Here's another bike to talk about, slag off, or whatever takes your fancy.
http://www.adventurebikerider.com/fo...happy-day.html

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Dave

When you say "Adventure bike", that's exactly what I imagine. 1300Kg's of multi-cylinder behemoth loaded down with the TT catalogue and a rider who's talk will be of "extreme this" and "Adventure that" but who either because he's a stock broker with three kids or because he doesn't know how to order a Double-Choco-Latte in French will be trading it for a bigger one in two years having never got further than Margate.


I have a similar mental block with Cruisers.


Now a travel bike. That's something that's something that evolves to fit what the rider does. As we all do different things I'm afraid I found the original article (remember that?) rather hard work and not to my taste. There again, I view off-road bits as something to be got past to where the decent restaurants are rather than a play ground, so it isn't really a surprise I switched off.


The ultimate bike for adventure is an Enfield Bullet converted to Diesel by an idiot. You'll never be bored!


Andy

GS's have their place (at Starbucks! ) no, seriously, they have their place. Great two up sport tourers. Would I own one? No, can't afford it or the maintenance and goodies required to make it good. I ride with at least 10 or so guys on GS's. You'd be surprised where the talented of them can get to.

Right, just about any bike can do "Adventure" if it's what the rider wants. The wrong bike may struggle in places but it's all about getting out and having some fun, right?

BTW, Wes Siler (guy who wrote the article in your link) seriously lacks credibility ... and proves it once again. First off ... as usual .. he got a bunch of it wrong. Fact is, several of his listed "Not Coming To America" bikes ARE in fact coming or are here now. Maybe his article is old? No idea, but Cycle World and Motorcyclist (our biggest print mags in USA) featured several of the bikes. One is the "new" VFR800, another the little Yamaha kick start 400.

We're also getting some new Suzuki GSXR based naked bikes, some big old school Honda inline fours and several more. IMHO, not many of the bikes shown would be perfect travel bikes ... save the Tenere' 660's ... which we DO NOT get. Who knows if Yamaha will ever wake up on this one.

In the meantime, strong rumors from my Yam/Honda dealer friend indicate a new, small version of the Tenere' 1200 will be coming in 2015. This bike would be based on the FZ-07, the 700cc P-Twin released this year.
Could be a winner.

Yamaha already have done an upgraded on the FZ-09 released this year ...
a kind of "adventure-ish", sport tourer. The FZ-07 will (supposedly) be more Adventure/off road oriented. We'll see. Nothing happens until next year on that one. (known as MT-07 and MT-09 in UK, Oz et al)

What the USA and Canada DO have that Europe DO NOT ... are old dual sport 650 nails. All run Carbs which I guess are banned in EU/UK ? These are some of the most affordable and popular (and GOOD) ADV dual sport travel bikes in the world.

I speak of course of the KLR650, DR650 and XR650L. ALL still in production and still sold NEW here. But the really good news is how cheap you can find one used. The Honda's are a bit pricey now, but the DR and KLR are plentiful and cheap. Aftermarket support is huge. Reliability is world class compared to many modern BMW's and KTM's.

Both will be around for years to come ... proving to the high dollar adventure guys what Austin Vince always says: You don't need a $25,000 bike to go RTW.

I think this thread is better suited for the HUBB Pub......so off it goes.

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The electric monk always has faith.

Oh! and try and keep it civil....

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The electric monk always has faith.

I don’t label things in that way. I regard myself as a motorcyclist. I have always liked what I call touring and I ride the bikes that I enjoy riding. Sometimes like today for a 45 mile loop around the countryside. Other times away for weeks. The trick is to use a bike which is suitable for your intended journey.

If you want to go off road then you need to have a bike that will do that. If your planned route doesn't include offroading then there is no particular reason to take an off road bike. Currently I have two bikes, a Triumph thunderbird 900 triple and a 500 Enfield. If I was to make a trip that was mostly big roads with lots of dual carriage ways I would probably choose the Triumph. If the journey was on smaller roads and into places away from modern infrastructure I would choose the Enfield. It can handle offroad, even with road tyres. Has double the range and is easy to fix. In short it is a great "SURVIVOR"
Basically If I needed to do a lot of 60MPH+ with no unmade roads and lots of service stations the Triumph would do it comfortably. If there was any off road or difficult terrain I would take the Enfield. Even grassy campsites could swing it for the Enfield.

An odd thing, before the Enfield I had a R80RT, Using the Enfield I average more miles per day.

And I agree completely with this.

I have the greatest respect for Walter Colebatch's work on improving his X Challenge to make it work for him and his style of 'adventure touring' but there can be no 'perfect' adventure bike as everyone has a different idea of what an adventure is.

It seems to me that the reason we seem to spend so much time agonising over this issue of the 'best' or 'perfect' adventure bike is because it is not possible to meet all the criteria for such a beast in one bike so we're always looking at the ultimate comprimise. Some will compromise off road ability for better paved road performance, others will choose to pay less against the potential benefit of better reliability of a newer bike etc. etc..

In reality the best you are going to get is a bike that will handle everything it encounters on an 'adventure' where adventure is defined as a journey into the unknown. Still subjective though.

I've just finished reading the article, it seems that the author defines 'adventure' in terms of how light your bike is, and how little tarmac you've ridden on. Which is fair enough, but why quote Mondo Enduro? They rode 1000's of miles of tarmac, and Susan and Grant, they also rode 1000's of miles of tarmac on a heavy bike?

I often cringe at the mention of the word 'adventure' these days, I'm sure most of you reading this do as well, I'd much rather define myself as a 'motorcycle traveler', or a 'bloke that travels on his motorcycle'..........that way I can avoid the 'my adventure is bigger than your adventure' bo**ocks.

I always thought 'adventure' was about getting outside of your comfort zone, meeting different people, experiencing different cultures, eating strange food and educating yourself about the differences and similarities of the world's diverse population.

If we use my definition of 'adventure', then anything with 2 wheels is an adventure bike, and not one is better than the other, it's simply a tool to fulfill a desire.

The definition of "adventure" is your own interpretation, same as the definition of the "perfect" (adventure?!) bike. Adventure is in your head, quite simple. It is your definition of something that is not ordinary, for you in your world! Life isn't perfect so why should/could your bike be? It's a myth. There are as many opinions as they are people. "Adventure" is a selling product, nothing more, nothing less.

In Walter's eyes, I agree with him, but his sense of adventure is not the same as the GS owner's sense of adventure for example. And might not be the same as your sense of adventure.

We went to Siberia and the 'stans on Suzuki DRZ400E and had a great time and a lot of "adventures". Yes, for going off road and off the beaten path, the lighter is the better. But there are maybe only like 5% of travelers doing this, most stay on the normal roads and just go wander off road from time to time. Think about this, think about what you really want to experience and where you are going.

Now we're back on the road again but with complete different bikes, that make no sense at all in the "adventure" scene. But we don't care at all, we choose our bikes because for one or the other reason we love that bike, the looks of it, even if it has advantages and disadvantages, live with the choice you make. Do you need an "adventure" bike to travel around the world? No... You can do it on anything and you'll have fun for sure...!

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Find us on Facebook or have a look at our website on wanderingsouls.be.

That army KTM has a Villers engine...???

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Facebook " Kevin Heike " come and say Hello as we travel around the world.

No such thing as an "Adventure" bike BUT there is such a thing as different horse's for different course's depending and what course you want to take will depend on the horse you take.......



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8-l7ufP-I4

Maybe a scewdriver can replace a hammer, but a hammer will never screw ( well, sometimes yes )
I made some trips , and it was for 70 % on roads ( smalls, very bad, but not single enduro trails, as I can do around.)
Alone, I was a lot of time complaining under my helmet : this f...g TTR600 is vibrating too much, just 120 km of fuel, candle lights, brakes like cigarette paper, etc ... But when shit hits the fan, and you're alone and you HAVE to go back home for work, kids or whatever, you're happy to cross the destroyed roads by crazy rains, with 80 cm of water, etc... ( nice bulgaria roads this september ) With another heavy more touring bike, i would have wait for 2 days for a clean road... Maybe cars this day are still waiting
It's in these situations that you just LOVE your lighter bike, with this old carburetor, the kangaroo seat and the bulletproof frame.
So maybe the point is not the bike, neither your way to consider adventure, but in a more pragmatic way , the time/space you have, the fact you're alone or not, the money in your bank account... Another thing not often mentionned is how you're seen by foreign people and countries you cross. Some will feel comfortable to show they're on expensive bikes, some others will prefer the beggar's -ghost feeling. I try to be in the middle:alucard: My 0.01 €
"qu'importe le flacon pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse" as said Beaudelaire

Excellent! .. .. and hard not to smile all the way through.

Thanks for posting the link.
.

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Right Way Round ...

That's obviously a fake video...

Everyone knows you can't make it out of your own town without at least £5000 worth of Touratech accessories bolted to a 300kg £20,000 'Adventure bike'

My god.. They don't even have lazer etched brake reservoir protectors. Got to be fake...

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

HA!

Just watched Part 2.

FAR OUT .. dude!

as a boomer .. I can really relate, although I got my kicks riding surfboards, not motorcycles, back in those wonderful days [1971].
Ahhh .. the memories - read: I was no
!!

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Right Way Round ...