Is it the end for large big adventure bikes ?
Do you really need 120 hp to go on an adventure ?
We now see a lot of small bikes coming into the market .. ie 300cc.450cc 500cc
They have a massive advantage as they cost on some cases 1/3 of the cost !
Easy to ride on rough tracks
Better fuel economy
Cheaper to insure
and more fun !

...and lighter in case you have to pick them up : )

It's the old story, "horses for courses". A big bike will be better and more capable on the road, a smaller one vice versa. You *can* tour on anything, as I'm sure we have all seen, but if you tailor your ride to the style of journey you want to do, you'll probably have a more enjoyable experience.

For me, 650-900cc has always been the sweet spot. Most of my travel is on blacktop but it's important to me to have a bike that isn't quickly overwhelmed by a bit of rough going, or impossible to pick up unaided. OTOH, I don't want something I have to cane flat out to get between cities at more than pony pace. Upper-middleweight bikes are also better for carrying luggage long distances. I don't carry the kitchen sink but for a long trip you need a reasonable amount of clothes, tools, spares and camping gear.

Where I think we can agree is *nobody* needs 1300cc and a 30 litre tank. There's no place anywhere in the world where that's necessary.

Its great that we now have more alternatives in the middle and smaller segment of travelbikes. However for example both the CF Moto 450 and the new Himalayan 450 are around 195 kilos wet weight. Thats a lot more than old school bikes such as the Dr650, XT600 etc. The NX500 also weighs almost 200 kilos.
The Crf300 Rally is the only option that I can remember with a weight around 150 kilos.
Of course we have the KTM/Husky/GasGas 700 line - but that it will need bigger petrol tank to be a decent travel bike.

A new KTM 390 Adv is coming - weight is not known yet but probably around 170-180 kilos wet. A brand new Aprilia Tuareg 450 twin cylindred is also rumoured - and that is great. But I dont belive it will be less than 175 kilos wet.

So yes - several new smaller/midle bikes available nowadays so thats great. But the weight of these new alternative small/middle weight bikes is much like the weight of much bigger bikes some 20-30 years ago.

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

That sounds fair, when I'm off on a trip the last place I want to be is around a city so I prefer the "pony pace"

Voge Rally 300 is the only other one I know of, or for short people the Voge 300ACX is alright for trails apparently and weighs about 170kg.

__________________
FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

Forgot the Voge 300 Rally yes….

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

arrr........ Honda is always your best bet !
love to buy a new xr650 from usa in whie !!! wow

Yes, that fashion's seriously on the decline.

You never did need a big/120hp bike, indeed you're better off without one. The modern GS BMWs and the like weren't built to go adventuring on, they are designed to go on your usual 70 mile sunny-Sunday ride out, visiting your regular biker-cafe stops - using the inbuilt GPS of course - while wearing >£3000 worth of clothing to make it look as if you'll be heading off along the silk road early next week.

As to seeing a lot more small bikes coming onto the market, that's about changing customer demographics:
In the nineties/noughties the fashion was to whizz around on your race-replica sports bike. Ten years on, those same riders' backs & knees could no longer cope with the riding positions, nor could they fit in the tight leathers, so the industry sold them 'Adventure Bikes' instead. Much easier to pootle around on and the riding gear was far more spacious. Now of course, yet another ten years on, riders are finding those a bit too heavy to get on/off the stand, or manoeuvre around the car park; so the industry is selling them Enfield Himalayans and the like... much easier to handle, but you can still pretend (to yourself at least) that you'll be doing something more exotic than turning up here for another bacon butty and a cup of tea next weekend.

'Adventure Bikes' and all the associated gear that goes with them have never been anything more than a marketing tag; no one motorbike is any more adventurous than any other... It's their riders (and only a very tiny proportion of those) who are the adventurers

__________________
BobnLes

Hmm, I did trips with my KTM 1290s in South America, Central America, North America, Morocco, and lots around Europe. Out of approx 100k km, maybe 15% were on gravel roads and sometimes sand. Except for maybe 250 km in total (0.5%), where I would have liked to have a smaller lighter bike, the big bike was always great and much nicer. More comfortable and fun especially when fully loaded.
Sure it is more expensive but I don't care about that. Interestingly most of the bikers I met were also on big bikes.

Seems there are a few hardcore adventures that cannot afford the big bikes and/or truly are focusing on rough roads.

Of course, if you wanna do TET or similar trips, a smaller bike should be used. But then these are normally only short trips only.

Define “adventure”

I’ve had an adventure in Aus on a GSA, a KLE500 and a Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster 1200.
An adventure in Indonesia on a scooter.
An adventure in Japan on a Vstrom250 and Nmax155.

Most of the “adventure” tag and its assorted argument is just Last True Scotsman BS.

“Achhhh , I rode the world on a 110 trials bike with a poncho as a tent..”

Here we go again, same old same old

Exactly! And thats why I dont like the expression «Adventurebike». Anything can be an adventure, even a daytrip for someone. And thus any bike can be an adventurebike.

I like the term «travelbike» or «overlandbike» better because both initiates some long travels, and likely some distances with not so good roads and thus the bike must be able to handle some rough roads and maybe have a decent range as well.

Of course even these two terms «overlandbike» or «travelbike» are not very exact either but both are still a bit more accurate than «adventurebike»

My 5 cents….

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

It is all market driven........just like suv s in the car world. The bike companies have been pushing hi bhp tech laden bikes for years........same as in cars.......most owners haven't a clue what the buttons do , they never read the manual , never use the performance and just move onto something else when the pcp ends......same ss the car world .
If it goes arse up for Ktm then they might bin big cc bikes.......moving production to SE Asia may accelerate that . Next year will give us some idea of where its all going , certainly in relation to the UK.
Given that the company I used to work for sold multi franchise high end bikes , went bust and had been bought by a high volume used bike company , it will be interesting to see what occurs next

What with ABS and other bits, the KTM 690 Enduro R has gradually been putting on weight since my 2013 model, the 2024 model now has a dry weight of 149 kg and a fully fuelled weight of 160 kg.

When touring in interesting places I tend to be bumbling along at 60-80 kph most of the time, but I wouldn't feel confident on a bike that wasn't able to reach motorway speeds of 120 kph when needed. However I don't need to 68 BHP of the 690cc KTM and I reckon a bike with 400-500cc would be ideal.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

That could have been written for the camera world as well - except I don't think you can get pcp for cameras. (can you?) Half a dozen manufacturers slugging it out for master of the nominally 'professional' market but in reality the majority of sales are to the camera equivalent of 'adventure riders'. Each new model comes out with more and more gadgets and gizmos built in, software to do everything, and what do people do - stick it on auto. 10k shots later it's p/x'd for the next one. Except the lenses do tend to keep you in the same manufacturer's fold. A bit like reducing to jump ship to KTM because your clothing is BMW branded.