Hi guys,

first of all my riding background:

Back in the eighties I rode a Honda CB 550 Four. I bought it cheap from one of our corporals in the German Army and I had to spend as much times at the wrenches as I actually did ride. Not my cup of tea and I eventually sold the rig after dropping the dam* thing and watching the cable tree go up in flames!

Four years ago a friend let me ride his Vespa 125 ccm scooter for a summer and got me hooked on riding again. The times were good, I went to the local used bike dealer and he gave me this beautiful Honda FES 125 Pantheon scooter for a test ride. It was awesome and I bought the rig with low mileage at a decent price. Two years later I had to sell my truck in order to make it through the economical crisis and I had to resort to my scooter a lot. Riding got a bit old but I got pretty proficient again.

We are still in the recovering phase as far as our income is concerned and this year we will have a lot of extra expenses. There is no way I can draw money from our account. This leaves me with the odd job or selling some personal stuff.

Why do I want to get back at riding a motorcycle again?
First, I want to go on weekend trips, travel country roads and National Roads, ride a bit of gravel roads and do a bit of wild camping in the woods.
Second, I really enjoy riding the countryside at 80 to 90 kph, take up the scenery and smell the proverbial roses. We have a lot of winding roads in these parts so there is quite some joy in riding even with my lowly scooter.
Third, I want to get back to travelling again. I would love to visit Eastern Europe, Russia or Turkey! For starters I could imagine a round trip southern Germany - Austria - a bit of Hungary and back. Ze wife does not object ...

So I am a bit of a touring guy but I also want the capabilty to ride bad roads and sneak up the occasional single track into the woods.

As a novice to touring I would not mind handling the touring aspect with my scooter, it is a good ride, though nothing for highway travel. Having ridden farm roads already I definately know my scooters s*cks on gravel and dirt (at least with the current tires).

As a second aspect I feel like I should invest some money into riding gear. Currently I own a helmet and protective gloves, which is good enough for the city but maybe not so much for longer trips. So add to the shopping list: riding pants, riding jacket, rain gear, riding boots?

My budget is pretty small. Seems like I could come up with about €1200 to €1400 until spring. OK, I could save until next year but I already saved enough in my life. I want adventure and I want it now!

To me my options are:
1. Buy riding gear, run my scooter and skip the wild camping / bad road part for the time being.
2. Buy a used Honda CG125 plus riding gear and use it until I have the funds for an upgrade. The CG125 would set me back about € 500.
3. Borrow the money for a somewhat decent used enduro between 400 and 650 ccm plus buy riding gear and panniers.

What do you guys think? Thank you in advance!

It really depends on you, you could quite easily have a little adventure on your scooter, but like you say it'll be difficult when the tarmac runs out.

If it was me I'd go looking for a 250 dirt bike you probably will spend a little more than the cg.

in Britain you can get often find a working xr 250 for around £600 or dr 350 for not much more.

Hope this helps

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pete3,
In the circumstances you describe, I would stick with the 125 scooter for now and get out and ride - see how that goes, but definitely with some decent riding clothing for protection against spills and for wet weather.

Hein gericke have some good stuff and made in Germany still (I expect - could be China nowadays though).

That would be some kind of combination of your options 1-3 I guess.
Personally, I can't see why you think this is going to happen "skip the wild camping / bad road part for the time being".
Your scooter can go places.


These are my reasons -
1. The vast majority of routes for you, for now, are asphalt; the "tarmac" won't run out in Europe unless you deliberately choose that to happen.

2. I have seen scooters at the top of the Stella Alpina, on the Italian-French border, which is about 3000m above sea level at the end of about 15 Km of gravel track with lots of hairpins along the way.

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Dave

Yup- stick with the scooter. Spend some money on safety, like good riding gear, then just get out and ride - you'd be amazed where you CAN go with the right attitude!

As your finances improve and you have more adventure time under your belt you'll have a better idea what you really want too.

Just do it!

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi Pete,

I totally agree with Walkabout and Grant. Keep the scooter and get going. There is a LOT you can do with a scooter.

To add a little weight to their argument here are some pics from our trip in South East Asia:









More pics and stories of jungle riding in Asia with a scooter (Honda Wave):

What The Honda Wave Can Handle Or Laos Off-Road Adventure Time - Unleash Your Adventure
Lost In Cambodia: Riding Along The Mekong Part 3 - Unleash Your Adventure
Adventure Riding Along The Mekong in Cambodia Part 2 - Unleash Your Adventure

Cheers Patrick

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Riding home the crazy way: Germany to Newfoundland
www.unleashyouradventure.com

there's a couple right now riding India with two 100cc scooters.

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R90S, R80G/S PD