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Post By BobnLesley
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Big adventure bikes ..............
Is it the end for large big adventure bikes ?
Do you really need 120 hp to go on an adventure ?
We now see a lot of small bikes coming into the market .. ie 300cc.450cc 500cc
They have a massive advantage as they cost on some cases 1/3 of the cost !
Easy to ride on rough tracks
Better fuel economy
Cheaper to insure
and more fun !
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Colombia,(when not travelling)
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...and lighter in case you have to pick them up : )
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It's the old story, "horses for courses". A big bike will be better and more capable on the road, a smaller one vice versa. You *can* tour on anything, as I'm sure we have all seen, but if you tailor your ride to the style of journey you want to do, you'll probably have a more enjoyable experience.
For me, 650-900cc has always been the sweet spot. Most of my travel is on blacktop but it's important to me to have a bike that isn't quickly overwhelmed by a bit of rough going, or impossible to pick up unaided. OTOH, I don't want something I have to cane flat out to get between cities at more than pony pace. Upper-middleweight bikes are also better for carrying luggage long distances. I don't carry the kitchen sink but for a long trip you need a reasonable amount of clothes, tools, spares and camping gear.
Where I think we can agree is *nobody* needs 1300cc and a 30 litre tank. There's no place anywhere in the world where that's necessary.
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Its great that we now have more alternatives in the middle and smaller segment of travelbikes. However for example both the CF Moto 450 and the new Himalayan 450 are around 195 kilos wet weight. Thats a lot more than old school bikes such as the Dr650, XT600 etc. The NX500 also weighs almost 200 kilos.
The Crf300 Rally is the only option that I can remember with a weight around 150 kilos.
Of course we have the KTM/Husky/GasGas 700 line - but that it will need bigger petrol tank to be a decent travel bike.
A new KTM 390 Adv is coming - weight is not known yet but probably around 170-180 kilos wet. A brand new Aprilia Tuareg 450 twin cylindred is also rumoured - and that is great. But I dont belive it will be less than 175 kilos wet.
So yes - several new smaller/midle bikes available nowadays so thats great. But the weight of these new alternative small/middle weight bikes is much like the weight of much bigger bikes some 20-30 years ago.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomkat
... OTOH, I don't want something I have to cane flat out to get between cities at more than pony pace. ...
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That sounds fair, when I'm off on a trip the last place I want to be is around a city so I prefer the "pony pace"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snakeboy
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The Crf300 Rally is the only option that I can remember with a weight around 150 kilos. ...
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Voge Rally 300 is the only other one I know of, or for short people the Voge 300ACX is alright for trails apparently and weighs about 170kg.
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Forgot the Voge 300 Rally yes….
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arrr........ Honda is always your best bet !
love to buy a new xr650 from usa in whie !!! wow
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Join Date: Nov 2005
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badou24
Is it the end for large big adventure bikes ?
Do you really need 120 hp to go on an adventure ?
We now see a lot of small bikes coming into the market .. ie 300cc.450cc 500cc :
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Yes, that fashion's seriously on the decline.
You never did need a big/120hp bike, indeed you're better off without one. The modern GS BMWs and the like weren't built to go adventuring on, they are designed to go on your usual 70 mile sunny-Sunday ride out, visiting your regular biker-cafe stops - using the inbuilt GPS of course - while wearing >£3000 worth of clothing to make it look as if you'll be heading off along the silk road early next week.
As to seeing a lot more small bikes coming onto the market, that's about changing customer demographics:
In the nineties/noughties the fashion was to whizz around on your race-replica sports bike. Ten years on, those same riders' backs & knees could no longer cope with the riding positions, nor could they fit in the tight leathers, so the industry sold them 'Adventure Bikes' instead. Much easier to pootle around on and the riding gear was far more spacious. Now of course, yet another ten years on, riders are finding those a bit too heavy to get on/off the stand, or manoeuvre around the car park; so the industry is selling them Enfield Himalayans and the like... much easier to handle, but you can still pretend (to yourself at least) that you'll be doing something more exotic than turning up here for another bacon butty and a cup of tea next weekend.
'Adventure Bikes' and all the associated gear that goes with them have never been anything more than a marketing tag; no one motorbike is any more adventurous than any other... It's their riders (and only a very tiny proportion of those) who are the adventurers
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