So who are the Adv riders here?

I just got home from 10 days out west, from SLC to Idaho to Jackson then down to Moab and I basically saw only two motorcycles types...95% of the riders I saw were either on a Harley or a GS. It almost got to be a game looking for anybody on a bike besides those two. I finally spotted a Tenere and nearly shit

 

It's crazy how many Adventure bikes I see on the road now. Mostly Bimmers and KTMs around here.

 

So is the Africa Twin a decent choice for an all arounder (haven't read the whole thread)? East coast so I don't see a lot of trails other than fire roads in my future.

 

Drop into New Mexico it gets even more biased toward Harley. But that’s ok. Keeps the fire roads cleared out.

 

I'm a bit late to the conversation, but hope I can add something of value.
I have a 2014 r 1200 GS, not the adventure, just the standard.
I did not have a lot of dirt experience, but the bike has gotten me through and down a lot of logging roads and the like. It has gotten me in over my head a couple of times, but I got out on my own with little damage.
On standard Forest Service roads, it eats it up. And same with superslab, and comfortable to boot. It ain't a sport bike, but is fun and competent in the twisters even with TKC 70s. I opted for a tad more dirt competency than pavement performance.
My take is it is about as good all around as can be found . I haven't regretted getting it for a second.

 

Overkill, but great for parking at Starbucks
Read thru the AT threads on ADV. lots of teething pain stories.

 

That was my experience on my cross country last summer. More Harleys than anything else.

 

The price on it is better than some of the others. The multi 950 looks pretty good though.

 

Sooo did you ever pull the trigger or still looking?

FWIW, I did a full day's worth/first section of the latest addition (MABDR) to the BDR family this past June. I joined about 10 guys who were doing the entire length, roughly a 1000 miles over 4 days, it runs from the NY/Pa border all the way down to Damascus, Va, which is just outside of Tn. I had originally planned on doing the entire stint with them but the wifey didn't feel comfortable driving my truck with the enclosed trailer back home to meet me in Damascus soooo I had to cut my adventure off after a day....boohoo.

The first 250-300 miles of this BDR were NOT bad at all, I can't deny having been concerned about that when I agreed to join the group but it wasn't bad at all. The highlight for me was finally seeing Pine Creek Gorge (aka the Grand Canyon of the east....Uh NO it's not...LOL), having heard about it for many yrs. Overall though, the weather was crappy, overcast and even foggy in the higher elevation passes that I suspect might have had some great views. We never saw any real rain, even though it looked like it would several times throughout the day. From following the other guys on FB and Instagram, some of the tougher sections came on the end of the second day and third day near the tail end of Pa>WV sections being the most challenging.

On a side note, which was kinda neat is that while stopped to check out Pine Creek Gorge, we ran into the group of guys who actually developed this particular route, MABDR, it was refreshing to see they were an even older crew than or bunch of hooligans.

 

Out of the 4 Africa Twins I personally know of, 2 16s, 1 18 and my 17 we’ve all combined had ZERO issues with them.

Outside a few knit picky things engineering wise I can say without a doubt its as well built and just as tough as the Yamaha Super Tenere I pounded on for 4 years and 41k miles all over this country.

If there was one thing I’d change on it would be the tube type tires. But then again having owned lots of dirtbikes I do know how to fix a flat on the road or push the easy button and just pull out my AMA roadside card and make a pickup call on my cell phone. I do tote the tools and a tube to fix a flat if no cell phone coverage.

I trust Honda build quality so much so I bought the DCT with not even a 2nd thought. Really wanted the new AT Adventure Sport model but after trying to make it fit for me on the showroom floor for over an hour I opted for the regular height AT. The adventure sport model is one tall sucker hovering at a 36” seat height. On a real dirtbike that’s never been an issue with me but this was a big big bike and tall with the added fuel tank size only made it feel larger. I still want the thing knowing I’d drop it over and over. Gold rims, white frame, tri color paint man that was a nice ADV bike!

 

Could a Tubliss system fix that one flaw for you?

 

For sure on the rear but I don’t think it’s available on the front commercially but there have been some hone made remedies on the front. Me personally I won’t put to much faith in the do it your self fix it’s.

 

Not sure if I'm following, they make them for 21" and 18" rims....isn't that what the AT comes with???

 

the "Tubliss" brand system is in 18" and 21" versions, but typically they only work on dirt size rims (i.e. 2-2.5" rear rims). I know most of the ADV bikes come with a 4-5" rear rim so the Tubliss brand inserts won't work on most of the ADV bikes, plus AFAIK they still say no street riding on them. I know a few folks that run the Tubliss on the 950 Super Enduros, but they have a 1.8" front rim and a 2.5" rear. the rear is marginal, but it can work.

there are other "tubeless" systems out there that involve some sort of goop to seal the spoke nipples, either using a thicker tape or a type of glue, but for off road use, they aren't good.

 

No, I got busy with other stuff and kind of forgot about it. I did buy a kickass mountain bike though!

 

I just got back from a week of riding around Colorado. Granted, we were on dirt almost 90% of the time, but we saw very few motorcycles, and in general the vast majority of them were KTM's and almost all of them were single cylinder bikes. Saw maybe 2 or 3 GS's (in towns), and one 800GS that was on a decent pass, other than that, it was all side by sides (and some very trick ones at that) and Jeeps.

We had a ball. Set up basecamp at Taylor Park Reservoir at some cabins and then rode from there. Did a three day loop and back to TPR. Spent the night in Lake City and Ouray and went thru Telluride (raining, so we just got gas and headed out). Hit all the good passes while we were there: Napoleon (moderate to hard, difficult for me to guess as I was having jetting issues, so bike would only run WFO), Cumberland (easy), Tin Cup (moderate in one direction, easier in the other direction), Hancock (moderate), Tomichi (was closed for a rock slide, but a couple of us went thru there anyway after a discussion with a few FS rangers), Cinnamon, Picayune gulch, California pass (easy), Hurricane pass (easy), Corkscrew pass (easy), Back Bear (in the rain, moderate/hard) and Imogene (in the rain, moderate). Three of the guys went up Poughkeepsie gulch, (350, 500 and 690) but I passed on that suffer fest. Most of our group was on KTM 350/450/500, two 690's, a DRZ400, DR650, and myself on my 950 SE. Waiting on a new desktop, I have a ton of 4k video I shot but my current desktop won't process it. lol.

Hancock Pass:

Tomichi (rock slide spot)

California Pass:

 

You went thru that slide on a 950??? Respect!

 

^ nice pano Cali.

 

I"m kinda stupid like that. Peer pressure can make you do bad things.

California pass was our lunch stop that day. Beautiful day, great friends and awesome scenery.
Imogene Pass after the rain passed over. Kinda fun if you take a few of the harder routes. There's usually an easy route as there were a ton of sight seeing jeeps, so they have a pretty well defined trail, but you could short cut things and make it more fun. My 950 Super Enduro. Stupid fun. Made it my goal to hit a ton on dirt each day.

 

Someone paved the trail