Simple yet sophisticated?

Saw a pic of the Honda VFR-based adventure tourer in this week's More
Crap than News. Yup, very nice, very swish, looks like it'll do the
job, but excuse me: fourteen grand?

So we've got nice basic budget nakeds (Bandit et al), nice budget
fully-faired sports(ish) bikes like the new CBR Honda and the Suzuki
650, perhaps also the new Yamaha Diversion...

And there are still some decent relatively cheap trail bikes, though
sadly my personal favouite, the Yamaha XT600E, is no more.

You'd have thought someone would settle down and produce a decent-
priced big adventure bike. Big fat tank, decent seat, weather
protection, luggage or provisio for it to be added, say around six and
a half grand. The only thing I can think of is Yamaha's Tenere, as
owned by Bonwick and Packer of this parish, and I was this --> <--
close to buying one myself, except I got seduced by the Street Triple.

I still might buy a Tenere, if the move to Chile comes off (land
buying is a s.. l... o.... w process there); in fact, I probably will
anyway, but it would be nice to have something in that mould and price
bracket but with a bit more grunt. One day, perhaps.

 

agree 100% - and if KTM ever finish the 690 Adventure it's going to be
far north of 6.5k IMHO, which is a God awful shame as I'm a bit
smitten by the KTM's I have had / have got. A 6.5k 690 Adventure would
have me camping out side the dealers like those nutters you see
waiting for two people they'll never really meet get married.

cheers

SS

 

It's an incredibly old design as well: a VFR800 on stilts. Perhaps just a
cheap-to-develop way of looking like they have an answer to the F800GS,
Tiger 800 and Versys?

 

They could just update the Africa Twin.

 

Suzuki has the DL1000 and 650 which are decent (if unexciting) bikes for a
very decent price IMO. Alternatively, you might like the F650GS (the twin).
If you must, Honda also has the Transalp.

 

As I'm sure Ben will agree the current 1200 Bindat is unbeatable in
functionality and VFM. It wouldn't be difficult at all for Suzuki to put it
in an Adventure Tour package for the same price.

 

Yamaha's Super Tenere & Ducati's Multistrada have a similarly stupid price.

They obviously want to keep it a very niche market. Whereas that new
Z1000SX looks like very good value and if Kawasaki can get the parts, I
imagine they will sell quite a few.

They fucked that up with the Varadero. They had an opportunity to get a
march on Triumph & BMW before these brands got a grip on the ADV market.
Same with the Dominator: in the late 80s & early 90s it was one of the best
road biased trail bikes around. They could've had a big slice of the
F650/XT600 pie except they brought out the cheap & nasty SLR650.

 

Not any more. They only produce the DL650 now.

 

Which is a damn shame, because the 1000 V-Strom was a cracking bike and
I would have considered buying a new one if they still made them

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

It's a good thing I checked MCN
(<http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/b...s/Suzuki/Suzuki-DL1000-V-Strom-2002-current/>)
before posting, to make sure that the local lack of availability of DL1000s
didn't apply to the UK. Serves me right for not going straight to
suzuki.co.uk I suppose.

On a partially-related rant, I don't quite get Suzuki's policy. They have a
lovely 1000cc V engine and decide to drop it entirely from their range; they
drop the SV650, then decide to produce the Gladius which looks... I can't
even think of an appropriately insulting comment regarding its lack of
masculinity (the word "hairdresser" came to mind however). And don't get me
started on the DRZ.

 

Having ridden both, unless I was going to ride two-up a lot of the time,
I can't see much reason not to get the 650.

 

Well, they haven't dropped the SV650S. Change the bars and you've got the
same ergonomics as the naked SV.

 

It's not a Bandit anymore...

http://www.suzuki-gb.co.uk/bike/gsx1250fal0st/

It's also £2000 more on the road than I paid for my new one in October
2009, which is crazy, but probably goes some way to explaining the
cost of this new Honda. Even a plain old unfaired Bandit 1250 is 7
grand now.

Although, I think this is interesting...

http://www.suzuki-gb.co.uk/bike/gsr750l1/

Shame it isn't a full fat GSXR750 motor though.

 

Not as much as this does:

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=JPY&view=5Y

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, "TOG@Toil"

HFM!? Are you sure? Pounds? Really?

I was at the NMM today for my company's conference and there was a Honda
launch event for it at the same venue. It looks OK I guess, but no way
is it worth that sort of money.

 

£9,075 according to Honda.

http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/adventure/#!/crossrunner/

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Salad Dodger

Better, but still not great.

 

Seeing as a VFR800 is £9,950, it's not taking the piss.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Salad Dodger

<Googles>

Blimey, aren't bikes expensive now?

 

It's called a V-Strom.

Fraser