Hi guys,

One of the followers of my blog suggested I post my most recent article entitled, "The Perfect Adventure Bike, or the Perfect Adventure Attitude" in this forum. Maybe up you'll enjoy it and perhaps it will offer another perspective when you're thinking about, "Which bike?" The link is below:

The Perfect Adventure Bike, or The Perfect Adventure Attitude? � HORCA MOTO

Cheers!

Paul

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Blogging @ www.horcamoto.com

I posted this comment in that blog post, and I think I'd like to repeat it here. Your article reminded me of a story I read perhaps 20 years ago in a moto magazine – I think 'Rider', but I can’t recall for sure.

A moto journalist attended the Australian press showing of a new bike, some kind of 750 standard. The rider checked the bike out, fired it up and rode it out of Sydney. After riding it around on a variety of roads, he pulled over to a rest stop perhaps an hour or two north of Sydney. He hopped off the 750cc, stood back, and appraised the bike in his mind.

He had always wanted to tour all the way around Australia on an epic road trip, but for one reason or another had never done so. This was the bike, he thought to himself; finally I’ve found a motorcycle that is perfect for such a long and arduous trip of a few months on the road.

Just then, a small scooter, heavily laden with baggage, pulled into the rest stop beside him. The journalist was surprised, as he was miles from the nearest town, and this scooter looked too small to ride any serious distance on the highway. The rider jumped off and waved to him. She was a petite Japanese woman who spoke English half-decently.

When he talked with her, she told him she was riding around Australia on the little scooter – exactly the sort of trip he’d just been mulling over! He thought to himself that the bike was too small for the trip, but he wished her good luck on the long journey ahead of her.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “My trip is almost over – I’ve been riding for months and I’ve gone all the way around. I’ll be back in Sydney in an hour!”

I guess the moral of the story is that you can tour on any bike if you really want to make it happen.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

A chap I met last year 150 km east of Yakutsk, Siberia, Far Eastern Russia: Phil Kirk from Australia on a 1983 Jawa 250 2 smoke. Riding from Magadan to London to attend a conference. His Australian employer was paying his transport to get there. Most use the money to buy an air ticket. He used it on freight from Brisbane to Magadan as well as petrol and 2 stroke oil!

Phil and the bike made it to London, with barely a hitch. Definitely worth considering alternative choices of vehicle when planning long distance travel. It doesn't need to be a real (or faux) "adventure" market niche junket with bling out of the catalogue. As said, attitude is good.

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

That's an MZ mate. Amongst Commie 2-smokers like myself there is a distinct hierarchy (when you are this far down the food chain it probably starts to matter!!). MZ were going to win the GP until Ernst Degner ran off to Suzuki to sort then out. They did win ISDT type stuff. Jawa/CZ (twin/split single 2-smoke) didn't do bad and of course did amazing things at speedway. Good engineering limited by poor materials. Planeta and Minsk etc. made these two look like breezing into town on a Brough when the locals were still pedalling!


Give me £200 for a new ignition unit and I'd set off on the MZ in the garage tomorrow.


Just saying! ;-)


Andy

I used to think that there were 2 kinds of Adventure riders. Ones that spent weekends riding off road in the woods or deserts and those that took multi month, multi nation trips. Now, according to the article, one must travel off road for it to be an adventure.

I consider myself a bike rider who travels, I have backpack/Bused around the world and ridden around but the best of 2 worlds is travelling on a bike. I just don't go for the little off road bikes and I like to ride on road, preferably paved and curvy.

Most of the world has roads now, and you can get away from your comfort zone very easily without going off road.

I have had people laugh at the ADV sticker on my Victory when their GS has never been across a border.

I like adventure



Dirt and mud, not so much

Andy
My sincerest and most humble apologies for not knowing the difference between a MZ (ar$e?) and a Jawa (elbow?) . I'm struggling to work out which out the the 2 is allegedly better.

Greetings to the neather regions of the food chain

cheers!

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

From Paul's Blog:
Good and valid points all!

But ultimately it gets back to your earlier point:
To me, the above is KEY. Is your trip about "THE BIKE"? or is it about "The Trip ... that you happen to be doing on a bike"? :confused1: In years past we've seen riders set out on fully loaded, fully equipped BIG BIKES ... with a budget to match. Many still travel this way. But as Paul has pointed out ... lots of alternate approaches.

More and more we see younger (poorer) riders (and some older ones too) buying a small bike locally and setting out, improvising all the way. The world is big enough for both travel styles. Which is better depends on the rider and his point of view on travel.
Having a positive attitude makes all the difference.

Another good point was the bit about "What is an Adventure Bike" and "What is Adventure Travel". It's all up for interpretation innit? ... ADV Rider.com must have a hundred threads that have discussed this in great depth with hundreds of differing opinions. Too many really. The only one that really matters is your own. But ...DO put it to the test and get out there and DO IT!

Maintaining a good attitude is not always easy on the road. Group travel has iUPS and it's DOWNS too. The group dynamic separates you from locals and limits interaction but gives you support and camaraderie. Some prefer just hanging with mates vs. locals, who they can't communicate with anyway.

But dealing with the group dynamic can itself be challenging and exhausting ... unless you have a Fascist leader in charge so there is NO discussion or alternatives. (been there, done that!)

But even solo riders who speak the language get the travel blues. They tire of the road and their "attitude" can suffer. Riding alone too long can also make you crazy ... when you have long, extended conversations with yourself ... you may be getting there! (yes, this is autobiographical ) Also, see Nathan Millward. (Postie bike guy)
Being alone too much can breed anti-social, xenophobic behaviors.

Maintaining "Group happiness" is a huge challenge. Even with just one riding companion, not always perfect or easy.

What I figured out was that life on the road living off a motorcycle is not ideal for ALL humans all the time. Some, on the other hand, take to it perfectly and can literally live on the road .... Forever ...happy as clams.

Having UPS and DOWNS is normal. Try to maintain the UPS as much as possible. Follow a travel routine that maintains a good attitude, this can make for a happy trip for you and those around you.

That's the second link to the Horca site I've seen in the last 24hrs - not surprising as it seems to be well written with a lot of relevent stuff.

When it comes to the "bike traveller vs travelling biker" arguement I think it's more subtle than which side of the see-saw you're sitting on. Over the years I've travelled a lot by bike and a fair bit by car, van, public transport and on foot. Bike travel (for me anyway) isn't just one option among many, something I'll do when the budget is too tight to take the car or it's too far to walk, it's something that goes to the heart of my personality. I'm interested in the mechanisms of bike travel as well as the mechanics of the bike. I actively enjoy the interplay between riding the bike and the activity of travelling - even when I'm soaking wet or freezing cold, in a way that I get to a lesser degree when I'm in a car for example. The two come together to form something that's more than the sum of the individual parts. If you think that's a load of pretentious bollocks then might I suggest you might be more suited to a rucksack and the bus stop down the road.

It's because of that I'm not that bothered by the "adventure bike" industry that's sprung up over the last couple of decades. Yes I appreciate the wider range of bikes and bolt on bits that the upsurge has made available but for me the choice of bike has always come down to something that interests me, not something that ticks the perceived travel wisdom boxes. Money (within reason) has very little to do with this.

The eclectic collection of wrecks that have made up my biking history have come from somewhere else other than a desire to find the perfect travel / adventure bike. They've all been adventure bikes but the adventure has been inside my head. I want to ride a bike that interests me to on a journey that interests me and if the thing blows up a mile down the road, well, so be it. It even, at one point, included an MZ250 (and it might well again in the future) but never, ever a CZ. Even I have limits.

Re good attitude and "the blues", I've been there, suffered that, and right at this moment I'm acting as support back up to my daughter who's a couple of weeks into her first long (three months) solo trip. I can see the signs of hyperactive nervousness developing in her as I've been there myself in the past.

Years ago I was involved in a series of minibus trips, all of which had problems of one sort or another and it was interesting (afterwards anyway) to see that some people were devastated when were (inevitably) periodically stuck at the side of the road, they just went to pieces. Others just took it in their stride. People's core personalities come to the fore at times like that and you soon learn whether you want to travel with them again.
I have an intense dislike of the "my way or else" travel companion and will no longer go anywhere with someone who insists they're in charge (other than my dear wife of course!) even if they're otherwise perfectly pleasant. It's not because I want the dominant role myself but because I much prefer it to be a voyage of equals. Not some communist collective on the road but taking others preferences and wishes into account is important to maintaining "group happiness". Finding that some sort of factionalisation develops and it ends in a mutiny (been on a trip where that happened) doesn't make for a good atmosphere.

Nathan, not Simon. Simon was tragically killed in Mali in 2003.

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Excellent point! above and good post! I'm a motorcyclist at heart, have always done most of my own maintenance ... I too like the mechanical interplay. But my point (sort of, in a not very well presented way) was more about newer, younger and inexperienced riders coming from varied backgrounds ... most who never rode bikes before. Plenty of these guys and gals out there NOW as "adventure biking" really spreads out.

Far as bikes goes, I do prefer something more basic and simple over complexity. Reliability is important ... but this must be proven to me empirically, not from experience of others. I did lots of non motorcycle travel too .... and like you, enjoy traveling on a bike BEST! I work hard to keep my bike in good running order, after all, on a bike you could say your life depends on it!

I've read about Simon, but I own Nate's book ... so should have known better as it's sat here in front of me.


Nate's famous Postie bike

"For me, ‘Light is Might’. And the lighter, the better."

I agree with him 100% on this.

"Until Yamaha give us a WR450R, I’m eyeing up the new CCM GP450. If the engine proves to be reliable, then for me we might be getting closer to the mythical perfect adventure bike."

The first company to make a 450 enduro with about 45 hp and a 7,500 km service interval (comparable to the 690) with good suspension is going to have my money.

I don't care if it has a fairing, I'd rather build my own. I don't care if its a Honda CRF, Yamaha WR, KTM. Just give me a reliable 450 thumper enduro with good suspension. The gap between DRZ 400 and KTM 690 is HUGE. Close to 40 hp. Why why why why hasn't any company filled this gap? For adventurers and weekend enduro riders alike, it would truly be an amazing bike. And please, try to keep it under 130 kilo

I met a australian guy in Laos last winter on a Royal Enfield. I didnt ask his age but he must have been around 55-60. He had a huge beard, a huge belly and a huge smile. He was absoulutely a happy go lucky type of person. He had shipped his bike from Darwin to Indonesia some place and had been riding through Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and were then in Laos. He wore a leather coat - not designed for motorbiking at all, some pair of working gloves (not motorbike gloves) and half face helmet and a pair of jeans. And just a pair of light boots. On the back on his Royal Enfield he had a cheap looking duffel bag medium size strapped to the bike. That was all he brought for a 5-6 mounds tour around southeastasia. He hang up with my group of bikers for 3-4 days and he was truly and honestly the coolest bike I ever have met.

And the best item he had was a T-shirt with a huge print on the chest who said this:

"ADVENTURE BEFORE DEMENTIA"

Now this ozzi guy definetively had the right attitude. The best attitude I ever saw at least.....

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

Very interesting discussion and makes you classify yourself, and decide in which box of riding you belong. It also gives you perspective on others as well, which clears up the different perspectives on the bikes people choose.

The travel thing has wore off so these days it is more about the bike, so now my trips look like endurance runs of 450+ km per day. It is about the ride, not so much the destination. For this reason, the bigger bikes are more my preference. I do my weekend and day trips on gravel as well, totally about the road. 3000 km for me is a 1 week trip. I don't like groups. I have no interest in group dynamics, the social aspects etc, and it is about riding most of the day, eat, sleep, reset. Alone is best. With another rider, 2 to 3 days is enough. Smokers want to stop every 30 minutes, and those with small bladders every hour. Some get tired of gravel. Some only want gravel. Sometimes I'm happy to ride tar, other times gravel. Sand I don't like. Why compromise my ride just to ride with others?


I despise places where plenty of bikes gather, including breakfast run venues, tourist locations and check list 'must do' rides. Some of the rides I hated the most are what others say is great riding. Look on internet for great rides, and to me they are awful. To me it is just regularly seeing other bikes, clouds of dust, and the usual BS conversations with group riders. I prefer to get away from that.

Naturally once you can put classify your riding style, you can choose your bike. Perhaps it is about the trip and destinations, and the bike is only a form of transport. Then if it is just a form of transport small and cheap is better. I want a bike that puts a grin on my face. Like something in orange I don't mind spending money on the bike. Money isn't a limiting factor for me. It just must be a ride I enjoy, preferably to a place without other bikes. For me, I like bikes and riding. I don't necessarily like the bike scene and don't associate with it. If I did I guess I would have a different view of the starbucks/group ride/breakfast run/MC scene.

Great story! Love it! Being happy out on the road is not always easy! Some of us bring our nightmares along in our panniers!