revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I reckon my perfect bike, for what I currently use a bike for, would have a CRF300L's wafty pothole-denier suspension and light weight, the seat and luggage rack / pillion handles from a Transalp 750, and a twin cylinder with 35-50 horsepower (bonus points for <351cc as the road tax is much cheaper here). Ideally Japanese not Chinese and I'm never buying another BMW.

I suspect I am describing a Kawasaki Versys 300, but there are only a couple on the island and no-one is selling.

What else exists?

Not twin cylinder but new DRZ400. But Suzuki are having a laugh with the price.

My perfect bike would be a KTM 690 with something like a GSX8S engine.

Drz is a decent shout, but they are indeed silly priced. Also very tall. I'm 5'10", and prefer to get at least one foot flat especially with kiddo on the back. The seat doesn't look great either, especially the rear.

The cf-moto 450 seems to have everything going for it except being Chinese.

CB500X (or NX500 as they call them now).

Not under the Requested CC limit.

If the suspension was found lacking Rally Raid sell loads of bolt on tat to make them better.

SV650: bullet proof, good weight, handles well and the engine is brilliant for a, these days, small bike.

Buckaroo wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:16 am SV650: bullet proof, good weight, handles well and the engine is brilliant for a, these days, small bike.

The wee-strom is probably more suitable for Morti's needs.

A_morti wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:07 am The cf-moto 450 seems to have everything going for it except being Chinese.

I've found Nathan the Postman channel on Youtube really good for reviewing Chinese bikes, he buys them for his business where they get fair use by his customers and he isn't shy about taking them on off road trips to Spain and things like that. Won't give say long term 5 year ownership experience but does give say 1-3 years decent mileage real world tests. Not sure if the CF-Moto 450 is a bike he has, but he might do.

Take a look at this, he talks about most of the bikes that you could be looking at here:

KTM390 Adventure R, CFmoto450, Himalayan 450 and the new Rieju 307 alongside the CRF300

The nx500 is pretty road oriented. I've only sat on one and bounced it, but I reckon potholes would still be felt at the handlebars.
Sv650... Doesn't really meet any part of the brief.
Wee Strom was on the list 10 odd years ago when I bought a BMW f650gs, I found it too big then and they didn't get any smaller.

And there's this CFmoto-alike https://motomorini.eu/en-uk/model/alltrhike/ lower seat height apparently

An 04/05 Kawa ZX10R with higher bars. The lightest proddy sportsbike ever. It's kinda what I was looking for when I bought the Z1000R. The Zed is considerably heavier and much less potent,but there's enough of a shadow there to keep me interested.

I still muse on occasion of buying another ten and making the bike I really wanted.

Ditchfinder wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:48 am And there's this CFmoto-alike https://motomorini.eu/en-uk/model/alltrhike/ lower seat height apparently

Dry weight 190kg makes that a hard sell.

The rieju looks good but I saw one review of it where the press bike had a leaking rear shock and a few other issues. I reckon it'd leave me wishing I'd bought a crf300 rally.

Why are all adv bikes so ugly?

Maybe I'm over complicating things, and the answer is crf300 whether L or Rally? The L is probably the less ugly to me.
The back seat isn't amazing but it's only for short trips and some aftermarket racks appear to add a reasonable handhold.
The engine is not slower than my cbr250 and I like it in that bike.

There aren't any twins that are lighter than that although the new BMW 450 that's coming next year could maybe shave 10kg off that.

Only other thing I can think of is go retro - Moto Morini 350 Kanguro - if you can find one that is

The CFmoto 450 is supposedly under 200kg soaking wet, so definitely decently under 190 dry.

Nah, carbs aren't for me.
Those days are gone, especially since e10. I'd rather have it start every time.

Skub wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:51 am An 04/05 Kawa ZX10R with higher bars. The lightest proddy sportsbike ever. It's kinda what I was looking for when I bought the Z1000R. The Zed is considerably heavier and much less potent,but there's enough of a shadow there to keep me interested.

I still muse on occasion of buying another ten and making the bike I really wanted.

I sometimes wonder the same. Swap the GSXS for K5/6 Streetfighter as it'd be lighter, cheaper and 15hp up. But then it'd likely be fucked and probably a worse roadbike. And it's not like I've worried about it lacking power

I would like a modern VFR800. Updated ABS, a few different modes, shave off some lbs but DON'T touch the engine. And keep the analogue dash please, add more info if you like but keep the speedo and tacho as they are.

Prefect bike for me?

Potter into town.
Gentle ride with older pals on slower bikes
Take the missus for gentle ride
Crazy ride with the nutters
Massive amount of torque.
Touring holiday with plenty of luggage.
250 mile blat from Cadiz to Portimao
Wazz round Portimao for 3 days on 100% stock settings hitting 175 every lap

Hmm, what could do that?

A_morti wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:07 am Drz is a decent shout, but they are indeed silly priced. Also very tall. I'm 5'10", and prefer to get at least one foot flat especially with kiddo on the back. The seat doesn't look great either, especially the rear.

The cf-moto 450 seems to have everything going for it except being Chinese.

I never had a problem with my DRZ, and I'm 5'8" max, 29" inside leg