SteveD
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2011
- Messages
- 5,780
- Reaction score
- 3
- Location
- It's complicated....
- Bike
- BMW G650 X-challenge
I am kak on dirt. Questionable skills on road, kinda OK-ish in good dirt roads, but terrible as soon as I encounter anything loose, soft or wet. The sand monster has my number, and beats me up with depressing regularity.
His mean big brother, mudman, is even worse. :violent1:
So my 1200GS is a bit of a handful for me in the dirt. It is a great bike, and skilled riders can do incredible things with it, but I sometimes suspect that they made a deal with gravity and aren't sharing about how they managed to do that... Heavy bike, rider with too little skill, too little balance -> not good. :confused1:
Add to this an unexplainable, unreasonable fascination with rallye, mainly Dakar. My bucket-list has a firm entry to chase Dakar start to finish, and I am not convinced that my trusty 1200GS would be the best bike to do that (refer lack of skills described above)
I decided that I needed a lighter bike. The 1200GS would remain as a tourer/commuter, at which it is brilliant, and this lighter bike would be for the dirt road stuff. And so the search began.
:downtown:
I started with what was required (I'm an engineer, I can't help it!):
- Reliable, low maintenance (my lack of mechanical skills matches quite closely my lack of riding skills). :dontknow:
- Light(ish), as least considerably lighter than the 1200GS.
- A roadworthy dual sport, not a racer. Speed is not really my thing.
- Range in the region of 450km.
- Comfortable(ish). I must be able to ride a few hundred km's on a day without requiring a medic to surgically remove the seat from my sphincter.
- Able to carry some luggage. Not a huge amount, but some.
- Rallye navigation fascinates me, so I wanted something on which I could fit a roadbook/tripmeter. Not that I am planning to ride a rally, this is purely to play.
- Not so tall. I have short legs.
- I decided that ABS was an absolute requirement. Lots of people may disagree, but ABS has saved me from two potentially bad accidents already, both on wet tar. If this were a pure off-road toy, it would not be required, but I will be riding on tar at least some of the time, so ABS in in.
I considered a long list of bikes, and could not find one that fitted. The closest was the BMW G650X-Challenge, discontinued in 2008 but still available second-hand. Very reliable, more of a dual sport than an enduro bike (in my opinion, some will disagree), long-range tank/fairing/other goodies available to make it into a dirt road tourer/rallye nav instrument toy, available with ABS. I had to compromise on the height. Bliksem it is tall!
So the plan is:
1. Find second hand bike with low mileage, well looked after
2. Rob bank
3. Buy bike
4. Rob bigger bank
5. Pass takings on to Touratech, together with salary :crybaby2:
6. Fit long range tank, rallye fairing
7. Upgrade front shocks
7. Fit rally instruments
and I have a toy!
To make it into a touring toy:
8. Replace rear subframe with steel subframe+racks
9. Fit soft luggage
Maybe:
10. Upgrade rear shock
And hopefully:
11. Ship bike to South America, chase Dakar start-to-finish :wav:
It will take a while to make a dent in this list, and maybe I'll never get to the bottom, but I'll post installments in the saga as it progresses.
His mean big brother, mudman, is even worse. :violent1:
So my 1200GS is a bit of a handful for me in the dirt. It is a great bike, and skilled riders can do incredible things with it, but I sometimes suspect that they made a deal with gravity and aren't sharing about how they managed to do that... Heavy bike, rider with too little skill, too little balance -> not good. :confused1:
Add to this an unexplainable, unreasonable fascination with rallye, mainly Dakar. My bucket-list has a firm entry to chase Dakar start to finish, and I am not convinced that my trusty 1200GS would be the best bike to do that (refer lack of skills described above)
I decided that I needed a lighter bike. The 1200GS would remain as a tourer/commuter, at which it is brilliant, and this lighter bike would be for the dirt road stuff. And so the search began.
:downtown:
I started with what was required (I'm an engineer, I can't help it!):
- Reliable, low maintenance (my lack of mechanical skills matches quite closely my lack of riding skills). :dontknow:
- Light(ish), as least considerably lighter than the 1200GS.
- A roadworthy dual sport, not a racer. Speed is not really my thing.
- Range in the region of 450km.
- Comfortable(ish). I must be able to ride a few hundred km's on a day without requiring a medic to surgically remove the seat from my sphincter.
- Able to carry some luggage. Not a huge amount, but some.
- Rallye navigation fascinates me, so I wanted something on which I could fit a roadbook/tripmeter. Not that I am planning to ride a rally, this is purely to play.
- Not so tall. I have short legs.
- I decided that ABS was an absolute requirement. Lots of people may disagree, but ABS has saved me from two potentially bad accidents already, both on wet tar. If this were a pure off-road toy, it would not be required, but I will be riding on tar at least some of the time, so ABS in in.
I considered a long list of bikes, and could not find one that fitted. The closest was the BMW G650X-Challenge, discontinued in 2008 but still available second-hand. Very reliable, more of a dual sport than an enduro bike (in my opinion, some will disagree), long-range tank/fairing/other goodies available to make it into a dirt road tourer/rallye nav instrument toy, available with ABS. I had to compromise on the height. Bliksem it is tall!
So the plan is:
1. Find second hand bike with low mileage, well looked after
2. Rob bank
3. Buy bike
4. Rob bigger bank
5. Pass takings on to Touratech, together with salary :crybaby2:
6. Fit long range tank, rallye fairing
7. Upgrade front shocks
7. Fit rally instruments
and I have a toy!
To make it into a touring toy:
8. Replace rear subframe with steel subframe+racks
9. Fit soft luggage
Maybe:
10. Upgrade rear shock
And hopefully:
11. Ship bike to South America, chase Dakar start-to-finish :wav:
It will take a while to make a dent in this list, and maybe I'll never get to the bottom, but I'll post installments in the saga as it progresses.
