How do you feel about Adventure bikes? Is a TRUE adventure bike defined by some specific set of abilities? Does it have to have some specific expensive brand of components? Does higher price make it “more” of an adventure bike than a lower price bike? Or is it just a bike that you ride and like to have adventures on?
What is it about an Adventure bike that makes it worthy of being called an Adventure bike and why do you like them?
If the choices in the poll don't cut it for you please feel free to express your opinion!
Yes, an absolutely East TN type answer, as that is where I am from, but the point is you make your own adventure!
Some bikes just make the adventure a bit more comfortable, a bit more skill intensive, and some allow for a bit more mud, or rock, or water, or paved slab to be part of the "adventure".
Personally, challenging the "norm" is where I experience adventure...where you should "normally" ride a particular motorcycle, where most people won't/don't ride a motorcycle, etc...I personally don't find adventure in speed, just the experiences of going places most people don't go....or going places in a manner most people don't employ....longer distance rides on motorcyles that a lot of riders wouldn't think of.
I have no idea. When I bought my first Wee in 2006, I was looking for a middle weight sport tourer. I haven't taken any of my three DL650s off pavement except for some gravel driveways which I still find pretty scary. My last ride off road was sometime in the mid to late 1970s before my knees got too bad and I didn't find the idea of falling down to be as terrible as I do now.
I think a true adventure bike is defined by the rider. As young boys our mini bikes might have been labeled as adventure bikes as we went everywhere we could possibly go without getting into too much trouble. In the early 1900's all bikes were adventure bikes by todays deffinition as there were no or few paved roads.Durring WW2 Harley shipped over 90,000 bikes overseas to be used in service by mostly us and the Russians. Certainly an adventure riding in war time. I bought my first street bike, a 250 enduro, the day I turned 15 and got my permit. That was one of my most adventurous times of my life being able to explore way beyond my normal bicycle and mini bike peramiters.
Good point to ponder Tom
As much as I love my Wee and as many, "Adventures," as I've had on it. I'd be more inclined to go with one of the new 450cc style bikes for a dedicated adventure package.
To make it right, you've got to build it yourself.
Oversized tank for long distance between fuel stops.
Good suspension to soak up the terrain.
Soft bags so you can tackle the single track.
Good clearance for terrain avoidance.
High front fender to throw the sticky muck clear.
Decent knobbies to work through that muck.
An air intake mounted as high as you can on the frame for the river crossings. I've never been a fan of the Wee's intake position.
And lastly, just the issue of weight. The Wee can be a bit heavy especially when loaded for a trip. I look at the 1200cc guys and just shake my head. A couple of pickups a day is bad enough but that's a lot of bike to fight with if you're deep in it and not getting far because of the mud or sand or what have you. I'd rather lift a 450. Cause even the Wee can get a bit weary.
IMO, Adventure Bikes are mainly comfortable on the street, but capable of going off-pavement and being able to endure some bumps. It should also be able to take a good amount of equipment.
Dual-Purpose tends to be the label that I associate with a capable off-roader that has the few extra bits to make it street legal.
This really is "to each his/her own". An adventure bike is one that will take me on my adventure. On my last "adventure" we had
- 1981 XJ650 Maxim (me)
- 1982 Tempter
- 1982 KZ750
- 200? v-star
All four bikes rode the same roads, trails and fields. This summer's adventure will have at least
- K4 Wee (my upgrade :hurray
- R1200GSA
- ZRX1200R
- 2010 Shadow
So is my K4 Wee an adventure bike? It is in my books. But then so was my 1981 XJ650...
ADV bike is in the eye of the beholder, different tools and better tools for different meanings of adventure. To me the best bike is multi-capable, and can be further approved upon for the riders needs/wants.
I've been on enough adventures with my shadow aero that I decided to finally get a wee. I'm hoping the wee will be less nerve wracking than the shadow when the GPS takes me on off road adventures.
Got to admit its fun crossing rivers and riding up mountain paths on the shadow...
The term as it's often used makes me think of bike you take around the world. So to me, it would be a rugged, light bike that is better off-road than on. In that sense, the V-Strom would not be the best choice, but it could still do it.
I'm not nearly the first to say it, but for me the V-Strom is the modern day UJM. Comfortable seating, ride all day and go anywhere you want (within reason). It may not be the finest adventure bike made, but it suits my purposes nicely.
These words are just as meaningless and contrived as the word in the title of this thread that is used to market motocycles and motorcycle accesorries.
So, yes, especially if you have a gravel driveway.
I'm glad so many others concur that an adventure bike is nothing more than the bike you are on while having an adventure. My most "adventurous" ride was to the Kardung-La Pass in the Indian Himalaya at 18,230 feet -- on a Yamaha Pulsar 150cc road bike!
But I'm not sure what "adventure riding" means, anyway. If you ride to Ushuaia and it is mostly uneventful, does that constitute an adventure or just a vacation?
When I was seventeen I had a Yamaha DT400 Enduro. The bike was street legal so I rode it on the road but primarily to take me to off road areas. It did great off road. I lived in the mountains of Va. and I explored every dirt road, forest service access road, power line clearing and any trail that I was allowed to go on and there were many. I spent countless days riding these places and experienced true adventure yet the Yamaha was not even called an "adventure bike". My Wee, which is considered an "adventure bike" will never show me the adventure my Yamaha did but it will take me longer distances, will carry more and when I head off to the mountains loaded down with my camping gear to explore new places I'm experiencing an "adventure" even though I rarely leave the pavement. So ultimately the adventure is the experience not the type of bike you have.
As pop78 stated earlier in the thread:"An adventure bike is one that will take me on my adventure."
Regardless of how others define an adventure bike, I think it is more of a mindset and usage rather than the actual bike and the various accessories. My DL1000 is a general purpose bike that I am currently using to run around town. If all goes well, in the next few weeks I will be on my way to Central America and possibly beyond. So I guess today my bike is a commuter and in a few weeks it will magically become an adventure bike although the bike will not have changed!
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