Let’s talk touring bikes

Motherfucker.

 

Ive been looking myself. Something as a daily rider but can do a little off-roading. Considering of the 3.....what says ye??
KTM 1090 Adventure R
Ducati MutliStrada
Honda Africa Twin

 

MutliStrada, is that a bike that is made from parts of several different kinds of bikes?

 

Africa twin /thread

It’s a Honda nothing goes wrong! I’ll suggest the DCT version. It’s friggin awesome, F1 like awesomeness

 

Roy have you ridden a KTM adventure? I know you had the Tenere and Tiger. What do you think of those bikes compared to one another?

 

I think all bikes have a character, that you either connect with or not. The character of my 1190 Adventure is sporty. It has that seriousness when you get on it where you want to push the bike. It makes you want to ride it like a hooligan. Any hills I roll over I'm riding a wheelie down them. It's exhilarating and the reason that I love this bike. I just put dual purpose tires and a beefy skidplate and did a 4.5 day dual purpose trip. I was the only big bike, as every other bike was a true dual sport. We did some pretty difficult terrain and the big KTM just took it all in stride (and at a pretty elevated pace.)

I would expect the Multistrada to be as exhilarating (if not more) on the road, but I think it's too "pretty" of a bike that I wouldn't want to take off road. I would expect the Africa Twin to be easier and more encouraging to ride more difficult off road, but would be more of an appliance on the street. My KTM is the standard model with 19"f/17"r wheels. The R models with larger (21"f/18"r) wheels are significantly taller and being 5'8" I don't fit on at all. My expectation is they are somewhere between my bike and an Africa Twin. The difference between those two offroad I would expect to be speed. The Africa Twin has a low center of gravity and seat height, making it more maneuverable. The KTM would be better at barreling down a trail at higher speeds.

I had a similar need as skee: daily ridden bike that I could take offroad and I'm loving my decision so far.

 

@Gorilla George have you ever ridden the Bimmer XR? And, if so, how would you compare it to the Multi?

 

I've had over 40,000 miles of adventures on my (two) Multistradas, and it's still hard for me to imagine a better sport-touring bike. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn fantastic.

 

I know Broome probably has new clothes at every stop, and donates his old XXXXXXL clothes, but for regular folks that do long trips on the road, where do you do laundry and stuff? What's the best things/way to pack?

 

i still don’t know how he rides ducatis with only one half of a swingarm... i’m not even a stickler about symmetry and i hate the SSSA on my Ducs (until it comes time to change a tire).

if i were him it would drive me crazy rolling down the road like that. i’m pretty sure that the bike pulls to one side because there’s more weight on the side with the swingarm.

test it broome. set the cruise and take your hands off the bars.. the bike will start wandering to one side.

 

Towel.

 

To add more about my 1190: it isn't perfect. The traction control and wheelie control are linked and only have two settings: on or off. ABS has 3 options: ON, Offroad, and Off. Offroad mode allows you to lock up the rear wheel. ABS and traction control settings revert to "On" every time you turn off the bike, unless you buy an off road dongle that costs around $100. The other drive settings for suspension and throttle are stored. Throttle modes are Sport, Street, Rain and Offroad, where the last two have horsepower cut from 150 to 100. Since adding my offroad tires, I've found the bike to be more fun in very aggressive cornering in offroad mode than sport. Sport mode really limits how much/early you can get on the throttle, while offroad allows that fractional wheel spin. This wasn't an issue with the OEM, road based tires.

Cruise control is not an option on the 1190, without going to the aftermarket which don't look that cheap or impressive. I think newer KTMs have that option, though I'm not sure if that is 1290 only.

Heat under the seat is a problem for many. I'm not that bothered by it. Aftermarket intake allows more airflow under the tank, and aftermarket exhaust with a gutted CAT both can help.

I have a buzziness in the handlebars. I don't feel the vibration but my hands go numb sometimes. This doesn't seem to be a common issue, as I only found one mention of it on ADVrider with others saying that didn't have that issue. Honestly, over the last year I notice numbness pretty often in other things so maybe it is my own problem.

 

and you can do soooommeee off roading with the ducati... this was a smooth section, there were some short, slightly rougher sections.

don't want to drop it though!



and then you can grind off the pegs!

 

Left Kansas City a few days ago on my 2014 Multistrada, hit the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Niagara Falls, I’m in Syracuse now, should hit western Massachusetts today to see some family then on to Cape Cod. The bike is awesome, I will say it’s a lot better with the Puig touring windscreen and spacers.

 

Now you assholes have me looking for a leftover Multi

 

I knew you'd get it.

 

I have packing down to an art.

I bring a pair of running shoes, extra pair of riding jeans and one pair of regular jeans, 1 pair of Nike shorts and 1 pair of cargo shorts, 2 spare riding shirts and 4 regular shirts, socks, boxers, travel kit.

I split everything up between bags (1 shoe, 1 pair of pants, 2 shirts etc in each bag) so the weight ends up identical.

Then in the tail pack I put the different locks, tools, WD40, Honda Polish, zip ties, bungee cords, spare visors (clear and dark), tailpack cover, rain jacket, spare iPod/earbuds, chargers for everything, and portable power pack.

Everything goes into large ziplock bags. Even though the saddlebags are waterproof, the smell still gets in. Plus if you put them in the bags, sit on them, then zip them, it smashes them super flat and they take up less room.

Cell phone, money, clip, etc goes in a ziplock bag in my jacket pocket.

In a separate pocket, there is a ziplock bag that contains insurance card, registration, card with emergency contacts, blood type, and allergies written on it, and $300 in cash just in case.