This comment in another thread got me thinking about generally what kind of routes people are picking out, and what are their motivations for doing so

After our recent trip to Aragón (where we did a couple of days of sandy and gravel roads in our car) my partner's interest in riding off road has shot up a great deal, from just wanting to tag along to wanting to plan trips or even go off on her own, and including a desire to explore more varied terrain ... the main factora for her are to be as far away from other humans as possible, experience places where human influence is at it's lowest, and to cut through the landscape with less restrictions on where you can and can't go.

To a certain extent I share all that, but I also enjoy the challenge of riding difficult terrain, which is why I enjoy trials riding ... and the idea of being on a paved road for days at a time doesn't appeal.

So, what weighting do you give on trips towards choosing ways to cover ground, or to finding places other people don't generally go? On many of the RTW vlogs I've seen people map out towns or villages as target destinations, I don't remember many cases of people looking at a map, saying "that looks interesting / weird, I'll just go over there for a couple of days and explore it" ... do many people do that and just not document it as much?

I tend to pick routes that go from A to B, that can be Cape Town to Cairo or London to Kathmandu and enjoy several aspects of the trip including seeing different scenery and visiting historic towns and cities but also meeting people be they locals or fellow travellers. I do sometimes head off into the wilderness but only for a few days at most, my last albeit very short trip was a two day cycle ride up to and across Exmoor where I camped in the middle of nowhere which was a wonderful spot, I think many travellers are social people who like to get away from everything occasionally but who often seek out human related experiences.

IMO choice of equipment kind of dictates road choice.

Good points!

The sociability part is an interesting point, given that one of my motivations for wanting to stretch the range I can go (in the past it's been long-ish trips on road, and only short ones off road) is to be anti-social and get away from people in general ... I wonder how most motorbike travelers would classify themselves in terms of being intro/extroverted - travel does force one to open up just to communicate for essentials, if nothing else.

As for equipment and road choice, that might be a bit of a chicken and egg thing, I keep feeling drawn to smaller and more agile bikes ... though there's a limit to how far you can get on a trials bike people seem to get all around the world on not much bigger machines.

I have found that the bigger the bike, the bigger miles I seem to want to do, while the small bike I am more happy to explore.

Probably just a mind thing.

Travelled around the world on a + 200 kilo bike, I will never do that again. I understand the preferance of a big comfortable bike that can be ridden fast without straining the engine in Europe and north America, but for the most part of the rest of the world a 1000 cc bike, even a 500 cc bike is overkill.

And what do we have left after a 750-1000 km day on a big/fast bike? What fantastic memories gets stored in the brain harddisc after such a day? Buttpain and hand-numbness maybe…

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A good point, for sure, but not yet the "root" of the answer.

I suspect that curiosity is what motivates most of us to travel, hence our choice of equipment is influenced by where our curiosity lies.

I enjoy seeing different countries & different cultures, in the sense of seeing what mankind has built and how people live in different places. I'm not too interested in natural scenery. Hence I have selected a "pavement oriented" motorcycle (Honda ST) as my vehicle.

Although this type of motorcycle could be characterized as a long distance machine, I rarely ride more than 200 or 300 km a day.

Michael

Hello

Since you startet this thread with my quote, some more details to what I meant with that.
The context was "15 month RTW on 2018/19 Africa Twin with 80/20 on-road-off road".

The dream of riding a motorbike around the world is different to everybody, the intended routes/roads vary with different bikes.
If you are in a sand trak of loose sand with -v---v- shape frome the "Jepps" a heavy bike is no fun or not possible, depends on the rider what goes.

If you cross long streches of pavement with insane car/truck drivers a small bike is hell.
You have to look at the routes/roads you like to ride.

But as I said, if you dream of doing a RTW only on small tracks you really have to search for those that you can line up to make a route from A-B-C-D-E...-around the world.
Look at the TET in europe, those guys work really hard to find legal offroad track that fit together, the TAT was searched by a guy and you have to pay for the result.
That is what I meant with "you have to search for that."

It is easy in many places of the world to stay in a region where you can play in the sand for several days but to get to B you have to face the pavement.

You have also to find out what is fun to you to ride as a bike.
As a swiss, I had to ride a 125ccm toybike for two years, did a trip from Switzerland to England, never will I do that again.

To me, for "on/off road" RTW travelling the best compromise is a +/- 200kg 600-800ccm bike, I did it on the XT660Z.
In sand I hated the weight, on long streches of pavement I wished I had bought the XT1200Z.
Later I did buy the XT1200Z and I love it on pavement but coudn't have done the same routes as I did with the XT660Z.

I did begin with travelling by road bikes, Suzuki LS650 a 4 month/28tkm trip in europe and then I bought a Kawasaki ZG1200 in Alaska and rode it all over the west till Baja.
Great adventures to me and beside roadconstruction no sand/gravel.

I could do an other RTW on the XT600Z again or a more road orientated RTW on a Goldwing.
I would like to do some remote sandtracks in Australia, Iceland etc... on a small bike,
BUT I could not do a RTW on a small 200-300ccm toybike.

If I want to travel slow and meet locals I take my trike. (but not for a RTW, for that I would need 10-20 years to do it)
Japan2018_S110 496 by tom meier, auf Flickr
279 by tom meier, auf Flickr



cheers sushi

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@sushi2831 not that it isn't doable but IMO you wouldn't really want to do TAT on XT660z or XT600 carrying all that extra sh!t; at least second half from Lake City following gpsKevin's tracks. Maybe Sam's tracks but even then there are a few spots like parts of Alpine loop, Warlock rd in arkansas, Witt rd in TN, that effin hill about 25mi to Quinn Creek in OR, road out of Emery and Eagle canyon in Utah. Yes you can do it; yet you don't see that many full size bikes on Imogene most prefer smaller mounts. WR250r, CRF 250/300 would be a better choice, much more enjoyable.

As for riding sand it is always a possibility; just get good tires and watch for moondust or you will bite it. Personally I would take sand over mud but at least mud will eventually dry out.

And for RTW it depends where you going, I don't think you need as much bike outside of developed world, 250-500cc bike with 30-40hp and <400lbs will get you through just choose your route wisely, piece.

It really is a case of different strokes for different folks by the looks of it ... in terms of RTW type of rides sometimes I see photos of people on bigger bikes and they look like they stick out like a sore thumb next to locals on 125s, but that's getting a bit off topic ...

I wonder if there's a direct correlation between the ratio of off road exploration vs sticking to a known route and the size of bike being ridden

There is but in my humble opinion considering the likelihood of you coming back to take a route you have to pass on because of bike limits you wanna have a bike which can go anywhere instead of passing on opportunity.. just saying.

Of cause everyone has a different view of what the perfect ride is and at the end bike is just a tool for the job.

I look for interesting places.

Can be beautiful nature, interesting architecture or something with the culture.
And then I take the road that gets be there.

I travel to get to interesting places. Not to cover certain roads. A MC is perfect for this. You are alone. And you can go to many remote places, with few or no tourists.

Only dead fishes follow the stream.

Here's my take: Big, exotic moto, you tend to ride on the tarmac and do big miles. You're perceived as a rich gringo on a big, expensive moto. Exotic moto; difficult to find parts in many parts of the world. Detours, flooding, landslide, mud, soft sand; all are a bigger problem on a heavy moto.

Small moto, more exploring and spontaneous off the beaten track decisions; meaning more adventure and interesting experiences. Easier to handle on bad road conditions, nimble when you unexpectedly meet that fast moving car on a single lane mountain road, and easier to pick up when you tip over. Often a smaller moto means you're riding something similar to what the locals are riding. You're still perceived as a rich gringo, because you can afford to travel internationally, but you also are riding something locals can relate to. Less expensive to repair and better gas economy. Much easier to access secure parking at night.

Yes, where traffic is very fast, a small moto puts you on secondary roads or on the shoulder. But in many countries, on good tarmac, fast means 80 - 90 kph. Normal speed on many two lane tarmac roads is 40 to 60 kph.

The choice comes down to which way your goals sway between these extremes: do the miles to accomplish your RTW trip, or meet people along the way and "smell the roses". Most important is riding something reliable and easy to repair using local resources. I don't remember anyone saying they wish they had a bigger moto on an international trip; but I do recall hearing travelers say they wish they had lighter & smaller.

There is some interesting and useful information that has been provided here on this topic. I can only offer an opinion based on my personal experience. If I am going to areas where I expect the roads to be reasonably good and I think I need to cover a bit of distance then I will take the big German bike.

It sure is a great touring bike and I have covered a couple of hundred thousand kilometers in fifteen years doing that. If I am going to ride on desert or rougher type roads then for me a lighter bike is better. When I have shipped a bike to ride overseas and think I may want to poke down a dirt road, then I ship my DR 650. It is a much lighter and simpler bike, it can keep up with the traffic, is less stressful to ride on sand/dirt and carries all I need. Most importantly, as I tend to travel by myself, I can pick up the bike if I drop it on a sandy track.

I understand each rider will have their own framework for decision making.

Yes: Spontaneous decisions are the decisions of adventure. Sometimes you get asked why you are here, sometimes things can get sketchy (deep river crossing, sketchy bridge, doubting the choice you made, desperate to find gasoline or a place to sleep, even having to turn around). Many times these are the decisions that are a highlight of the trip - people you meet, scenery, trip adventures... But, you need to be of the personality who can make decisions with an outcome that is not guaranteed. How risk adverse are you?