This is the best article i have come across regarding selecting a proper bike. And finally the most common and widespread myths about biking are being completely busted.

Adv Bike Selection 1 | Sibirsky Extreme

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Motorcycling in various parts of the world - www.vladde.nl

Well it allways depends on what you want. There are so many more questions to define the word "perfect":

1)Is weight your only isue or do you have to look on the money side too?

2)Are you willing to take the risc of buying an exotic new bike or do you prefere to buy one wich is known for years and you can get all parts on ebay if needet?

3)Do you really want to buy a bike in your home country and ship it around the globe or do you prefere to buy a local bike were you start your trip?

Adventure means different things to a lot of people.

To many, an adventure is taking a motorcycle to France for a week... Then a big stupid GS is actually a good bike for the job. (Although this trip is just as fun and easy on a sub £1000 bike )

If 'Adventure' to you means mud plugging through Siberia then yeah, get an Enduro bike and spend the other £15,000 on plane fares and

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

There are many, many threads in here in particular about "which bike", naturally, so there is plenty of competition for "best article".
IRRC this particular article has been discussed in here previously; certainly it has been flagged up, at least in relation to the brand of adventures that Walter C has undertaken.
(I assume you know that Walter C is s strong contributor to this website).

You may want to define what you mean by "a proper bike" to pursue your point. Fortunately, no one has yet managed to pin down a definition of "Adventure bike" much less corner that particular terminology or copyright the term.
I expect most people are grateful for that!

As for myth busting, the article is an expression of the opinion of one guy; very well written and pretty well argued and referenced, but still a single opinion in the continuum of space and time.
Opinions really do vary, a lot.

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Dave

Exactly correct!
Even though Comrade Colebatch has A LOT of valuable experience in Russia, Mongolia and vicinity, his style of travel is not universal. But we DO have to weigh his comments and give them high credibility for sure.

However, I would contest some of his assertions based on my own experiences over 40 plus years of riding/traveling and over 50 bikes owned.

I DO like his comments on weight. Always important if going off road. His comments on fuel injection as being "The Way" I would contest, or at least offer an alternative view.

As reliable as modern F.I. systems are, you can still have "unsolvable" problems. F.I. systems are VERY battery dependent (to run the high pressure fuel pump all F.I. systems use).

Oh .. and speaking of a high pressure fuel pump ... on many F.I. bikes these pumps have failed or become clogged . (KTM 690, 800GS, and several of the BMW X bikes (Xcountry, Xchallenge).

Colebatch also discounts the Suzuki DR650 ... but I don't think he's owned one. The DR650 has potential to be a great all round adv travel bike. Yet it's simple, cheap and easily owner modified.

Colebatch's own HIGHLY MODIFIED X Challenge cannot be considered representative of a bike the "average" moto traveler could ever build. Colebatch's XChallenge FAR from a standard issue bike, it's custom made from tip to tail, with thousands of hours put in by skilled fabricators to make a world class adventure bike.

Read his build report ... where his XChallenge evolves over years of constant modification and improvement. Then, it's taken out and tested in torturous conditions .. then rebuilt and even MORE mods done. Must be nice ...

What did all this cost? Hmmm ... dunno, but suffice to say it ain't cheap.

I contend you can do it all simpler and cheaper, still be light enough and make it most places you "need" to get to. Slower? Yes! But going Long Distance is not a race. No silly Guinness book records to be set or broken here.

The "best" Adventure Bike is an urban myth. :-) To each his/her own, and for me is the bike that fits my budget, maintenance skills, personal style (does it enhance the image I want to portray and my cycle-psche), farkling tastes, cargo requirements, my need for speed, and of course is the right color. :-)

But seriously, the "best" is the one that prompts me to ride more, see more and live more happily!

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Roborider
Rob Osborne
Vail (Tucson), Arizona USA

The best one: the one you have and actually use..
The ideal one: the one you dream about for your next trip...

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Where and Back Again
http://www.antoniovanderelst.wordpress.com

Well it would be an "urban myth" to an American as you never had the opportunity to buy such myth`s simply because they never imported them to North America in the first place.

And there is a long list of bikes (myth`s) you have never seen or ridden & never will.

Mezo.

He sure builds awesome bikes, but that setup is still too heavy for my liking (I don't ride as fast though). Particularly given the amount of river crossings. An FX bike would be perfect for that route. Camping Austin Vince style would be a prerequisite though.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

"Long List"?
Maybe you could name all these do-it-all Adventure bikes we don't get?

Besides the Yamaha 660 series ... we get most ALL of them far as I know.
Maybe some odd 250's or Chinese imports as well? Love to see what you come up with.

Maybe you're mixing up North America with Europe ... who no longer get several common ADV bikes that have been imported here for over 20 years?

Well, Mezo, aren't you the international snob? And besides my point is that I (and certainly not you) can't make a judgement on the perfect or best bike for someone else. It's a personal choice more than something that any so-called expert might define.

Yes, there are many people with incredible knowledge and expertise (again excluding me. .. and you) and they have knowledgeable opinions about suitability of bikes for "adventure" riding from a technical perspective. But adventure riding is, I believe, so much more than technical. It's personal, experiential and based so much on interactions with those one meets on the journey.

The best adventure bikes are the ones that enable those soulful connections with our surroundings, and perhaps the technical prowess of the bike or even the rider isn't really so important after all.

In any case, your presumptions about my limited North American exposure to internationally available bikes? They're not relevant to my belief that THE "best" bike can't be defined, regardless of one's technical views.

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Roborider
Rob Osborne
Vail (Tucson), Arizona USA

I mught be wrong here, but you didn't get AT, TA, XLV750R, XT600/660 and ST, what about the old KTM Baja 660 (twin)? What about the CCM's? I think you got the Varedeo after a while, or?
..... and the famous BMW R80GS



In general we don't get bikes with carbs anymore. It's a pollution-thing.

Directly from USA in a short while (tada):

True, we never got Africa Twin, but did get Trans Alp for a few years in early 90's or so. It was a dud here so Honda pulled it. No Varadero here, ever. But some came in from Canada or EU.

I've never even heard of a KTM 660 twin! You gotta pic?

CCM's we got ... all of them going back 20 years in all configurations. Have NOT seen the new one here but I'm sure it's coming.

XT600E we got going back to the early 70's (all various sizes) Yamaha discontinued the XT600E in 1995. No 660 Tenere' but we do get the 1200 Tenere', XT350, XT250, 225, and of course all the various dirt bikes/quads.

And of course ... we got the R80GS. I owned one ... in 1981. BMW discontinued the GS when the R100GS came out ... but did produce the R80ST for a few years. (owned that bike too) I know in EU the R80 continued on for years. Not here.

Yea, EBR is doing some interesting things. I've not seen a new generation EBR outside our loacl Bike show, but have read about the ADV bike shown above.

The Buell Ulysses was a good bike. I spent many weeks testing one. You can now buy a used one here in perfect shape for under $5000. Fantastic value for money.

No ideas about this new bike. Mostly used by racers at this point. Lots more power? But like KTM, Buell are owned by an Indian company, so who knows the future? :confused1:
EBR did OK in a few Superbike races. (10th I think?) Just finishing is a big deal for an ALL NEW effort.

Limited TA, but still no AT, ST, XLV, XT600 or Varadero?

Sadly I cant find one, it's impossible to google KTM and Baja... They where produced around 1987, but didn't last long (in most ways), cool bikes!


There was no XT600 before 1984 (XT550 1982-1984), the pre XT550s was totally different.


That was the G/S not the GS! Huge difference and a new era

R80G/S: 1980-1987
R80G/S: 1987-1994+1996

(After all R80GS (not the R80G/S) is the best adv-bike ever produced so this is important )


What about the army-KTMs did you get them? Maybe not but you had the army-HD and they are rare in Europe.
We also had the famous Norwegian part of motorcycle-history, the Tempo:


Mostly smallish bikes:
10 Adventure Motorcycles You Can't Buy in the USA � ADV Pulse

Well there we have it, define "Adventure Bike"

You never got seven of the Tenere models & that’s just whilst picking my nose reading this, and all those can go where no GS1200 would dream of going because they are fat bloated overweight pigs (the bikes not the riders) wouldn’t want to offend GS owners.

Are these "Adventure Bikes" ? and why not? and read the comments below.

What`s an adventure? going to the pub with Touratech panniers on? call me a snob if you wish but at least i don’t look like a complete

Over to you.

Mezo.