And plod in the UK is any better? Always looking over your shoulder in case you say something that may offend, like a sentence with welsh and sheep, any minor road infraction, like overtaking within some zone, parking on the pavement, and any thing you text on the internet etc to come fine you, arrest you, give you demerit points to take your licence etc.

If aussie plod would spend his time chasing the kiwis doing nasty things to sheep, then perhaps you would be able to ride more.

Rather get here. 60 km over the limit will cost you an R500 bribe

well guess what .. another frigin ticket on sunday .. thats 2 in two weeks. Jeez I hate riding in this boring friggin place .. I'm selling my oz bike, West Australia is shit! I'll keep the off - roader, at least the bastards cant get me there :(

I guess, as you say the place is so boring, the cops give out tickets just to relieve the monotony. I can imagine the highlight of their day when they get back to the cop shop: 'G'day mate I just nailed a biker for speeding today. a bleedin pom'. 'Good on you mate, I think I nailed the same pom 2 weeks ago. Gottia keep the roads safe for the roos'. ' Want some beetroot on your burger?'. ' Cheers mate' lol

'Your off road in WA must be limited to the flat outback? Must also get boring after a while?

I did a 12,000 mile trip on a Honda XL175 trail bike on knobblies. It was reliable, easy to pick up when I dropped it, and easy on the wallet to insure and fuel. I met some serious characters who loved the idea of what I was doing who'd have ignored me if I was on anything bigger and approaching being a 'proper' touring bike. You can have fun and see stuff on anything. Even a small un.

Is the correct answer :)

Ok, I'll bite...why do you care what these "serious characters" think, or if they would have ignored you? Frankly a strange criterion for choosing a bike.

Not as strange as you might think.

Something different is interesting. People tend to want to interact with interesting things.

When I see a brand new bike all loaded up with touratech crap with a rider with super expensive, never broken in riding gear, I tend not to give it much attention. Your brain is programmed to ignore what you class as mundane.

Someone on a 'different' and interesting bike would have me saying hi and asking questions.

It's happened to me loads of times when travelling. If you stick out, people tend to open up to you and lots of great occasions usually follow..

If you have to choose between a 800 and a 1200, which one would you choose?
 

Yeah would agree with this. I find with my 250 XR, while outstanding on gravel and mud, and excellent for weaving in heavy Latin American traffic, on long sealed straights 100kph can get a bit boring. I usually just drop to 80 and try to take in the scenery! That said, the 'go anywhere' feeling more than makes up for it! Coming back today on a long exposed road, with strong headwinds, I had to really gas it to maintain 100kps. That said only modern buses do 100 here, with most vehicles chugging along at 70kph, and I expect it will be even lower in poorer countries like Peru, Bolivar, etc. Still, personally I feel there's more fun to be had at 30mph on crunchy gravel than 120 on Tarmac. Other wise words I heard are 'it's better to drive a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow!!' amen!

Your 'bite' is the answer. We're talking.

However in providing it you give the impression that you don't give a toss about meeting people when you travel. To which I'll quickly add - I think is almost certainly not an accurate impression.

But I did not say that was the sole criterion for purchasing the bike. It's just one advantage that my choice revealed for me, that I had not considered. Might be different for you.

When I travel I want to meet people. Both the people who live in that place from whom I can learn things, and also people, like me, who travel through.

It's easy to make yourself isolated from those enriching experiences is all I'm saying. And sometimes the things you never considered become advantages of sorts.

Ok, but this is a straw man argument--apparently the only choices are to ride a post bike or a brand new big bike?

Actually plenty of people with 1200s dont ride brand new bikes or with brand new riding gear. I get plenty of questions about my 1200 GSA, yesterday another rider started asking questions at a stop light.

But honestly I don't travel, or ride, so that I can meet people who ask about my bike.

Not to direct this point in anyone's direction, but I too feel like this sometimes! I've a 2010 F800GS, and I get people coming over to chat from all walks of life. Most are just interested in travel and, I get the impression, secretly wishing they were doing something similar rather than going A to B in their metal box. Four years ago, my bike was brand new. In ten more, it will be older. Me or the bike won't have changed at all, so surely all permutations are 'acceptable'. I like meeting people; in my limited experience, the bike (any bike) is a great starting point for that conversation.

what would happen if you left without paying?

Yep I'll go along with that Ted!

Dare to be different, its about your experience and what can be given and gained culturally in conversation along the way. Seriously who gives a rat's what the over accessorised think? Just like Mama told you, wear clean undies, a smile, use your manners and show some respect and all will be good, regardless of your ride or accessories for that matter.

I bought a HP2 Enduro a while back simply because it blew me away, I'd not even seen one before early 2012 (often kept in the dark and impulsive) It was a great ride and conversation starter as are all bikes collectable and those found where least expected. Like jocklandjohn doing a 12,000 mile trip on a knobby shod XL175 (used to have one) Awesome! I very much regret selling the HP2 however there were circumstances, my mental state of imbalance mostly. So an R1150 GS followed, did everything I asked of it but in short, yawn and it got offloaded.

A KTM 950 Adventure S was the next quoit cushion. After doing 20,000 odd K's through some gruelling off road tracks I have to say, what a capable bike with awesome handling, heaps of grunt, off road capability and there's that really sweet quad cam V2 engine, which I might add induces involuntary but sometimes severe bouts of leading elbow!

The KTM 950 Super Enduro similar to the one pictured below will get a long hard looking at as the next ride, because it and I don't quite fit the norm mold ;-)
Sorry to spoil the view with the Touratech boxes Ted bier

The SE is a great bike. An endure bike on steroids! As a long distance bike though, the seat was designed as a Chinese torture device and the fuel tank is of very small capacity.

Funny how bikes like the SE and HP2 get discontinued. They are both limited range, solo rider, dirt oriented monsters which really only finds a market in Aus and SA. Too small a market I guess. The ADV S would be more suitable if anything more than a short romp.

Ai here we are discussing KTMs on a BMW thread:rofl:

You would have to ask the aussies. It isn't like they can lock you up and ship the criminals off to Australia :rofl:

Perhaps they just send you to some outback town to be plagued by flies, drunken aussies and dust :rofl: