Best type of bike for long distance commuting/touring?

If you commute regularly on the bike in the city -I would want something under 500lbs ready to ride. As for the occasional tour, most any bike can be made to work. Look and sit on a lot of different bikes?
 
LePhillou said:
If the cb500x hadnt come out when i was shopping, i'd be on a versys (albeit the 2011 model year)

Unlike what was mentioned above, the cb500x DOES HAVE a slightly longer suspension travel than its F or R counterparts although it's very minimal....

@Mad Mike are you looking at full on adv or more sport touring? FJ 09/Tracer 09 is a really nice option, enging of the fz in a tamer body, you might like it.
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The are the same suspension. Next time you're at a Honda dealer compare -- the F has the front shock tubes cinched 1.5cm (10mm) further up the tripples -- that's how they change the wheelbase and clearance specs.
LePhillou said:
@Mad Mike are you looking at full on adv or more sport touring? FJ 09/Tracer 09 is a really nice option, enging of the fz in a tamer body, you might like it.
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I have a couple of 1300cc bikes in the garage, I'm covered in the SS and ST categories. I'm looking at midweight ADVs right now. I'm not crossing Africa or the Himalayas, but I's planning a run on the Dalton or Labrador highways. I want simple, dependable and something that doesn't need techs to be flown in if it breaks. I was close on a nice low km F800GS, a discussion with a couple of owners changed my mind. I'm a bit partial to Yamaha and Suzuki, right now it looks like a DL650 is the front runner. If the MT07 Tenere was here I'd be giving that a close look.

Gotta make room in my garage first - anyone want to trade their DL650XT for a Gen II Busa?
 
Mad Mike said:
The are the same suspension. Next time you're at a Honda dealer compare -- the F has the front shock tubes cinched 1.5cm (10mm) further up the tripples -- that's how they change the wheelbase and clearance specs.
I have a couple of 1300cc bikes in the garage, I'm covered in the SS and ST categories. I'm looking at midweight ADVs right now. I'm not crossing Africa or the Himalayas, but I's planning a run on the Dalton or Labrador highways. I want simple, dependable and something that doesn't need techs to be flown in if it breaks. I was close on a nice low km F800GS, a discussion with a couple of owners changed my mind. I'm a bit partial to Yamaha and Suzuki, right now it looks like a DL650 is the front runner. If the MT07 Tenere was here I'd be giving that a close look.

Gotta make room in my garage first - anyone want to trade their DL650XT for a Gen II Busa?
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What about the tiger maybe? 2 of my buddies love them and have done a bit of adv on it
 
Mad Mike said:
The are the same suspension. Next time you're at a Honda dealer compare -- the F has the front shock tubes cinched 1.5cm (10mm) further up the tripples -- that's how they change the wheelbase and clearance specs.
I have a couple of 1300cc bikes in the garage, I'm covered in the SS and ST categories. I'm looking at midweight ADVs right now. I'm not crossing Africa or the Himalayas, but I's planning a run on the Dalton or Labrador highways. I want simple, dependable and something that doesn't need techs to be flown in if it breaks. I was close on a nice low km F800GS, a discussion with a couple of owners changed my mind. I'm a bit partial to Yamaha and Suzuki, right now it looks like a DL650 is the front runner. If the MT07 Tenere was here I'd be giving that a close look.

Gotta make room in my garage first - anyone want to trade their DL650XT for a Gen II Busa?
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You can't go wrong with the KLR650, low tech and reliable it is.
 
I ride one in Australia and I'd not want to trek to the Dalton on it even tho a Sargent seat makes a big diff.

Wee strom is a popular choice for Alaska,
 
LePhillou said:
What about the tiger maybe? 2 of my buddies love them and have done a bit of adv on it
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I'm looking to make my live simpler and easy -- that pretty much eliminates anything made in Europe. The Tiger is also a pricey beast --an unoptioned 800 is $16K out the door.
 
Supernam said:
You can't go wrong with the KLR650, low tech and reliable it is.
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I like the KLR and if I planned off road adventuring I'd certainly have that on my list. I'm planning for lots of highway and rough roads, nothing off road.
 
Interesting thread, and yeah, there is no "perfect for all situations" bike out there, and OP is asking for 2 completely different spectrum (commuting, and long distance touring) that make that reality even bigger.

I've found that my cruiser is a decent compromise on a few fronts - it's not obscenely large/heavy like a wing, but I've ridden 1200+KM days on it and been comfortable. I like the feet-forward seating position that others bemoan and I find it one of the most comfortable riding positions - when travelling long distances I actually have my feet on my highway pegs (which effectively has me in a "recliner" position) probably 70% of the miles and it's awesome. Yes, all my weight is focused on my ***, but that's where your style of seat comes in - cruisers/tourers have big-*** seats that spread this load around. I also have an Ultimate (aftermarket) on mine (with an AirHawk on top of that for super-long days) and it's perfect - others with stock seats may be aching after a 250KM day, so that's an important thing to keep in mind as well - no matter what bike you settle on, not all seats are created equally, and different bikes have different shaped seats that cater to not only the style of bike, but the type of riding they are designed for.

Now, all that having been said, my VTX wouldn't be my choice of bike if I was just commuting to work every day - I'd have a smaller/lighter bike with far fewer farkles, easier to bat around through stop and go, heavy traffic, city streets, etc.

So yes, full circle....there's no perfect bike for everything, there are just compromises....which is why a lot of people have more than one bike. ;)
 
Saw and heard enough Harley's in Barcelona last time I was there. Mostly 883's but a few Street Glides, and was talking to a guy riding a Indian.
 
Lightcycle said:
IMO, I think just street-oriented DS tires like the Tourance or Anakee are best for you. When you say "when the pavement ends", it tells me you are not specifically heading to any tracks that require an OFTR (Ontario Federation of Trail Riders) membership. So basically fire roads and other well-graded gravel roads.

Just so you can get a sense, this road was done using 90/10 tires, Anakees, specifically:
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Thanks for sharing the video, this is exactly what I had in mind, and yes you are correct I wouldn't be doing tracks or trails etc.
But yes when the road converts to gravel etc, I would like to just keep going. ;)

I'll have to make some notes for my "wish list"!
 
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Lightcycle said:
IMO, I think just street-oriented DS tires like the Tourance or Anakee are best for you. When you say "when the pavement ends", it tells me you are not specifically heading to any tracks that require an OFTR (Ontario Federation of Trail Riders) membership. So basically fire roads and other well-graded gravel roads.

Just so you can get a sense, this road was done using 90/10 tires, Anakees, specifically:

[video=youtube;nmbByZTmJfQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmbByZTmJfQ[/video]
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+1

I have used tourance and currently Anakee 3's on my GSA. Great tire, runs well on the pavement and feels find on dirt roads. Not this is not a tire for loose sand and mud, but for dirty roads they handle fine. I have had TKC 80's and they are over kill for gravel roads, which is all I really ride on for my "off roading". Certainly not a tire I would want to tour on unless it was all gravel dirty roads with loose stuff.
 
CB500X is a neat looking bike
and I'm sure is dead reliable
but it is a street bike in ADV livery
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and ??

So is the Vstrom 650

Ground clearance: 6.7 inches
versus 6.5 on the cbx

CBX is lighter.

Both can be made to do better off pavement.

CB500x IS an ADV bike.

Its street siblings are smaller, lower ground clearance, lower seat height.

There are loads of farkles to improve off pavement by the CB500x as there are with the Weestrom.
Maybe evemn more

static_rally-raid-honda-cb500x_02.ashx

CB500x in RallyRaid kit.

Good comparisons here from owners,
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/v-strom-650-vs-rr-cb500x.1124205/

Bottom line for new rider tho ...much lighter, better gas mileage, cheaper insurance and can morph into capable off pavement. 80-90 lb lighter with the weight down lower....big win for the CB500X.

Two up tho ?? Vstrom all the way.

Honda calling my CBF1000 an adv bike is a joke. Not so with the CB500x.
 
if you have to spend 3K USD on a kit
plus installation to make it capable
it is a street bike

and?
and that's the fact, Jack
 
man you're a ball buster.....

out of the crate the X is an ADV looking bike
the R is sporty looking bike

need to spend 3-5 K to make the X actually ADV usable

I'm not picking on Honda
Yamaha does it too with the FZ~FJ~XSR 847 triple based bikes
same basic bike that can be sport, ST, scrambler
when in fact it is not purely any one of those things
 
JavaFan said:
man you're a ball buster.....

out of the crate the X is an ADV looking bike
the R is sporty looking bike

need to spend 3-5 K to make the X actually ADV usable

I'm not picking on Honda
Yamaha does it too with the FZ~FJ~XSR 847 triple based bikes
same basic bike that can be sport, ST, scrambler
when in fact it is not purely any one of those things
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I think it's not the way you see it black or white.

Just like in supersports there's more aggressive super sports (r6) and more tame super sports(gsx), or some dual sports might be more off road or more road biaised, the same way that the cb500x is in the adv category, just on the tamer side of it. you can look at it as your entry level adv bike, give you a taste of the positioning, some of the capabilities of it, without going knee deep in ADV. But then if you like it, or are a veteran, you can put a kit on it to make it fully capable. There's a market for it and in order to make this model successful (and affordable) they obviously had to make some sacrifices. But the community came through to turn it into the potential bike it could be.

I kinda see it like taking an impreza wrx and converting it and tuning it to run like an STi. It has the potential but doesn't come with it out the box.
 
common characteristics of true ADV bikes


  • higher ground clearance
  • longer suspension travel
  • steel, spoked wheels
  • moderate DS tires
  • engine bars
  • skid plate
  • hand guards
  • heated grips
  • tall windshield

CB500X has none of those things
all it has without spending a lot of dough is styling
and it is great styling, very attractive bike
of course it will have Honda dead-nuts reliability too

but it is not an ADV bike
 
JavaFan said:
common characteristics of true ADV bikes


  • higher ground clearance
  • longer suspension travel
  • steel, spoked wheels
  • moderate DS tires
  • engine bars
  • skid plate
  • hand guards
  • heated grips
  • tall windshield

CB500X has none of those things
all it has without spending a lot of dough is styling
and it is great styling, very attractive bike
of course it will have Honda dead-nuts reliability too

but it is not an ADV bike
Click to expand...

And the can o worms is open.
 
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