- Joined
- Jul 27, 2010
- Messages
- 5,820
- Reaction score
- 927
- Location
- Blouberg, Cape Town
- Bike
- KTM 890 Adventure R
Most experienced riders will advise you that on the long trip you need to have big adventure bike, something like BMW 1200 or Yamaha Super Tenere. You will need a powerful engine and enough luggage capacity. Big petrol tank is absolutely necessary and there is nothing better than driveshaft. In this video I will try to convince you that on the long motorcycle tip it’s much better to ride a small and light bike. Stay with me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsO1L5VujfA
N: 1 – The price of the trip.
To travel the world you need a motorcycle: Big adventure bikes, like BMW 1200GS, KTM 1290 or Yamaha Super Tenere will cost you not less than 15,000 euro. When you include your gear and the hard cases you can go up to 18,000 euro. This will be just to have the bike, than will comes tyres, oils, maintenance taxes and insurance. With the big boys the costs will be 30-40 up to 50% higher than a small and cheap bike. Spending so much money will not guarantee that you will have better adventure, it’s only guarantee that you will spend much more before you even start the trip.
N: 2 – The Weight
The weigh always matter. If you are looking for adventure, soon or later you will leave the asphalt roads and go deep into the off road world. It’s just the matter of time to realize that the lighter you are the better chances to stay straight you have. To learn that the big and heavy engine is useless on the dirt. To find out that it’s much easier to lift 200 instead of 300 kilograms. You can make it once, twice or ten times, but you cannot do it all day round. You have to skip some parts of the road or you will need help. More you travel lighter you will become.
N: 3 - Constant instead of top speed.
You don’t need to be super good in the calculations to see that on the long motorcycle trip it’s much better to have a constant instead of top speed. You might disagree with me and tell me that you prefer big bike, but you will ride it slow. Really, why you need a big bike then? I have seen many guys to ride small bikes fast, but I have never seen the opposite way. When you ride fast you have to be concentrated on the ride. By doing so, you cannot really look around and enjoy the ride. You can miss important thing or information signs. You increase the chances to make an accident or to avoid somebody else mistake. Reduce the speed if you want to see the world.
N: 4 – Good reason to take less luggage.
With small and light bike, you probably will go to soft luggage, which is right if you ask me, and this will automatically reduce the number of the items you taking with you. You don’t need to double or triple everything. You will ride on Earth not on Mars. Leave the kitchen sink and the toilet seat at home, they are too heavy. Yes, but on the long trip you need more staff! Really! Guys, I always taking the same staff and it doesn’t matter how long is the trip, one week or one month.
N: 5 - Safety.
I will split this on two categories:
- Personal safety.
With small and light bike it’s much easy to ride in the traffic and do some not so legal manoeuvres. Easy to move it when the engine is not working. Easy to ride on and off road and lift it, if you have to. More likely to stay unhurt if you fell down and stuck under the bike. Easy to cross a river or ride on the sand, especially if you are alone. By having this easy control you are increasing the chances to finish the trip without any problems.
- Bike safety.
So guys, the definition of Adventure is exciting or unusual experience that usually involving some risks. You can do it with any bike. Instead of spending 20,000 euro for new and fancy bike, spend 5 or 7,000 and the rest use to travel the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsO1L5VujfA
N: 1 – The price of the trip.
To travel the world you need a motorcycle: Big adventure bikes, like BMW 1200GS, KTM 1290 or Yamaha Super Tenere will cost you not less than 15,000 euro. When you include your gear and the hard cases you can go up to 18,000 euro. This will be just to have the bike, than will comes tyres, oils, maintenance taxes and insurance. With the big boys the costs will be 30-40 up to 50% higher than a small and cheap bike. Spending so much money will not guarantee that you will have better adventure, it’s only guarantee that you will spend much more before you even start the trip.
N: 2 – The Weight
The weigh always matter. If you are looking for adventure, soon or later you will leave the asphalt roads and go deep into the off road world. It’s just the matter of time to realize that the lighter you are the better chances to stay straight you have. To learn that the big and heavy engine is useless on the dirt. To find out that it’s much easier to lift 200 instead of 300 kilograms. You can make it once, twice or ten times, but you cannot do it all day round. You have to skip some parts of the road or you will need help. More you travel lighter you will become.
N: 3 - Constant instead of top speed.
You don’t need to be super good in the calculations to see that on the long motorcycle trip it’s much better to have a constant instead of top speed. You might disagree with me and tell me that you prefer big bike, but you will ride it slow. Really, why you need a big bike then? I have seen many guys to ride small bikes fast, but I have never seen the opposite way. When you ride fast you have to be concentrated on the ride. By doing so, you cannot really look around and enjoy the ride. You can miss important thing or information signs. You increase the chances to make an accident or to avoid somebody else mistake. Reduce the speed if you want to see the world.
N: 4 – Good reason to take less luggage.
With small and light bike, you probably will go to soft luggage, which is right if you ask me, and this will automatically reduce the number of the items you taking with you. You don’t need to double or triple everything. You will ride on Earth not on Mars. Leave the kitchen sink and the toilet seat at home, they are too heavy. Yes, but on the long trip you need more staff! Really! Guys, I always taking the same staff and it doesn’t matter how long is the trip, one week or one month.
N: 5 - Safety.
I will split this on two categories:
- Personal safety.
With small and light bike it’s much easy to ride in the traffic and do some not so legal manoeuvres. Easy to move it when the engine is not working. Easy to ride on and off road and lift it, if you have to. More likely to stay unhurt if you fell down and stuck under the bike. Easy to cross a river or ride on the sand, especially if you are alone. By having this easy control you are increasing the chances to finish the trip without any problems.
- Bike safety.
So guys, the definition of Adventure is exciting or unusual experience that usually involving some risks. You can do it with any bike. Instead of spending 20,000 euro for new and fancy bike, spend 5 or 7,000 and the rest use to travel the world.
