dollars of value in these questions and they are more important at the cheap end of the market than make and model. If you do enough looking over a week or two you'll soon get to recognise the bargains that are out there. As an example ten months ago I needed a cheapish bike to do a weekly 800km return highway run - a weeks viewing of Gumtree found an oldish but tidy CBR1000 with a years rego, good tyres etc advertised for $2500. It had been for sale for a few weeks so I offered and got it for $1800. I'd never have thought of looking for a CBR - but hey it was available when it was needed - and its now done 20,000km for me for the cost of oil changes and one tyre.

Good luck

Thanks for that Martin good advice, so true what you say when looking for specific bike its hard to find one close by in your budget. Had kind of started doing what you suggested, and looking at what was available and then seeing if one suited. Trying to leave Melbourne asap as am not getting many hrs at work and I was planning on going to east coast soon anyway to settle and work, but if I hang around here a shortage of hrs will eat into my money, so I figure quicker I find bike and get on the road the better. I want to enjoy my trip to the East Coast and take scenic route and maybe a detour to Tasmania. I don't have a lot of experience going solo so any advice welcome. Should be an adventure at least.

I love it, sounds amazing 61 and still touring about, fantastic. I hope I will be the same at your age. Few people suggested KLR sounds decent. Tried a DR650se out, height etc was perfect but bike wasn't in best condition. Good luck for your trip and thanks for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated