"looks great, but missed the mark"? Huh?
why use a sexist stereotype red herring to dis the bike? It's obviously a novice bike and yes ... the "Dress" is all an attempt to give it Dakar rally look like Honda's race bike. What's wrong with that? Big tank? why? The ****ing thing gets over 70 miles per gallon ... who needs a big tank?
I like it and believe it's the perfect bike to bring new riders into ADV riding ... especially Women, whom the industry needs badly. Most are intimidated by huge and heavy BMW's and KTM's ... and few can afford them. So something cheap and cheerful is not a bad direction for Honda to take, IMHO.
Speaking of "afford" ... are you buying that 701 Husky as your travel bike? Planning on riding Enduro round the UK  And as a travel bike? Uh, no thank you!
If I had a spare $10K USD to spend on a dirt bike that's likely to get the shit beat out of it ... I'd consider it. Travel bike? Not a chance. Who would be stupid enough to take a bike whose service intervals are measured in HOURS ... not miles?
Despite it's small size the Honda Rally could make a decent travel bike for many. Once on 3rd world roads a 250 is just about perfect. Crossing Australia?
Yes, then you'd need a bigger tank ... but that's about the only place in the world where you would need it.
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