{"id":7098,"date":"2017-08-24T13:01:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T13:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/?p=7098"},"modified":"2017-08-24T13:01:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T13:01:37","slug":"motorrad-choosing-my-next-motorcycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2017\/08\/24\/motorrad-choosing-my-next-motorcycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorrad: Choosing my Next Motorcycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The adventure motorcycle segment has blown up. It\u2019s a huge market of what some people deem overpriced poser-bikes that rarely see non paved roads yet are outfitted like they\u2019re going to cross the Sahara. There\u2019s a gigantic market of companies making hardware that\u2019s tested to sustain extreme abuse off-road for a bike that you\u2019ll see at Starbucks. The king of this segment is BMW\u2019s R1200 GS Adventure. It\u2019s BMW\u2019s highest selling bike but BMW itself has single-digit marketshare in the motorcycle market and every other manufacturer has joined in the fight to take on the GS-Behemoth. Compared to the millions of Harley Davidson bikes sold each year, the GS sold 50,000 bikes last year. A lot for BMW (total sales were around 120K) but small potatoes in the world of motorcycles sales.<\/p>\n

Who needs an adventure bike? A lot of the negative PR around these bikes stems from the owners. I\u2019d compare them to 90% of Jeep Wrangler owners. You see a lifted Jeep with a super charger and 20 gallons of extra fuel and loud knobby tires with huge light bars and you\u2019re thinking \u201cwhy is it so clean? Isn\u2019t that guy heading back from the trail?\u201d No, he\u2019s going to Whole Foods. A motorcycle you can beat up on must be a motorcycle that\u2019s affordable. The GS Adventure is opposite of that. When I do go off road all weekend, people say “I’d never take my GS to trails like that. I’m not done paying it off yet”<\/p>\n

When researching my next bike purchase, I went to CycleTrader and asked them to show me the most expensive Dual Sport bike nationally. The first 25 pages were BMW GSAs followed by 25 pages of BMW GS and then the Ducatis and KTMs finally showed up.<\/p>\n

The GS Adventure is the most well equipped bike to take on a global trip through mud and dessert but if you want to outfit it even further, expect to pay a premium over a part made for a Yamaha or Honda. In addition, BMW highly recommends you visit their $150 an hour techs for an oil change and every other maintenance item.<\/p>\n

One would state that the Ducati Multistrada and KTM 1290 Adventure are $15,000 while the GSA Starts at $18,900 but I\u2019d argue that by the time you beef those bikes up to have the same off-road capabilities as the BMW, you\u2019ll be at the same MSRP on two bikes that still aren\u2019t as capable as the GSA mostly for the suspension and overall reliability of the boxer engine.<\/p>\n

The technical specifications in this post I\u2019m linking to (scroll half-way down) show all of the comparisons against today\u2019s post popular adventure bikes:\u00a0https:\/\/www.bennetts.co.uk\/bikesocial\/reviews\/bikes\/group-tests\/big-adventure-group-test<\/p>\n

The Honda Africa Twin, Yamaha Super Tenere and true Dual Sport bikes like the KLR, DRZ and KTM\u2019s EXC-F are obviously missing because those are street legal dirt bikes. They aren\u2019t bikes you tour with two-up with the girlfriend and that\u2019s what the adventure bikes compared in my link are for.<\/p>\n

Adventure bikes are expensive like multi-function printers. You could buy a great scanner, printer and copier and together, these 3 bikes errrr printers would do well at their chosen path but you\u2019d pay more in upfront cost, maintenance, insurance and registration to stable the 3 bikes just to have a dedicated sport tourer (R1200RT), Dual Sport (KTM 500 EXC-F) and sport bike (Yamaha R6). I\u2019d have those in my stable in addition to a Honda Goldwing if I was a multi-millionaire but like many ADV riding buddies, we have to pick one bike and adventure bikes are our multi-function printers.<\/p>\n

You can sit in the saddle all day on your KTM Super Adventure or traverse Mountains on the GS or Cut up very twisty and technical mountain roads on the Multistrada and go on long dessert roads of packed dirt on the Triumph Tiger. These bikes serve all of those needs. The list is interchangeable with the right set of tires. There\u2019s a reason why tire choice is such a highly discussed topic online. There is no 50\/50 tire for on and off road. Knobbies are loud, lower fuel economy and are scary at high speeds or rain but a \u2018dual sport\u2019 tire gets caked full of mud on anything but hard packed dirt and down goes your 500 pound motorcycle.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve spent 700 words defending adventure bikes because I looked at all of my options when it came time to replace my bike. I don\u2019t want to lay flat with a tank in my stomach more than 10 miles at a time and I don\u2019t want to lean back with my arms up in the air on a cruiser and a true dual sport would get me to and from work on all of the fun dirt trails but would be painful in 6th gear at 70MPH on the highway with the way they\u2019re geared and designed.<\/p>\n

My riding style called for maintaining my place as an adventure rider Yuppy.<\/p>\n

Now that we know the style of bike that\u2019s for me, I had to look at my options. There are TONS but the kings as I\u2019ve stated before are made by Ducati, KTM, BMW and Triumph. The Yamaha and Kawasaki offerings are solid but those bikes quickly fell out of running.<\/p>\n

The Africa Twin has a 240 mile range only, doesn\u2019t come with the hardware needed to go off road and not fear crashing and the max load capacity wouldn\u2019t allow for 2 up riding or me and a week\u2019s worth of camping and sleeping supplies.The Super Tenere, V-Strom and the like simply were too ill-equipped and lacked the long distance comfort & fuel tank I wanted. Also, these bikes lack the presence of the KTM, Ducati and BMW offerings. Road presence, like my Golf R is important to me. I love feeling a tingle in my stomach when I walk up to the bike as it stances there ready to ride.<\/p>\n

The Ducati was my #2 pick. It ticked a lot of my boxes with suspension travel, cool on-board computer, fuel capacity and the aftermarket accessories were pretty in line but not as cheap as KTM\u2019s which the OEM off-road accessories options were plentiful and very cheap. A $250 OEM full-undercarriage engine guard? What??!!<\/p>\n

Why did the Ducati get #2? Well, it fell here because it didn\u2019t have what the #1 bike did. In fact, almost every bike I looked at had the exact same list of issues<\/p>\n