Nah - you need a Guzzi. Trust me ;)

Also, try a wife and a mortgage if you want to buy fewer bikes :stormy::nono:

:oops2::rofl:

Andy

Had one in 1985 for 2 years.
A 1977 T3 California.

I must admit I wouldn't mind trying a Guzzi again indu.

Your time will come Andy.
Thankfully we are now mortgage free and my wife Carol loves bikes. Our boys are 27 and 24 and have flown the nest.
They both had off road bikes when they were younger. We belonged to a trials club. I used to do a bit on a twin shock Fantic. The eldest lad now has an R6.
Motorbiking has been a way of like for me but I must admit to now preferring riding as much as I can rather than late nights on my knees in a damp garage with oily fingermarks on cold cups of tea, grazed knuckles and frayed temper getting the bike sorted for the morning. There have been spells when I didn't have a car. 3 years was the longest.
Keep believing.
Int motorbiking great!
:mchappy:

Suppose this shows there's a bike out there for everyone - not necessarily the same one !

I'm new to all this and have a F650GS (800cc), not travelled anywhere yet (plannig africa next year) but most people I talked to whilst getting into biking suggested this one - i'm also a short arse and I can touch the ground with this one with lowest seat and lowered suspension! Ok! so it might not be THE most fun but I hope it'll do the job - only problem so far is the weight.

Time will tell :cool4:

I have had a 1985 BMW r80RT for the last four years or so, and been around France and the neighbouring countries.
If it were not for the Left Hand gearchange it would be a keeper, but i dislike having to think all the time and knowing that in an emergency I will press the wrong pedals. It has to go, which is sad in many ways. Its' replacement will either be a new Five speed Enfield or an older Triumph. Either of which can easily be converted to RH shift if not already configured that way.

Absolutely. First time I saw the Dakar I fell in love with it. Looked at getting the better (off-road) 640A but am glad I went with the more modern Dakar. FI rocks. It also doesn't seem to take long to discover if it's a lemon or not. Re-discovered it on the trip by riding it progressively more aggressively. Great in the twisties, great on the dirt roads. Makes all you photo's look great also, which is nice.

Needs some modding, few things removed (possum scraper) but I don't think there is a more documented bike out there. Which makes it an idiot proof self-sufficient bike. Also nice because I loath going to a BMW dealer. It's good untill you get approached by the staff.

I'm 51 years old, have had more then 30 bikes too. I have three bikes now and thinking about selling and buying something else again.
No, you are not the only one :)

Hi

No chance of us growing out of it then :-)

Stayed in The Nederlands a few times on bikes.
2007 was the last time on the Honda Blackbird.
Camped at Hoogeveen, Drenthe. Then at Westerbork.
Some years back we were on the coast at Noordwijk and also in the South at Valkenburg.

Dag.

I'm another one where age has done nothing to dull my bike addiction. I picked up my 25th bike today. Of the 25 I've owned I've sold 13 (two as non runners), scrapped one and two have been stolen so I'm left with 9 bikes in my barn of which 6 work. I am seriously trying to cut back on the number of bikes mostly because there aren't enough hours in the day for work and family let alone riding and tinkering with bikes.

Versatility is the name of the game - or at least, this weeks theory. We shall see, the perfect bike that does everything you want sounds a bit dull to a bike addict. Does the 'dream garage' thing work - I don't think so, there's always another one out there you need to complete the dream.

I feel better now it's in the open and I can talk about it.
But I feel there's no cure for us :-)

I'm on my first big bike, Transalp XL650V year 2004, she's a sweetheart, I have found it fairly easy to maintain, and it's very reliable, the fairing costs a lot so not so interested in burning up that offroad mountain track like I would on a XT500 or 660. I had an XT125 for 4 years, that was a legend bike, it held together no matter what. I think i'm still in the game for looking for my ideal bike. The triump tiger looks very tempting, pricey.

I would like the dual type bike. The Varadero 1000 is way too heavy.
The cagiva elefant looks like a serious offroad machine, should eat up dunes with out a whine. Pricey.

I'll stick with the Transalp for now, it was nice riding back on the highway from a long trip at a good pace, still a great all round bike, lacks is some departements.

I almost feel like taking off all the fairing and see what she looks like.

I can't seem to get serious mileage on a full tank either. I've heard people get 300/350 odd km on a full tank, not my case for the moment, I think I'm on about 250km for a full tank. Then again havent run her dry yet so wouldn't know. Should take her out next time with a 5 litre jerrycan to see just how much i get on a full tank to be able to say.

It's a great bike for touring, not too heavy, stable, Guzzi's do sound interesting though for touring.

I see more and more people touring on big road bikes, might be the way to go. But not really practical for a all surface mission.

I shall contemplate some more.

Happy riding all, spring is here.

Ta-all-the-way.

I spent a lot of money on a brand new XR650R in 2007 (actually that wasn't the expensive part, the bits I added were) and built an awesome machine - something I could rally and tour on...

However, after 18,000+ miles in less than nine months, I had to concede that for big distance (especially a lot of road miles), the 650R wasn't going to be the ultimate travel bike I thought it might have been... although it's still damn close as the ultimate rally bike mind you!

So I bought a new 660Z Tenere last September, and have now covered more than 21,000 miles over every kind of terrain imaginable, as the machine is essentially everything I turned the XR into, right out of the factory...

It is almost as good as the XR is as a 'trail' bike - and by that I mean a machine you would take solo off-roading, not more extreme messing around with friends - and vastly superior over big distances on-road... hell, it's even a hoot on the twisty back roads in pretty much the same way the XR was, just slightly less aggressive and punchy...

To everyone above who's just bought one (or is considering buying one) - you will not regret it! Just ride it further and harder than you might think you should and you'll see exactly what I mean!

xxx

Take the fairing off and have a look at it, I think it could be a really beautiful half faired bike but would need some serious work (including modifying or changing the tank)

mine was naked for 2 months in Nepal as I was doing some heavy off-roading and didn't want to damage it. Makes it less obvious around town too so you don't get too many people staring (unless you like that of course)

As for fuel, yeah mine does about 350 per tank but changed some stuff recently so need to look again.

Ride safe,
Ol

ps check out the XRV.org website for loads of tips on the TA.

I loved my XT600E for South America. It was the perfect bike.

Cheap, strong, VERY RELIABLE, easy to repair and took a heap of abuse..

The only gripe I have is the painful seat, lack of wind protection and 65mph cruising speed which made for some very long, boring days on the Route 3 to Ushuaia. There are days where you want to just blast at 80mph all day and just get somewhere...

I'm back to an Africa Twin now.. It's my 3rd one and I just love them :)