Australia new Suzuki's DRZ 400's
 

They still make them new for the USA/South Africa and Australia I think.

You are right, they do still make them new for Australia, don't know about ZA and USA, starting about £5100 brand new in Australia. They made a Cape York version which I have in my cousins garage in Sydney..and me stuck in Glasgow..not much use, bloody good bike. It has Suzuki Barkbusters, aluminium bash plate and radiator protectors and for some models you can add a kickstarter. I think around 20,000 of the things in Australia. You see them everywhere, like canaries...up in Cape York there are a lot of tour operators and they use the DRZ 400. Good bike for a tough land.

The Crf300 Rally - there are already heaps of videoclips of the bike on Youtube. This is a relatively good and short one that shows the bikes capability on an interstate road somewhere in the USA.

https://youtu.be/yvlM_etwNxM

A couple of things to be be aware of:
1. Speedo is in miles pr hour (mph) this equals to approx
25 mph = 40 km/h
50 mph = 80 km/h
60 mph = 96 km/h
70 mph = 112 km/h
80 mph = 128 km/h
85 mph = 136 km/h
90 mph = 142 km/h

Modern speedos always seem to show too fast speed compared to real speed. Both my Hondas are 7-8 % off (shows too much speed) I guess this will be the case with this bike too, so withdraw a little to get real speed.

This guy is riding without luggage. And on a long overland or RTW trip you would probably carry 20-30 kilos of luggage at least. (When I rode the Gibb River road, an 800 kms long outback road in Australia I carried 15-16 liters of water and 3,5 liters of fuel) Tools, spare parts, camping equipement, cooking equipement, cutlery etc, food and water, clothes, first aid kit, toileteries, phones, computer, cameras, chargers, cables, maybe a drone etc etc. It all gains up....
Thus - a loaded bike will behave a bit differently than a bike only carrying its rider.
But it still seem to be able to cruise relatively easily at 60-70 mph/95-110 km/h (minus correction of the speedo) So a Crf300Rally seem be able to keep up with speed on the highways in general. But dont expect to cruise easily at 120-130 km/h.

there is no perfect bike !
big singles are too vibey and will drive you mad
small singles are better

either ............ cfr300 rally or cb 500x (great bike )
If i was going to do a 1/2 year trip i would buy a new bike:scooter:

I am in the Netherlands too. I spent simply ages trying to find a nice all around traveling bike for not too much money. I looked at the standard suspects; XT-350, DR-350, XL's. XR's. They were all either worn out or priced at more than half of new CRF250L (or both). I ended up getting sparkled up (heated grips, Camel tank, Sargent seat, Racetech suspension, and more) couple of year old CRF250 Rally for less than new CRF250L. Then Covid, and it has more or less stood in my "berging" for nearly a year. But I have plans for Spain in September.

The Rally made sense for me because;
A. It's a new bike. No parts are worn or old. There are more and more difficulties finding parts for older bikes.
B. Fuel injection. Fuel efficiency, automatically tunes mixture for lower quality fuel, air density. No choke.
C. ABS. In the old days I didn't need it but my reflexes have slowed down and the latest ABS systems are amazingly good.
D. LED headlights. There is no comparison, the very old bikes don't even have Halogen bulbs.
E. Watercooling. Warms up faster for better running. Gives you warning when the engine has overheated so you don't kill your oil, and few km later your engine.
F. Electric start.

I agree with you, it's gonna be a bike with such comforts as ABS/fuel injection/etc for me as well.

I had the opportunity last week to tour through Germany and during the riding I got stuck in the forest because the track was too muddy. I there and then decided that it's gonna be a light bike. I had to get help to get my bike of the mudtracks and well, it all worked out but I'd rather be self reliant the next time.

So I couldn't sleep and am still thinking about different bikes... What do you guys think of an XT660R? It's lighter than the Z, not that heavy (especially with an exhaust mod). It also has FI. I can't find that much about it, it looks like the XT660Z is a lot more popular. Is that only because of the slightly bigger tank + highway capability? Why isn't the XT660R a more popular bike?

CRF250L or CRF300L - reliable, low fuel consumption, relatively good spare part support everywhere, light, can easily carry all luggage load you need with a proper rack, - what else do you want?
Yes - it might not be that good for highways, but to be honest, how much highway cruising are you doing with a bike like that? Either your're using highways very often, then you're already looking at the wrong type of bike, or you mainly want to cruise on small roads with lots of offroad, then a Honda CRF is probably the best choice you can get.

@bosaapje Nothing wrong with the XT660R in my opinion. 15 litre tank compared to the 23 litre on the Z; but MUCH lighter. I rode with a guy on an XT R ( I was on a Z) through the 'stans and China many years ago. He strapped a 5 litre Jerry can on the back and was fine with range. He had an issue with his water pump seal (preventive maintenance?), but not a showstopper. His bike was eventually stolen in Oz; but got him to the UK to Australia without any major trauma. So, yes, good bike.

A water pump seal leakage sounds indeed like preventive maintenance. If I can find a good deal on one I think I would go for it. I'll have to put a bigger tank on it, change the exhaust, and do the traditional mods of peg changing etc but other than that it seems fine. Sure it's a bit heavy, but it's way easier (and cheaper) to find than a CRF300 Rally. Maybe I'll change my mind after a testride on both of them, but we'll see.


@Myrkskog: You're right, I won't be doing that much highway riding, but my feeling is that the XT660 will suit my riding style a bit more. As I already said above, I'm gonna test ride them both and see if I really like it as much as I think :innocent: