What attribute make a good/great ADV bike

The perfect bike for an adventure is the one you have. People have gone adventure riding on anything with 2 wheels!

Ride more. Think about riding less.

Hell, If I weren't at work, I'd be either riding, eating or sleeping right now!

Very good, the only thing left out is the light end, like the KTM dual sports. I would further split your Dual Sport into 2 ranges:

I guess that will depend on what kind of adventure one expects to undertake with the bike.

Based on most of what this forum is about, It seems that carrying some luggage for over-nighting is a key aspect of Adventuring, and Enduros are best suited for day rides. In my book they are plenty of fun, but not everything expected from an Adventure bike. You wouldn't want to ride one around the world, or, spend weeks traversing the continent on one.

That is why my "other" bike is a plated DRZ400E, and why I consider it my dirt bike, but not my ADV bike. (though with soft bags it could do the job)

I'm with Brian. I would be happy to ride any motorcycle around the world or cross continent. I don't care if it's an "adventure bike", bagger, postie, chopper, dirt bike, Grom, sport bike, fat tire, e-bike, standard, or peddle bike. The machine would influence the route I choose and how much ground I might cover in a day, but I would have a grand adventure on any given two-wheeler.

Allow me to rephrase it.

I wouldn't want to ride one around the world, or, spend weeks traversing the continent on one.
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In my other post I tried to be clear that anyone can do anything with any bike they want. And, clearly some have done these things.

In general, the ride reports I've read on this forum fall into one of the two categories I described. Enduros, Bergmans, Low Riders, Panigales, Dongs, etc. are the exceptions. :huh

Masochism has no limits, and far be it for me to try to impose any upon their ranks.

What did the Masochist say to the Sadist?

Beat me, beat me!
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What did the Sadist say?

No.
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More riders are limited by the muscle between their ears than the machine between their legs.

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Everybody thinks that Ewan and Charlie invented adventure riding and that there are "proper" ways to do adventure travel on a motorcycle. 25 years before Charlie and Ewan headed out with all their support vehicles and crew, Captian America and Billy (compliments of Holiwood) gave us other ideas about atributes for good adventure bikes.

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Here are my priorities:

1. Mechanical Reliability
2. Range
3. Ergonomics
4. Maneuverability

Come ride with us and see if that FZ is still the dirt bike:



This was the easy part, looked like I-70 versus the part just before this where I dropped the bike a few times on slippery roots. I had to drop the tires to about 18 psi to solve some of the tracking issues. Not sure how those radials of yours would work there.

It is also about where the adventure goes and how much the adventurer is willing to suffer.

So to sum it up:

• Where do you want to ride on your adventure
• How good are you at horsing around the bikes you are considering
• How much are you willing to suffer picking up the bike, pulling it out of mud, and how bad it will slam you to the ground :eek1 if you make a mistake where you plan to ride.

I'm a sissy. I plan to ride a bit more off road and my 650 is a pig to move around for my size, it takes two to pull it out of any sort of mud, and I don't like to suffer (I learned how hard my bike can throw me on the ground when the front end washed out at a fair speed in a rutted clay road). So I am going with a 250 dual sport for my adventuring off road in eastern Ohio. I'm sure some of those in more wide open riding areas would do fine on the 650 single. Some who don't get quite so adventurous off road will do fine with a big twin or even a regular road bike.

Figure it out then make a choice what fills the bill.

For me the perfect adv bike would be an modernized DR350s. Things that I look for are. 6 speed WR tranny (with a trail 1st), air-cooled, modern suspension, 300 pounds max wet, can cruise 70-75, simple and long interval maintenance, 350-400 cc.

"What" NOT Who.

That would do it for me.

What attribute makes a great ADV bike?

The rider.

A good enough rider can use just about anything. So, here's mine, keep in mind that I'm 17, so things like "comfort" aren't really a priority. A KTM 150xc, that's right, high strung 2 stroke single track killer. But hear me out. It's about as simple as you can get on a dirt bike. Put on some over-sized radiators, an oil cooler, armor it up, toss on a massive gas tank and you're good to go on the crappiest roads you can find.

The radiators and oil cooler should bring out the maintenance intervals a bit. Hell, given the size of the engine, I'd bring a spare top end kit or two. Look, even if a KLR650, which is as about as simple and reliable as you can get, has a "piston event", which is unlikely but still possible. Your little adventure has hit a pretty big bump. But rebuilding a 150cc two stroke? You could take it to a shop in town and have it rebuilt by the next day if you have the parts. Granted, a klr650 probably wouldn't grenade in the first place. But think, if you used a 150xc, you have a sub 250lbs adventurer. But you won't using heated grips or any other neat do-hickies. I think that the greatest benefit is not that it's fast(although it is a very capable single tracker) or cheap(Yeah, KTM stuff is pricey), but that it's easy to maintain, and to repair in the event of engine damage.

Oh yeah, that picture is Luis Belaustegui, attempted the 2011 Paris Dakar on a 150xc . But had to wash out due to being 12 minutes late to stage, due to stopping to assist many riders along the way. He finished on the assistance route. Also made a point that the bike had no mechanical failures during the race.
http://www.ktm.com/kr/news-events/news/all/details/luis-belaustegui-another-ktm-hero-of-the-dakar-2011-riding-a-ktm-150-xc.html#.UvRHfEtX_Ww

Guess I'm show'in mah age; have'in grow'd up long befoe there wuz ADV bikes.

No problemo.

In a simpler world I would agree. I have used an old Kawasaki 90 two-stroke for touring/adventure riding in the past. All I needed was a small bag of spark plugs in my backpack to keep moving for successive 200 - 300 mile days. It wouldn't be that hard to fabricate a sub-frame/rack to carry a light load. Getting it set up with lights might be trickier. I don't have a clue what the electrical system is like on the 150XC.

If a guy can ride a Honda CT90 from San Francisco to New York, why not a more powerful KTM? The biggest barrier in many places is that this kind of bike is illegal to ride on public roads.

Luis is quite the guy alright. There were many inmates giving him the slow clap on every stage as he came in after just about everybody else. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=857477 http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=796687 2011 was his first attempt and he had to withdraw during the 6th stage. 2012 he made it to the 13th stage. Third time's a charm and he completed the race on the 150 in 2013.



(Oil coolers are only useful where the oil is recirculated in the engine.)

jdrocks, I totally agree with you that each bike is a unique creation of the owners desirers for what he or she wants it to do, but that does not mean there can not be a list of things or guidelines for that rider to look at and consider when planning and building the bike.

The nice thing about 'guidelines' is that you can pick the ones that you want to follow and ignore the ones that do not matter to you. For example a comfortable seat and large gas tank may be important to you because you want to go to Alaska on it, but a bars to taillight seat may be silly. On the other hand that same seat with a narrow lower capacity tank may be just what you need to ride all the trails in your area.

I am in the planning stage of a 'baby adventure bike' based on a GS500 as some here have already built. I have been looking at these and simular builds and I have seen somethings that I would do different and some I will follow. I may be wrong, but at least guidelines will make me think about it.

Happy building!

I can only speak to my needs from an ADV bike...

reasonable ground clearance
capable of some not too gnarly off road stuff
a decent saddle and a nice distance between saddle and feet
capable of carrying a reasonable amount of gear
global servicing capability (well, for me that means all of Europe & North Africa)
minimum 150 mile range (it's not a lot but if I want more, I can always carry cans)
capable of cruising, comfortably, at about 90 mph
good farkle support
plenty of youtube support (I don't want to be the first to fix/repair/install anything on it)

I want to ride it, not develop it :)

I guess I'll be the 3rd or 4th person to say that an updated DR350 would be pretty dang close. Bumped up to 400-450cc, slightly wider spread of gears, updated suspension, wider seat, and a bit of wind protection, it would make a fine ADV bike.

Sure, there are plenty of bikes that outperform it in the dirt, and on the street, but I think you'd have a hard time finding many that were better at both.

A Goldwing with knobbies would be the go !

I'd say:
an engine
2 wheels (with tires)
and a willing rider

That's all I need!
You can make any ride into an adventure if you try hard enough!!