Posts
445
Joined
2/3/2023
Location
Killa,Kali, CA
US
Ok guys, at the ripe old age of 37. I have sold my motocross bike husky 450. (Rode moto from ages 14 - 37) I'm moving my riding to adv riding, longer distances and looking to ride for alot longer and with my buddies. Anyhow, Im looking at the Tenere 700, Husqvarna 701 Enduro, KTM 690 Enduro R, Honda CRF300 Rally.
So im looking for advice on bikes, what to look for etc. My other buddy who bought a harley pan america (which is more road).. i want more moto lol. anyhow any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
The plan is to buy the bike later this year.
I just did the same thing and same age but kept the 450. I went with a Tenere 700 and if you come from moto, you will immediately want suspension, like 4k worth. Or, you have to be ok with slowing down a lot. The 701/690 are known as unicorns to a small group and hated by much more, the fuel tank being on the back makes a horrible weight bias. People have added the extended range front mounted tanks to balance that out and make it much better. You will think the 300 rally is underpowered but if that doesnt bother you then go for it. The KTM890 is pretty much good to go but expensive, same with the Aprilia 660 (could maybe use suspension). Once you get the bike set up though its a ton of fun and I love camping off the back of mine! Anything above that 900cc range will be a handful off road, same with a 600cc but not as bad. You will immediately notice the extra weight of these bikes and it will take a minute to get comfy with that. Hope this helps!
I think the biggest questions are what are your riding buddies going to be on, where are you going to be riding, and what does adventure riding mean to you. Dirt bikes with huge tanks make for great hardcore adventure bikes if you live/ride somewhere you can stay off the highway and graded dirt roads. Is adventure riding boondocking up a wash and over a mountain pass in the middle of the desert, or cruising twisty roads, and covering a lot of miles on easy dirt roads? I did the Cali bdr a couple years ago on my old xr400. I ran across so many guys who were having seemingly way less fun, going way slower, wrestling hogs. And that is a really easy "adventure" route. As much as everyone loves to hate on the Chinese, the kove 800 currently dominates the multi cylinder class.
Being that i live in las vegas, specifically in the centennial hills area.. I want to hop on the 95, then detour to the offroad area and ride that around to the 93 and head back home. I also want to do the Barstow to Vegas ran by District 37 AMA.
So adventure riding to me means mountain passes in the middle of the desert, along with lots of miles on easy dirt roads. I primarily will be offroad except the few times our odd group of friends ride together lol. (Odd meaning, Crotch rocket, pan america, panhead, and my adv bike lol)
I would love to get a KTM Dakar type of rally bike... but good lord i dont have 25k to drop on a bike hahahah
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Free shipping: VITALMX
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Again, Chinese, but the kove 450 rallys are really well reviewed. They are 9k new. Only real rally bike for sale to public. They've been out long enough that some guys have put mega miles on them without problem. Successfully completed dakar ect. Ajp pr7 is a super cool bike in this niche too, if you can find one.
I think you would be happy as a clam on one of the smaller multi cylinder bikes (tenere, kove 800, ktm 790). think you'd be pretty bored on a Honda 300 rally if you are coming from 450. My 02
Careful with the Kove 800, they completely lied about its weight and they cheaped out in areas trying/failing to keep weight down. Lots of good said and seen of the Kove 450, some change to Honda bushings internally for longer life of engine.
Alright so im narrowing down my choices. Let me know what you guys think of the following and if there is anything that i should look for specifically.
- Tenere 700 - I already went and sat on this and its pretty damn comfortable
- KOVE 26 450 Rally - I like the look and people saying they have gone over 10,000 miles no issue. However from what you said about them cheaping out and reading a guy in arizona being left stranded multiple time (3) due to some weird gremlin has me a bit skeptical. (His was a 2024, so maybe they worked out the bugs i don't know?).....
(Here is what he said verbatim: 2024 lemon Kove 450 rally for GET IT THE HELL OUT OF MY GARAGE sale. Hi. I have a jinxed bike which has left me stranded 3 times now and I would like to get it out of my sight. Clean title. First person with $1k can take this nightmare away. I have no idea what is currently wrong with it and after taking the tanks off to figure it out I've decided that I simply don't care anymore. Please come pick this garbage up for me before I drop it off at the dump.)
- Honda 300L Rally: is this bike powerful enough? I need to check it out in person.
- 2027 Honda CRF450RX Rally <---- I want this bike, but its a long shot with only 50 being made to purchase worldwide.
- AJP PR7 you mentioned above, however i still need to do more research on it, and even where to located one.
- Cfmoto ibex 450 this recommendation came from google searching and came across a reddit post. so im still doing research on this bike as well.
So as it stands i have determined im looking for like 80/20 split, 80% off road and its capabilities and 20% on road... Id even be happy with a 90/10 split lol. I am a moto guy at heart, and the likes of a africaTwin or something is a hard, hell no lol.
90/10 means single cylinder to me, unless that 90 is mostly graded easy dirt road type stuff. Ymmv. I personally don't think the 300 rally would be a good choice but I'm just some random dude on the internet.
you may be a random guy from the internet, however you probably have a hell of alot more experience in this area than myself lol. So i do take all of your opinions pretty seriously.
For what its worth, Ready to Ride Rentals out of AZ beats the living hell out of his Kove 450's and says he loves them. Tons of hours of hard use and he says they keep going. The Kove 450 will be the closest to a dirt bike and allow you to ride any single track you are brave enough for. The Tenere (when properly set up) will still give you some pause before the singletrack as its still gonna be a lot of bike to muscle out. The AJP PR7 is a unicorn bike but really hard to find and so will parts. Lots of people love the Ibex, basically a lighter tenere so maybe a bit better offroad and a bit worse on highway. The 450RX would have horrible maintenance intervals for long distance rides.
Once you get a bike hit me up and we can plan a rip!
Will do man, I will update this thread once i speak to my wallet lol
Don’t listen to that cheap fucker!!!
YOU do what you want to do, wallet be damned😁😉
I started with a Beta 400RS, great on the trails, sucked everywhere else.
Then I got a KTM 390 ADV, it was OK, but more of a street bike with different tires.
Went from that to a T-7. Great bike, but I as get older and bad back and knees, it is way too top heavy for me to try and maneuver around.
I now have the Ibex 450. Unicorn bike for me. It is like a lighter, more balanced T-7. Enough power for the road, but does well in the woods. it really shines on gravel roads. Same build quality as any of the other bikes.
Post a reply to: Noob to Adventure riding