Alaska bound ? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Alaska bound ?

Neat read.

Guy takes too many pictures while riding the bike IMO.
 
I didn't read cause at the very first picture my thought was.....guy has WAAAAAY to much **** on his bike.

I'm going back to D2D this year and I will be packing light,light,light.
 
Wonder if id be better off with a vstrom or a KLR for trips like that
 
Wonder if id be better off with a vstrom or a KLR for trips like that

These trips aren't for everybody. There's no such thing as "adventure" in this mapped out world. A lot of people mistake adventure for inconvenience and mild suffering. Take the vstrom, mitigate some of the bs.
 
These trips aren't for everybody. There's no such thing as "adventure" in this mapped out world. A lot of people mistake adventure for inconvenience and mild suffering. Take the vstrom, mitigate some of the bs.
Yep. Loved my KLR, would rather take a vstrom cross country.

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Yep. Loved my KLR, would rather take a vstrom cross country.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk

Im assuming with the right tires the Vstrom will be ok on surfaces like that? (gravel or the occasional fire road?)
 
Im assuming with the right tires the Vstrom will be ok on surfaces like that? (gravel or the occasional fire road?)
The vstrom is an excellent gravel tourer and explorer. Also very comfy, great on fuel and has a good load rating. Also good tire selection due to rim sizes.
I had the vstrom 1000.

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With K60s I could ride the Wee off the end of pavement onto gravel and stay just as stable. Direction control is superb.
Made the mistake of trying that with Pilot 3s....squirmed all over.

Many have done Alaska on road bikes with good success - some even to the Arctic Ocean but it's a bit of gamble with tires and weather. Expensive if things go sideways....and Alaska is bloody huge. Just driving Valdez to catch the Kenai Fjord cruise was a 700 km overnight marathon with two drivers...and that's just a small corner.
Even staying on the main routes the miles long construction zones are challengiing as water trucks keep the dust down even if it's not raining.

But an adventure bike with 50/50 tires give you a better chance....still worth the shot if you have the time. Flying your bike to Calgary gives a nice 4 day headstart.
 
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Almost every motorcycle trip I have taken (except for my Japan one) I have encountered a road under construction or something that has made me have to ride on a dirt or gravel road.

On a VFR with sport Touring road tires I was fine. A bit butt puckering but I just slowed down and kept going. No deep **** though.
 
With K60s I could ride the Wee off the end of pavement onto gravel and stay just as stable. Direction control is superb.
Made the mistake of trying that with Pilot 3s....squirmed all over.

Many have done Alaska on road bikes with good success - some even to the Arctic Ocean but it's a bit of gamble with tires and weather. Expensive if things go sideways....and Alaska is bloody huge. Just driving Valdez to catch the Kenai Fjord cruise was a 700 km overnight marathon with two drivers...and that's just a small corner.
Even staying on the main routes the miles long construction zones are challengiing as water trucks keep the dust down even if it's not raining.

But an adventure bike with 50/50 tires give you a better chance....still worth the shot if you have the time. Flying your bike to Calgary gives a nice 4 day headstart.
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Isnt a vstrom with the right tires/set up technially the definition of an adventure bike?
 
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Isnt a vstrom with the right tires/set up technially the definition of an adventure bike?

No, you can have an adventure on it, and could probably follow a lot of bikes offroad, but when it really gets knarly thats not the best tool for the job. Its a good tool, I owned a V650 and loved it, but its not a true ADV bike.
 
Also, when stuff gets gnarly, the 1200cc 140hp beasts that are 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide and weighing the better part of 14 tons that have become known as ADV bikes, aren't going to do as well as a simple light 250cc dual purpose bike.
 
Well, Vstrom = mild offroading, if you really want to do some 'knarly' stuff you'd probably be best off with a dual sport/dirt bike

There's so many terms out there now, that no one knows what they mean anymore...

IMO adv bike = bike that can do touring, and still some mild offroading.


A dual sport/dirt bike imo isnt really an adv bike, just a street legal dual sport. (imagine doing 600km on a WR250R)
 
The whats an ADV bike is like the how long is a piece of string debate I guess. And adventure travel is very different, I'll agree 90% of big BMW's and KTM see some gravel, and they see mud at the BMW rallies where they have off road riding circuits, and twelve guys to pull you out of the mud.
I found the V strom was very nice but built to a price point, suspension was limited and it lacked low gear lugging. Momentum was fine and it was light enough but when the sand got deep it would wallow, the only way out of deep sand when you get the front wheel working like a rudder is more power on, 100hp is your friend.
I like stuff like hill start assist and decent control and variable traction settings (now) , I did grow up on Maico and Huskys and off road triumphs , but I'm also old.
 
An adventure bike in my mind is a bike that can travel and do long distance on gravel or unmaintained roads. It doesn't need to be a single track weapon.

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