The ultimate adventure bike?

Before the age of ADV adventure bikes there were  riders out there on the adventure of a life time riding bikes they could afford, pick up and fix. Were they the ultimate adventure bike, Eh only the rider can say? In South America I came across  a few CB Hondas (of many different displacements) XL's, Triumph twins, BMW's and one Suzuki GT750 waterbucket and an East German on a CZ.
There was more than one occasion when I crashed the Laverda  on a mountain dirt track (road) but everytime I could pick it up and the plastic Jerry can panniers were unbreakable (top gear). My ultimate (Laverda) adventure bike served me well without any major mechanical issues. I did have to push start it many times. When you are riding all day on roads in the Andes the speed is low and so is the RPM and on a triple it  does not charge the battery, minor problem it always push started. In Peru I took a side trip out of Lima of about 700km's round trip riding 3 up, 2 adventurous young ladies who became experts at push starting a Laverda. Adventure bikes? The adventure is what you make.
  This is vintage 1980, no GPS, no mobile phone, no sponsors, no back up vehicles I fixed my own flats, didn't even have a credit card, Got myself and bike from New Zealand to Venezuela for free by working on a German freighter ship. The Adventure is what you make it,  Cheers Dave
 

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Hey Dave, any idea of where you old 3c may have ended up. Post the numbers, someone here may have ended up with it.
Should do the same with my old SF2 that I sold in North Cal back in 83. Sold it for 500 bucks but it was well worn out.
That free passage on the Columbus line container ships was a fantastic way of getting the bike from one continent to another.
In my case 4 weeks of drinking vast amounts of Holsten Larger with a bunch of German sailors. Bet you can't do that anymore.
 
A bike adventure for me was to get as far lost in the bush as I could and get back to town, in one peace, to buy suds before the Beer Store closed on my 1 or 2 day break from work. This ride did it for me ;o):
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I could never handle the physical endurance that old Trophy demanded now at 73 ;o(

Harley riders ditch their Hogs and ride a Trophy to Valhalla - So the legend goes - Quit the adventure, I would say ;o)

For today's all around adventure bike, I would probably pick the BMW F800.
 
I recall you did hav e your story (or part of it) published in a mag you sent me, Dave! Incredible journey. Never forgotten the ferry that sank in some bottomless lake in S Am with your mate's Beemer on board!!

I've still got my plastic jerry can panniers in the garage. Haven't done a big enough adventure on the Lav to warrant fitting them again. Maybe I'll chuck 'em on the SFQ for a big fat adventure somewhere!!
 
That 999 broke me up - What about the back 80 - What's you surname Jim ;o)

Canadian motorcyclist's do have a linguistic that is unique ;o)
 
Laverda SF said:
That 999 broke me up - What about the back 80 - What's you surname Jim ;o)

Canadian motorcyclist's do have a linguistic that is unique ;o)
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It was made for beach racing in New Zealand ........ but here in Canada we would put sheet metal screws in the knobs and race it on ice!

Jim

[youtube]https://youtu.be/rT7T1t-7LDg[/youtube]

 
Jim those Ducatis look pretty, as do many ADV bikes but where do you put your gear and trust it will be there 5-10,ooo miles later. Those tires, great if your riding up sand dunes or across swamps but when your thousands of miles from home and it took you thousands of miles to get there the to  sand dunes and swamps it doesn't make sense.

Many years ago there was a bloke in OZ ( actually more than one)who rode his late 1970's era Ducati Super Sport with clip ons the length of the 'Gun Barrell Highway' on street tires, Why, because he could and there was alot of black top to and from the GunBarrel. Most ADV bikes are very limited, it all comes down to the rider,just saying.
 
my first bike adventure ride was on a Honda cub 50cc (a model C100 and that was pushrod)
at 16, I rode 300 miles to Lands End for a camping holiday, the journey down was broken up with a stop overnight, and it told me how much cash I needed to get back home, (ie the fuel and overnight cost) 100MPG+ was normal, tank capacity .75 of a gallon, so I put that money aside and thoroughly enjoyed my two week camping holiday, and the budget system worked, I got back to mum and dads by riding at 15MPH on reserve for the last 20 or so miles!, I had about 5 cents in my pocket, minimum fuel delivery in those days was half a gallon, and it cost about five shillings/per gallon, or 25p in modern money but 60 pennies in the real stuff, so 5 wasn't going to cut it!
CLEM
 
Richard 180.S2 said:
1979 CBXz1000 in Nepal. Donald Sutherland as Oddball.
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I can just see you in the Eden Cafe,Freak St.
Would have been the standout bike in KTM by a mile.
Oustanding :)
 

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CLEMTOG said:
my first bike adventure ride was on a Honda cub 50cc (a model C100 and that was pushrod)
at 16, I rode 300 miles to Lands End for a camping holiday, the journey down was broken up with a stop overnight, and it told me how much cash I needed to get back home, (ie the fuel and overnight cost) 100MPG+ was normal, tank capacity .75 of a gallon, so I put that money aside and thoroughly enjoyed my two week camping holiday, and the budget system worked, I got back to mum and dads by riding at 15MPH on reserve for the last 20 or so miles!, I had about 5 cents in my pocket, minimum fuel delivery in those days was half a gallon, and it cost about five shillings/per gallon, or 25p in modern money but 60 pennies in the real stuff, so 5 wasn't going to cut it!
CLEM
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Hell yes. Those are the real adventure bikes. i remember on mine, flat on the - non-existent - tank at 50mph, you could tell when you were in the wind shadow of a tree, the revs went up perceptibly.
A couple of mates here have postie bikes - basically a bigger cub - and go on the NZ version of the Postie bike challenge. Not as hard as back in the day - mobile phones have taken a lot of the risk out of it. Still a lot of fun though.
 
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