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Recommend a good touring bike

Fake News

dmfdmf said:
You want stability with the username Wobble, I am confused.



FTFY ;-)



Suzuki's got you covered with the Wee's bigger brother the Vee Strom at 1000cc and 100HP, serviceable for touring I'd think and an engine as reliable as a rock. I don't know the OPs budget but a used Vee plus a few extras for touring (huge aftermarket) would be half the price of the BMW or less.
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Since the thread has a life of its own, I’ve “ toured” the last few years on a Real Strom. Windshield with deflector and above average improvements resulted in a quiet enjoyable road bike. Sucky gas mileage and a Remus that I felt guilty about when I made a full throttle pass. Between my short attention span and the bike seemingly getting taller and heavier I moved on to a 12 year old Tiger 1050. In reality not much different but I really like the motor and styling. I rode a 650 single to Colorado on a weeks vacation and decided that wasn’t enough time to really enjoy the ride. Plus my right wrist was sore:twofinger
 
MR662 said:
. I took her advice and I just bought a GS1250. It’s one of the best bikes I’ve owned. Very comfortable on long rides, feels lightweight, great power, it’s the perfect balance of sport bike and tourer.

If you ever doubt how capable and fun a GS/GSA is, go check out Cory Calls videos on Facebook of him riding it. I also think his Thunderhill lap time on his GSA is faster then 90% of BARF on a sport bike. Lol

I’d highly recommend a GS or GSA 1250.
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I agree. I nearly bought a new GSA earlier this morning, but I'm still hesitating due to my post-concussion issues. When I owned an RT and a GS at the same time, I liked the GS better, except for the wind protection. Whenever I did a long ride or tour with friends, I always took the RT just for the wind/weather protection. Which is why if I get a new bike, I think that I'm going to go GSA over GS, just for the additional wind protection. I'm also tall, so the taller bike and longer travel suspension would be a bonus too.
 
dmfdmf said:
You want stability with the username Wobble, I am confused.
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Yes. In clarification, the user name suggests WHY I want stability... :laughing

dmfdmf said:
Suzuki's got you covered with the Wee's bigger brother the Vee Strom...

I don't know the OPs budget but a used Vee plus a few extras for touring (huge aftermarket) would be half the price of the BMW or less.
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But at the end of the day, you'd have a Suzuki.... (I kid, I kid, I've owned five Suzukis) :laughing
 
Archimedes said:
Tell me about it, and earplugs only make it worse for me. Doesn't matter what the wind noise is though, my tinnitus is always the same.
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Sometimes it seems to be caused by more effective plugs, vs ones that don't block noise quite as well. Seems odd, but true for me. And I'm not talking about hearing it over the earplug silence, I'm talking about off the bike after, with plugs removed.
 
Archimedes said:
I agree. I nearly bought a new GSA earlier this morning, but I'm still hesitating due to my post-concussion issues. When I owned an RT and a GS at the same time, I liked the GS better, except for the wind protection. Whenever I did a long ride or tour with friends, I always took the RT just for the wind/weather protection. Which is why if I get a new bike, I think that I'm going to go GSA over GS, just for the additional wind protection. I'm also tall, so the taller bike and longer travel suspension would be a bonus too.
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Puig makes a touring windscreen for GS or GSA. It’s huge. Made a big difference on my GS
 
Archimedes said:
Tell me about it, and earplugs only make it worse for me. Doesn't matter what the wind noise is though, my tinnitus is always the same.
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KnifeySpoony said:
You may hear the tinnitus louder while wearing earplugs, but they will still protect against additional hearing loss which is likely to make your tinnitus worse.
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davidji said:
Sometimes it seems to be caused by more effective plugs, vs ones that don't block noise quite as well. Seems odd, but true for me. And I'm not talking about hearing it over the earplug silence, I'm talking about off the bike after, with plugs removed.
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I have tinnitus and earplugs help me a lot. I've been a regular earplug user for more than 20 years and always wear them for any serious ride. I might go a few miles without them to run an errand or two, but anything over five miles and I wear them.

What annoys me most is when I get all geared up to ride, head out, and half a mile down the road realized that my earplugs aren't in. Stop, take off the helmet, insert earplugs, put helmet back on, continue ride. This probably happens to me two or three times a year. I blame it on old age. :laughing
 
No love for the Honda CTX? I like my VFR, but I rarely have it heavily loaded. IMO, motorcycle are getting too complicated, so the big tourers look like a technical liability.
 
guycole said:
No love for the Honda CTX? I like my VFR, but I rarely have it heavily loaded. IMO, motorcycle are getting too complicated, so the big tourers look like a technical liability.
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How are they a liability?
Are riders getting stranded in BFE?
Do we see GWs on broken down on side of the road?
How are GS/RT/GSA owners managing to rack up the miles they do?
 
New bikes are nice. I go between SF Pay Area and Shasta every week. Sometimes I stop for people on the side of the road with new and shiny and broken.
 
Sorry all. Pretty big life event happening on my end (that kinda drove this idea too). I read this thread 3 times to completion. Thanks so much for all of the thoughts/ suggestions/ posts. Everyone Has been super helpful; Karl, Kevin, Alex, Mike, Scott, David, Jason, Jeff, John, Archimedes, Merlin, George, Bill, Dan (both), Shannon, Tim, Bud, Jim, Gary, Victor, Rob, Don, Amit, Fubar, Kestrel, Giles, Steve, Jon, Reama and anyone I missed...totally not a trolling post (although that is something I'd do...), I'm serious about doing some different type of riding.

Your posts all were really good and helped narrow down my thinking and direction. Alex's post helped a bunch as well, given we're coming from the same path for the most part. I got ahold of another AFMer who's gone the ADV route (Cory Call) and given we have a good relationship and he knows my riding habits/ history has been super helpful. I'm now stuck @ a 1250GS/GSA or 1290 Super adventure S. I'm leaning toward the BMW...my budget is what it needs to be, I suppose. I do want to try and find something at the auction if I can tho...but don't have to. My 2015 R1 was new, so there's that.

Alex, what drove this was a new friend suggesting we go do some touring rides...another guy in the racing community.

Thanks again everyone. I'll be putting some parts on the bike too when I locate one.
 
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guycole said:
New bikes are nice. I go between SF Pay Area and Shasta every week. Sometimes I stop for people on the side of the road with new and shiny and broken.
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Is anyone else seeing this?
I average 20k mi. a year and I don't.
 
You never see disabled motorcycles? That must be wonderful. I should ride with you just for the luck. I would never break down.

And my original point is simply that I wish there were more mid-range choices. Sorry if that seems to offend you.
 
You said the big tourers are a technical liability. I asked you 4 questions
How are they a liability?
Are riders getting stranded in BFE?
Do we see GWs on broken down on side of the road?
How are GS/RT/GSA owners managing to rack up the miles they do?
You answered "Sometimes I stop for people on the side of the road with new and shiny and broken" I assumed you said this to make your point that big tourers are a technical liability. I did not say I don't see motorcycles broken down on the side of the road? What I don't see is enough technically advanced big tourers on the side of the road to form an opinion that they are a liability. Next time I'll spell it out for you.
 
bergmen said:
^^^ this for the win! Absolutely bullet proof will never let you down. 3rd gens have integrated electronic cruise controls, run on regular gas and are very comfortable for the long haul. Great handling in the twisties as well. I would recommend a test ride to see for yourself.

Dan
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^^^ yep, this is the answer
 
somesuch said:
^^^ yep, this is the answer
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Wrong. There is no "answer", that's why we have so many different choices and why so many people come to very different conclusions when they ultimately buy a bike. All we can do is make suggestions and maybe describe the thought process in selecting what we bought, but my personal preference isn't any better or worse than anyone else's choice.
 
dravnx said:
How are they a liability?
Are riders getting stranded in BFE?
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I can share two problems I had with my 2016 Ducati Multistrada 1200S. Neither left me stranded (or dead), but that was due to luck as much as anything else:

1) The dreaded 2nd-gear 30mph software glitch: I pulled out to pass a car on a two-lane road and grabbed a big handful of throttle with the bike in second gear. Just as I get even with the car's front bumper, the engine bogged to the point where I thought it was going to stall. The car doesn't slow down and the bike drifts back to where I'm about even with their trunk, thinking about abandoning the pass, when the ECU suddenly decides to give me every ounce of power the more can produce all at once. I literally wheelied past the car and ended up flying toward a 90-degree bend going 20mph faster than I'd intended. Luckily, the Brembo brakes and ABS didn't fail...

2) My bike was one of the ones that suffered from a bad batch of fuel-level sensors. Mine worked fine for the better part of a year, so I thought I was out of the woods. Just happened to look in the tank when I got home from a weekend ride and it was surprisingly empty despite the bike claiming to have plenty of fuel. Another half-hour or hour of riding and I'd have run the tank dry with no warning. Luckily, I'd cut my ride short so I could make it to another appointment...

I'm also still a bit miffed that the speedometer on my KTM SuperDuke is off by a good 20%; luckily it over-estimates speed rather than underestimating it. The test-ride was rather amusing, though. Looked down to see 90mph on the speedo as we're cruising back to the dealership on 280 and my first thought was "90mph! This ride leader must be crazy! Oh, wait, we're in the slow lane... :laughing"
 
Holeshot said:
I'm now stuck @ a 1250GS/GSA or 1290 Super adventure S. I'm leaning toward the BMW...
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Berto, those two bikes are so different, I know a couple of guys that have both of em! I highly recommend you take a good long test ride on both bikes. Rent one for a day if you have to.

FYI I have a 2017 KTM Adventure 1090R, it's super fun, best bike I've ever had. I have the stock R wheels and a set of S wheels. It hauls ass, handles great, and is way better in the dirt than you would think. But it's kinda high strung, not super relaxing by nature, a little racy feeling. I've ridden it to Baja and back, and it really kicked ass in the dirt. But the dirt is like 5% of the ride. And it is really tall and top heavy. The day I bought it I almost dropped it turning around in my driveway. I mean I can do low speed lock to lock figure 8s no problem, but if you have to stop short or whatever and lose your balance, it can get away from you quick.

In fall of 2018 I spent a month in Europe on a rented 2017 R1200GS, within the first 5 miles it became my favorite bike ever. I put about 6k miles on it in every kind of weather on every kind of road. 30 degrees with snow to 100+ degrees. Big smooth motorways to tiny little gravel strewn goat trails. Endless 1st gear hairpin turns. Very smooth, very comfortable. Better seat comfort and wind protection bone stock than my bike with aftermarket seat and windshield. Much more relaxing to ride all day, day after day. Super nimble, yet super stable. MUCH better brakes. My 1090 is the entry level KTM so no cruise control, the CC on the 1200 was so nice. The power is smoother down low, less of a rush up top (this has been fixed on the 1250). The low speed handling is way way better, the center of gravity feels so much lower with the boxer engine which also allows the fuel tank to sit lower on the bike. If I were buying a new bike now, I'd bite the bullet and get the GS for sure.
 
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