I travel on a 1983 BMW R80G/S which is still up to the task despite it's 175,000 miles, I have never been denied entry to any country with it but there are now areas of Europe where it is banned for environmental reasons. If properly maintained there is no reason an older bike should not be reliable and a perfectly good travel bike, just know where you can source spares if needed.
The Z650 was a reliable bike when new and should still be one, it would certainly be a conversation starter and if you enjoy riding it then use it.

Hi Mark,

Where in Europe is the R80G/S banned?

Thanks,

Ian.

I rode a 1979 Royal Enfield from India to Spain. Practical? Not at all. Reliable? Never. Slow? Yep. Regrets? Not one.

Only do it for the novelty and adventure of it. And never if you are on a time crunch. A newer bike will almost always outperform. But the truth is the old bikes have their advantages, and some in the most least expected ways. For example...yes my old Enfield was always suffering from some mechanic woe, in the beginning this irked me and made me nervous. But I learned to embrace and love the fact that she was always giving me problems...once I learned that there was always a solution and best of all it put me in touch with tons of local people who were always willing to help out who I otherwise never would have met.

You can fly through some country on your nice new Africa Twin at 110kph with no issues or headaches...or you can putt putt your way through at 70kph, wave at a lot more excited kids on the side of the road, find yourself being led through old parts markets in random towns in Tajikistan or whereever-stan by some friendly good samaritan who invites you to have dinner with his family afterwards.

This is a bit like asking "what's the best bike to do a long trip?" If there are 22,000 members on the board you'll get at least 20,000 different answers. My 2p's worth, "old" bikes fall into the "collectable" category (for those into collecting, anyway) rather than working bikes, which is where I see RTW machines. Of course you can do your dream ride on anything but some bikes will be better than others.

I can see the point that brand-new bikes, with their plethora of electronic rider aids, could present problems if they break in the middle of nowheristan, but to take one example, bikes with electronic ignition have been around for decades and are pretty much a given, how many people avoid those because you can't fix a broken CDI box with pliers and matchsticks? So it is with fly by wire, ABS, etc. They may be problematic to fix if they break but the idea is they are designed and manufactured not to break. Even fuel injection, despite certain reliable Teutonic machines regularly breaking it, doesn't faze people these days.

But that's not the same as going out asking for trouble. If you're expecting to do heavy mileage in less developed parts of the world then at the very least you should have some confidence that you know what's inside your engine, the bearings are recent enough not to break, and maybe a sports orientated bike with plain bearing crank presents more challenges to durability than a rugged twin or single. I guess many people will have read Graham Field's book, which to me (aside from being a great yarn) illustrates the perils of starting out on an old bike that hasn't had a full refresh, and thus gradually died en route. To me, the trip is enough of an adventure without having to cope with a bike that's falling apart and finally leaves you stranded. Which brings me back to my original point, old bikes IMO deserve a bit of rest and retirement. Go on something newer. If the worst does happen at least you'll stand a better chance of finding a shop that's ever seen one and parts are more likely to be available than something from the 70s or 80s.

Iirc certain German cities which require a coloured pollution sticker with London, Paris and a few others likely to follow. So far, places you are likely to go to on the train or just plain avoid.

There is an element of what you know here. The prospect of having to balance a pair of leaky vacuum carbs does not thrill me, the last time was on a Ural and was a tail chasing exercise as one head gasket was blowing when that side worked hard. Blink coding FI is easy. The Enfield identified its failed TPS in less time than it takes to tell you about it. Its what you know.

I fancy an older project bike now the MOT rip-off gets cancelled at 40 years old. It'll be a small single and it'll be getting rebuilt to my ideas of how a bike should be built.

Andy

It looks like Oxford will be the first but others are close behind.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...emissions-zone