Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

Don't know anything about those African twins. Are they any good

 

@w.adventures been meaning to ask you how south Carolina been since the move

 

Supposed to be really good. I would only get one to travel around the country on.

It’s been good. Been busy with the house remodel but finally got to get out last weekend to enjoy the Smokey mountains.

 

This is the first week in a long time we’re dipping below 100 degrees here.

 

I showed 46 degrees this morning on my way to work. Turned on my heated liner a little bit and put the heated grips on medium for on the interstate. Finishing up my route for the rally Friday and Saturday. Looking like 1149 miles with a longer than required rest bonus. Taking almost 8 hours off bike but only get points for 6 hours of it. 12 bonus locations but snuck in 4 Tour of Honor memorials which is a separate event but we'll be passing right by the locations so we'll sacrifice a few minutes to stop and get those photos. Taking it kind of easy as my g/f hasn't been on the bike with me since May. We actually still have almost 3 hours of leeway to mess with so depending on how we feel might be able to add in another bonus stop near the end.

Big dogs on this rally will likely be close to the mileage cap of 1850 miles in 36 hours.

 

honda quality

they offer two types of gearboxes though, so dont assume they all have a real clutch and 6 speed gearbox if you look/shop around the used market

https://extremepowersportssa.com/honda-africa-twin-shootout-dct-vs-manual-transmission/5761

 

Never been a better time, there's so many options out on the market right now, and more coming within the next year.

Pre-apology for the rant, but I spend a lot of time in this segment and have a lot of thoughts haha


Picking an ADV bike right now, IMHO, comes down to three things: engine size (and related overall size), off road vs. touring balance, and price point. It seems easiest to break them down by engine size and cost, since those normally correlate, and then go between off road and touring spectrum from there.

Low engine size, low (ish) cost:
BMW G310GS (mid)
Kawasaki 400 thing (leans offroad)
KTM 390ADV (leans offroad, ish)
Honda CX500
Maybe slot in a dual sport CRF at this level?

Mid size, mid cost:
Kawasaki Versys 650
Suzuki V-strom 650
KTM790 ADV
BMW F750/850GS (depending on touring adv vs. off road adv)
Yamaha Tenere 700
KLR 650

Big ol' high cost bikes:
Husqvarna Norden 901?
Honda Africa Twin 1100 (base vs Adventure Sports vs the other trim I can't remember. One has a 6 gallon tank thats 500+ lbs)
BMW GS1250
KTM1290 family
Ducati Multistrada
Suzuki V-strom 1050


If I were buying right now, I'd go Tenere 700 if I wanted dirt oriented, cheap, simple bike to thrash. If I wanted long distance touring and comfort, I'd go probably with an AT. The new ones have fucking carplay for shits sake.

Edit:

Kawasaki this week has also teased I think 7 new bikes? 1 is expected to be an updated KLR, rumor has it a mid sized KLR in the 400cc range, too.

Edit2:

Oh SHIT! I can't believe I almost forgot the Harley Pan America

 

Also missed out on the Yamaha Super Tenere which offers a pretty big bang for the buck.

 

Good point! Def. missed that one, I always forget about it now that the T7 is out finally.

I also missed Aprilia's new thing that I can never remember the name of.

Edit:

Tuareg, which I'm pretty sure was also a VW model?

https://www.asphaltandrubber.com/rumors/aprilia-tuareg-660-spotted-wild/

 

Well shitttt, guess we're adding the 890 Adventure to the list today too:

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/ktm-890-adventure/


Also, how could I forget the Tigers? Sigh. SO many ADV bikes out there right now.

 

I think the motorcycle world is very exciting right now, lots of interesting developments.

 

Would really like to add a Super Ten to the stable but just not in the budget right now. I think one of these would be awesome for 2-up and camping off the bike. Won't give up my FJR but the FJR 2-up really isn't confidence inspiring on unpaved surfaces.

 

HBD @FreshOldTaco

 

Also forgot the triumph tiger. Which I was originally looking at

 

I added it in later! haha

I'm actually surprised I forgot about it.The model refresh this year looks REAL good. Something about the unibrow headlight does it for me haha add that to the pretty unique triple cylinder motor, gobs of power, and decent tech offering.

 

Thank you sir!

I got a ride in early this morning before work. It was 40 something and foggy but nice start to the day

 

For the peanut gallery....if I wanna do a full stage 1, should I stick with the Screamin Eagle tuner and keep the warranty? Will the SE Tuner work with aftermarket parts?

Or just go full aftermarket and hope for the best? Reading around, there’s a lot of good options out there.

 

Whatever is cheaper to be honest. SE is overpriced. The whole stage 1/2/3 system is ridiculous. If you watch the forums/FB marketplace you can get better stuff than SE for half the price. Win - Win. I got Basani 2 into 1 with a big sucker intake for $300. $10 for jets and good to go. Dealers advertise around here for 1.6-2k. Frickin hilarious. You can get an entire aftermarket head, piston, cam chest, air cleaner, etc for 1.8-2k. Even if you buy new, do it yourself for ~$1k.