If you are not cramped on time, parts accessibility should not be a big issue with a reliable bike. Parts can be shipped with a currier to just about any place on the face of the earth, or atleast to the closest metropol where you break down. Worst case, you have to ship your bike some distance to receive parts and have your bike fixed. It will be more expensive ofcourse, but then again, you might think it is worth the risk it to be able to ride your favourite bike. In case of bimmer lovers, I guess those are not appart of the most cost councious of travellers (they all ride japs). If you're a bimmer owner, with time to spare in your itinerary, then I wouldn't worry too much about the odd part that could fail. If reliability and ease of repair is a top priority, then I'm not even sure that a KTM should make the list.

On my next trip I will be bringing parts for about 1200 Euros, pluss tons of tools. This because I will be riding a highly unreliable bike, in Africa, with no time to spare WHEN I brake down. The bike I chose delivers very little bang for buck in terms of performance, handling, reliability, convenience, comfort, or any other valued attribute. Then being practical had very little to do with my choice...

If one is a KTM fetishist, then I'd say go for it. You'd be grinning just knowing that you were riding one, regardless of the bikes physical attributes.

I wouldn´t buy any of both.
GSA, way too heavy, too much of computers very little to fix myself, also very new to worldwide BMW dealers.
KTM too rough, hi-maintenance, rare to find parts or service in some countries.

As gbarnard (Geoff & Nina) wrote, they did their trip on a 650 but he forgot to mention it was a Dakar, (two up) and he is an old motocross expert and always mentioned his Dakar has been the best choice over many other bikes.

I would recommend to check and plan what kind of trip you plan to do.
In the end you can do it on anything with 2 wheels and an engine, the difference will be the compromise you must make trading some comforts vs. others.

I switched from a dual purpose bike to a real on-road one when I checked my statistics and I realised I was doing between 1 and 2% off road on my GSA1150.

Sometimes I do my choices more based upon emotion than facts, that is nice but not always the best.

Good luck in your selection, let us know.:smile3:

What would you recommend then?

BMW vs KTM
 

Hi Lipton,

It's a hard decision you have to ask yourself what sort of riding you are going to be doing. I have a 1100gs and love the bike it's a very smooth bike. I just came back from a 1500km trip over easter and it was well equiped to hold all the gear, half of the journey was on some pretty rough dirt roads where I was able to cruise at upto 120km/hr. You can really clock up some km's on the bm.

My friend was riding a vstrom 650 they are a very good bike for on and off road. I like the bm better because it's a lot better off road and just as good on road. The stroms handle bars are too narrow for rough conditions, you get a bit of axle tramp on rough surfaces it can't hold as much gear and the screen interfers with your vision at low speeds on rough terrain. It bottoms out really easy, the exaust and heat exchanger is exposed. But the stroms prob has better pick up than the bm on the road and is a lot lighter, plus you get more out of the tank. bm got 300km till reserve and the strom got close to 400km.

The KTM on the other hand is a top notch off road bike and at a good price. In Australia they are 20k on road where the 1200gs adventure is 28k on road. If your back ground is dirt bikes then you would prob like the ktm a lot more, you can really take it down some rough dirt tracks and it holds a far bit of gear. It has better suspension travel, more ground clearance and is lighter. It has no problem lifting the wheel in 3 gear and on the road it's pretty good but you have to be taller to ride the KTM. But not as good as a BM on road.

The reason I like BM the most is that you can just sit on the bike for hundreds of km's no matter what the road surface. It has little comforts like heated hand grips dual seat, the pillion is nice and comfortable on the back. On long highway stints if you have a throttle lock, you can lock it in and rest your legs on the heads. They are simple to maintain, spare parts are everywhere! KTM is alittle more limited and just as expensive. The single side swing arm on the BM is good for changing tires. The BM does not have a chain, which in my opion is a masive plus especially off road is dirty conditions.

Well that's my two bobs worth.

Good luck

Ben

Cool, thanks for the info guys!

Re. BWW service and parts availability.
 

That sounds very inventive 1000km on a temp fix, I just replace my accelerator cable on my r1100gs and it's not an easy task very fidlely. My bike has the single cable that runs via the left throttle body.

Yeah I find the same thing with the dealerships, every time I go in to get a part they have to order it. But there is some other parts distrubitors around my area they stock just everything I need. But with the BM especially older models like the r1100gs everything is accessible and pretty simple. That's what I like about them quite easy to fix. You can do a top end rebuild without removing the engine.

Keep it simple, cheap and light.
 

I think the majority of people here are missing the boat on this subject. Your doing a RTW trip! Its not what you are riding but what you are seeing. I think a guy would enjoy a RTW trip alot more if he didn't have to worry about a $20,000 bike parked out front of his guest house in the middle of Cairo. Here in Canada you can buy a used KLR for about $3500 and add another $500 in parts and gear and your ready to go. They are reliable... just ask the numerous people who have experience in RTW trips. If it does break down or gets stolen oh well...deal with it! Thats part of the adventure. My KLR looks like crap because I want it to. I dont want to look wealthy when I'm in a third world country. No fancy bright clothing, no fancy expensive gear. You're just asking for trouble. Buy an Enfield and tour India!

Undercover luggage
 

I have a friend who has travelled for years all over the world, in some very dodgy places. He always used a pack strapped to his bike, and had the pack inside an old rice sack, with holes cut into it so the staps came out. That way, it just looked like an old sack when he laid it down with the straps out of sight. Blending in is a great idea.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

Hi all,

I don't know why people are giving a bad reputation to the KLR in terms of reliability. If you take care of your KLR it will last!!!

One important thing you need to do for this is having your engine clean after a while: Put your bike on a small boat. Then have a stupid driver tip the small boat over in an Amazone river in Brasil without asking him. This allow you to live at the same time the wonderfull feeling of asking to yourself where is my bike now and searching for it with your feet underwater while all your gear is going down the river. Don't forget to attach the bike to the small boat cause you may cry for a while. Get the bike out of the water and take some rest. Sleep by the side of the river alone and wakeup the next day with a crocodile at 300meters from your tent.

Then go back to the closest small town. Remove the oil drain plug: 2.5 liters of water will go out and after that 2.5 liters of oil will go out. Clear water does not work as well for cleaning as the brown/sandy water from Amazonia. Remove the spark plug, fill your most of your engine with Diesel and push the starter button to shake everything inside in order to clean the engine. Look at the water coming out by the sparkplug hole, it is very pleasant. Repeat the process 2 times. You can now go back on the road with a freshly clean engine!!!

Since the "cleaning", the KLR is still running strong after more then 11000km and the bike have now 67000km.

I learned from this experience that KLR are also submarine proof !!! :)
Why so many people are saying the KLRs are bad?

Patrick

1200 GSA vs KTM adventure
 

hey mrdexplorer,

check "owner's forum new 1200 GSA " under BMW Forum,
hope you will have some more driving impression than only mine ...

Good choice

Norbert

Correct choice will be understood on the road !
 

I don't know how tall and weigh are you but if you are tall enough (over 170 cms) and have enough wight (more than 65 kgs) you can go for 1200 GS. Anyhow F650 is simpler, lighter and will cover your needs.
Don't forget that 1200 GS will spend much more gas than 650.
Personally I definitely go for BMW.

Totally Awesome Story!!! I couldn't stop laughing! Good Times!

Lovely story !!!!!!1
 

Pat did you really survive through all this ??
Brave man !

god ,someone help me
 

zoots! Pat on atrip,
What a nightmare.! Glad to see you dealt with it with a sense of homour. Such a scenario is why I , a non swimmer, am very averse to transporting a bike in such flimsy canoe like vessels. An y ferry better have some seaworthiness before I'll trust it.
As to my 1100GS throttle cable , it got me home still going good after 6000km, pretty good for a bicycle brake cable with the barrel end in the twist grip clamped to the bare BMW inner cable, the lot taped to the fork stanchion to let the cable pull. The Clymer shop manual shows how to change it - the whole bloody two injector bodies and cables plus choke cable have to be disassembled, then put back with new cable and rebalanced ! It is due for a dealer inspection anyway , so I'll change all the oils and check valves then let the shop have the fun.

able assemblies hav

Hi Georges (Alias Flying Gringo)!

I know you like to ride fast and look only at the white strip in the middle of the road. But hey, if this is your kind of trip! I never understood why you took about a month and a half to ride from USA to Ushuaia and then spend 3 months in Montevideo. Hope it was for a girl.

Are you back home or in Uruguay again?

See you one day!
Patrick