The ultimate adventure bike?

Dellortoman

Dellortoman

Hero member
Location
Tasmania, Australia
Check out this bike on ebay (not Laverda) https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/184193991796

I quite like the "don't give a fuck what it looks like" attitude.  :D

I quite like the quirkiness of his innovative luggage solutions - cheap, secure and practical, if a perhaps little heavy.  It's a handy colour too if you don't want to attract attention when camping in the bushes on the side of the road.  :D

The world would be a boring place without a few eccentric characters to do things like this.
 
There?s a bit of talk on the Suzuki forum to do that with a 1400. I?d change to spoked wheels though. Oops, I?m in the process of doing that to mine :D

Them there alloy 3 spokes could leave you stranded in BFN if you broke one.
 
According to Charlie and Ewan, you need an Electric Bike made by Harley with a charging range of 12.3 Kilometers and a very long electrical lead and a dozen backup vehicles staffed by multiple professionals of all types.
 
That's going to be one heavy bike!
Looks wise I think it would be miles better if it were more "rat bike"

I've done a few "adventure" trips on a Triumph Tiger 1050 - some long some short - none properly offroad.
I ride one-up, on made roads but sometimes only barely, I do long motorway stints to get to where I want to be which is usually Central and Eastern Europe.
For me some of the features of a perfect adventure bike are:

1. Removable lockable hard luggage - If I go to a cafe or supermarket I don't want people rifling through my stuff but if I'm settled in a campsite or hotel I want to leave the bags out of sight so they're not a target. I use a tankbag for valuables and recharging.

2. Not too shiny/expensive - my Tiger was brand new on my first trip and I was a bit precious about it.

3. Good on fuel - easy 50mpg - fuel costs do add up.

4. Light (enough) my Tiger is top-heavy and you have to make sure your feet are firmly planted - forget off road unless you're a pro. Light is a tricky one because I love the power of bigger bikes when there's an opportunity to give it a bit of beans or for more relaxed motorway stints. Next time I'll probably aim for 900cc or lower.

5. A gear indicator so I don't forget to put it in top on the motorway. Automatic might be an option in a few years time (herasy I know)

6. Loud horn

7. Good lights - though I very rarely ride at night.

8. Heated seat - I don't have one at the moment but I can imagine warming the blood going through the arteries around your nuts probably works really well.

9. Heated grips

10. Mahooooooosivee screen that doesn't cause buffeting (big Tiger fail)

11. A bit of engine character - so probably nothing 4 cylinder.

12. Lots of suspension travel for bad roads.

13. Not chain drive - only for one reason though and that's oil been flung onto the panniers.

14. Light clutch for when you get stuck in city traffic.

15. ABS

16. Power-wise my Tiger is probably around 110hp which is more than enough to have fun one-up when your goal is to travel, look around and smell the roses. - I reckon you could drop that to 90 or even lower and still have "spirited" fun. If I went back to two-up travel I'd say 110 isn't really enough to make all overtakes easy - with more power though wheelies become an issue with all that weight on the back so wheelie/traction control might be important - it's not on my Tiger unless you really are on/off with the throttle.



 
I reckon that FJ would be badly let down by complicated electronics, didn't they have some sort of electric assist clutch and gear change? and fuel injection has electronics problems as well, plus it could even have ABS, for mega trips I would not want any of those, the 140 odd horsepower might be useful (due to the weight) and the shaft drive certainly would be, it doesn't look used, so may have been built to sell only, ie not tried and tested, metal ammunition boxes of all sizes are cheap as chips, so is green paint.

Years ago there was an Austrian bloke who rode a Honda C90 to the Isle of man every year , a professor if I recall rightly, he modified the bike with an external magneto from something industrial (so mega reliable), fitted an over the legs cape and a handlebar screen (that might have been a Honda accessory) , plus a plastic shippers box on the rear over the back half of the seat and that was it! Austria to the IOM every year , sometimes twice a year for about 15 years or more. At the hotel he stayed in every year he always ate his breakfast and dinner in the kitchen, not the communal dining room, when the hotel closed he continued t stay with the former owners, the last time he was in the IOM, he was taken ill and flew home, his bike remains there in peter Murrays museum. One of my favourite exhibits at that museum, the other being Peters twin shock very, very early (one of only 17) TZ700, I have first refusal on it. (the TZ that is)

CLEM
 
He made the bike so he could ride safely across London, the ammo box's are full of grenades  (bang) (bang) (bang)
 
If I was heading outback and on bitumen in Oz I would be going with as light as possible. Was very impressed with the BMW F650 when I rode it. A lot of dual purpose-offroad motos have saddles that are about 6 inches too high for me! Fine while you're riding free, but when you need to place a foot ...???
 
There is no way I'd take that thing off road. Too big, too heavy, front wheel too small and if you did crash I see broken bones if you unfortunately connected with those stupid heavy metal boxes. Why would anyone waste time building something so unpractable when there are way better bikes out there to do what that was built for (puke)
That's my take on it!!
 
Piranha Brother 2 said:
Was very impressed with the BMW F650 when I rode it. A lot of dual purpose-offroad motos have saddles that are about 6 inches too high for me! Fine while you're riding free, but when you need to place a foot ...???
Click to expand...

I have a feeling a something like a BMW650 is sort of where I'll end up with some tyres suitable for mild off-road. But there's just something about them in particular that leaves me a bit cold - I can't pinpoint quite why though.
There's a slight conundrum getting something I'll def take offroad though because then I'd like soft panniers (so they don't break when I stack it) but the hard ones are so useful as a short term deterrent for light fingers.

Realistically, with two young kids, my next big trip is some time away by which time something like this 700 Tenere will be around the ?3-4k mark. They look like they could be just the ticket
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I have to admit I hear good things about the new Tenere from someone who traded in a lifetime of Huskies for one. I still have an original Tenere from '83 for off road camping etc and would have my old XT500 back in a heartbeat. I still go by the old maxim that you shouldn't take off road what you can't pick up..
 
You can have an adventure on any bike, but, that wouldn't be on my list. As with a bandit, the frustration of searching for the non existent 6th gear would drive me nuts...never understood why these behemoths became popular,
Best tourer Morini 350 sport...less luggage, less to worry about.. :P
 
Less is more. Unless you are a very big person. I reckon that FJ was built as an exercise and never meant to seriously be taken trail riding. Virtually any bike can and has been used for adv, Nick Sanders has definitely proven that even sports bikes can handle adv.
 
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