Adventure Tourer reader feedback

As someone who has owned two of these bikes (The Tiger and currently the GS) I can say that these are great bikes. The engine in the Tiger almost feels like a sportsbike with the top end rush and the handling on the latest one felt greatly improved when I test rode one. Also, if you shop around there are deals to be had.



As for the GS.. It is very expensive, but it's the best bike I've every owned. Yes the engine's about 5hp down on the other two, but the torque is there across the whole rev range. However, it's only when I'm playing 'straight racing' that I notice it. (The Tiger IS better at this). I might end up taking off the cat and claiming back those 10 odd horses.



On the other hand the comments about 6th gear are wrong. It's a freeway gear and is great for covering distance. It really smooths things out.



Going onto suspension, this type of bike dives a lot under braking. It's the weakest point about them. The GS doesn't. At all. If you're going to carry a passenger, this is the only bike to get. Otherwise you'll be playing helmet bats with your passenger every time you touch the brakes.



When I first test rode the GS, it was the suspension that got to me immediately. It's so planted and secure. This bike loves the twisties. It even stays planted through sweepers, within reason. (It'll wallow some going through 100mph+ sweepers, but that's not why you buy the bike)



Cutting to the chase. I want a bike that CAN:

1. do 500+ mile days easily.

2. canyon carve up the twisties when I get there or even better - on the way there..

3. can go offroad enough to get me there: a. and won't break when I crash it. b. and I can pick it up myself

4. can be loaded up without noticing.

5. can have a passenger along without killing the fun: a. for me. b. or her.

6. doesn't need any maintenance while I'm doing it. a. no chains to oil every day b. see a.



The GS does all of this easily except 3b, and I've recently found out how to do that one too.. even works in mud.



As for the Aprilia.. I've never ridden one but it looks like a touring bike rather than an adventure touring bike to me. I wouldn't take that off road 'cos I don't think it would bounce. All that plastic and underdamped suspension would be a liability on a bike weighing over 200kgs.



From experience, the Tiger bounces okay-ish. It got me home every time, but needed repairing. Nothing expensive , but I never threw it down the path at more than 20mph.



The GS, however, has currently been dumped 5 times. (once on tarmac - brand new - did'nt put the side stand down - jerk. Twice on mud - my advice is don't ride any of these bikes in the mud unless you really have to. Twice dropped on forrest roads, getting thrown by quad ruts, both times above 40mph) No problem getting home - there is no damage, except a slight roughness to the lower edge of the plastic cylinder head protectors.



These are great bikes. You'll love any one of them if you want to travel at speed and in comfort, anywhere you want to go. My advice. The Aprilia if you want a more stylish touring bike. The Triumph if you want more go over shorter distances. The BMW if you're going to keep the bike for more than two years and if you want to really go anywhere..





PS. For other GS riders. "How to pick it up in the mud on your own": Turn the handlebars away from you so the front is pointing skywards. Grab the lower handlebar with both hands and heave. (Yes, mom. From the knees.) The bars won't bend and the bike won't roll away from you until it's up, (or at all, depending on how deep the mud is) The first time I dumped the GS into the sticky, I didn't know this and it took an hour and a sore back to get it out.....

desertbilly wrote:

a fair number of us are doing what these bikes were designed for on KLR650's.

Click to expand...

I think that the KLR gets listed as a dual sport instead of an adventure tourer, though I've read stories about people doing pretty long treks on them. There are lots of accessories for them, including some decent luggage options.

It seems an adventure tourer is a larger bike that's meant to let riders tackle any road that comes their way, like five hundred mile of slab with fifty miles of gravel and a hundred miles of twisties, for days on end. A KLR650 can do all that, sure, and take you deeper into the woods to boot, but I don't know if I'd want to cross the country on one.

While the article gave good feel for the bikes, they left out some rather important numbers, like mileage, fuel capacity, seat height, weight, ground clearance, maximum load, and alternator output (so you can add lots of lights and still use a heated vest). Seat hight's an interesting one-I test rode an R1150GS once, and even with the seat in the lower position, with my 30 inch inseam I could barely get more than a tiptoe on the ground at stop lights.

Grappelli said:



"3. can go offroad enough to get me there: a. and won't break when I crash it. "



All these bikes are far too fragile to be considered "off road" in any sence of the phrase.



I wouldn't take any one of these bikes on any road that I wouldn't take my CBR1000 on, so what's the use of them? They can only go where road bikes can go, and on sealed roads they're badly compromised. It's a useless trade off. You don't benefit from expanded capability off road, but you do lose out in onroad ability...



Cheers Jason = (Australia)

Keebler wrote:



"It seems an adventure tourer is a larger bike that's meant to let riders tackle any road that comes their way, like five hundred mile of slab with fifty miles of gravel and a hundred miles of twisties"



With the exception of the five hundred miles of slab (which I hate) this is more or less exactly what I did with my CBR1000 a couple of days ago. Couldn't sleep, so I got out at dawn, and did about 100 miles of "slab", about 200 miles of twisties and 100 miles of gravel... Just as I said, anything you can do with these "adventure tourers" you can do with an ordinary tourer except that an ordinary tourer is more comfortable on the "slab", while also being faster and more stable through the twisties. I don't think an adventure tourer would be any better on the gravel roads so there's no gain on that side for the adventure bikes.



Cheers Jason =