Adventure riding means so many things to different people.
For some it will be lots of highway miles with some easy dirt roads thrown in.
Others will avoid highways like the plague,
and enjoy the challenge of wrestling their bikes through tough terrain.
And the choice of bike varies so much.
Some riders will accept nothing less than 100 horsepower at the rear wheel.
Others will ride across the country on postie bikes putting out ten horsepower.
In Australia, the adventure riding tends to be in tougher terrain for many.
And for guys who can't afford two motorbikes, the holy grail is an
adventure bike that can also be used for dirt riding, or dual sport riding as well.
Some would say this is the myth of the lightweight adventure bike.
Or the do-everything bike that may involve so many compromises that it does nothing well.
The past five years I've enjoyed experimenting with bikes in the 110kg to 150kg category.
Here's an overview of the journey so far.
The big Berg!
Sadly this bike was discontinued in 2012.
To date, it's certainly the most fun I've had with the lightweight adventure bike concept.
An incredibly grunty engine that proved to
have exceptional longevity and minimal maintenance required.
It also had a good sized oil capacity.
I put a cush drive hub rear wheel on due to the tendency of the countershaft
to wear prematurely from too much road riding...
a well known Husaberg and KTM issue.
With a padded seat and extra fuel capacity,
I found this bike a pleasure for trips up to seven days at a time.
The WR450F is heavier than its European competitors.
But in a sense this works well if you are adapting it for adventure riding.
They are very reliable solid bikes, although the five speed gearbox
can a bit limiting for dual sport riding or an adventure conversion.
When it comes to a budget lightweight adventure bike,
the good old DRZ400 is always worth looking at.
A huge range of aftermarket accessories, super reliable.
Like most Japanese bikes the five speed gearbox is limiting.
And it does rev quite a bit at highway speeds.
Also the engine is quite doughy but then it will last forever.
The old Husqvarna 610 and 630.
Sadly these were discontinued and they never seemed to get the sales they deserved.
And Husqvarna never brought out an adventure version which might have sold like hotcakes.
The lack of a strong rear subframe is an issue on most of these bikes,
but especially the Husky... it broke very easily.
Despite that, a great bike that needed very few mods to be very capable for adventure work.
The big KTM 690.
I know many guys love their 690s, I simply couldn't gel with the bike and sold it quickly.
They are incredibly powerful bikes and in
my opinion have a great potential for lightweight adventure bikes conversion
I know the majority of owners love them, some like me didn't.
See our review vid if you want to see the issues I had.
The DR650 bush pig.
Coming in just under the arbitrary weight limit I set, regular viewers will know I love the DR650.
It's old fashioned, it has many little niggling issues.
But it's such a cheap bike that becomes a great
light weight adventure bike with a pile of do-it-yourself mods.
You certainly can't consider it to be a good dirt bike.
But you can ride it across the country and then go for an easy trail ride on it too.
We've done a whole video series on mods for this bushpig.
This is my next project hopefully.
The Beta RR480.
I've been running into more and more guys who have adapted the big bore
Beta for adventure riding, and they swear by them.
Over the past five years the engines have proved to be rock solid.
And they sit at least an inch lower than other enduro bikes like the KTM 500EXC.
I've been chatting with these Beta riders and they reckon the
big Beta was their choice as an adventure mount due to the two separate oil cases,
the double overhead cam makes it much smoother on the highway.
It has a less jerky throttle response and the countershaft
doesn't wear out with extended road riding.
So that's my experimenting to date.
I know there are other bikes too, like the Honda XR650L.
And of course many guys enjoy riding the Japanese dual sport 250s for adventure riding.
What I do find interesting is that seems to be a market niche that no one has fully explored yet.
Surely there is a market for an adventurised version of a big bore enduro bike.
It could be detuned and given a bigger oil capacity.
Slap on a bigger tank and comfortable seat, possibly lower the bike a little.
Beef up the rear subframe to handle luggage, and put a cush
drive hub on the rear wheel for those road miles.
Some brave manufacturers occasionally think outside the box.
Personally, I can't wait for one of them to seriously look
at a lightweight adventure bike concept.