The Path Less Ridden

Sydney was lucky enough to host the Australian Motorcycle Expo over the weekend, and being in the market for a new bike and gear, I thought I’d drop by with a few mates and get a feel for the options out there.

Having only ever ridden road bikes on tarmac before, I don’t know much of what to expect from a dual-sport adventure bike. Research on the internet can only tell you so much, particularly about the relationship between the seat and controls, which is vital for long-range touring.

First on my shortlist of contenders was the Kawasaki KLR650. A big heavy dinosaur, with a carby-fed and water-cooled 650cc single.

From the little I could tell from bouncing up and down on the seat and pegs, it seemed heavy and would probably be compromised off-road, but seemed like it’d be much more comfortable on-road than the next contender.  It also came in an extremely bright nuclear-waste green, which I suppose must appeal to someone, but certainly not me!

The Suzuki DR650 probably fits my requirements the best – rugged, simple, go anywhere (although not very quickly!). Air/Oil cooling means less weight and one less system to break or fail in the middle of nowhere, but does have its disadvantages.

The biggest problem is that even after just five minutes sitting on the stand, it felt uncomfortable! A narrow and hard seat, a low set of bars, and cramped pegs are all things that can be fixed with aftermarket farkles, but that would eat into my sadly limited budget.

The final serious option is most likely going to be out of my price range, but was worth a look just in case a bargain comes up – the Yamaha Tenere 660. Much more modern suspension, chassis and engine design (fuel injection on an off-road bike, who would have thought it?) should make it more capable, although I have heard it is top heavy and can be a challenge on rough trails for new riders – like me!

I also much prefer the “aggressive insect” Dakar style of the Tenere, as opposed to the two mullet-sporting, flannel-shirt-wearing 80’s throwbacks above!

After checking out the bikes, I stopped by the rather large Touratech stand, possibly the world’s largest supplier of aftermarket bits for dualsport bikes – their catalogue is literally thick enough to be a bludgeon!  They had a few fully-kitted bikes on display as inspiration:

I also stopped by the Adventure Moto stand (no pictures sadly, too crowded!), who supply a big range of farkles too, including a lot of Australian made gear. I may be a little one-eyed and patriotic about it, but the quality is generally top notch compared to overseas crap!

While wandering around the show, it was hard not to get distracted by some of the faster, shinier machinery on show:

There were some other, ahem, “distractions” there too:

Finally, can anyone tell me the point of this?  I understand they’re trying to make the steering more consistent by eliminating geometry changes under compression and rebound, but I would have thought the weight, cost and complexity of a million rose joints on the steering arms would outweight the benefits? And yes, that’s the FRONT end!

Anyways, the end result is that I still haven’t chosen which bike to get. I’d love a Tenere but don’t think one will appear in my price range (considering all the modifications that’ll be needed too). The DR650 is certainly the most rugged and capable off-road, but might drive me bonkers on long stretches of tarmac – which will admittedly be a huge proportion of my travels.  The KLR seems to strike the compromise between on-road and off-road better, but could be limited in heavier going. There’s also outlier options like Suzuki’s V-Strom 650, which is V-twin and fuel injected – much nicer on the road (genuinely fun on twisty bits!), but when I’m exploring the paths less ridden of this Earth, I don’t want to reach a tough bit and have to turn around.  Decisions decisions!