Biggest Transition?
 

Out of curiosity,
who has made the biggest transition (either upsize or downsize) to their traveling rigs?
For me it was downsizing,
Right now I'm doing a 2012 LML star (Genuine Stella in the US) 4T 150cc

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nl...=w1425-h932-no

It replaced a 1996 Honda 1100 ACE.

https://wq3ewa.dm2302.livefilestore....&cropmode=none

(that's 7x smaller!)

Sadly no pictures courtesy of Photobucket but in July 2015 I was riding a 120cc Suzuki across Europe and six weeks later I was on an 1800cc Gold Wing riding across the US. That's something like 15:1 bigger in capacity and probably not far off the same ratio in weight :rofl: - it felt like it anyway, particularly with my wife on the back (no, no dear, you hardly added any weight at all - honestly! :rolleyes2:).

Actually, I still have both bikes and have used them both this year.

I've rode bikes from 50cc to 900cc.
I think I like a smaller bike more. Right now I have a 650 cruiser, but I could see downsizing to a 250-300.

Four years ago I had a Triumph Tiger 955i. I then sold it and bought a Yamaha Tenere 660. Last year I bought a Honda Crf 250L.

When it comes to smiles pr gallon no bike comes near the Crf 250 :scooter:

I went from a VFR750 to a Yamaha Mio125 scooter......but I'm currently looking to buy a V-Storm or Africa Twin soon.
I guess once you have the bug there's no turning back!


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consumables last longer ...
 

I downsized from 750cc to 350cc ...

... and I also realised that consumables (drive chain, tyres, brake pads) last a lot longer on a smaller bike.

Now my DR350 drive chain has more than 30.000km on it (DID x-ring) and with my XT600Z Tenere I never got more than 20.000km out of drive chain.

But still I cant see myself riding a 50 cc scooter long distance overland.

Just my 2p worth

mika beer

Just gone NC750 to Enfield C5. Only a 33% drop in capacity but half the power. Its as though I swapped a dishwasher for a biplane! :clap:

Andy

Seems like the trend is up-sizing,
Honestly, I've had more shear fun of riding going smaller. Sure I can't burn up superslab miles like before (restricted access do to engine size) and I top out (full throttle) at about 60 mph (96-100kph) on flat road (of course 10"(25-26cm) tires and a 4'(122cm) wheelbase feels scary fast coming from the big loping cruiser) But I have no regrets and glad I did.

Besides, around here people are used to seeing big cruisers and adventure bikes loaded up for trips zipping about. But show up loaded for adventure with a scooter or smaller ride and folks always want to talk to you when given a chance...And me? hell, I'll talk to anyone, that's part of the reason I do this, to meet people and get out of my cube and look up from the computer/phone (or what have you) and see something new and interesting.

then you never read about Wan Lee?...rode across the US on a 50cc honda ruckus

Wan Lees Honda Ruckus - Together As Wan - Super Street Magazine

:scooter:

Don't you mean DOWN SIZING?
So far, just about everyone on this thread has DOWN SIZED ... not up sized.
And .... if you've followed HUBB for the last 5 years or so, you can clearly see the trend is DOWN sizing in this community as well.

I'm on a DR650 now but currently shopping for a WR250R. I traveled on a DL1000 Vstrom for about 6 years, also a Tiger 1050, but it was mostly a USA only bike and I avoided off road for the most part.

I've traveled a bit on a XR250R but never set it up for real travel. Mostly local dirt riding and two Baja trips. I loved that bike but was off road only, no road amenities.

The WR250R should do better carrying luggage and riding highway as well.
But it probably won't match the mighty XR in technical off road conditions ...
or at least I don't think so. I don't have WR yet, can't say for sure after only brief test rides. Hopeful it will be magic.

I love my DR650 (keeping it) but want to branch out and try the WR250R.

I'd say the current fashion is towards smaller. Back in the 90's everyone said you couldn't take a 650 off road. This was wrong as we proved on 650-1150's. Maybe tyres and shocks had caught up? Then the Charlies came along and everyone said you can't tour anything under a litre. Ted Simon had proved this wrong 25 years earlier. Now C90 prices are going up faster than one of Kim Jong-Uns toys because its cool to ride across the world on one. The counter-counter post Adventure Rider culture.

Its all silly fashion, litre bikes are better on the motorway, a 125 crosser on dirt etc. Its all compromise, there is no right answer.

Andy

I haven't been on as frequently as I'd like, so not sure of the board in general, My observation (locally) is everything bigger, BIGGER, BIGGER...from Harley-Davidson to BMW...heck you should see the motorhomes that come through, bigger than my house and hauling all the 'toys' too boot (quads, canoes, MTB, towed jeeps, etc, etc...) ! :rolleyes2:

I have had some great adventures on 650cc , but some really great adventures on less. I've toured 2up on 125cc and had a blast so........... as they say size doesn't matter, it's what you do with it :rofl: But in all honesty all the trips I have done could have been done with any size bike.

My newest adventure bike is a china made "no name" 123cc wind up and wait scooter. That's being "prepared" for a 2up Wales trip doh I'm sure it will be fine when I get it going again.....

Good stuff from another Senior Citizen!
I've ridden both 1150 and 1200GS off road ... and you know what? I'd much rather ride the technical stuff aboard Ted's old 650 Triumph! I rode those Triumph's in the California Desert as a kid ... better than you'd imagine, and much lighter than the BIG BMW's or KTM's.

For me it's not about fashion, trends or counter-counter ADV Riders, its just about what works for YOU ... and what your route is. If you end up on a BIG bike, you'll be happy on fast highway and miserable in deep sand, mud or rocky, steep terrain, City traffic. On a small bike your road speeds may be lower and luggage will have to be lighter. At super high altitude, (high Andes) small bike will be gutless. So yes, trade offs.

If Ewan and Charlie were smart they'd have had their Crew trailer a few extra bikes ...ride the GS's for the easy stuff, unload the trailer with nice dirt bikes for Mongolian mud. :D

Most can't afford that plan ... so try to figure out your route and figure how much tough off road there might be ... then roll the dice and GO! bier

As usual, "Horses For Courses" and "Right Tool For The Job". My DR650 is about as close as I've come to perfect compromise. If well set up, a surprisingly capable bike! Tough, reliable super easy to work on. *this is a big one!

well, then I feel much better about using my scooter (all 147.5cc of dragon fire!)
for more than a work commuter/grocery getter and dork-around-town kind of thing.
Even though the last time I tried to trip on it I managed about 50 miles out and stopped because I had to use the interstate highway at that point that requires larger cc than I am (plus I didn't study 'alternative' routes with that in mind when I left, I just HAD THE URGE, PACKED UP AND LEFT!)..my bad doh

For someone that makes a living out of being detail and minutia aware, doing that was very out of character :rofl: but fun

changing from my Honda SH50 to my BMW k75!

mind you the F650GS is different too!

I have been all over the place.
Virago 750 to a Ninja 250 for the gas mileage, I was miserable.
To a zx6r which is the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden, hands down.
Then to a KLR 650 up to a Super Tenere for two up touring.
That is likely for sale with kids in the house now so my biggest downsize will be to ZERO motorbikes for the next few years :

in my case - smiles and tears per gallon on mine crf250l, luckily I sold it quickly.
:D

Well I still have the Tenere, its been standing completely still for almost 7 months now - except for a 3350 kms trip on the back of a truck and countless hours at the mechanic, and its still not good to go. It has costed me shitloads of money, shitloads of worries, a whole lot of energy, yes and 7 months of waiting. You can have it for free if you like, its in Chile for the moment. The only little problem is that the paperwork has expired. And it isnt exactly the first time with lots of serious trouble with it.
Not even 10 completely trouble free laps around the world will make up for the troubles I have had so far with it. Its a completely piece of utter useless trash!
Luckily I can look forward to many troublefree rides on my little gem of a bike - The Honda Crf250L. A real pearl of a bike....:scooter: If it wasnt for that I would have been giving up motorbikes and taken up bicycling again.

oh come on, after so many miles in all conditions any bike would finally give up in the end. Rider need to rest and bike also need it too :thumbup1:

So many miles? The truth is that the Tenere wont make it around the world even one single time. Thats how bad that bike is, it has mostly made me swear and has been taking away all joy and exitement of riding a motorbike. Unlike the Honda - which had brought back the joy and the right spirit again. And that - is the biggest transition I have had in my years of motorbiking...

Wow! Somehow I've missed your story about this bike. Do you think it is just bad luck with your Tenere', or do others have the same problems as you?

USA never got this bike so I know nothing about it. Only read some reviews ... which usually are OK. They say the engine is heavy but bike generally good and reliable.

I guess you proved them wrong? Unless you got a really BAD ONE? :censored:

So I assume you'd never buy another Yamaha? Geez, I'm just about to buy a
WR250R (a used one). :help smilie: Is this a mistake?

Why not sell you Tenere' in Chile now, why wait? Sure, not exactly legal ... but I'm sure some local riders (or a dealer?) would LOVE TO GET HOLD OF YOUR BIKE, running or not? No? ... and may be willing to pay you well for the privilege?

Just a thought, all the best, hope you can get out from under this bad luck bike. :censored:

Sounds like maybe a different mechanic needs to try to figure out the problems?

That is SO GREAT that the CRF250L is working out for you. The CRF250L Honda is my 2nd choice ... and if the WR250R Yamaha does not work out ... I will be on another Honda ... owned quite a few since my first one in 1966. (Honda 50!) :scooter:

well, it's true yamaha and honda have dropped build quality in recent years but tenere has reputation as bullet proof bike and has taken RTW many riders without any issues. You had to abuse yours good or just a bad luck.
It's so simple bike that not much can go wrong there unless you blow up the engine. If you have 2009 tenere which had some problems indeed then it would explain. Mine 2015 tenere has only 15k km so cannot compare but no
problems other then correcting some QA factory assembly job. Love the bike and I did a off-road rally as well on it.

As for the crf250l, this is bike is so delicate and soft it wouldn't make serious over landing RTW other then girlish street/gravel riding. Mine after year of off-road abuse was in really bad shape when I sold it.

I think you should really look at kawasaki 300 first or test crf250l vigorously :D

Far as I know, neither Yamaha, Honda or Kawi have yet to come out with a 300 Dual sport bike. All make a 300cc Sport bike, but no dual sport version, at least not in USA. KTM's 390 is a single, Honda is a single, Yam and Kawi make a parallel twin.

I did have a KLX250S for a while, fixing it up, detailing it and selling it off for a friend. It was OK but suspension worst of all between CRF, WR and KLX. Also, power very modest, about same as CRF but not as strong as WR.

Would be interesting to see one of the 300cc Twins either by Yam or Kawi to do a ADV/dual sport bike, but I am not hopeful, even though that engine could be a good overall power plant if put in the right chassis and kept light weight.

I dont want to be more off topic in this thread than I already have been. I guess we can discuss the Tenere somewhere else. But ok - a few things, the Ten is 181 kilos dry and + 200 curb weight. Its the heaviest single ever made except from the mark2 Suzuki Dr800. The ergonomics are just plain shitty even for an averaged size guy like me, extreme wind buffeting, a terrible "two-level seat". An engine that is very very restictred - to pull clean in fifth gear it needs 3200-3300 rom, thats far more than any other big single bike I have ridden. This is the basics of the bike.
Issues I have had - chain and sprockets wear out very fast, only 15-20 k kms at most. Its far more often than any other bike I have had. Its 520 chain and sprockets - I have changed to 525 so I can get 25-30 k kms now. Cush rubber wear - 15 k kms and you need to change it. Good or not?
Idling/stalling - idling went down by itself until it was so low that it stalled at traffic lights etc. So adjusted idling up, this happend again and again and again. In the end there wasnt much more turns on the idling screw.
Fuel consumption - it started out quite good as 27-28 kms pr liter. I then changed sprocket size but I still got 25 kms pr liter. All of a sudden it changed to only 20 kms pr liter for absolutely no reason. I have had the bike checked for everything, sensors, exhaust, compression but all good. Still I have to ride in constant fuel saving modus to get 20 kms pr liter fuel. Changed some sensors just in case - but still same fuel consumption. I rode a Suzuki Dr650 on New Zealand and I got 23-25 kms pr liter on the carburated Dr650. I got approx 28 kms pr liter on Suzuki V-strom 650 I rented in Thailand riding with a pillion, I even got 22-24 kms pr liter if riding easy on my tuned Triumph Tiger 955i. So something is clearly wrong on the Ten but nobody can figure out.
ECU-failure - the Ten started to cut out and die in the middle of the australian outback. Not very securing feeling, rerouted the sidestand switch and cleaned the engine switch and had a garage looking at it but they just shroug their shoulders. Finally it died completely and I got ECU fail in the dash. I got the whole ECU and ignition barell changed - it did not even start then! Ouch had that bike costed me money and worries.
Here in south America it broke down in Patagonia, nobody to help me, had to take the engine out and send it to Santiago and had it fixed there (gearbox and clutch problems) got it back after more than 3 months and mounted it just to find out it leaked oil 3 different places and it was almost impossible to start. Decomp mechanism failure. So put the whole bike on a truck to Santiago (3250 kms) so in Santiago I had to wait for spare parts more than two months and only 1 out of 3 spare parts arrived - I dont know if this is south-America related or Yamaha related maybe both? So had to improvise repair of oilhoses/pipes and
crankcase breather box and it should be fine now. But havent had a change to test ride it long distance as the paperwork/TIP has expired.
An australian guy whos Tenere broke down in Argentina who spent shitload of money and time on it and himself travelled by bus to Santiago and Buenos Aires to get spare parts to it ended up having to truck it to Valparaiso and ship it home to Australia. A german guy I rode with in Australia had the rectifier go on his Ten after less than 50 k kms and had to wait weeks for that in Darwin. A distant friend back home in Norway had his engine blow totally up on a his Ten with around 55 k kms on it. For absolutely no reason and he could not get any back on Yamaha as he had put on aftermarket airfilter and some tuning sensor. All these are cases I know of personally.
So if the Tenere is a good or bad bike - he-he I hopefully dont have to say anything more about that for know.
To sell it is not an option, a local would not buy it as there is no way he can get it registrated here and sell it to another foreign traveller is not easy as the TIP has expired. My options are to ship it home or try to get the TIP extended. Im working on the last option - it will hopefully work out but it will again cost a good bit of money. But thats the way it is to own a Tenere I suppose. Luckily there are other bikes and options around....
Yamahas, well this is the first Yamaha I have ever owned but when it fails so totally and completely Im not very eager to get a new Yammie. Maybe a Wr250, maybe a Sr400 (I think they are awsome) but never ever a Tenere. Problem is Yammies are so expensive. The Sr400 is similar in price to a Honda CB500X. And thats a bike much more worth of money then the Sr.
Ok - thats was quite a lot about the Tenere and very offtopic. My excuses to threadstarter...:blushing:

I have actually never heard of anyone riding the Ten RTW succesfully at all. But I have heard and I know many who had big and many issues with their Teneres (have a look on my answer to Mollydog) On the other hand I have heard of several riders who have overlanded and ridden their Crf250s RTW with little or no issues. Amongst them a welsh woman who is now on her seventh continent on her Crf (she even rode in Antartica on it) and a dutch couple who rode each their Crf RTW. So your statement that the Crf is not a serious overlanding bike is absolutely utter nonsense. Its exactly what the Crf is, its proven and its great for that task. And this is facts, not subjective personal opinions as yours is.

Kawa has a 300 Versys out now. But its very roadorientated, not long travel suspension, 19/17 rims, quite heavy as approx 175 kilos curb weight. But it has a big gas tank/long range, a 6 speed gearbox, and a decent look.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ys-300-a-89525

so you heard not much.



You got lemon, that what it is.

regarding crf250l and RTW, well one girl did it but she could do it on any bike or scooter as well with her riding style.
Read more about cam chain tensioner failures, soft frame or stalling on crf250l so you'll see how reliable this bike is.

Anyone give up motorized altogether and switched to pedal power?
How was the change?

It takes a whole lot than one youtubewannabe to convince me, especially when having first hand experience. Actually nobody will ever convince me in this case - just as you know