Your trip around the world - which bike?

[Count Steer]

Current fashion for globe trotting on 2 wheels seems to be big ADV type bikes. General wisdom seems to be smaller than that is better. Needs to be maintainable half way up the Orinoco and run on what you can get to fill the tank. Given that people seem to have done it on some of the most unlikely things, what would you choose?

I'd probably start my thinking around an older Transalp sort of thing.

[weeksy]

Unless there's a way to do it on tarmac, i think i'm more an no than a yes...

Realstically though you'd want something with a few electronics as possible and something with parts that you can get pretty much anywhere on the planet in short notice.

[Count Steer]

Unless there's a way to do it on tarmac, i think i'm more an no than a yes...

Realstically though you'd want something with a few electronics as possible and something with parts that you can get pretty much anywhere on the planet in short notice.

Yeah. The electronics thing was why I thought an older version of the Transalp was probably the way to go. The simpler the better.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Hmmmm, you want something easy to ride, lightish, lowish, easy to work on and service, and able to deal with unsurfaced roads, the original BMW R80GS was ideal, though getting spares would now be difficult - but if you rode it sensibly all you'd need is tyres and brake pads/shoes.

Out of current bikes I'd possibly go for something like a Mash 400 or 650, both have softly tuned copies of old Honda engines, I'd prefer a twin over a single, but you've got to take what's available, they have spoked wheels which are stronger than alloys, and easier to repair if you do get a bent rim.

[The Spin Doctor]

Someone I know got stuck with an error code showing a brake fault. The bike wouldn't restart after refuelling... in Senegal

This was a BMW GS. It took two satellite calls to BMW to get some help. The first person in the 'help' line simply said "call the number in the owner manual to arrange a tow truck" and hung up. The second time, he asked to talk to a technician. It took a lot of arguing that the tow truck wasn't an option 100 miles from Dakar but he got through in the end. It turned out to be a dirty ABS sensor, which simply needed to be unscrewed, cleaned with spit and a hankie, then put back again, before resetting the software.

Back in the mid-80s, my brother and a mate of his rode a pair of CB250RSAs down from London to Spain, across to N Africa, crossing the Atlas Mountains and then the Sahara (only about 1/3 of the route was tarmac at the time so most of the crossing was through the sand and gravel), and on down the W coast of central Africa to the border of S Africa - they stopped there as a S African visa on the passport was bad news at the time. They turned round and rode back up the east side to Kenya, where they stuck the bikes in a crate and flew back. They were gone six months.

The only real concessions to overlanding (which wasn't a 'thing' at the time) were knobblies front and rear, tanks off a CB650 to give them nearer five gallons of fuel than three, a home-made carrier to accommodate two 5 gallon jerry cans (one for petrol the other for water), two spare tyres each, and a lockable 'cat carrier' basket on the back for stashing luggage.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

What was the petrol for if the other Jerry can was for fuel?
And what fuel were they using in their CB250s?

Apart from that great story, and a CB250RS sounds like an ideal bike, light and low, bit under powered, but the engine was used in the original XR250.

[The Spin Doctor]

What was the petrol for if the other Jerry can was for fuel?
And what fuel were they using in their CB250s?

Apart from that great story, and a CB250RS sounds like an ideal bike, light and low, bit under powered, but the engine was used in the original XR250.

Typo... one was gas, the other water. And they just used whatever they could. Some of it was pretty low octane, I seem to recall, and they had to be careful not to give it too big a handful at low revs to avoid pinking. Both bikes made it home without major dramas, and both of them ran the bikes for a while after they got back. My brother's bike was still running fine when he moved out to the Windies for work. I did use it a few times, complete with African mud still on it.

The only sad thing was neither got any photos to speak of. I think Jez had his camera nicked within 30 minutes of landing in N Africa, and my brother's shutter jammed just after crossing the Atlas.

[KungFooBob]

One of these should do the job with the minimum of downtime, with just enough performance to make the good road sections bearable while still having some off-road manners.

You can still buy them brand new in the US...

https://suzukicycles.com/dualsport/2021/dr650s

[Demannu]

C90, knobblies and a 10l jerrycan

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

One of these should do the job with the minimum of downtime, with just enough performance to make the good road sections bearable while still having some off-road manners.

You can still buy them brand new in the US...

https://suzukicycles.com/dualsport/2021/dr650s

The cam shaft wouldn't last all the way round the world on the early versions of that, hopefully Suzuki have sorted this out.

[Dodgy69]

Yamaha 700 ten or summot like. Reliable, light enough, fast enough, big enough.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

How about

https://www.imz-ural.com/adventure-package

Plenty of room for camping gear

[Dodgy69]

How about

https://www.imz-ural.com/adventure-package

Plenty of room for camping gear

Reckon that would be ace, take a buddy and still plenty of space.

[weeksy]

How about

https://www.imz-ural.com/adventure-package

Plenty of room for camping gear

Reckon that would be ace, take a buddy and still plenty of space.

I'd have to take someone who'd tolerate me for a year, tough ask. !!!

[Taipan]

Either something old skoollike a well prepped dr350, but probably a X-adv

[matt]

CRF 300 Rally or Tenere 700.

[cheb]

A steppy 90 would suit I reckon, maybe even a Yamaha Townmate with its shaft drive. Or any Honda 125 clone. Something cheap, simple to fix and ubiquitous.

[Dickyboy]

My brother has a diesel Enfield - recon that would do pretty well if you don't die of embarrassment first

[Bigyin]

Suzuki DRZ400. Its small enough to pick up when you drop it in the boondocks, but big enough to fit me and to take luggage and keep up with city traffic or busy roads.

It was good enough for Fern to take her across the world through the Stans, far east and to Australia.

My mate did the RTW trip 2 up with his missus on a GS1150. They had no mechanical dramas in the 90,000 miles they rode over 18 months

[Yorick]

No matter what I chose, it would need to be new.
Not some 30 year old pile of shite through sentimental reasons.

If old bikes were so good, they'd still be making them.

And any old vehicle will be worse than a new vehicle in the reliability stakes.