Elsewhere I posted a summary of my experience with a Kawasaki KLX250s during a ride of several thousand km. in the Yukon and Alaska this past summer. My usual ride, a 750 cc. ZR7-S stayed home for that experimental trip.

My conclusion was that the economic virtues of a bike of this size (well, at least of the KLX250s) for serious travelling are a tad oversold. Price wise (in Canada) it does not cost that much less than a KLR 650. And although, as you might expect, the 250 is extremely fuel efficient to start, after you load it up with tools and luggage, attach a decent size wind screen, stash the absolutely necessary 10 extra litres of gas (tiny fuel tank) and start moving at real highway speeds, the fuel efficiency drops precipitously into the range of nothing special. My impression is that a small engine working very hard can be less efficient than a larger one loafing along.

Had I purchased and ridden a KLR 650 instead I strongly suspect the trip would have cost me no more than it did on the 250. And a KLR has a more comfortable seat.

Of course the KLX weighs about 100 lb. less than the 650 and there is an agility/fun factor which I thoroughly enjoyed. The KLX also felt safer to me than a larger bike simply because it seemed more controllable in all circumstances.

So some of these things are not quite what they initially appear.

Good luck.

Norm

Not to mention the life of a small capacity engine when howling down the highway for hours on end at maximum revs (keep checking the oil level at least).
The whole point of a small engined bike is to slow down and enjoy more of the trip with less emphasis on the destination?
"Low and slow" - lower in the saddle than a lot of the behemoths currently in production and, definitely, slower in the journey (check out some threads about riding bicycles).

But, yea, the BMW 1200GS is about half of all the sales of BMW bikes at present and next year, with the water cooling jacket version, BMW will expect to continue with those sales figures; at the recent bike show here in the UK the price remains TBC. Right now, they are discounting, a bit, on the price of the current model which is totally logical. However, up until recently it has not been possible to negotiate over the asking price of the bike (since 2004 when they first came to the show rooms) simply because the sales staff could sell every bike delivered from the factory in Berlin.

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Dave

I'm reminded of the spoof advertising slogan: "Eat sh*t; ten million flies can't be wrong!" In other words, just because something sells well, it doesn't mean it's good - or in this case, appropriate to the task. I'm not knocking the 1200, which seems to me a very fine vehicle, but I wonder how much of that huge sales figure is people who have persuaded themselves that anything less just isn't enough.

For me, I have recently downsized from litre+ bikes to a nice 650 single for my riding, and I'm all the happier for it. No long trips yet, but I can't see it being any less capable than something twice the size. I recently did a 450-mile round trip over two days, and it coped very well. It took me slightly longer because I wasn't doing the fast bits at 90+, but that's part of ther reason I changed.

I read something recently (might even have been on here) that "on a trip in a car, you see more than you can take in; on a bicycle or walking, you take in more than you can see." I think that's true of bigger/faster vs smaller/slower bikes too.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

i traveled london to capetown on my r100gs, and yes it was a handfull at times, but it was never stressed out, always (sort of) kept going and never minded how much fuel/water/food/usless rubbish you carried. a big plus was it was dead easy to pick up being so low with sticky outy cylinders (my first rule of choosing a bike is u should be able to pick it up fully loaded) and im not a big person. i did another trip on a xt 600 tenere which used about 2/3 the amount of fuel, was more fun off road, struggled a bit on the windy hils and was a bugger to pick up, even though it was a lot lighter. i think ease of maintenance, how much you have to modify it to get it usefull and comfort are all the important bits. some people will always ride big bikes and some will allways ride little-uns. try a few, c what you like best.

p.s. once youre away from home youll probably not go quicker than 50mph anyway...

We did the same trip on the same bike. It was chosen because at the time it appeared to be the only bike suitable for this sort of trip 2 up. It was the ideal bike as 2 people carry more stuff the whole weight and manageability thing goes out of the window anyway - it's going to be heavy! Incidently, our cruising speed was 60mph but this was also the maximum speed we ever reached on the trip. the bike in everyday use now happilly cruises at 75 so I suppose you could say the engine was unnecessarily large and wasteful on fuel.

I'm a big chap so manhandling a big loaded bike has not really been an issue but I would never consider taking a 1200GS near a 3rd world country for a whole load of valid reasons, most of which relate to the junk that has been added to a modern GS (compared to the R100GS) that adds a lot of weight and complexity but contributes nothing to its ability as a overland bike.

At the other end of the scale (and not considering the pillion aspect which would rule out anything smaller than an F800GS for me), I think there is a bottom limit on practical size for a trans continental trip. By the time the bike is loaded with adequate fuel, camping kit, other luggage etc saving a few kilos by choosing a 125 is irrelevant. I would say the bottom limit is 400cc. I would consider doing a trans Africa on a DRZ 400 but I'd want to travel very light and I would gear the bike up to help improve mpg and perhaps reduce wear and tear on the engine.

I can fully appreciate the idea of travelling slower and seeing more but I find that on any extended trip there are less interesting parts that you just want to get past.

I have to disagree with you here as I am considering taking my newly purchased Honda XR125 to Central Asia next summer, I will be saving more than a few kilos by taking the same kit that I take on cycling tours plus a few spares, cables, plug and a couple of inner tubes. It cruises at 45-50 mph which is 4-5 times faster than I go on my bicycle that I had also considered taking.
Although I have not tested it on a long run yet the seat is as wide as the one on my R80GS so should be comfortable and the chances of me taking it have increased considerably as I have just checked the petrol consumption and it used 9 litres in 202 miles, that is just over 100 mpg, at that rate the 12 litre tank should take me over 250 miles.

I've always worked on the 'how little can I take with me' principle although it's more difficult when you're travelling with a passenger. That said I've met a few long distance cycle travellers and have always been impressed with how minimal their kit is. On a motorbike you can probably always get to the next town even in remote places so it's all to easy to go for the soft option and stay in a hotel/hostel but you can carry enough kit to make camping the easiest/cheapest and most comfortable option but on a bicycle you're options are lmited although often this can be part of the adventure.

Probably splitting hairs but cruising on a small bike is different to cruising on a larger bike in that at even 45mph you will have to work the gearbox every time you reach a small incline or headwind but this is only a matter of accepting the differences.

Are you intending to ride across Europe to Asia or are you shipping the bike in? If you are shipping it in I can definately see the advantages of a small bike.

That's an interesting point, it's something I like about my old R80 ST, it goes over so far but no further. But I will be buying a lighter bike for touring as my possible route has some poor roads and I find the BMW's 210 kg a lot without adding luggage.

A good 400 or 500cc road trail would be about right and bearing in the above tip about lifting flat sided bikes, I think a couple of BMW style crash bars so that it doesn't fall all the way over !