Smallest touring motorcycle? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Smallest touring motorcycle?

Motorcycle Mike

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
With the way insurance is priced in Ontario, and with the price of gas, I prefer to ride small bikes.

I currently have a KLX250, and it is a great bike as it is light weight, great on fuel, can go anywhere, is cheap to fix, and is dirt cheap on insurance. It is not, however, great for touring. 150km range for the tank, and with a narrow hard seat I am hard pressed to do more than 5 hours of riding in a day (although I once rode a 1989 KLR 250 to Halifax and back, but I was young and invincible then).

I also once did a marathon 21 hour ride from Yogjakarta to Jakarta, Indonesia on a Honda Tiger 2000 (200cc street bike) - so I have a bit of experience with torturing myself for long periods of time on an under-powered bike.

However, the problem here is that to be on a highway one has to maintain a lot higher speeds. I had a Royal Enfield Bullet 500 (retrofitted with a diesel engine) that was comfortable and fuel efficient, but was slow as molasses and not overly reliable. I also had a Suzuki VX800 that could easily handle highway speeds, but cost more in both insurance and gas -- used as much fuel as a Toyota Echo I once owned.

So, on to my question -- does a bike exist that is decent for touring (i.e. no problem doing 1000km in a day at 100 or 110kph), but uses less fuel than a small car and is cheap to insure?

I'm guessing, in order to remain dirt cheap on insurance it would have to be low cc's... perhaps 650cc or less. Oh... and I have tried a KLR650 and didn't like it. Way too top heavy and too much vibration with a big single cylinder. Am considering a Versys 650 or something like that though.
 
Check out the Suzuki Vstrom it is a V-twin 650 rock solid engine and a good yet simple design. You have a million luggage options to help with all your touring needs. Good compasion to the Versys google and I am sure you'll find loads of comparative reviews.
 
+1 on the V-Strom. I can't speak to the fuel economy, but it's definitely one of those 1000kms-a-day bike with a reasonable price point.
 
The Wee (V-Strom 650) has a 22l fuel tank. 400 kms before you need to look for a gas station, full range is about 450 kms. Replace the stock seat with something more comfortable (I have a Sargent) and you are good to go. My longest ride was 4,218 kms in 58 hours around the five lakes (Iron Butt attempt). I was extremely exhausted at the end, but my butt was OK with that seat.
 
A.K. said:
The Wee (V-Strom 650) has a 22l fuel tank. 400 kms before you need to look for a gas station, full range is about 450 kms. Replace the stock seat with something more comfortable (I have a Sargent) and you are good to go. My longest ride was 4,218 kms in 58 hours around the five lakes (Iron Butt attempt). I was extremely exhausted at the end, but my butt was OK with that seat.
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http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/suzuki/dl650

Real world gas mileage of 4.5L/100km's, it's pretty darn good if you ask me. That's Prius type of mileage.

Here's an example of 3.7L/100km. All depends how you ride it.
http://www.fuelly.com/driver/mcollette78/dl650
 
A.K. said:
The Wee (V-Strom 650) has a 22l fuel tank. 400 kms before you need to look for a gas station, full range is about 450 kms. Replace the stock seat with something more comfortable (I have a Sargent) and you are good to go. My longest ride was 4,218 kms in 58 hours around the five lakes (Iron Butt attempt). I was extremely exhausted at the end, but my butt was OK with that seat.
Click to expand...

I have a 2006 DL650 V-Strom as well as a 2012 DL650 V-Strom. One little thing is that the tank size is smaller on the 2012 up, but they get better mileage so the range is the same. My 2006 has over 202,500 km on it, my 2012 that I bought in March of 2012 has around 53,000 I have done many trips pver 5,000 km but the longest was 10,300+ km in 10 days. On the way home I did about 3,200 km in about 2.5 days (Speed limits in the western USA are quite high with Utah having an 80 mph limit.)

Bottom line is these bikes can handle touring quite well. They are also great on twisties, back roads, gravel, commuting, rain, etc. Just great all round bikes.

..Tom
 
V-strom is a bike I have considered.

How does the Versys compare to it? I prefer the look of the Versys, and the quote that I got for insuring a Versys 650 is not bad (haven't quoted the V-strom yet, but should be comparable).
 
Diesel said:
V-strom is a bike I have considered.

How does the Versys compare to it? I prefer the look of the Versys, and the quote that I got for insuring a Versys 650 is not bad (haven't quoted the V-strom yet, but should be comparable).
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Best is to sit/ride both and decide what's best/feels best for you. This is like comparing a Corolla and a Civic.

but here's video's and links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dreoYlnlVQw&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy16XkzFXdY

2012: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/c...ersys_vs_2012_suzuki_v_strom_650/viewall.html

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16796945&postcount=13


I vote for the V as I am a bigger guy and liked that it's a tad bigger than the Versys (6'2" and heavy) also so many farkle options it's ridiculous.
 
If you want small, the pre-gen Ninja 250 is supposed to be pretty good for touring.
 
It looks like either would work for me according to the reviews/shoot-outs.
I am not very tall, but I guess if I can handle the KLX at 35" then either of these shouldn't be an issue.

I am definitely finding that I bought the wrong bike for my purposes in the KLX -- I have ridden it about 2k km in the past month, and 98% has been on road (including a lot of gravel roads). As long as the V-strom or the Versys could tackle gravel roads and the occasional limited maintenance gravel road, then my needs would be covered.
 
I have an FZ6R, it would make a decent small touring bike. For touring I would change the windscreen and seat for the longer rides. I would also change the chain/sprockets to use a little less RPM on the highway. It gets 360km a tank, should get 400km with new ratio.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
My FZ6 does a pretty good job touring. 5L/100km and the tank is good for 360-380km until dry.

The Strom is probably a more comfy tourer, and the FZ6 is sportier.

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DerekVinyard said:
I have an FZ6R, it would make a decent small touring bike. For touring I would change the windscreen and seat for the longer rides. I would also change the chain/sprockets to use a little less RPM on the highway. It gets 360km a tank, should get 400km with new ratio.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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I have a pair of Givi pannier racks for your bike if interested ;)
 
Honda NC 700 S or X?

You have a 21L luggage area before you even add on the optional luggage. The V-Strom and Versys would be much more entertaining rides but the NC would give ridiculous milleage. The fairing on the NC 700 X looks like it would give significant protection from the elements as well.
 
Zoodles95 said:
Honda NC 700 S or X?

You have a 21L luggage area before you even add on the optional luggage. The V-Strom and Versys would be much more entertaining rides but the NC would give ridiculous milleage. The fairing on the NC 700 X looks like it would give significant protection from the elements as well.
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Now that you got me looking at the Honda page, what do people here think of the CB500X?

The NC looks interesting, but I would rather get the smallest bike I could get that can still do extended highway riding. I don't know if the CB500X fits that bill or not, but its specs indicate it might. The one thing I don't like about the CB500X is that it appears to be a first year bike, and I would rather buy a few a model that has a few years behind it.
 
Now that you got me looking at the Honda page, what do people here think of the CB500X?
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Brilliant machine - much better in my view than the 700x. ALmost the same HP (47 vs 48), 50 lb lighter, free revving instead of rev limited, and lots' cheaper.
That's a go anywhere machine for one up and with a smaller frame rider likely to be quick.

KT - the g650gs scarver would be an excellent choice as well - not all that easy to find used. The current one is a different design than the earlier model so do check out the differences.

One note for any height challenged riders - seat height can be misleading as width also comes into play.
•••

Diesel you might consider a KLR650 as it's lighter than a twin for off road and you still can tour with it and do decent forest track tho it's heavy for single track. Loads of them about cheap with great farkles. Cheap transition but if you can swing it the CB500x is a long term keeper in my view.

It's 35" as well - all of the well sprung duallies have long travel and there are shortening kits and seats for the KLR.
My inseam is 30" with boots on and I can flat foot the KLR once I'm on it - generous sag ....ahem.. :D
 
I just spent the last hour reading reviews and watching videos on youtube about that cb500x, and it certainly sounds like a decent bike.

I don't think I would be able or want to take as many gravel roads as I do now -- or as fast as I do now, considering the suspension travel is relatively low. Ready Honda also won't have any until July, but the price tag of around $7300 all in is not bad either.

I guess I will have to spend this summer checking out the V-strom, Versys, and now the NC700 and Cb500x to see which will suit me best.

These bikes may cover my needs which are: 1000km+ a day without serious butt pain, ability to take rough gravel roads, decent fuel mileage, and cheap on insurance. I could sacrifice a little in the gravel road ability; while I have found that I don't do much single track, I still like to explore the occasional single lane path that I see leading into the bush.

Macdoc, my inseam is also 30... in the KLX I can reach no problem because the suspension has a lot of travel and the bike is light. The one KLR650 I tried I really didn't like -- it was top heavy and felt like it wanted to lay down when I did a u-turn. It vibrated way too much and felt like a tractor. I think if I am going to go over 250cc (which I am going to have to do), then I will need 2 cylinders.
 
PC800...

Plastic Fantastic "plastic crap" 800... but it works, apparently.
 
MacDoc said:
KT - the g650gs scarver would be an excellent choice as well - not all that easy to find used. The current one is a different design than the earlier model so do check out the differences.

One note for any height challenged riders - seat height can be misleading as width also comes into play.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. And you're right about finding it used... I've been trying to locate a BMW dealership that has the g650gs lowered version for me to sit on and get a feel. BMWs feel like horses.... ha.
 
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