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Best type of bike for long distance commuting/touring?
- Thread starter TorontoMiata
- Start date
Mad Mike
Well-known member
The are the same suspension. Next time you're at a Honda dealer compare -- the F has the front shock tubes cinched 1.5cm (10mm) further up the tripples -- that's how they change the wheelbase and clearance specs.
I have a couple of 1300cc bikes in the garage, I'm covered in the SS and ST categories. I'm looking at midweight ADVs right now. I'm not crossing Africa or the Himalayas, but I's planning a run on the Dalton or Labrador highways. I want simple, dependable and something that doesn't need techs to be flown in if it breaks. I was close on a nice low km F800GS, a discussion with a couple of owners changed my mind. I'm a bit partial to Yamaha and Suzuki, right now it looks like a DL650 is the front runner. If the MT07 Tenere was here I'd be giving that a close look.
Gotta make room in my garage first - anyone want to trade their DL650XT for a Gen II Busa?
What about the tiger maybe? 2 of my buddies love them and have done a bit of adv on it
Supernam
Well-known member
You can't go wrong with the KLR650, low tech and reliable it is.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I'm looking to make my live simpler and easy -- that pretty much eliminates anything made in Europe. The Tiger is also a pricey beast --an unoptioned 800 is $16K out the door.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I like the KLR and if I planned off road adventuring I'd certainly have that on my list. I'm planning for lots of highway and rough roads, nothing off road.
Interesting thread, and yeah, there is no "perfect for all situations" bike out there, and OP is asking for 2 completely different spectrum (commuting, and long distance touring) that make that reality even bigger.
I've found that my cruiser is a decent compromise on a few fronts - it's not obscenely large/heavy like a wing, but I've ridden 1200+KM days on it and been comfortable. I like the feet-forward seating position that others bemoan and I find it one of the most comfortable riding positions - when travelling long distances I actually have my feet on my highway pegs (which effectively has me in a "recliner" position) probably 70% of the miles and it's awesome. Yes, all my weight is focused on my ***, but that's where your style of seat comes in - cruisers/tourers have big-*** seats that spread this load around. I also have an Ultimate (aftermarket) on mine (with an AirHawk on top of that for super-long days) and it's perfect - others with stock seats may be aching after a 250KM day, so that's an important thing to keep in mind as well - no matter what bike you settle on, not all seats are created equally, and different bikes have different shaped seats that cater to not only the style of bike, but the type of riding they are designed for.
Now, all that having been said, my VTX wouldn't be my choice of bike if I was just commuting to work every day - I'd have a smaller/lighter bike with far fewer farkles, easier to bat around through stop and go, heavy traffic, city streets, etc.
So yes, full circle....there's no perfect bike for everything, there are just compromises....which is why a lot of people have more than one bike.
I've found that my cruiser is a decent compromise on a few fronts - it's not obscenely large/heavy like a wing, but I've ridden 1200+KM days on it and been comfortable. I like the feet-forward seating position that others bemoan and I find it one of the most comfortable riding positions - when travelling long distances I actually have my feet on my highway pegs (which effectively has me in a "recliner" position) probably 70% of the miles and it's awesome. Yes, all my weight is focused on my ***, but that's where your style of seat comes in - cruisers/tourers have big-*** seats that spread this load around. I also have an Ultimate (aftermarket) on mine (with an AirHawk on top of that for super-long days) and it's perfect - others with stock seats may be aching after a 250KM day, so that's an important thing to keep in mind as well - no matter what bike you settle on, not all seats are created equally, and different bikes have different shaped seats that cater to not only the style of bike, but the type of riding they are designed for.
Now, all that having been said, my VTX wouldn't be my choice of bike if I was just commuting to work every day - I'd have a smaller/lighter bike with far fewer farkles, easier to bat around through stop and go, heavy traffic, city streets, etc.
So yes, full circle....there's no perfect bike for everything, there are just compromises....which is why a lot of people have more than one bike.
sburns
Well-known member
Thanks for sharing the video, this is exactly what I had in mind, and yes you are correct I wouldn't be doing tracks or trails etc.
But yes when the road converts to gravel etc, I would like to just keep going.
I'll have to make some notes for my "wish list"!
J_F
Guest
CB500X is a neat looking bike
and I'm sure is dead reliable
but it is a street bike in ADV livery
can't wait to see the Tenere 700, should be soon!
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/yamaha-tenere-700-world-tour/
http://[img]https://i.imgur.com/gzl6FHz.jpg[/img]
Last edited:
wonderings
Well-known member
+1
I have used tourance and currently Anakee 3's on my GSA. Great tire, runs well on the pavement and feels find on dirt roads. Not this is not a tire for loose sand and mud, but for dirty roads they handle fine. I have had TKC 80's and they are over kill for gravel roads, which is all I really ride on for my "off roading". Certainly not a tire I would want to tour on unless it was all gravel dirty roads with loose stuff.
and ??
So is the Vstrom 650
Ground clearance: 6.7 inches
versus 6.5 on the cbx
CBX is lighter.
Both can be made to do better off pavement.
CB500x IS an ADV bike.
Its street siblings are smaller, lower ground clearance, lower seat height.
There are loads of farkles to improve off pavement by the CB500x as there are with the Weestrom.
Maybe evemn more
CB500x in RallyRaid kit.
Good comparisons here from owners,
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/v-strom-650-vs-rr-cb500x.1124205/
Bottom line for new rider tho ...much lighter, better gas mileage, cheaper insurance and can morph into capable off pavement. 80-90 lb lighter with the weight down lower....big win for the CB500X.
Two up tho ?? Vstrom all the way.
Honda calling my CBF1000 an adv bike is a joke. Not so with the CB500x.
Nice try ....a CB500R is a street bike ....a CB500x is an ADV bike ...deal with it.
$3k US makes it off road capable....tires and a few basic farkles make it off pavement capable.....and a lot lighter than most.
fancy that
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/top-10-adventure-motorcycles-for-short-riders/9/
$3k US makes it off road capable....tires and a few basic farkles make it off pavement capable.....and a lot lighter than most.
Top 10 Adventure Motorcycles for Shorter Riders
Find an Adventure Bike that will let you put both feet on the ground
Honda CB500X
fancy that
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/top-10-adventure-motorcycles-for-short-riders/9/
J_F
Guest
man you're a ball buster.....
out of the crate the X is an ADV looking bike
the R is sporty looking bike
need to spend 3-5 K to make the X actually ADV usable
I'm not picking on Honda
Yamaha does it too with the FZ~FJ~XSR 847 triple based bikes
same basic bike that can be sport, ST, scrambler
when in fact it is not purely any one of those things
out of the crate the X is an ADV looking bike
the R is sporty looking bike
need to spend 3-5 K to make the X actually ADV usable
I'm not picking on Honda
Yamaha does it too with the FZ~FJ~XSR 847 triple based bikes
same basic bike that can be sport, ST, scrambler
when in fact it is not purely any one of those things
I think it's not the way you see it black or white.
Just like in supersports there's more aggressive super sports (r6) and more tame super sports(gsx), or some dual sports might be more off road or more road biaised, the same way that the cb500x is in the adv category, just on the tamer side of it. you can look at it as your entry level adv bike, give you a taste of the positioning, some of the capabilities of it, without going knee deep in ADV. But then if you like it, or are a veteran, you can put a kit on it to make it fully capable. There's a market for it and in order to make this model successful (and affordable) they obviously had to make some sacrifices. But the community came through to turn it into the potential bike it could be.
I kinda see it like taking an impreza wrx and converting it and tuning it to run like an STi. It has the potential but doesn't come with it out the box.
J_F
Guest
common characteristics of true ADV bikes
CB500X has none of those things
all it has without spending a lot of dough is styling
and it is great styling, very attractive bike
of course it will have Honda dead-nuts reliability too
but it is not an ADV bike
- higher ground clearance
- longer suspension travel
- steel, spoked wheels
- moderate DS tires
- engine bars
- skid plate
- hand guards
- heated grips
- tall windshield
CB500X has none of those things
all it has without spending a lot of dough is styling
and it is great styling, very attractive bike
of course it will have Honda dead-nuts reliability too
but it is not an ADV bike
And the can o worms is open.
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