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20 Apr 2012
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Join Date: Mar 2012
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My thread title is misleading but what i meant was:
- what are the advantages of bigger (heavier) bikes?
I've already seen some answers that make sense, thank you all for that.
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21 Apr 2012
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: SW France
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Quote:
Originally Posted by duive01
My thread title is misleading but what i meant was:
- what are the advantages of bigger (heavier) bikes?
I've already seen some answers that make sense, thank you all for that.
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Despite some convincing arguments in favour of small bikes in the other thread running in the Bar I'm still a big bike fan myself.
Most of my travels are with my wife as pillion and the first requirement is comfort for both rider and passenger, however, travelling 2 up means you have to carry more luggage and riding off piste is not a priority. We've not avoided the more difficult routes, but accept that in some places we will struggle. So far my wife has only had to walk on 2 occassions (about a mile each time) but I know there have been times when she's wished she was walking rather than sitting on the bike.
Other benefits of a bigger bike are better performance on the road. We can avoid the vast stretches of tarmac across Europe by travelling on the back roads which is enjoyable but if our destination is southern Africa or India, for example, we'd really just want to get through Europe to places we had'nt seen before to start exploring. A modern 650 has perfectly adequate road performance but they are all physically too small for our use.
Obvious downsides to a bigger bike are higher fuel consumption, greater tyre (and chain) wear, more difficult to transport by other means (canoe) and generally harder to be inconspicuous.
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21 Apr 2012
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Lahore, Pakistan
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2 stroke
Did anyone consider a 2 stroke bike? They are addictive with the best power to weight ratio and might offer best of both worlds.
I love my 2 stroke Kawasaki KE175s specially when driving offroad or the KKH and prefer it over my VX800.
Cheers
Omar
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21 Apr 2012
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I'm a two stroke fan but the reality is that there aren't any new 2Ts of any capacity for sale in Europe and there hasn't been for quite some time. Mainly this has been down to emission regs getting tighter and tighter leaving the manufacturers with little choice. Even those of us with a few carefully hoarded smokers are now being faced with an increasing number of low emission zones (mainly in Italy at the moment) specifically banning two strokes from entering the town / city.
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21 Apr 2012
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Join Date: Apr 2008
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I own 1 MZ 301 Saxon Tour and enough bits to make 2 and a bit more. They are, overall, my favourite bike ever, fast enough, addictive performance, so simple it's unbelievable. If I could only have one bike the MZ would be on the list of possibles (with the Bonneville).
Would I tour on one? Absolutely, been there done that, will be doing it again.
Would I consider one for RTW or similar? Not unless the aim was specifically to get that bike somewhere. Good stroke oil now requires hunting down in bike shops or online. In Europe you can buy something that will get you to the next town or home but don't expect a choice. Parts for 20 year old machines that when abused eat pistons and bearings and now mail order only. I wish it was like 1989 but things have moved on and the practical answer is 4-stroke.
Andy
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