For me, I'd quite fancy a Charade

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

Now you're talking !

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Yes, the Voxan is a nice machine and have seen the odd one race at the TT,and Dodger, did you use the right fun meter???

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

Silly me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahahahaha !

[what a pillock I am ]

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Suzuki almost does: DR650SE weighs about 165kg, but I think that might be dry. Pity you can't buy it in Europe any more. They are still selling here in NZ for about 4300 Euro.

Mine has done over 190k now, first clutch and cam chain, little maintenance. But, now...

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Lesson of the thread is...............

Start filling your garages with DR650's, DRZ400's, old Teneres, Africa Twins etc etc

Keep them running, keep them nice and they will be gold dust in 20 years time when someone wants to take a bike around a world without a IT technician, a sidecar full of Maplin/Radioshack spares and a laptop.

It won't be long before Grant has to add a section on "Places to recharge your bike on the road"

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

My DRZ400(E) weighs in at 146.5 "fuelled & tooled"
That’s "Trail Ready" with full tool packs on back and front; spanners, spare levers, inner-tube, pump, tyre levers, pruning saw(W.T.F.?) etc, etc and 11.2 litres of fuel.

Add another 20kg with the 28lt tank fitted and filled.

Minimalist luggage and loaded at 30kg

Then another 110 odd kg for me suited and booted and you've got 300kg struggling to stay gripped on a diesel-slicked, wet road on knobblies !!!

I'd love a DR650 but good ones in the UK are like Rocking-Horse Poo

After my previous, apparently daft coment re the mudgard



can I now feel slightly better about my overland bike knowledge (or lack there of) knowing that I have two low mileage DR650's prepped to leave for RTW 8 weeks today?

Matt

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a2wheeledadventure.com

Don't feel stupid.... Low mudguards are fine in sand and in the dry. They keep the sand out of your face and do offer better protection obviously.

But, they do still clog in thick gloopy mud and you can jam rocks between your tyre and low guard. High guards are still favourable in those conditions.

ALL proper offroad bikes come with high mudguards and its not just for image..

It's personal preference for the tyre of riding you're going to do !! High mudguards are flappy at high speed and caus aerodynamic issues so thats why you won't really see them on bikes which are really made for the road, just like the 1200 tenere, the BMW GS's , Africa Twins etc.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Yep, the Dakar rally is not famed for an abundance of boggy mud holes!

I take it on modern bikes with USD forks a low mudguard would attach to the fork legs rather than the stanchions so there wouldn't be an 'unsprung weight' argument? I bet a low mudguard has two benefits to a watercooled bike - Not only better airflow to the radiator, but less mud being flung at it (the radiator) from the front wheel. But I reckon on most aircooled dirtbikes the high level mudguard provides better airflow to the cylinder and head.

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

How about a low mudguard that is quick detatchable.

A couple of mates went to Morocco one on GSA & One on new Tenere. The Ten' had issues with the front end getting clogged with mud and locking the wheel. I had a similar problem in my trials bike in some really snotty clay but my mate's mudguard is about half an inch further from the wheel and he was uneffected.

My DR. Zed mudguard wobbles around a lot less since I fitted a plastic acerbis brace. It still makes the bike weave a bit when flat out though (at least I think that's what does it)

EXcellent comments. It's true, we are virtually invisible in the market, even with the Ewan & Charlie hype, when it comes down to it, they are still building mainly a bike with an image, not a bike to really performs off road. Not that it's not capable, just does not seem to have been the #1 priority for Yamaha.

Still, at least Yamaha long ago learned how to build a reliable shaft drive and transmission, something BMW still struggle with even today. Any looked at the torque output of this monster? Huge, yet only 80 HP.

But as a comfy, two up tourer for easy dirt roads the Tenere' 12 will hit the spot for many. And like BMW and Harley, Yamaha will sell millions in aftermarket add on's, doo-dads for the bike. They are simply riding BMW's coat tails on this one. (can't blame them)

Quite true about the Wee Strom. Total accident. Never intended for off road. But Suzuki build some of the lightest bikes in the world, and simple and reliable as well. (just not pretty!)

Most ADV types in the US are hoping Yamaha will jump into this Adventure thing with both feet. The first thing we want is a revised 660 Tenere' single. New, lighter, more modern motor, knock off about 30 lbs. min. and then bring it to the USA. Very nice bike. Strong, cool looking, just too heavy for serious off road use. (even though many do it anyway)

Look at the demographic of those who will actually BUY this bike ... and not just talk about it. For them, it's easy to spot a good two up bike. And I guarantee Yamaha are in touch with those mostly 50 to 65 year old riders who will be buying this bike.

Yea, right. For those whose Dakar knowledge only goes as far back as KTM .... well yes, that may be true. And in Pop culture many believe BMW "invented" adventure bikes. But Yamaha has a few cards to play here if they so chose.

Do some research. Look and see which company are the number one all time winner of the Dakar. That'd be Yamaha. What bike? The Tenere' of course! It was a 850cc TDM motor.

And by the way .... back then the races were far tougher than what we see today. Most have no idea about this.

Read interviews with Stephane Peterhansel (Yamaha's factory rider for a decade who has most wins on the Tenere') and some of the old timers. Find out the true history of the Dakar.

Yamaha has ignored the Dakar connection for a decade and let KTM and BMW have their fun. Now we may see the giant raise its head and Crush the orange interloper! (well, we can hope!)

Actually the true dry weight of the DR650 is just 147 kgs. (324 lbs.) DRY.
Wet weight is 367 lbs. (166 kgs.) WET. (stock fuel tank)

But the best elements about the DR650 (and why Ted is right about buying them up while you can) is that the DR650 is so Squat Toilet simple. Air/Oil cooled, Carb'd, reliable and tough as a Hammer.

Suzuki is rumored to be discontinuing this bike ... but who knows. Once they do .... their values will no doubt shoot up. I now have two! KLR sold (cheap)

For Yamaha, they need to bring us a simple Adventure bike in the USA.
Probably not going to happen, at least not soon. Someone said the 1200 Ten is not being imported to the US?? Yam dealers are gonna crow loudly about that one!

A low fender is easily moved further out from the tyre. I see Touratech have a couple of tiny simple adjustor plates that do that for the F800 ... so that the fender is 2 inches off the outside of brand new knobblies ... simply changing the spacing of the low fender pretty much cancels the mud and clogging argument ... you couldnt ride a bike with 2 inches of mud on the outside of the knobblies, even with a high fender.

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