Does anyone have a big adventure bike?

I added the Adventure bikes to the stable in '07. Put more miles on it than the other bikes since then. From what you say I think you would be more happy on a 890. Especially if you're going to do some of the border routes. First one was a 07 KTM 990S. Made me feel like Fabrizio Meoni in the Dakar. Until I hit the whoops. A couple of re-valves later, I realized that a 500lb Adv bike will never skip across 2 foot whoops. Well, that changed when I bought my 21 890 Rally. The WP Pro suspension completely change my mind. I can ride thru anything that I can on my SXF450. You might say that you will never ride it that hard. But you will. You will get use to it. One day you will be riding fire roads somewhere and see some single track. Why go all the way back and come out another day with the 350. Let's just check it out to see if it's worth another trip with the small bikes(that is what you will call them once you start riding Adv bikes). Three things you will notice on a Adv bike. Suspension, weight and braking distance. The Rally solves suspension. This is needed because of the braking distances. There has been times that I came up on something and squeezed the tank, held on and said "Oh S#@T". It soaked it up every time and after I said no big deal. Stock weight of the Rally is 469lb fueled. My 990S was over 500lb. I did a few mods and the Rally is now 441lb fueled. Braking distances are what they are. Aggressive knobs help a lot.  I bought my 890 in Ill. A buddy in Missouri picked it up and met me in Colorado. He was set on buying the African Twin. He couldn't find one to rent so he got a T7 for the week. Afterwards, he bought the 901(seat height was the factor over the 890). T7 has a high cg and not the power or suspension. Another friend has the Ducati. He can rip it up on a 450. Has won the Vet intermediate class at Mammoth and Glen Helen Vet Nationals. In the rough I can walk around him pretty easy. The Duck you sit down in more. It has soft but nice suspension. Motor lacks the bottom end hit the 890 has but is smoother and likes to rev out like a street bike.         

Since I see you live fairly close to me ill throw in my opinion. Ive been riding dirt bikes my whole life with all sorts of bikes and a couple years ago I expanded my horizons after a pretty bad injury on the track. I wanted an off road capable dual-sport/adv type bike. I went with a 450RL and did the whole CO BDR on it with all the gear to include camping stuff. My buddies were all on bigger bikes such as Tenere's and 890s. While they were obviously better on the road they suffered while in the rough stuff. Thats where the RL shined and it was still good on the road. After another crash re-injuring my ankle I decided to take a break on tough off road stuff/moto and sold the RL. Last year I picked up a used Tenere after riding my buddies to do some chill old man riding and I have to say I love it. Ive done the southern half of the BDR on it (BV to Durango) and other rough stuff (black bear pass, alpine loop, etc.) and it handles it all while being mostly comfortable on the road. As good as the 450 off road? No. More comfortable on the inevitable slab rides? Absolutely.

Im not here trying to bash the Austrian brands at all, my buddy loves his 890, just giving you my experience on the terrain in our state. I now have the Tenere and a Beta 350 Race and between the 2 of them it covers everything CO has to offer. 

There is something to be said about the 450 range for ADV riding, and if I wasnt camping on our trips I probably wouldve stuck with that. Way more fun off road, just give up road comfort. Bottom line is that there is no bike that is awesome in ALL of it. Some better off, some better on, youre going to give up some for the other no matter what. 

I have also had a guy at work who has a transalp and really likes it. Kind of a more road oriented bike it seems but I’ve never ridden one. 

Bought an 08 990 s last June. Pure fun. Super comfy on the highway with lots of v twin grunt. Did one good adv ride before wrecking myself racing moto. My cousin was on his well set up T7.Rode a whole bunch of jeep type trail. Rocky.Rutty.Loose shit.My 990 is stock and did well. Switched with my  cousin. His T7 was  much better off road. Lighter and quite playful if that's a good description.  But his bike is boring as fuck on the highway.   I intend on riding adv shit lots the next few years. My idea of adventure includes lots of touring on the highway. I feel my old 990 is a great choice. If money were no object I would definitely  consider an 890. Especially if more technical offroad shit becomes more prevalent for me. Although the Ducati looks amazing. I have an old multistrada that I love. 

Been there done that. I owned a KTM 1190, worse piece of shit I have owned in 60 years of life including business equipment. BMW GS, great scooter. Eventually figured $20K plus was not a great way to bash through the woods and got tired of tipping 500lbs plus into the most uncomfortable spots to pick something like that up. I went back to a good street bike, good dual sport, good dirt bike, which is more practical than adventure bikes for me.

Air filter design passed dirt, constant unending electrical problems, the Vtwin design gather debris from trail riding around the back cylinder making a very hot motor run even hotter. If it got over 80 degrees you could sit on it after a half hour it got so hot. Lots of basic design mistakes, Beemers are so much better.

Same position as me, I ride a lot of mx & off-road on my KX450 & TC250, wanted to try adventure riding, so I rented a 21KTM 890r and rode the Colorado BDR. The trip was great but the bike was meh; didn’t like it on the road or dirt roads, good on more technical trails. The engine sounds terrible, like there’s rocks in in it, and power was not impressive, shifting is average with missed shifts common. I spoke to a guy who had ridden the same CoBDR routes I did on both the 890 and 1290, he said since the routes were not that difficult, he greatly preferred the 1290, more stable, better road manners and most of all the big power was a lot of fun! 
 Looking for a place to rent a 1290 SAR to try, can’t find one yet….