Most reliable adventure bike ::::::::::::
 

What is your most reliable adventure bike owned ?:scooter:

:rofl:

The one I'm yet to break :rofl:

Too many factors to be able to say X is reliable and Y is a POS. It's just use, circumstances and knowledge. I'd say my CB500X gets more use, meets fewer unfortunate circumstances and requires less specialist knowledge than the Ural I had, but I'm sure some of the foil heads will disagree.

Andy

Had a CB 500 x for a trip to Morocco ,( perfect bike for morocco )
9500 miles in 4 months totally reliable .... but .............................. no character at all .but a great bike !!

What's the unit of measurement for character? Can I buy it as a bolt on?

There is no such thing IMHO, just journalist speak for it did or did not match some expectation or concept of worth or appearance. I don't care if my tools are fashionable.

Andy

amazon sell this item !! no nuts needed !!

BMW R80GS, bought new in 1991 and has taken me UK to Australia, around South America, Europe several times and countless trips to work, shopping etc. It has needed work along the way but only left me needing a tow once 20 miles from home at 175,000 miles.
An honourable mention to my 1983 R80G/S, bought from the original owner who had done a 4 year RTW trip on it with his wife then used it for commuting for 10 years. I got it as something of a wreck with 120,000 miles on it and after a full overhaul did 20,000 trouble free miles across Africa on it, the bikes second trans-Africa trip. It has since been used for just about everything and has never needed towing home although it did leave me stuck in 3rd gear 10 miles from where I was staying in California but still got me home, on that tour which was four years ago it did nearly 20,000 in North America with that the only problem, it has now done 195,000 miles and is still on the road.

Anything Japanese post 1995.

Vincent Black Shadow.

Also faster than a F111 until takeoff

A lot harder to answer than 'what's the most unreliable' ... :rofl:

In terms of what have I had to do least to to keep it going I suppose it would have to be the 1800 Gold Wing I have in the US. From memory the sum total of repair work on it is zero. I've done some service work - oil etc - but its never let me down on the road and the only niggle has been replacing the battery when it was left for 3yrs one time.

Second - mainly because its vastly exceeded my reliability expectations - is my ancient 125 Suzuki. It just keeps going. It's not fault free but its only let me down once when salt water shorted out the plug while waiting for a ferry at Dover.

Because I rarely buy mainstream adventure bikes my choices are all going to be left field oddballs. At the moment I'm trying to get an ancient 250 two stroke reliable enough for a long trip. I'm fully expecting some side of the road 'experiences' - even new they weren't that reliable - but it just has to be good enough. If it was a 1250GS - or even a CB500X - I'd be applying different criteria.

So far no problems with my Versys-x 300. It has only done 20k km tho.

I emailed Kawasaki UK the other day to see if they are importing any of these this year and unfortunately not, I would be interested if they did.

I'm having the same conversation with Honda UK. H-ness 300? No. CT125? No. Have a CBRrrrr Fireplace Sir? FFS doh

I think they want me to buy an Enfield (the last two won't win the reliability contest, easy to fix though).

Andy

BMW1100gs
180K miles - apart from a gearbox rebuild which cost £300 it was only consumables.
Even with a clucking gearbox I got home from France - the bike never actually broke down.

I’ve just read backofbeyond’s thread and second place would go to my GL1000, plain Jane Goldwing - 120k miles.
The only time it failed was when a rivet came loose in the generator - engine out job for a simple fault but it was surprisingly easy to do.
The great thing about these bikes was that a lot of the parts were the same as a Honda Activan so very cheap.

My theory is, and there’s no science behind this, if you use a bike everyday it will be very reliable - I think this especially applies to BMWs. I don’t have a car and have been very lucky with the reliability of my bikes - I don’t fiddle with them or over wash them just service them according to manufacturers recommendations and ride them.

My old blue 1971 Honda CB100, never failed to start in the morning even covered in a foot of snow.

Mezo.

That's perhaps the more important consideration; as noted earlier, all or at least most of the mainstream modern bikes are very reliable, but there's likely to be something go awry eventually, so a bike that needs a heap of specialist tools and diagnostic computers to do even the basics like a service is not the one to choose. At least with modern online parts ordering and fast/efficient international shipping, obtaining spare parts is less of a problem than it was in the past, so you don't have to carry a heap of those along with you too; so long as you compare manufacturers spares back-up and select accordingly - BMW and the major Japanese manufacturers generally seem to be good.

Not sure I agree. I suspect Bavarian marketeers and their "resets" have an undue influence.

I currently own two bikes, a 2020 CB500X and a 1973 CL350. The basic service on the CL is an oil change, timing check and valve adjustment every 2000 miles. The tank has to be drained and you need a test lamp and feeler gauges. The CB500X is every 8000 miles and is an oil change that can be done with two spanners and an oil filter.

To fault find the CL requires a multi meter and circlip pliers. You need enough tools to dig through it and the time to do stuff like plug chops and removing jets to inspect for blockages. It is a matter of luck as much as skill as to if you follow the right track to the fault first time. When there are two faults expect it to take 20 times longer.

The CB500X gives you a fault code. You read it and go from there. Even where manufacturers don't provide this most can be defeated by an OBD reader, something easier to find or carry than say a timing strobe or compression tester.

The 16000 service on the CB500X is a nightmare expedition through the tank and electrics tray, but just time and a pile of spanners. The CL is simpler because you just use those circlip pliers to access the oil spinner.

This to me is just knowledge and not believing idiots who'll clear the error memory and charge you seventy quid. I occasionally still train workshop technicians (the mechanic is unfortunately an endangered species) and do meet the "Thar' black box be full O' demons, we must exorcise them by grounding the sacred pin 24" variety. These are more likely to be found in Surrey than Sindh because young people there still have to find solutions not fob people off until they buy new vehicles.

Either way when you find something you need parts or a bodge. ECU pins or carb diaphragms can both be glued. An injector in 97 pieces leaves you just as stranded as a carb manifold in 96.

Andy

Typical wearing parts you will get anywhere after a short waiting time. But if you need something outside this range problems will start.

I think it´s a myth that manufactures cover the world with spare stocks. It is too difficult und expensive to forecast und to build up spare stocks in all markets. "Just in time" or "Just in sequence" is only done for manufacturing but not for spare parts. Manufacturers centralize spare stocks in general and outsource to spare parts logicstics to balance and reduce costs of parts, of availibilty and working capital.

BWM is perfect an example for this. A friend of mine crashed his GS 1250 in India in late 2019. This happened 10 months after bringing that modell to the indian market. BWM has 18 Service Centers in India. Not a single part was available there or in BMW Service Centers in asian countries nearby. All parts had to be shipped from Germany und to be imported to India including the import fee which nearly tripples the price. Took "only" 2 months of time because we bought and fetched the parts directly from BMW Germany. Than we faked the invoices a little bit to reduce the cost of import fees and send the packet via DHL. Packet was hanging around in 3 indian post offices for 4 weeks before he could pick it up with the help of some tea-money.

You can rate reliability of bike by the number of service points in the world but you never know in front where your needed part will be stocked. Equal of the brand it is definitely a matter of expense I would keep in mind if I will go for a longer trip.

Watched that film - enjoyed it :thumbup1:

No, had nothing to do with the film of 2018. But we acted similar because when it happened circumstances of bike parts availability were the same and we had watched the film.

One of the reasons why Christian Vogel of "Egal was kommt" film choosed a GS for his world trip was that he thought it has a good reliability because of the worldwide service points of BMW. His GS performed fine all the way but he went "accidentally" into the spare parts problem.

In modern bikes you find a bunch of electrical/software helpers which have a very low error probability. I don`t hear, read or see very often about electrical or software problems but since a long time I recognize the spare parts problem. Manufacturers haven`t find yet a way to avoid customer dissatisfaction caused by the costs and time effort of spare parts policy. This problem is still growing bigger through different models for global markets and its legal and technical restrictions.

I can guarantee there is no stock of parts anywhere. The accountants view stock as a cost and 99.9% of buyers won't let such practicalities get in they way of their fantasies on purchase day. So long as every manufacturer works the same way they don't have to worry. They'll even try to "do you a good deal" on a new one which is even better for them.

ATM, things are even worse, the so called JIT is in a state of collapse. COVID brought the whole house of cards crashing down with chip manufacturers getting demand predictions totally wrong and shipping being used as storage. Various large car and truck makers have been shut down and you can guarantee new sales which seed the market take priority

If you are in the break and fix frame of mind you want a smaller manufacturer in the most common layout possible. A generic part for a Chinese 125 gives a dozen sources who might have stuffed up JIT and have stock, including car items . Some weird flat twin part only has one source.

Andy

Both Hondas ...... First bike I ever explored eastern Europe on A Blackbird . First bike I ever went to Morocco on .An St1300 . Neither were adventure bikes in the current sense but never broke down , totally reliable , off roadable......not recommended tbh But had adventures in spades .

Parts wise have found Yamaha to be pretty damn good in relation to supply......from a dealer point of view anyways .
If I was in India then prob not so good.....would b using a hero Honda or pulsar anyways.

Moto Guzzi
 

A Moto Guzzi 850 T

Nothing ever happened to that bike

Shaft drive. (No chain to take care of)
Points
Carburettors
=> Very little electronics

Not an "Adventure bike" by todays definition.
But adventures we had.......

BMW
 

For South American trips.
There is a saying that BMW owners map their route according to BMW service places......

Maybe that gives a hint.
(Bearings, shock absorbers, charging system.....)

Define 'adventure', and hence, 'adventure bike".

yoo tell me !:scooter::scooter::scooter::scooter::scooter:

Weestrom 650

1982 Honda Z50r. By far the most reliable bike i ever owned. Adventures of all kinds for many many years

Probably my Honda XL600V Transalp.

Although it's never been anywhere really gnarly, I have had it for 10 years now and it has done everything I've asked brilliantly, if not blisteringly....

Yes they were a great bike. think honda are going to bring out a new Transalp.
:scooter:

I guess the question is what is an Adventure bike? Is it an on road/off road bike used for weekend fun or is it a bike for taking year long trips to far away places? If the latter, as this group is about that, I would say the least stressed, mot designed for longevity and carrying heavy loads is the best. That means a simple, understressed streed bike.

Very good point there! That label «Adventure» what does it mean? It means everything and thus nothing. Every trip, short or long can be an adventure. So every motorbike can be an adventure bike.

I would also agree that for a travelbike/overland bike/long distance trip bike - a bike with an engine that is understressed and that doesnt need to revved to death would be a good and logical start. Not a bike where the power has been squeezed to a maximum at a trillion rpms. And there are quite a few of those nowadays....

No argument with that - what you need primarily in a long distance bike is something that starts, stops, doesn't break or fall to bits and continues like that for longer than your trip is likely to last. Not wearing you out or bankrupting you with fuel costs while it's doing that would also be a bonus. As you say, well designed and understressed. In other words something where the adventure element is mainly in the trip rather than the transport.

Unfortunately bikes like that tend to be a hard sell for the manufacturers. How many of the bikes we gravitate towards have some element of 'the adventure is in the ride' built into them? It's marketing nonsense but it's persuasive marketing nonsense based on probably a better understanding of human psychology than most of us have. We'd rather trust something that tells us it's a bike built for 'adventure' than the evidence of our own eyes and/or experience. I've no doubt any of the big manufacturers could build what would be close to an ideal overlanding bike but what would the headline on the brochure read - 'The bike you hardly notice'? 'Goes on and on for ever'? Sounds about as exciting as a pension plan. That's going to be the one gathering dust down at the back of the dealer's showroom.

I like your 'trillion rpm' phrase. It reminds me of a spoof advert in one of the Ogri cartoons from way back - "Honda - a million fly power". That's even better than Sylvia Plath's 'ten thousand maniacs' in her bee box. And how many times have I headed off somewhere with that lot buzzing away below me.

Sorry chaps, I spoke to the marketing/colouring-in department at Honda and an adventure bike is a tourer with a tall hard seat, beak, Dakar colours, fake sump/hand guards and photos of just before their half-tamed MX champion broke the subframe round the back of the Rabat Hilton. You can spot them by the use of the words "aspirational" and "extreme" in the press releases.

:innocent::rofl:

I think this mythical beast you guys want is called a well maintained bike.

Andy

Yup, that's about it - an adventure bike is just an uncomfortable tourer. You have to suffer for your art. Just goes to show Mr Honda (et al) knows us well. :rofl:

Yes of course - reliability and fuel efficiency is very important. But that kinda goes without saying. And if a bike is constructed with an understressed engine were the power isnt squeezed out to a maximum at very high rpms - the better chance it is that it is reliable and fuel efficient.
High rpms means high stress on the engine, and it tends to give more vibration which again tends to vibrate loose electrical connections, bolts and nuts etc etc. and high rpms also tends to mean higher fuel consumption.

SB the f700gs pretty much sums it up a derated 800cc eng capable of 95 hp from the factory this engine is in many bikes and I don't know of any manufacture that does this
the f700 has 75

As you can probably tell I come from a prehistoric era. One where the world was turned on its head and motorcycles were strange devices that hardly ever started, and if they did, continued in a straight line until they hit something because their brakes were useless. In that world it was the low rev plonkers that dribbled oil everywhere, vibrated the fillings out of your teeth and ran their main bearings in 5000 miles. And that was because they were all small workaday bikes from the 1930's pumped up and stressed way beyond their design limits by the steroids of marketing necessity. They often fell apart faster than you could screw them together (the ones of my acquaintance anyway).

It was the new design 'million fly power' oriental screamers that were the reliable and (mostly) under stressed travel bikes of the era. Now of course we're all eco friendly and as a litre of fuel not used is a flower saved there's quite a few low stress, low rev designs around. But old habits die hard. While my head says low rev everlasting plodder my heart wants to feel some kind of adrenaline rush as the revs build - even if I'm just trying to get out of a mud pool. These things sing to your soul - and the manufacturers know it.

Quite where we'll go when electric motors replace I.C. engines I've no idea. So far I haven't heard any electric vehicle - car or bike - make a distinctive sound other than tyre noise and a faint milk float style whine. Still, I suppose they said the same when cars replaced horses - "no more clatter of hooves on cobbles on a moonlit night, no more sweat rising into the mist after a hard early morning ride, no more free fertiliser to bring on our early season roses, just that anaemic farting sound and an oil slick along the drive". It'll be the triumph of beige logic over dayglo emotion. Pity in some ways but transitions are always like that.

:clap::clap: Well - Im from the era right after you. The first bikes I owned were japanese two strokes, who needed 5 trillion rpms to get the power out. And they were mostly very unreliable. How fuel efficient they were I dont know as fuel often was «collected» for free after hours....:blushing:
I remember one of the guys in the neighborhood had a Kawasaki 100 cc who he «hometuned» to the extend that the tachometer went around one loop and the needle was at zero and the engine was screamin louder than anything I ever heard in my life so far at that time. I think that was something like 18-20 000 rpms....
I got so impressed I soon after bought an identical bike. But my bike could only get 13-14 000 rpms though...

The Suzuki AC50 I owned before was extremely unreliable. Changing to a new piston and rings were a biweekly affair for some months.

Those were the days....so many memories...