Hi all,
I'm looking to buy my 1st adventure bike and ride it from Spain to Morocco.
I have very little if any off road experience and not that mechanically minded, but hey, who cares about that. It's all apart of the adventure...

I'm 6'2" so no concerns about heights, my biggest concern is comfort and reliability and don't want to spend more than around £6000. In my head I'm thinking 50% road and off road use

Any suggestions tips would be massively appreciated

Honda CRF250, manageable, proven reliability and relatively simple.

I didn't consider that, I will check them out...
Up until now I've been torn between the Tiger 800 XC, African Twin and the Yamaha XT 660. To eat up motorways

Thanks Mark

+1.

We have a CRF250L. Will cruise at 90km/h with ease.

Also consider if it's best for a beginner to start on a smaller bike.

+2! As a novice off tarmac you will not regret taking a lighter more manageable trail bike like the CRF (or a KLX250s) Exploring the back roads and trails will be enjoyable and relatively stress free, and the occasional gravel slide-offs won't be exhausting to pick up.


Plus you could buy 2 within that budget!

I'm taking a Crf250l from the UK to Cape Town next year. There are a couple of guys that I know of that have done the same trip on one. I had a GS 800 but I am loving the lightness of the Honda, especially when picking it up! I have done a few trips on it and it will sit on 65 - 70mph all day. I am only 5'8" so can't tell you about the height question, but it will carry me(82kg) and luggage no problem. Oh and it's a Honda so you will need to kill it on purpose to get it to stop

As a rule of thumb a small bike will be better off road while a bigger one will be better on it, so it depends where your priorities lie. There isn't one that does both well or everybody would be riding it. Most "adventure" bikes tend to be bigger capacity which reflects the fact that however adventurous you are, most of your miles on a trip are probably going to be on tarmac. But a lot comes down to personal taste as well.

Things to consider. Can you get spares? An older bike may be cheaper and simpler to fix but will it also be more likely to break down? What's the seat going to feel like after 4 hours in it? What's your tank range and will it be enough for anticipated between-fuel stops?

There are no totally wrong choices but IMHO I'd say avoid anything too competition based, it may be a bit fragile and uncomfortable. Also avoid anything too big, heavy and unaccountably popular (do you REALLY need the biggest, latest GS?), you're gonna have to pick it up alone in sand a long way from anywhere sooner or later.

FWIW (and YMMV) my choice was the KTM 790 Adventure. Designed as an adventure bike, lightest in its class, 60+ mpg and a tank range of over 400 kms / 250 miles. Good used ones are now coming onto the secondhand market, but like any KTM make sure you keep on top of the maintenance.

How much luggage are you going to carry? Camping or hotels?
When you say 50% off road - piste or off piste?
No off road experience? - how much / what level of road riding do you have?

When I had no off road experience but over 30 years of road riding every day, I took an 1100gs trail riding in the Alps, took it easy and had no problems - I wasn’t on my own.

If you stick to gravel trails and piste there’s no reason why someone your height can’t take something like an F800gs - you’ll get one in the UK for your budget, not sure about Spain. If you want to do more technical off road a 250 is better - I have a WR250R but the CRFs are great.
Enjoy

No one ever complained about too little weight and the world still averages 40 mph.

Andy

Thanks for all your help and replies guys, it's very much appreciated.

To answer some of the questions and give you a bit more information...

I live in Spain but would most likely buy a bike from the UK. I currently have two here now, a Kawasaki ern 650 and a ktm RC8. I've been riding for years mostly on superbikes, including riding them all over Europe in places like the Pyrenees, Swiss alps etc and obviously on tarmac and tracks. But not stupid enough to think I can jump on an adventure bike and ride it the same in a different environment. Hence little or no off road experience since I was a kid.

I'm now looking to sell the KTM RC8 which should fund the adventure bike. I do like an adventure so don't really know where I'm going to go in Morocco I kind of want to make it up as I go along. But, not soft sand on my first outing, rough desert tracks yes,

As for accommodation I was thinking a bit of both camping and hotels depending on where I am at any given time. Luggage, very little I'm quite comfortable wearing the one pair of trainers, top and jeans everyday until they start stinking of course, the duration would probably be a round trip of 2 weeks but length of time and when is not a major issue. As for the bike it's not for a one trip and sell it, I want to see more of Spain, Portugal, the Pyrenees etc so I want a keeper, I'm thinking of Eastern Europe in a couple of years also. So would prefer something with a comfortable seat, decent tank range and happy cruising at 80mph

I will no doubt be going alone as I've been talking about and wanting to do something like this for years now but it's never materialised, I drove a jeep to urg chebi a few years ago but it wasn't the same

My only personal fear is the fact that I'm not mechanically minded at all.

Again guys, thanks for all your help and ideas, this site is exactly what I need

Everyone is different and so there’s lots of options, which is good so it’s finding the option that suits you - and only you can have a good attempt at that first time. There are lots of variables.
Most importantly it’s not the bike but the rider and the ride
You might be putting yourself under pressure by trying to get the perfect bike first time so perhaps think about a bike that holds value in case you want to move on.
My thoughts, for what they’re worth:
My friends that went from sports to adv bikes all went for Ducati or KTM after trying others as the lack of speed/power was too much of a culture shock - as time went on some of them wanted to try off road so they bought small trail bikes as well.
If I was starting now with my knowledge about me and my type of riding but living in Spain with, say £5K and your plans I’d probably sign up for some big adv bike training and buy a big adventure bike - for your budget you could get a fairly modern machine and they are all generally reliable - despite what you read on forums .
Having done this I have been to Morocco sticking, as you say you will, to easy trails and piste. I have also ridden easy trails in Aragon, the Pyrenees and Alps.
It made riding to Eastern Europe and the Balkans comfortable and enjoyable with camping gear and once there I could also go on easy trails.
But my style is to ride somewhere set up camp, drop the luggage and ride round the area for a few days. If you’re on a long trip and want to do off road with all your gear then, depending on the terrain, a smaller bike might be your choice.

One thing to note about this forum is it’s an excellent forum with great people but it is designed for overlanders and you, like me, are talking about holidays.
BTW on all my holiday rides I have done over the last 25years I have been followed by my wife also on big adventure bikes.

All this is my experience but I am not you - nor is anyone else. One thing I will say for certain - halfway through your first trip you will be sad........sad that you didn’t do it years ago
Enjoy

Pack wisely the young one!

I made the mistake of packing on small bike like I normally do on big and found out it was too much for little guy to carry and it was too heavy to pickup without unload.

I really hope that "young one" is me as I'm 52 and will take all the compliments I can get

Its easy to pack lots of "just in case" kit and there are so many great camping gadgets to buy. I've spent a long time going over what to take and have cut it to an absolute minimum. If it's not absolutely needed it's not going and as many things as possible have a dual purpose. I reckon that if I find out that I need something I will pick it up along the way.

That is one thing I'm good at... packing! Only ever take the bare essentials

The other thing find a class on off-road riding that would be money well spent. That and if you can find local group/places to ride.

With regards to CRF I tried one and was impressed; good overall bike. Complains? the rear spring could be a bit soft and tank small for travel I would l get Rally or if regular CRF get bigger tank and get stiffer rear spring good luck.