My thanks to both of you for the welcome. At this moment I am planning on traveling solo, with what I need and hopefully not much more (am I funny or what?).
I am fairly tall (6'4" and 225lbs) and would like to stay on a slightly larger bike so the 650 size range seems appealing, much bigger than that and I worry about bad road/off road capability and being able to up right the thing by myself.
I have looked at the BMW's and my inner engineer lusts after them, as they are beautiful machines. However, the price differential between other bikes and the 650/800GS will buy a lot of gas, upgrades, heck it would probably pay for the whole trip. That plus maintenance costs; parts availability on the road, self-serviceability, etc makes them not practical, for me anyway.
From a dealer standpoint a Yamaha or Honda would be a great choice, as they seem to be the best represented between here and there. But you lucky chaps on the other side of the pond get the bikes we don't get in the US, so unless Yamaha announces the introduction of the Tenere to the US in September (no I don't know anything) or Honda does the same for the Transalp, neither a Honda or a Yamaha will do.
The DLR650 is appealing being a twin, it would probably smoother on the road and have more torque but at a weight penalty, 479 lbs v 386 lbs over the KLR. That plus a ~$1,500 price differential makes that unattractive.
Which pretty much narrows it down to the KLR650 or the DR650. The KLR to me wins that battle with long production history, many upgrades available, fairing, and a lot of information out there, it is a bike that has done what I intend to do and has the demonstrated capabilities.
So based on what I know today, I will probably buy a KLR when the time comes. I am just waiting for either the 2009 models to show up in October/November or someone to be selling a 2008 when they realize it won’t fit in their garage for the winter or their wife wants more money to spend for Christmas.
Saludos,
Martin
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