Im sorta looking for a do it all bike for the next purchase and in Canada the bike is new. list price at the moment in the showroom is 13,999$cdn and thats fairly pricey since my 07 CBR600RR was only 10,500.

Im wondering if the bike has much rough dirt road/ single track capabilities, and Im guessing its very limited for any off road. Just wondering what people think of them is all really.

Looking for basics on Range on standard tank, and if there are many upgrades for them like fuel tanks, seats, etc etc....

Hows the ride, maintanence, etc.... My current honda I find great for maintenence, so Im guess it would be as well, but I would rather not guess.

Anyways, not loking seriously to buy a new bike till next spring, so just gathering data now to h elp decide. This is the hardest choice selection of all bike styles for me. a Road or Sport bike or even a cruiser are fairly easy, but I find the Dual purpose, adventure sport types are pretty tough. Especially considering you could be in someplace like new Guinnea or brazil when issues arise.

Thanks
Gary

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Gary
CANADA
www.myspace.com/intrepid_cdn

If you are looking for a world tourer for a solo person a 650 single is the way to go.

You want something light in weight. That is first.

After that you want something comfortable, good luggage capablity, simple, cheap and reliable.

You don't want a hevy bike in the New Guinnea high lands !!!! It will kill you .. think mud...

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

I'm looking at the new Yamaha Tenere 660 want to use it to get to/from Morocco from France and do a bit of offroad when I get there, has anyone got any experience of this bike? Is it ok offroad? would put a decent set of knobblies on it. My friend has a Varadero which he uses for big road miles, which it is great for, touring on tarmac- its a heavy beast off road!

The Varadero is a road bike ONLY. Weight, coupled brakes, etc makes it so. You might be able to tip-toe it on a fair gravel road, but don't even think of taking it off road or in conditions where you actually might have to lift the bike up after a spill.

Tenere: I have had the XT660Z Tenere now since July and have ridden it 10 000 km. My initial experiences are outlined here. It is THE bike I'll take to Morocco myself, btw. If SWAMBO agrees, that is.

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

I own a Vara and I love it to bits, I could ride to the moon on it, but only if someone paved a road there for me.

Awesome road tourer, if you never go off road and you own a 1200GS you just spent too much money in my book, you should have bought a Varadero, and at last weekend's Touratech event, it was a lot easier for me to find my bike afterwards too

If I was a contender for Worlds Strongest Man I would consider taking her off road, and I believe that there are nutters who would. Needless to say I'm still in the market for a bike I'd be more comfortable with when the tarmac goes away. I've had to ask for help picking her up in the mud already, and that wasn't all that much fun.

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"...And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."

Totally agree with Brewsnee
I have owned a couple of these, 99 model and now a 2006 Injection.
You can sit on this bike forever and it will take you where ever you are going.
Never really done any off road stuff on the Vara, but have seen some that have
YouTube - Honda Varadero Forum - Off Road

Thanks HansP, that was exactly what i wanted to know. Road Only pretty much excludes it from the list of potential bikes then. i want something nice on pavement, but stilll solid on gravel, dirt and off road too. I know, im asking for the moon. I have never been a huge BMW fan, but the new 800 looks possible. I was considering KTM 525 or 690, if price is not an issue, otherwise I was thinking KLR or possibly Honda 650XL.

I sure did like the looks of that varadero though. Looked comfy as can be.
Fenian

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Gary
CANADA
www.myspace.com/intrepid_cdn

I would just like to thank everyone for their input. I really do appreciate it and I love how everyone on this site is so helpful and its extremely rare to find people with elitist attitudes. its definitely a goldmine in my opinion.

I will continue my search for the best bang for the buck bike to do everything atleast decent. With a concentration on pavement due to where I live, but off road'able for when I drive a hour or so and hit some dirt. Plus, the trips and the unforseen dirt roads, singletracks etc etc......


thanks all,
Fenian
aka Gary

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Gary
CANADA
www.myspace.com/intrepid_cdn

I've also looked at KTM 950,990 and 640 Adventures, BMW 1200 and 800 GS ( lots of them in europe, maybe too many!) and the BMW 650 X challenge
the thing that made me take a second look at the Tenere was the big gaps between the service intervals of 6000 miles (10,000km) as opposed to 3000 miles for the KTM 640. The big KTM's and BMW 1200 are big and heavy for off road.
The BMW 650 X challenge is more off road focused, so lots of modifications to make it realistic on road, seat, fuel range etc.
I'm far from an expert in this field but it looks like we're doing a similar research!

Here you really had me blinking my eyes, Gary :

"I want something nice on pavement...."

and

"I was considering KTM525 or..."

in the same paragraph ??!!


Have you ever ridden a 525?

On pavement?

I know the answer.

(because I'm the happy owner of a 525... )

No, I have never rode a KTM, and the 525 was suggested to me a while ago as a potentially solid bike. Infact Dakar seems to be seeing more of them. I was also struggling with what % of Road vs % of Dirt I wanted the bike to be and what I actually needed as a minimum. Im told any bike even a CBR900RR can do RTW. True as that is, it would be highly dependant on the route selection. Im looking for something that can be nice on pavement (read NICE as not bust my ass 10 minutes in ) I guess I have to choose my words more carefully eh lol!!! What I was saying is I looked at all differnt bikes from the very dirt oriented to the more road oriented, accepting that mods and aftermarket stuff can greatly correct deficiencies in some cases. Im just looking for info as this is the hardest selection I have faced. I know most of my riding will be Paved or gravel due to where I live, but Id hate to me limited to that. Heck, even tire selection is an issue right!!!
Thats what Im saying! Sorry for not being more specific or detailed. Hope that helps!
Gary

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Gary
CANADA
www.myspace.com/intrepid_cdn

I fully agree with HansP that the Varadero is a road bike only. Don’t let the DP or DS ‘classification’ fool you. There’s nothing dual sport about bikes like the Varadero, V-Strom, GS, Tiger, Quota, CapoNord, Multistrada, etc. The manufacturers of these bikes only responded to the demand in the market for ‘adventure style’ touring bikes as obviously demonstrated by the success of the best-selling GS series, which started the trend. The word to pay attention to here is ‘style’, because the design brief for the engineers was dictated by the marketing departments. The marketing guys know all too well that 99.99% of buyers of these bikes will never venture off the tarmac, but nevertheless like the I-might-just-head-off-to-Africa-on-my-next-trip image these bikes portray. Basically, the marketing of these bikes is based on selling dreams, a bit of a variant on the ‘What wins on Sunday, sells on Monday’ theme. And selling the dream of riding-around-the-world or perhaps winning the Dakar has determined the styling of these bikes. It never ceases to amaze me that people think that these DP/DS/Dakar-look-alikes are even remotely capable of following in the tracks of a real Dakar rally bike. These bikes are heavy behemoths that were never intended by their designers to be ridden offroad, apart from the odd short detour onto a nicely graded gravel road in order to gather some dust or mud specks necessary to earn street cred for their latte-sipping owners.
(Did I just say that?)

Please don’t take offence, Gary, but the fact that you even wonder if a Varadero “has much rough dirt road/single track capabilities” not only had me laughing out loud, but convinced me that you have no experience riding ‘rough dirt and single track’. Because if you had, you would never even have contemplated the idea. But you’re not alone in adopting this mistaken belief in the (even limited) offroad capabilities of these big DP/DS bikes, as most RTW-trip candidates have a road-riding background and no idea what dirt bike/single track riding entails.

Returning to the bike in question, not only the bulk and weight and the linked brakes determine the Varadero’s real habitat, but also the cast wheels are a definite ‘no-no’ for offroad riding. This said, the Varadero makes an excellent long-distance touring bike. It’s extremely comfortable, very reliable (it's a Honda!) and low on maintenance, and is easy to handle (on the road). The engine is more than powerful enough and very smooth. It’s IMO one of the best all-round touring bikes on the market, more comfortable (because of better wind protection) than the V-Strom, albeit less powerful. And certainly a lot more fun to ride than any big GS.

I can't imagine anyone wanting to improve on the Varadero's saddle, as it's extremely comfortable, never heard anyone complaining about it. The capacity of the large standard tank is also more than adequate. Besides, if you see the bulk of the stock tank, who in his right mind would want to make it even bulkier? Yes, I know... the Touratech guys...
(Did I just say that... again?)

I have ridden a Varadero (the FI version) on trips in EU in various conditions, ranging from T.W.O.-blasts-down-the-German-Autobahn, to narrow slippery mountain roads (rain, ice, snow), to gravel and dirt roads in the German Eiffel and French Jura mountain ranges, and to even embarrassing sportsbike riders during a track day in northern France (grinding up the foot pegs to half their length, which admittedly is not hard to do on the softly-sprung Varadero). IMO, the Varadero is a fantastic bike in its class, and it would certainly be happy to do a RTW trip if you stick to riding the black stuff. But if your RTW trip involves dirt roads you better start looking elsewhere…

Sawasdee Krap Khun GypsyRider. Sabai dee reu mai krap? Khun phoot pasa thai mai krap? Phom phoot Thai nid noi krap, bah mai koy dee tao rai krap!
How do you like Chiang mai? I lived in Thailand 5 seperate times for about 3 months each time. I trained and fought Muay Thai there. Phon Nok Muay. lah Ajarn Muay Thai krap!

Please keep in Mind that I live in Canada, and have only seen one very briefly in passing. So I have not seen any specs, sat on one, looked at its brakes, or even its fuel capacity. You are confusing lack of skill with lack of knowledge of a specific bike. Infact, we could turn this around to illustrate the point more clearly. I can know everything about a F1 car, but it doesnt mean I can drive one! What I am saying is I havent been into the scene for a bit, and the bike is new to Canada, and as far as I know, its not in the USA yet. So I have zero knowledge onit. and instead of reinventing the wheel, I figured the best place to start is to ask the forums on thier opinions of the bike. Keep in mind the bikes in Dakar go through some heavy mod'ing as well. They are not stock. So for me to assume that the bike I passed by was the end product for me would be foolish. Thus the question about mods and aftermarket upgrades. Who knows, maybe the bike was able to be rehauled into something very capable... I have no idea, Im not that strong mechanically. My point though is I asked since I had no knowledge of the bike. Much like I have no knowledge of the Tenere. I have never seen one.
No offense taken, just helping you to not jump to conclusions.
Gary

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Gary
CANADA
www.myspace.com/intrepid_cdn

I was happy to relay this feedback to the Suzuki Engineers

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Good post, thanks. Yeah Im not a GS guy, Im just asking about the Varadero as I had never seen it before and wanted to know its capabilities. I did mention the the BMW 800 that went through Africa though. It seems alot lighter (382lbs) and lower so I thought it might be suitable, but I have never seen one in real life to get a goo d look at. All the stuff I read in the mags make it sound like its ready to do RTW off road and Dakar stu ff. I have my doubts. Before I bought my Honda, I almost bought a KLR, but I wasnt confident buying the 1st year of a changeover in style.

I hear nightmare stories about KLR Honda 650XL and stuff not being able to take the abuse of a Alaska to argentina ride, or requiring huge maintenance. If moeny isnt an obstacle, I was really leaning towards the KTM 690 since it has the fuel injection and I think the LC8 in it now, as I remember hearing alot of issues with the LC4 from the 640's.

I am just trying to gather peoples opinions and stuff. I hear KTMs are not fun to ride on pavement, I heave BMW are not fun in the dirt, I hear the KLR is great on pavement and lacking in the dirt, but not built for long rides, and in the next breath I hear they are a bulletproof bike able to go without much more then oil changes for long periods of times. I hear the Honda 650XL is outdated and heavy and the XR cant be plated in Ontario. The DR I hear is underpowered and not sufficient tank size for longer runs. OMG :confused1: its get confusing since alot of people are saying complete opposites of each other. Thats sorta why I asked here. I figured, people here probably have the experience and not just weekend rides in the bush.

I really had my options down to like 3 bikes I thought. KTM 690 (possibly 525) if cash is available. My concerns were with service and parts. No dealers for hours around me. KLR or Honda XL was the cheaper alternative. And then I di hear good stuff about the BMWF800Adventure so I was sorta trying to find info. its a new bike too, atleast to Canada. Anyways, thats the dilema. Im trying to find the best bang for the buck. Something I can ride on a highway without wishing I was dead, and something I can ride in the dirt without ending up dead lol.

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Gary
CANADA
www.myspace.com/intrepid_cdn