1200GS or Super Tenere There's not much you CAN'T do with those bikes other than real offroading. I like to take long rides sometimes, and while it can be done on a single cylinder bike, it's just not fun. A GS is fun to rip down a back road, hit a dirt road and then slab back home in comfort or load it up with luggage and ride for days. Not many other bikes can do that. If you're the type of guy that rarely ventures out of the county you live in, there's better choices for sure.
I've got three favorite bikes right now. All do certain things a little better than the other. The three I have are- 2004 BMW R1150RS, 2003 DRZ 400S, and a 1984 BMW R80 G/S. Which is the keeper? That's easy the R80 G/S. It's the in between bike tot he other two. It suit my riding style, as I'm not to aggressive off road, and well it's ok on road too
Ural If things got that bad I would need something I could keep alive with parts from Autozone and home depot. Also would need something with serious payload capacity. And I would have no intention of going fast doing so as I would be a cheap and poor.
having tried to kill a xr650r for the last eleven years you won't get me off one... trackdays ....yep it does them and quite well long distance days.. yep got a mid winter run set up on saturday of 180 miles tight single track .....yep gentle woods riding.... yep... motocross yep ..
Yup. It has the best ergonomics of any of my bikes, it's always my favorite to ride, handles and brakes well, has amazing wind protection and sounds like a motorcycle should. If it had factory luggage, it would be the perfect motorcycle. That's why my vote would be for a new Multistrada.
The lightest bike that would handle 100 miles of of pavement if the need arose. Probably a KTM 500 EXC. Although I'm not sure I could resist the simplicity of a plated 300 XCW.
If I had to pare it down to one of the eight, it'd be the Buell Ulysses. Single track is way down on my list of priorities. The Uly shines brightly in every other riding situation.
I've been trying to find this bike all my life. In the 60's we complained because our bikes had to be modified to do what we wanted (dirt, roadrace, etc.). Today we seem to have come full circle trying to find a more universal design in a field of sharply focused "niche" bikes. All of the bikes I've owned all were either to small, to heavy or to sharply focused to be "one bike solutions". The KLR650 I'm riding now would be close if it had another 10hp. Maybe a KTM 690 Duke with a couple more inches of wheel travel?
+1, by far the most versatile bike I've owned, and its so ugly I can keep the panniers on it and nobody notices. No need to lock them either, even smart people can't figure out how to open them without a salesman nearby. I pulled up next to a cute girl on a pink scooter in downtown austin, who had the prerequisite chihuaha in her lap. She looked up at me and asked " Is that even a motorcycle"?
It'd be my number one pick if I could throw it around off the beaten path. The margin for error on that beast is a bit narrow for my skinny ass to have much confidence. It does, however, reign supreme if 2-up is a priority.
Quite true. It doesn't do well in the more gnarly off road situations at all. Luckily, in central Texas there are no gnarly off road situations; in fact there's very little offroading to be had at all. So i have to settle for worn out county roads which it handles perfectly, along with the daily potholes I encounter. Then again, it can tread water OK, just not mud.
off of this list , my choice would be F800GS ( with a 18inch front wheel for track days ) and ( up grades in supension for trail stuff ) IMHO I have done all 6 on list and bike has preform well.
