Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted

intact.kneeslider DeleteThis @start.com.au wrote:
> On Jan 15, 10:01 am, CrazyCam <crazy... DeleteThis @upturnet.com.au> wrote:
>> intact.kneesli... DeleteThis @start.com.au wrote:
>>
>>> On Jan 14, 7:14 pm, "Fraser Johnston" <ftr... DeleteThis @iinet.net.au> wrote:
>>>> How about the 650 GS?
>>> Since you're still primarily a car guy, I'll try to frame this in
>>> terms you'll understand the most easily...
>>> ...the BMW F650GS is the bike equivalent of, say, the Renault Scenic.
>> Oh, I didn't realise that the Scenic was that good.
>
> In the sense that, yes, chances are both will make it through a given
> stretch of rough terrain, but not without a number of bits falling off
> or getting stoved in.
>
> Fragile things, the F650's...

I must admit that I thought the F650GS, straight out of the box was
quite a nice dual-purpose machine, where neither purpose was being a
full on enduro racer, nor a full on super motard.

Kind of being a motorcycle which could, at a reasonable pace, get to
lots of places where there may be a road or a reasonably used track.

OTOH, every time I thought about buying one, I'd remember the Honda
SL230, which would have done much the same job for about half the price.

regards,
CrazyCam
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

On Jan 15, 10:54 am, intact.kneesli... DeleteThis @start.com.au wrote:
> On Jan 15, 10:01 am, CrazyCam <crazy... DeleteThis @upturnet.com.au> wrote:
>
>
>
> > intact.kneesli... DeleteThis @start.com.au wrote:
>
> > > On Jan 14, 7:14 pm, "Fraser Johnston" <ftr... DeleteThis @iinet.net.au> wrote:
>
> > >> How about the 650 GS?
>
> > > Since you're still primarily a car guy, I'll try to frame this in
> > > terms you'll understand the most easily...
>
> > > ...the BMW F650GS is the bike equivalent of, say, the Renault Scenic.
>
> > Oh, I didn't realise that the Scenic was that good.
>
> In the sense that, yes, chances are both will make it through a given
> stretch of rough terrain, but not without a number of bits falling off
> or getting stoved in.
>
> Fragile things, the F650's...

Really?

I'll have to tell the mate of mine thats taken his around Aus a couple
of times, and regularly travels the Victorian Alps back roads. The
only problems have been when he has punted it into a corner a bit hard
and nearly killed himself. Replaced the few broken bits and its going
good as gold.
I'm sure he'll want to know that his bike is unreliable.

SteveB
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

"Fraser Johnston" <ftrust RemoveThis @iinet.net.au> wrote:
> How about the 650 GS?
>
Good idea; they seem cheap enough.
http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/536844735.html
--
Clem
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:45:30 -0800 (PST), SteveB <boyds.DeleteThis@ains.net.au>
wrote:

>On Jan 15, 10:54 am, intact.kneesli....DeleteThis@start.com.au wrote:
>> On Jan 15, 10:01 am, CrazyCam <crazy....DeleteThis@upturnet.com.au> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> > intact.kneesli....DeleteThis@start.com.au wrote:
>>
>> > > On Jan 14, 7:14 pm, "Fraser Johnston" <ftr....DeleteThis@iinet.net.au> wrote:
>>
>> > >> How about the 650 GS?
>>
>> > > Since you're still primarily a car guy, I'll try to frame this in
>> > > terms you'll understand the most easily...
>>
>> > > ...the BMW F650GS is the bike equivalent of, say, the Renault Scenic.
>>
>> > Oh, I didn't realise that the Scenic was that good.
>>
>> In the sense that, yes, chances are both will make it through a given
>> stretch of rough terrain, but not without a number of bits falling off
>> or getting stoved in.
>>
>> Fragile things, the F650's...
>
>Really?
>
>I'll have to tell the mate of mine thats taken his around Aus a couple
>of times, and regularly travels the Victorian Alps back roads. The
>only problems have been when he has punted it into a corner a bit hard
>and nearly killed himself. Replaced the few broken bits and its going
>good as gold.
>I'm sure he'll want to know that his bike is unreliable.
>
>SteveB

IK didn't say they were unreliable... just that some bits fall off on
rough roads.

Johno
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:56:34 GMT, "Knobdoodle"
<knobdoodle RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>"Fraser Johnston" <ftrust RemoveThis @iinet.net.au> wrote:
>> How about the 650 GS?
>>
>Good idea; they seem cheap enough.
>http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/536844735.html


That ain't no dual purpose, THIS is a dual purpose:
http://mypics989.blogspot.com/

g,d,r..


Onya bike !!!

Gerry
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

On Jan 15, 7:45 pm, SteveB <bo... DeleteThis @ains.net.au> wrote:
> On Jan 15, 10:54 am, intact.kneesli... DeleteThis @start.com.au wrote:
>
> > Fragile things, the F650's...
>
> Really?
>
> I'll have to tell the mate of mine thats taken his around Aus a couple
> of times, and regularly travels the Victorian Alps back roads. The
> only problems have been when he has punted it into a corner a bit hard
> and nearly killed himself. Replaced the few broken bits and its going
> good as gold.
>
> I'm sure he'll want to know that his bike is unreliable.

"Fragile", the word I used, and "unreliable", which you used, are not
synonymous... that means they don't mean the same thing, btw...

To my mind, "off-road" means "where 4WD's think twice to tread"; 45-
degree inclines, footpeg-deep ruts and tracks composed of watermelon-
sized rocks, not fire trails. If the plan is to ride through a part of
the world where rounding a corner on a rough, but otherwise
serviceable dirt road and finding that a landslide has washed most of
the next couple of hundred metres of it away is to be expected, it
would make sense to do it on a bike as tolerant of minor damage as
possible.

The F650, with its ABS plastics and big roadbike-style instrument
cluster, is not such a bike. Throw it into the rocks at any kind of
pace, and what you drag back onto the road is likely to be fit only to
be limped home. Do it with an enduro bike, and you won't even have to
dust it off before you keep going.
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

On Jan 16, 12:15 pm, G-S <ge... RemoveThis @castbus.com.au> wrote:
>
> intact.kneesli... RemoveThis @start.com.au wrote:
>
> > The F650, with its ABS plastics and big roadbike-style instrument
> > cluster, is not such a bike. Throw it into the rocks at any kind of
> > pace, and what you drag back onto the road is likely to be fit only to
> > be limped home. Do it with an enduro bike, and you won't even have to
> > dust it off before you keep going.
>
> This is all true but one needs to take into account how often one
> actually gets into trouble on a dirt bike when one isn't racing.

Or how often one has to cross a few hundred metres of boulder field
when riding dirt roads and fire trails... in Australia, not very often
at all. In the Hindu Kush, on the other hand...

> And (not trying to be rude) I've seen your reaction to dirt roads IK!
>
> Dirt roads I'm happy to do 100kph on a road bike had you rather concerned

You were on a 240kg XJ900, I was on a 200kg ZX-6R. Stiffer suspension,
softer tyres, steeper rake, front-heavy weight distribution, big
unprotected radiator out the front for kicked-up rocks to puncture.
Where you floated over corrugations, I was seeing a vertical stack of
five overlapping instrument clusters. The priority was to ride so that
the possibility of crashing or of something rattling off the bike was
minimised, so I stuck it into second and bumbled along at 60. The next
time I did that stretch of dirt, three of the four mounting points on
my rear hugger cracked... which brings us right back to the question
of plastics on the F650GS, and the proposition that for venturing off
the beaten track, the most important attribute to select for in the
choice of motorcycle is survivability.

Plenty of adventure-rider crazies seem perfectly happy to leave half
the bodywork and one pannier from their KTM Adventures halfway up a
mountain when they go for a weekend ride through the bush. I'm a
tightarse, and would rather that the bike have as few fragile bits as
possible to begin with than for it to be capable of continuing on
after 10kg of ancillaries have fallen off.
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

diogenes wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:56:34 GMT, "Knobdoodle"
> <knobdoodle DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> "Fraser Johnston" <ftrust DeleteThis @iinet.net.au> wrote:
>>> How about the 650 GS?
>>>
>> Good idea; they seem cheap enough.
>> http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/536844735.html
>
>
> That ain't no dual purpose, THIS is a dual purpose:
> http://mypics989.blogspot.com/

Ah, well, yes it is indeed.

Trouble is, it just doesn't have the image.

As we all know, image is much more important than substance.

Get a celeb to ride three times round the world on one and make a TV
series about it.

Get Paris Hilton to ride one with no knickers on and make a video of
doing it.

Rebuild the engine from solid titanium.

Quadruple the servicing costs.

Jack the price up considerably.

All of a sudden... image.

regards,
CrazyCam
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

intact.kneeslider.RemoveThis@start.com.au wrote:

> The F650, with its ABS plastics and big roadbike-style instrument
> cluster, is not such a bike. Throw it into the rocks at any kind of
> pace, and what you drag back onto the road is likely to be fit only to
> be limped home. Do it with an enduro bike, and you won't even have to
> dust it off before you keep going.

I'd like to see the counter-argument to that one! Very good points.
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

intact.kneeslider.RemoveThis@start.com.au wrote:
>
> The F650, with its ABS plastics and big roadbike-style instrument
> cluster, is not such a bike. Throw it into the rocks at any kind of
> pace, and what you drag back onto the road is likely to be fit only to
> be limped home. Do it with an enduro bike, and you won't even have to
> dust it off before you keep going.

This is all true but one needs to take into account how often one
actually gets into trouble on a dirt bike when one isn't racing.

It's been my experience that I very seldom have issues off road unless
I'm racing a mate.

And (not trying to be rude) I've seen your reaction to dirt roads IK!

Dirt roads I'm happy to do 100kph on a road bike had you rather concerned

If you take dropping the bike out of the equation (which shouldn't
happen unless you are trials riding not trail riding) then the F650
(other than being heavy) isn't really that bad a choice.

And it's better for the on road parts of the trip than a pure dirt bike too.

Having said that... personally I'd buy a DR650 and put a big tank and a
rack and some soft panniers on it

G-S
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:56:26 -0800 (PST)
intact.kneeslider RemoveThis @start.com.au <intact.kneeslider RemoveThis @start.com.au> wrote:
>
> To my mind, "off-road" means "where 4WD's think twice to tread"; 45-
> degree inclines, footpeg-deep ruts and tracks composed of watermelon-
> sized rocks, not fire trails. If the plan is to ride through a part of

I agree. I've taken the 850T Guzzi on fire trails, and on Stoney
Chute Road, where the firetrucks don't like going....

(And up Rab's driveway and that's not for the faint hearted)

An old fashioned plasticless roadbike can go a long way on lousy roads
as Carlo Guzzi demonstrated on the first Norge[1] in 1922.

Zebee

[1] First Norge ref in the thread. What took us so long Theo?
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

<intact.kneeslider DeleteThis @start.com.au> wrote in message
news:371afc19-3463-4076-a36d-46e8bf83ce39@t1g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
> On Jan 15, 7:45 pm, SteveB <bo... DeleteThis @ains.net.au> wrote:
>> On Jan 15, 10:54 am, intact.kneesli... DeleteThis @start.com.au wrote:
>>
>> > Fragile things, the F650's...
>>
>> Really?
>>
>> I'll have to tell the mate of mine thats taken his around Aus a couple
>> of times, and regularly travels the Victorian Alps back roads. The
>> only problems have been when he has punted it into a corner a bit hard
>> and nearly killed himself. Replaced the few broken bits and its going
>> good as gold.
>>
>> I'm sure he'll want to know that his bike is unreliable.
>
> "Fragile", the word I used, and "unreliable", which you used, are not
> synonymous... that means they don't mean the same thing, btw...
>
> To my mind, "off-road" means "where 4WD's think twice to tread"; 45-
> degree inclines, footpeg-deep ruts and tracks composed of watermelon-
> sized rocks, not fire trails. If the plan is to ride through a part of
> the world where rounding a corner on a rough, but otherwise
> serviceable dirt road and finding that a landslide has washed most of
> the next couple of hundred metres of it away is to be expected, it
> would make sense to do it on a bike as tolerant of minor damage as
> possible.
>
> The F650, with its ABS plastics and big roadbike-style instrument
> cluster, is not such a bike. Throw it into the rocks at any kind of
> pace, and what you drag back onto the road is likely to be fit only to
> be limped home. Do it with an enduro bike, and you won't even have to
> dust it off before you keep going.

You are talking about an enduro bike when the thread was "Dual Purpose" a
good Enduro bike is hardly a "Dual Purpose" bike.

Boxer
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iITomfFclpM


 >> Stay informed about: Dual Purpose Bikes - Input Wanted