Or you could spend $2,800 on a used Kawasaki KLR-650, add soft bags or hard bags for under $1,000 more and about $500 worth of crash protectors, swap out the balancer adjustment lever, and ride around the world. Dirt-simple 1980's technology, gravity fed carb, can be repaired with a big hammer, duct tape, and baling wire, pretty much indestructible once armored up.

There is no need to spend $20,000 on the "ultimate" off road tourer when there's plenty of used cheap bikes that can be beefed up to do the same job, whether we're talking about KLR's, DR's, or whatever. I've taken a KLR with full touring load into places where, once I got there, I looked back down at the way I'd need to go to get back home and said "oh ****, how the **** did I do that? And how am I going to get back out of here?". I did not need two cylinders and all the weight, cost, and complexity of shaft drive to do this.

There are all sorts of options - you could do this or that - depends on your budget, time and many other things but this thread is about the ultimate off road tourer.

In my opinion the KTM adv. is the off the peg solution but I would still rate an airhead G/S with HPN improvements above the KTM. The airhead may be old technology which means it has proven reliability, no unnecessary complexities and good spares back up (in most countries or by mail order). The suspension can be made close to ideal for your own needs, shaft drive is not a complication but a maintenance free bonus, although I think the paralever arrangement is not necessary. I have a monolever and paralever and apart from a slight rise at the rear when pulling away on the R80, I can't really tell the difference on the open road or off road. HPN improvements have all been tested over many years in arduous conditions so you're not travelling on a prototype. For me, using HPN and other tried and tested parts and building the bike up yourself means that you the know the bike well which is a real bonus when travelling.

With regard to airfreighting, the bike I drop the fork legs out and take the back wheel and suspension off which reduces the Volumetric weight to about half and only takes an hour at either end. I've done this Athens to Nairobi and Johanasburg to Frankfurt and it was very straightforward and cheap on both trips

You have obviously never owned a shaft driven bike and you must replace your chains and sprockets every 4000km due to lack of maintenance. On top of that you must have been very lacky never to get a flat tyre on the back wheel.

One good reason for owning a shaft driven bike is that it is far less complicated, no maintenance required on newer models and a 150ml oil change every 15000km on the older mono lever models. In dusty conditions you need to lube your chain nearly every 250km if you want it to last and you need too keep up with the wear so you can keep on adjusting it as it wears otherwise the wear rate will increase rapidly. Then fixing a flat getting the back wheel of and back on having to hold on to greasy chains!! thanks that's not for me. The major drawback of shafts are this 1-Extra weight of the shaft and final drive add to the unsprung weight of the swing-arm reducing the suspension performance under tough of road conditions.
2-When they fail, swing-arms and final-drive casings are also damaged adding to the cost.
Km for km drive-shafts is still cheaper than chains & sprockets even if they fail at every 50 000km which is more the exception than the rule.
The R80-100GS's fitted with the first paralever suspension were the 1st models where BMW experienced real problems with premature shaft failures.
The problems were mostly taken care of with the introduction of the 1100GS.
HPN only use the mono swing-arm(simplest and most reliable) and the 1100 or 1150 swing-arms and drive-shafts for their modifications.

Modern chains are essentially maintenance free and a good one will last 20,000 miles, including off road use, more on a twin.
Patrick
80f temps here today![/QUOTE]

The Suzuki DR600 I owned was only fitted with the best O-ring chains I could buy and with no or little maintenance I would get about 5000 to 6000km. When I started to use expensive synthetic chain lube I could increase the mileage to 10 000km. This riding mostly on dirt.

I can see that the weight of a shaft system is discussed again.

Do you want to know the exact weight? Check here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...20-post16.html


Once again Mollydog, chains are not available world wide. They often have to be shipped and the weight is the same as a new shaft…

Interesting one this as someone who has owned and travelled using a ktm 950 (74000kms worth of travelling) and now ownes and uses R80gs part converted and ongoing project HPN.
Firstly for solo riding the idea of a very large powerful travel bike does not really make sense more so if a lot of off road stuff is to be done so if you only need something small fine. A lot of my travelling is done two up - so I can easily justify larger machine. Next It does not matter what you ride if your happy with it.
My experience with the KTM are very positive it was overall very reliable, superb at speed, excellent two up loaded up and capable on dirt but it was complicated and expensive to maintain. Service was overly complicated in comparison to other bikes,Basic parts are very difficult to get when outside of the EU. It went through three chains and sprockets in the time I had it (about the cost of one shaft drive replacement), The white power forks needed a rebuild after a failure at 15000 kms the rear shock was rebuilt twice with oil leak problems, The clutch was replaced twice and due replacement when it was sold - the clutch basket also needed replaced (the cost of the clutch basket and clutch parts was more than a complete replacement gearbox for the bmw.) Also the clutches do burn out and fail often under hard use - Very inconvienient when in the back of no where.
But I still rate it very high as a superb machine.
The R80gs (half faired) /HPN project has been kept at standard height as it suits it for what I want, it has a 1000cc conversion, large 43 ltr tank, HPN marzocchi forks inserts, Wilbers rear shock, upgraded electrics,Billet 6 pot front brake and HPN rear drum upgrade, I am waiting for a slot to get the frame rebuilt and strengthened. The total cost of this work and buying the bike is so far way below the cost of 990 ktm. The bmw is slower, but much more comfortable far easier to ride with lower power and better torque than the ktm, very good handling, more economic and better on fuel, very very simple to work on and so far now over 72000 kms very reliable. (I had to fix an oil loss problem now sorted and need to rebuild the cylinder heads - new valves and twin plug them -next week part of the ongoing work. Eventually a high torque cam,.altered gearbox ratios etc - Is all this needed for a travel bike - no but its also an ongoing project/hobby. It also makes a very nice overlander. And still cheaper so far than buying a new bike. Its also a lot more satisfying on a personal basis.
What do I prefer - for ease of the mechanics and unique custom build, comfort, better fuel and better overlander the HPN wins, If I wanted to have a mad day out and short overlanding trips or touring in western world the ktm takes the hat but both are superb in different ways and its really down to what floats yer boat.