As the title. Ive been looking at some bikes for my touring fun next year,Choosing which bike to take has been alot harder than i expected.

Im down to 2.

Yamaha xtz 660 Tenere.(Round about 95/99 model)

Suzuki DR750 Big. (88/89 model)

My 1st major problem is my inside leg measurments. 30" ive heard the DR is a pretty big bike and maybee not a great choice for the short arse that is myself? Especially if ladened with gear and off road.

Secondly what's it actually like as a bike to take on my first real bit of touring, Is it easy to work on at the side of road etc (Im not to bad when it comes to spannering) So just after some general info.

Id also like to here views on any week points that the bike has,Before i make my final decision, and does anyone know if there's an availability of aftermarket parts for it.ie touring screens and the like?
as it's now nearly a 20 year old bike.

Or just some general info of some one who's running one at the moment and perhaps any pointers to look for when viewing.


Any advice would be much appreciated and warmly welcomed.

Kind Regards and Best Wishes.

Darren.

Die-hard Suzuki fan that I am (I presently own about 20!!), I have to say the DR750 has never had close to the wide regard that the Yamaha XT600/660 has had. You get good and bad bikes in every model, but of the 100+ travelers that have stayed with me over the last 10 years, the XT riders have had the least hard-luck mechanical breakdown stories. Add to that, you are dealing with a bike 20 years old from a marque that has only an average reputation for supporting old models (there are worse!), and I say, of the two, go with the Yamaha.
Now, having offended legions of DR Big riders all over the world, I shall go and make some lunch....

Kind regards

Nigel in NZ

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I must say the age of the bike was/is a concern for me,There's a few places over here that still do aftermarket parts for them,As ive just found out. But price wise im not sure it's worth putting that kind of money into an older bike. Seeing as it'll be my first touring type bike(Sports bike for the past 5 years or so) im sure id like to try a few out before settling into anything longterm.

My first instinct was the xtz tenere, And from what ive read on here and other boards they seem to have a decent rep,Like you say though there's always acceptions to that rule.And horses for courses and all that.

I must admit though the DR does look the dogs dangly's, Which is probably which drew me to it in the first place,For a bike thats comming on 20 years old.It seems to still look semi modern.

I suppose my next step would be to view/test ride each bike and see whats what.

Thanks for the reply Nigel.

Keep em comming guys Im still undecided and really could do with views from as many peeps as possible.

Thanks again.

Regards. Darren.

Hi Darren,
You don't say what budget you are working with, but I guess it does not run to a new bike.

The problem I have found over the years when buying second-hand is that the right bike that you want may simply never come to the market (right model/condition/mileage etc etc ); in the case of the DR750, there do not seem to be very many on the likes of ebay --- therefore, you are "artificially" restricting yourself straight away by having a short list of what you would prefer to own. It sounds obvious, but when you can buy new, then the approach to what to own is quite different.

Anyway, you could post a similar question into the "which bike" forum and you would get a wider range of answers.

Don't forget that you can tour OK on a sports bike - lots of people do!!

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Dave

unfortunatly my budget doesnt come close to new bike level, I've £2000 for the bike and hopefully i'll get some extra's within that money margin aswell, Perhaps panniers, Ive another £1000 set aside for the like's of GPS and the more expensive things.

Id planned on buying the bike between now and January, And building up a spare parts catalouge between then and when i leave.So this wouldnt effect my overall budget much as, i plan on puting in some overtime at work and using this for the smaller things that i'll need.


Im only planning on beeing away for between 2-4 months and not heading to far from the beaten track, Planing on going from Scotland to Togo, Then in this time span i'll have a bit of time to play inbetween. My overall budget is £10,000,Not including any extra money i can make between now and going away.

Id actually thought picking the bike would be the easy part, Hhmmm, I seem to have been wrong in that department.

Although winters comming so my hopes are high that something will crop up.
In comparison to sports bikes though there doesnt seem to be anywhere near as many second hand enduro/touring type bikes on the market.

Anyway's thanks for the advice Dave.

I'll have a post in the which bike section and see how things go.


Regards. Darren.

Sounds a good plan overall Darren; you have thought about issues at least.

I am not sure that I would spend the ratio of 2000:1000 on the bike Vs the accessories! I would prefer to put more into the bike and use cheaper bits and pieces, including maps in place of GPS.

I reckon you will find a suitable bike between now and January; I suggest you take a look at the KLE500 on here - loads of information about it in threads in here and there are dealers in the UK selling them brand new for about £2800 or thereabouts -- second hand they are not much cheaper, presumably because they are such good value new.

Also, your overall budget sounds like plenty for your travel timeframe (I am assuming you will use cheap accommodation) so maybe you could put a bit more towards buying the bike.

What I was getting at in that last post was to look for a type of bike rather than a particular model; don't limit your choice. Do a search in, say, ebay for "trial bike" and see what is up for sale + check out other places such as Autotrader for every type of bike, not necessarily a trail bike, and keep watching the for sale section in here.
Another guy on here is travelling on a Honda cbf600 for example and there are lots of them on the market; no problem because you don't intend to get off the beaten tracks.

Good luck with your plans,

ps There are more DR650s for sale than there are DR750s, have you noticed?!

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Dave

I agree with you Nigel!
Where abouts are you in the south?
Did some backpackin in '99 love it! I was in Christchurch, Dunedin, Albatross Colony, Fox Glaciers, Arthur's Pass, Queenstown(Fly By Wire) & my favorite was Milford Sound!

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