bigpoppa
Well-known member
RTW on a honda grom, thats what I wanna see.
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Why a true 50/50 Adventure Motorcycle will never be built
- Thread starter Lightcycle
- Start date
matt365
Well-known member
@Lightcycle
I'm torn between the fe350s/350exc-f and the fe501/500exc-f.
I've watched a bunch of reviews; many say the 500 has alot of vibration.
I'd likely do single track, and have a supermoto setup.
I love my wr250r/x, but 60lbs less, and 36hp out of the 350, or nearly 55hp out of the 500 has me lusting for more...
As I recall, your wife has a 350, and you the 500?
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I'm torn between the fe350s/350exc-f and the fe501/500exc-f.
I've watched a bunch of reviews; many say the 500 has alot of vibration.
I'd likely do single track, and have a supermoto setup.
I love my wr250r/x, but 60lbs less, and 36hp out of the 350, or nearly 55hp out of the 500 has me lusting for more...
As I recall, your wife has a 350, and you the 500?
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I have a Husky 250 and I'm quite happy in single track, but it is somewhat lacking on road or in really open stuff. I bought the 250 because it was available and priced well. The 350 is apparently the ideal compromise from everything I've read or heard and is exceptional off road .
No, we both have 500s. She's got the Husky version, I've got the KTM.
It does. There are a couple of things you can do to minimize it, like installing rubber damper bar mounts, but all they do is lessen the vibrations, not eliminate it. It's never going to be as smooth as a multi-cylinder bike.
If you spend a lot of time in the dirt, the vibrations are pretty much a moot point anyway.
For single track, definitely the 350. I've taken the 500 out on single track and you need a lot of fine throttle control in the tight stuff to keep you from whiskey-throttling into a tree or off into the ditch. That gets super-tiring after a while.
My wife did a lot more single track and what she did was put in a smaller front sprocket so she was able to have more torque but in a higher gear, so instead of finessing the throttle in high 1st gear, she could use the bottom of 2nd instead. Marginal decrease in top speed.
But really, the real answer for single track is a 350. Huge fun factor if you can wring out each gear without fear of wrapping your bike around a tree.
Unfortunately, sumo-ing is at odds with single-track. I'd choose the 500 for a sumo setup.
The power-to-weight ratio on the 500 is absolutely bonkers. I love it.
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Nikola Tesla
Well-known member
Honestly versys 300x with the ninja 400 engine would be pretty nice, super smooth parallel with good fun power and sub 400lbs, but then sure, it will be way better than the heavier adventure bikes offroad, but still nothing like a dr650 ktm690 or 701…. How are the 350 and 500 excs on road? Like highway? Long highway trips to destinations? Stable in the wind? I was torn between the dr650, enduro 690r and then I was looking at the 500exc… ended up with the dr650 cause I got it for such a good price, eventually I wanna upgrade, so far the 690r enduro is winning for me, would be hilarious smoking sport cars stop light to stop light on a “dirt bike” lol
You can get some wind protection in the form of a rally tower or tall windscreen. I didn't bother. I prefer a shortie windscreen and the clean air I get from it. I break out the AirHawk cushion for the slab and I can take it off, deflate it and roll it into my drybag when I'm in the dirt.
There was a guy on here who gave his opinion on the 690. He said while it looked good on paper, in reality, it was a compromise on both the on and off-road departments.
I think the way to go is to decide where you want the bike to excel. On the road? Or off? Then pick the best bike for *that* terrain, and suffer through gritted teeth through the other stuff.
I've super-slabbed on the enduro after some long riding days in the dirt. A little bit of pain after all that bliss is an okay compromise. Much better than having to moan about how bad the bike is both on and off the road.
Just MHO.
Nikola Tesla
Well-known member
Hmm I gotta properly test a 690r out sometime, the exc500 sounds pretty good then, I could deal with the little negatives
You did not specify "adventure" in that sentence. With the assumption that "multi" = "2" ... The Yamaha R7 reported wet weight is 414 lbs ... pretty close. Aprilia Tuono 660 Factory kerb weight is given as 181 kg = 400 lbs. Next size class down weighs quite a bit less than that. My R3 is a multi-cylinder motorcycle, and in race trim, it's 290 lbs with no fuel (but all the street stuff has been stripped off). The Ninja 400 and Z400 are in the same ballpark. The Honda 500 is a comparative pig.
Start adding huge fairings and luggage racks and crash guards and whatnot, the weight is gonna go up.
I haven't ridden one, but counterbalancers or not, that is still one mighty big cylinder giving its power output one sledgehammer-blow at a time.
Oil change every 15 hours is a deal breaker for most people.
Obviously those are race maintenence schedules, and you can get away with longer intervals for normal trail riding, but nowhere close to the recommended 5000 km between oil changes for the 690.
Yes.
Sportbikes are in a different class.
Also, if you spend enough money for unobtanium parts, you can get kerb weight down to anything you want.
Ducati Superleggera v4 = 230 hp, 370 lbs.
All this for *only* $100,000 USD!
Nikola Tesla
Well-known member
Damn nevermind
Like he said, those are race intervals.Damn nevermind
250 also calls for a new piston every 20hrs. Trail riders do a new piston in the 200-300hr range.
Oil change intervals can be much longer than the race schedule.
I had a 690R.
It's a great bike and is about as close to 50/50 as you can get. It's as happy on the 401 as it is on a rail trail. I didn't find the vibration to be intrusive anywhere and the motor is just plain excellent with power to spare everywhere. It's well suspended and soaks up whatever you throw at it. absolutely an ideal explorer/back road bike and even without a sumo setup it's a ton of fun on the road. I spent full days in the saddle and never felt worn out or down by the vibration or the bike. I added an airhawk for the highway droning and was quite comfy.
What it isn't good at is single track. It's too heavy, it carries too much weight up high (So do I!) making it a high effort bike in tight trails, and it's not geared low enough. In short, it's just no fun in single track. Wide ATV or multi-use trails and rail trails are well within its capabilities and are lots of fun though and there's miles and miles of those in Ontario.
If you're a supremely skilled rider it WILL manage any trail. I remember Blair Sharpless gliding through some single track in the Ganaraska on a KLR650 WITH A PASSENGER in Preparation for a Great Pine Enduro, but even a great rider will have more fun on a smaller bike.
Priller
Well-known member
Easy answer: it has to be able to handle the impacts of off-road riding while still offering a warranty. The RS and baby Tuono don't. Aluminum isn't a great material for adventure bike frames, as it doesn't flex well and develops metal fatigue much earlier. Also, an aluminum subframe means the wrong kind of crash will need replacement, while steel can often be straightened out.
It's also at the high end of the segment on price, and losing weight costs money. I'm sure they could get it close to 400 lbs, but then it'd cost as much as a full size ADV bike.
Honda built an XL185 street legal enduro, you could ride at 80kph on a paved road reasonably well , get stupid good gas milage , almost backpack it over a mud bog and it cost about 5g out the door. Total onboard electronics suite? Zero. But nobody wants a 185 Honda , regardless of how sensible it is .
I wouldn't mind one to be honest. That or a red monoshock DT175.
There's a clean XL600 close to me for a good price that I've been sitting on my wallet trying not to buy.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I used to ride a Suzuki TS200R. It could clip along at 125kmh all day and run to to 150 when asked. It was as close to an RM as you could get in a street legal Enduro. My top end went 20k before gobbling up a powervalve, piston an niksil cyl were still great.
260lbs, stock 35hp, easy to uncork to 42.
I think that was as closest to the unicorn I have owned.
260lbs, stock 35hp, easy to uncork to 42.
I think that was as closest to the unicorn I have owned.
I had a Honda MT250 for 2 seasons about 45 years ago. About 275 lbs. did 120 - 125 kph. Relative to today's bikes low tech suspension, but bike was reliable. I did street and trails around Montreal and in the Laurentians where we had a cottage.
We have the norm these days that you need a minimum of 450cc for anything half decent, but a few decades ago there were 100cc, 125cc 175cc and 250cc street and dual purpose bikes running around making people quite happy.
Honda’s 2-Stroke: The 1975 MT250 Elsinore - Motorcycle Classics
With Honda’s tradition of producing 4-strokes, many were caught off guard by the lightweight MT250 Elsinore.
www.motorcycleclassics.com
We have the norm these days that you need a minimum of 450cc for anything half decent, but a few decades ago there were 100cc, 125cc 175cc and 250cc street and dual purpose bikes running around making people quite happy.
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