Time travel back to the 70s - “a bike for the little woman”

Personally I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to choose or even influence another riders choice of bike.
Tell her to research and test ride bikes for herself, then she’ll choose the bike she wants and will love it - despite any foibles.

I speak from experience

I think both seeking and giving advice on bikes is a good thing . I am currently seeking advice for myself. Although I have owned a few bikes before, every new bike I buy is new to me - and it seems that developments move faster than I can keep up.

I've seen many noobs make some terrible choices - most of them choosing bikes because of looks and image, never really being honest to themselves about how they plan to ride it or their own riding skills - or simply having misconceptions of what is involved in riding that particular bike they are drooling over. My very first large displacement bike was a crotch rocket capable of doing 300 km/h and 0-100 km/h in a little over 3 seconds. With the top speed limit in Norway at the time being 90 km/h... Also, if anyone had told me how painful the riding position becomes when touring at the speed limit...

The dealer tried to convince me to buy the Yamaha Fazer instead, but at the time it was a new design that to me looked funny - and to me he was just a dishonest sales man trying to get rid of the weird looking bike. It would have made a far better bike for me - and decades later I am now considering actually buying one for my girlfriend to start out on - it is one of the most successful bikes of all time, and is especially popular amongst women (even though I don't think there is such a thing as a gender specific bike).

When an inexperienced person asks what bike is suitable (all are capable) for an RTW - those with a bit of adventure motorcycling experience can help limit the choices a lot.

__________________
Blog: www.bamakobyvespa.no
My Youtube Channel

Advice, absolutely I agree - but I said “choose for” or “influence” - not that the OP would necessarily do that but I have seen it many times.

When my wife passed her test 20 years ago she was one of 5 female friends who started riding at the same time. All the other girls were influenced by their male partners and basically bought the bike they were told to buy.
Of the 5, my wife is the only one still riding.

I also think that there is so much more to riding a motorcycle than practicalities. One friend passed her test and wanted to buy a cruiser style bike that was well known for handling difficulties. Everyone advised against but she bought it anyway and loved it - rode it all the time. Yes she was a bit slow but she came on the ride outs and we enjoyed her company. A couple of years later She was “persuaded “ by her boyfriend to ditch the cruiser and buy a Ducati. Yes she was a bit faster but she just never jelled with the bike, it broke down a couple of times and she slowly just faded away from the ride outs. I don’t think she’s ridden a bike for years.
Another guy I know has a Hyabusa. He’s as slow as hell but loves it and won’t have any other bike - he gets there in the end but he rides which is what it’s all about.

Individual stories, obviously, so I agree with you in essence BUT buying a motorcycle is not buying a car
Cheers

I hear you.

I think it is best if the person who is to own the bike does in-depth research into different options - in the end, it is a personal choice.

I guess it is also a tell tale of wether someone stays in the game or not, if they are enough into it to actually do the research and form strong opinions on their own.

Maybe the people you are referring to dropped out of the game, not so much because of wrong choice of bike was made for them, but because they were not so into it in the first place - that others made choices for them out of personal motived - like really wanting their GF becoming a biker (who might have been ok with it at first, but not something which was at the top of their needs list).

__________________
Blog: www.bamakobyvespa.no
My Youtube Channel

Yup, that's the way it was. I remember it well. I had the laden down GoldWing and flattened tarmac all over Europe and North Africa; the hard bitten, dust covered traveller who'd been there and ridden to that. An alpha male secure in his domain. ( )

She had a tiny Honda ST70 - a bike for those who thought a C50 too heavy. A polkadot girl's bike that came with a make-up kit to repair the damage caused by a trip to Sainsbury's.

Forty years on I'd take the ST over the Wing any day. My wife however decided she wanted a (modern) Wing for our last USA trip.

WR 250R I would say is the one to go for, after owning about 150 bikes i would never sell my wr ! ,

No vibes
80 mpq
60 mile per hour all day
Bullet proof
26,000 miles valve check
AND A LOT MORE !

Seat height?

I agree, for long distance, out of western world, and for dual riding ( tarmac and trails to real off road) small is beautiful.
I love my XT250. It has taken me over 10,000 miles across Europe, Russia and Central Asia without any problems.

And another 12,000 miles across Southern Africa. We did really bad roads and trails, but my XT was light and could get through anything, a real goat. Happy to push at 60mph all day, big fuel tank giving me a good range ( over 300 kms ).
The husband has the crf250, but it is 30kg heavier than mine and taller.
Both are reliable and easy to fix if we have problems in the middle of nowhere or to source parts. Something to consider if you go to remote places and countries where you will struggle to get an XYZ motorcycle dealer with computer to plug your bike!

I can’t fault our current bikes. I just hope this pandemic goes away one day and I can ship the bikes back to Namibia soon.

For details of those trips and the bikes, check my website, link below.

I forgot to add, the only issue on small bikes is the seat is rock hard. My cheap and easy fix is to fit a gel pad from the horse riding section using elastics. It has worked wonder for our two long distance trips.

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

I really recommend that you read books by Lois Pryce - it is a must read. It will give you perspective about the WR250R (and it's predecessor if I can remember correctly). It will also give insight into overlanding solo as a woman, and a lot of perspective in general.

In short, the WR250R is a suitable bike for many. I would very much consider one myself, and have on many occasions, and probably will again - especially for an RTW

__________________
Blog: www.bamakobyvespa.no
My Youtube Channel

Lois's books won't give any perspective on the WR as she rode an XT225 Serow (great little bike and the later xt250 Serow even better) and a TTR250, which is taller but much more powerful and capable in gnarly terrain, but they are still worth a read!

My WR250R is too tall for my wife and she has a 32” inseem - rides a 1200gs with the seat on the highest setting and can just about flat foot.

My wife just bought a Suzuki DL250 Vstrom as her second bike, after learning on a CB125....

As a small adventure bike it ticks a lot of boxes;

- 490km fuel range
- twin cylinder fuel injected
- factory rear rack and hard box factory mounts
- very low seat height (you sit in it, rather than on it)
- ABS
- 17" wheels (kind of road/dirt compromise for the front)

She loves it and feels confident on it, something not many others did.

Me and my partner will do our rtw trip next year. We will skip the hardest countries, like Africa and South America, so we will only do Europe, Canada, USA, Japan, South Korea, China, into Kyrgyzstan and from there back to Europe again. We would like to drive as much gravel as possible but nothing extreme. But we also want to drive comfortable on highway when we feel for it.

We argued back and forth for half an year which bike we should buy since we wanted same bike but my partner is 188 cm and I'm 164 so he wanted a big bike and I wanted a smaller. But we actually bought for three weeks ago two BMW 850gs, he got the adventure version.

It seems most people like smaller bikes, but since we won't do any hardcore off road tracks we feel it is a bit overkill for us and my partner think it is uncomfortable to drive those for longer period of time (but without actually have tried it). I also have 650gs, I feel safe on it and can plant both feet flat on both sides but there are a lot of vibrations and not so much power so I don't find it to be so comfortable or so fun driving. But we are both beginners, we only got our licence last year so we have only done like two days trips so I wouldn't be chocked if we do regret the decision. But we are not hardcore adventurers so I think it can't be too bad, in worst case we can always choose roads that are more suitable for us. But I did try to convince him for 750gs or Triumph Tiger 900 rally pro first while he wanted 1250gs so we found a compromise.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your trip,
I can recommend adding the Indian sub-contient to your itinerary if you have time and the interest, it is something of a Marmite place to visit, you will either love it or hate it but it will be memorable and can be tarmac all the way.