You'd have to also take into consideration the GVWR.
Some big bikes can't hold much weight.
They have a passenger seat, but the passenger needs to weigh under 30 kilos.
Are you thinking of the luggage rack? Not many adults weigh 30 kg or less, even in Asian countries. If it has a passenger seat, shouldn't it at least support twice that much, or whatever the average adult weight is in the country or origin?
Are you thinking of the luggage rack? Not many adults weigh 30 kg or less, even in Asian countries. If it has a passenger seat, shouldn't it at least support twice that much, or whatever the average adult weight is in the country or origin?
Here's a random example. If he had luggage (especially if it was full) or a wife with some gravity to her, it's easy to blow GVWR out of the water. With full luggage, 30 kg passenger may be close to GVWR. For riders pushing 300 lbs (lots of cruiser riders), similar situation.
"The weight of my Fat Bob is 669.70 as shipped from the factory. The GVWR is 1085. I'm around 230. My bike holds 5 gallons of gas (at 6 lbs per gallon) so I add 30 lbs. I wear a heavy jacket, gloves, boots, and 3 lb helmet so my gear is another 10-15lbs. So all this gives me about 115lbs to safely play with. If I give my wife a ride around the county, I'm definitely over the GVWR."
EDIT:
Here's the math for Wing. It's not better:
"The wing has, after its wet weight, about a 412 pound load limit, including fully dressed rider, passenger and luggage. It states that the 'average' male weight is 191 and female weight is 164 for a total 365 pounds, leaving 47 pounds on 'average' for gear and luggage. I think even average people add more than that to a Wing.
I, as many Goldwing riders are, am far from 'average' and for the sake of science, am willing to admit a rider / passenger weight of around 500 pounds before gear and luggage. We are 100 pounds over the limit before we even get dressed, not to mention the two side bags, top trunk filled and even a bag on the luggage rack."
It sucks because buying a motorcycle without ever having ridden it is not ideal of course, but it’s reality. My current bike was purchased through a dealer and test rides were a hard no.
Well lucky for me, I am a very good judge of certain things. I never test drove any of the 16 of the 17 motorcycles that I have owned and they were what I expected. I did test drive a used BMW R100 GS at the dealer before I bought a new R100 GS the same day thereafter. I never test drove the 2016 R1200 GS Adventure either. In fact it was from a dealer 300 kms away and I placed my order and deposit over the phone.
But the dealer in Montreal did have BMWs for rent (I bought two BMW GSes off them) and it was what I encouraged my friend to do to see how much more comfortble it was over the Honda that he owned. Well he is still riding that 2008 Honda and I got to stop to give his butt a rest.
And factory demo rides are a waste. Too short in order to give everybody a chance.
Depends. My last bike was a Vulcan Voyager. For buying it I have bread and with stories about how comfortable they were and then I couldn’t possibly not like it, but I put 90,000km on it in about 4 years of ownership and never fell in love because the ergos weren’t right.
My last demo ride out of GP bikes was on a 2021 ‘Wing and they gave it to me for an hour.
I didn’t like it afterwards so any inkling of joining that fold was squashed right then and there. Although I did love the power windshield and said my next bike must have that, as it does.
As for ALL UP weights, my 2003 BMW R1150 GS Adventure would weigh 570 pounds wet, plus my weight, plus my girlfriends weight, plus my 2 side cases and top case. I would be sitting at at least 1000 pounds.
No big deal here on our open roads and even what some would call our technical roads, but it was a killer on some of the out of the way roads and hairpins with steep grades in the insides of the Alps. Trust me, I'd sooner have a trials bike when you are doing a coupe of kms an hour going around a garbage can with steep grades.
Of course which is why I ride large dual-sports as they are now called or large dual-purpose bikes. By the way, "cool factor" does not play into my buying decision. I like range and comfort and have done a few thousand milers and can walk normally the next day.
I am tall and I do not want my legs tied in a knot. I also want to sit upright. That is why I have four of them.
Never really gave it that much thought. Op grabbed a 650 Zookie to bop around on and now the wife enjoys it and thinking of a second bike that manages 2up without breaking the bank.
There are a bunch of Asian twins out there for a couple of grand or so. Just do some research on the model that caught your eye as some have their own little quirks. Example, some V-Stars have terrible oil filter location that can be PITA. See if they have the relocation kit installed or not. I don’t remember the specific years and size but, Google will help you out. There are typically brand and model forums you can look into that can be helpful too.
Insurance can be the go no go factor depending on the provider but, generally there is no multi vehicle discount. Sometimes you are better off just getting the bike that does the best job and run it. My FIL Volusia 800 has a rack for a 60 pack of tins from Costco riding solo or two up without the rack.
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