Hi everyone,

I'm planning a RTW trip starting in the spring from the UK, heading to Vladivostok via for a ferry to Japan, and then freighting the bike to cross North America starting on the west coast, perhaps as much as 20k miles total. I will be taking very few highways (mostly B roads), and doing some dirt and gravel, but nothing seriously gnarly or off road.

I'm looking for bike recommendations, nothing too huge and heavy, so 650cc and below.

My bike budget is about £3000, including some of the usual overland mods I might need to do, so this means I'll be having to buy a bike with a fair few miles on it. I'm not really worried about performance, just reliability. The problem is as I'm sure a lot of you know is many of the usual ADV / RTW bikes used in the rest of the world are really rare / have not been sold in the UK for ages.

Here are the ones I've come up with so far, unfortunately many / all of them are really rare and expensive in the UK now.

Suzuki DRZ400 (probably an S OR SM only since it has to be legal in the US)
Suzuki DR650 or DR650SE
Honda NX650 Dominator
Honda XR400
Honda XR650L
Suzuki Freewind XF650 (very rare)
BMW F650 Dakar (Reliable enough? Don't want to start any fights...)
Yamaha XT600E

What would you do with £3k for a RTW bike bought in the UK?

Thanks for any and all advice and help you can offer.

Cheers!
Mark

Hi Mark,

From your itinerary : Europe, Russia, Japan and North America…. You could probably stick to tarmac all the way. In that case any bike will do!

Or will you take the scenic route via Central Asia (Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan/Tajikistan/Kyrgyzstan) ? Will you explore the magnificent Siberian Altai? Will you cross Mongolia? Again, spectacular country! But very tough if you do the northern route. A very light bike is a must.

Crossing Russia is not bad (but lots and lots of forest!) as long as you stay away from the federal highway. The federal highway is like staying in a motorway round and round for 2 or 3 weeks. Very boring, crazy drivers and you won’t discover the real Russia there. Russia’s back roads can be from very good to a complete nightmare!

If you want to stick to the back roads as much as possible, and have the option of keep going when the going gets tough, have you considered a CRF250? Popular in the UK.

I have travelled on anything from BMW650 (south America) , Versys 650 (Europe), ER-6N (Brazil – don’t ask!), Vietnam on a YBR125, Russia/Central Asia/Mongolia on a XT125 in 2014 and XT250 in 2016 (and a local DR200 in Siberia in 2015) . My next trip in Africa this summer I will continue with the XT250. They are very rare in the UK but the CRF250 is as good (I am vertically challenged so not for me!). You still can cruise at 60mph (which is more than enough on the back roads) and these are very light very reliable bikes.

All the bikes you listed (other than the BMW) are very desirable but very hard to find in the UK/Europe. And under £3000?

I would stay clear of any bike that requires a computer and expensive software to get a diagnostic. I learnt that lesson the very hard way and met many stranded travellers who had to end their trip and truck / ship their bikes home. Not fun.

Anyway, my 2 cents. (but please cross central Asia! You would miss so much if you don’t!)

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Hi Maria, thanks so much for your helpful reply!

I didn't add many details about my route to try and keep it short, but I was planning to go through Central Asia yes. The route I'm looking at would take me from Eastern Europe, to Turkey, Georgia, a bit of Russia, then Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the Altai region in Russia that you mentioned, then Mongolia and of course the final leg in Russia to Vladivostok. I will definitely avoid roads like the federal highway you mentioned when I can.

I have actually done a couple of overland trips (2000km through the Peruvian Andes and 9000km in a bunch of countries in Southern Africa) on Chinese(!) 250cc bikes. I prefer riding smaller bikes, it's just being overtaken by huge trucks on the small amounts of highway or A road stuff you have to do sometimes that really sucks. Plus I will be crossing North America at the end where roads are almost all tarmac and fairly fast, but I can deal with that.

I will definitely check out the CRF250L, I was thinking it's too new to be able to afford but it seems like there's some available that are within my budget. I wonder if there's some cheap mods I can do to it to get it to do 65mph with my gear? I'm only 145lbs myself, might be doable. There's also the CB500x, there are some examples with 15-20k miles on them within my budget I think. Any idea if it would be too low / weigh too much to manage going through Central Asia whilst avoiding highways? I'm fine on simple dirt and gravel but have no off road skills to speak of.

Thanks a lot for your help!
Mark

The choice of bike is always a huge compromise.
In one hand crossing the US (unless you plan the TAT in reverse and continental divide) you need speed and a good fast, comfy tourer is ideal.

In the other hand, when the trails get really hard, you may have to give up and turn back if your bike is too heavy or fragile.

So do you want a bike that is heavy, nice and perfectly ok 90% of the time, but give up on some places or roads.... some 5 or 10% of the trails....

Or will you take the little very light enduro bike, superb on tough roads, capable of going anywhere and crossing any river, but not too good or comfy on long straight roads..

There is no correct answer to that. I started with big bikes... and I went down to lighter smaller bikes. Same with my husband.

In Russia and Central Asia, and away from motorways in europe, a 250 is fine.
(You can check out my rides reports across Russia etc... through my website - follow links to them on trip pages - link in my signature) .

I actually have a CB500X ... great around Europe and motorways. My friends Anna and James have those same bikes and have been travelling around south and North America for a year and a half with no issues. Reliable bike, but I never tested out of tarmac. For that I have my XT.

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Hi Maria, thanks again

You're right - it's always a compromise. I think I would be okay doing the trip on a slightly bigger bike thinking about it, because I don't do any tracks or donkey trails etc. I'm always solo and my off road / mechanic skills aren't good enough to take me away from roads where there is at least a very small amount of other traffic.

I would definitely just take a 250 if it wasn't for the American leg of the trip. I think I could be happy doing it on a 650 or 250 really, so it just depends what bikes are for sale.

I checked out your website and read a bunch of your excellent ride reports. Your Southern Africa trip looks awesome, I did quite a similar route myself. I bought a Chinese 250 in Cape Town and rode to Bethlehem in the middle of SA to meet a friend, then did the big loop you can see below. I'm sure you'll have a great time. You can always PM me if you have any questions about the region.

Cheers,
Mark

There are as many answers to this question as there are bikes, and everyone will tell you what works for them, which may not be what works for you. So let me give you a few random thoughts of my own.

Anything newish bought in the UK is going to be packed with electronics I'm afraid, that's new vehicle emissions regs for you. On the plus side they are much more reliable than they used to be, and from what I've read about people breaking down in the middle of nowhere it's generally the mechanical or rotating bits that let them down.

Your budget suggests something older anyway, which may have fewer electrics. I always think carby engines lend themselves to backwoods riding but then FI systems are better at resetting themselves for altitude and octane rating.

As you say you expect to mostly avoid dirt roads you could go for something that isn't too dirt focused, so maybe a middleweight rather than small, light bike that could find itself getting breathless on a long road with full luggage and fuel load. Pretty much any of the ones in your list would do the job, but I'd say avoid anything that's a bit rare in case you do have to get parts for it. I'm inclined to say just look at what you can get in terms of price/VFM/availability - if it's already adventurised (big tank etc) that's an advantage as it's one less thing to buy. Might be as well to factor in a full engine overhaul..... they may run on for a long time but you're going a long way, and you don't want to be the one who's sitting on it when the fuse stops ticking.

I've not owned the 660R but I remember it having a low seat height to start with. Also quite a comfortable seat. That can be scooped out too.

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

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

Thanks guys, yeah I just checked and it seems like it's only an inch taller than a V-Strom, which was fine when I rented one in the US. Although this 660R is on high dirt tyres, it should still be okay.

Cheers!

Once you have your luggage on it will be fine. And of course, lowering links if need be.

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

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