What is your most reliable adventure bike owned ?

The one I'm yet to break

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.

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....

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

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

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....

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

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.