Singing Praises: XL600V Transalp

[Warthog]

Well, after a BMW 1150GS, although a fine bike that met my every need, the little Honda XR I bought with the write-off money seemed a great find: light, relialbe, economical and good off-road, but horribly frequent oil changes and no pillion option were just the start: a habit of destroying my lower back after only 30 mins was the final straw...It had to go.

So what now? Well, I collected a Transalp XL600V from England, and I rode it back to Estonia, via the Rostock-Helsinki ferry last weekend.

Basically, I did 1000km on a single saturday on that bike and I must say that if anyone is looking for a comfortable, reliable, and pretty economical bike, on a budget, you could do a heck of a lot worse than a TA!!

For overlanding, despite being water cooled (another potential system to go wrong), I feel these are sadly overlooked bikes.

Despite all the talk of off-road this and off-road that, most overlanders know that the lots if not the majority of miles are on tarmac. For this reason, I think this an excellent choice of bike. Nimble, quick enough, comfy and still able to negotiate a dirt track/pot-holed trail, should the need arise. At 183kg dry it is no where near as light as the XR, but once on the move, it feels as light as a feather.

So if you have less than €2000 to spend (or have more but prefer to spend it on petrol and memories): give these a serious thought!!