Here's an odd ball suggestion for you, how about...wait for it....a Ducati Scrambler! I've replaced my Cagiva Elefant with one and I love it. I've got the Urban Enduro version. Chuck a screen and some soft luggage and you're ready to go. I've done coming up to 4,000 miles on mine since June, including a trip with luggage to the south of France.

Reasons to buy, it's cheap, light, low, and the odd mark won't matter.

Reasons not to buy, tank range is a little over 150 miles, the suspension is a bit crude as stock, and some people find the seat a bit hard. All three are easy to fix!

I'll report back on how mine handles the tracks in Morocco next April :-)

This is the sort of riding I like and much prefer to do it on a bike weighing no more than 150Kg. I have a GSA that I occasionally use on unmetalled roads but it is just less fun for me and I cannot pick it up by myself. On a lighter bike you can be more bold in your explorations and it allows you to enjoy the scenery more, rather than just concentrating on keeping the bike upright.

As someone has mentioned, picking up a bike on a loose surface is way harder than all those videos shot in a flat carpark.

All the bikes on my list save the 1000 Versys and Crosstour would be OK on dirt roads. Forget Mud and sand however on all but the new Africa Twin and Tiger.

But ALL are great "bad road" bikes. I'm talking about broken up pavement, sandy, wet, tight twisty and rough roads. ALL good for that. Out on the smoother, faster roads the Versys is great and so is the big V-Strom. I like the Vstrom for it's relative light weight, low relative cost and TOUGHNESS and stone reliability.

I put over 90K miles on my 1st generation '02 Vstrom. It saw several Baja trips and twice to Copper Canyon. But it's at it's best on "bad roads" (paved).

change of bike
 

An xtz660 Tenere is what you need very very tough, much lighter ,300 mile range, reliable and with the right technique easy to pick up and passable cruising at 80 mph for motorways.

OR triumph xtc 800 much more fragile but nicer to drive until you go down a dirt track.

A lighter bike is definitely what you need, the CCM 450 is ok but vibrates more than a Tenere and is not quite powerful enough for cruising on motorways at 80mph.:mchappy: