Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 30,006
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Display name:
iFlyNothing
Coming up on a year ago I started thinking about a dual-sport/adventure/off-road bike:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...out-a-dual-sport-adventure-motorcycle.132523/
If you follow the thread, the results have been that I now have an old BMW R1150GS that I've been tinkering with and riding off-road, as well as the old 1986 Moto Morini 501XE Camel that's more of a dedicated dirt/enduro bike that has been a fun and unique Italian motorcycle project. And then came buying the kids a dirt bike:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/thinking-about-kids-dirt-bikes.135343/
The real outcome of those has been discovering dirt riding, how much I enjoy it, and also that (in my opinion) it's the best riding around this area. We have lots of dirt and gravel roads, which have few other cars and some of the best scenery in our area.
Although my wife and I rode a great deal in Pennsylvania, since moving to Ohio and then Kansas (and having kids) we've had a harder time getting back into the swing of it. Kids make that harder, and my wife especially has had more significant breaks from riding. She loved her Street Glide, but at 800 lbs it is a heavy machine. She loves her Triumph Daytona 675, but as a race bike, it's about as far opposite of what you could get from the Street Glide and it's sort of like trying to maintain proficiency in a 747 and a Lancair 320 while flying 10 hours a year. Also, I felt that she would enjoy the dirt riding with me, but obviously neither of those bikes were the least bit good (or even safe) for that kind of riding.
I figured that there was a good adventure bike option out there for her, but the question was what it was. My inclination was the big BMWs, R1200 or 1250GS, because the GS is significantly lighter than the GSA, it holds its weight low, has some great technology that I figured would help her confidence, and is basically a very good jack of all trades that's fun everywhere. I'd also thought a Pan America might be a good option - she does really like her Street Glide, supposedly they hold their weight pretty low, and the active suspension has a really neat feature of lowering when you come to a stop to make it easier to touch the ground. Not an issue for me, but more of an issue the shorter you get.
So this weekend we had some time without the kids and bombed around a few dealerships. The first place we went was a Harley dealer to see a Pan America. Have to say, it was a disappointment. The fit and finish on it didn't seem great, and the styling in person wasn't as good as it is in reviews and videos. It looks better from that low, looking up view at the front. Actually up at it looking down like you see it when you walk around it, it's just not a great looking machine in our opinion.
Ergonomics seemed just fine, but it's also clear without ever riding it that this is Harleys' first attempt at an adventure bike to compete with the others who've been doing it for longer. Will they get better? Probably. But we walked out of there knowing it was almost certainly the wrong bike for her. It didn't help to have a salesman who had no idea about it, and didn't even have his motorcycle endorsement or own one, but that has nothing to do with the bike itself.
Next we went to a BMW dealer that had some other motorcycle brands as well - Triumph, Ducati, etc. Sitting on the big R1250GS, even a low model with a lower seat, was not hugely confidence inspiring for her.
What immediately caught her attention was a black Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro - and it's a fantastic looking bike.
I knew about the Triumph adventure bike lineups, but hadn't researched them a great deal. The Tiger 900 is a middle weight adventure bike with a 900(ish) cc DOHC 3-cylinder, basically a larger version of the 675cc triple in her Daytona. This motorcycle was immediately impressive, especially to my wife. At 900cc it's not much smaller of an engine with not all that much less power than the bigger liter-plus bikes. Rated at almost 100 HP, it makes more power than the old R1150GS, but has a dry weight of under 440 lbs, making it similar in weight to the Daytona and the CG is not too tall at all. Despite wearing sneakers (i.e. having a thin sole vs. something with a more built-up sole to touch the ground better) she was immediately able to comfortably touch the ground and pick the bike up with the stock seat on the low setting, something that's rare for her.
This dealership practically begged you to test ride their bikes, and as they had a used R1200GSA air-cooled version that I wanted to see what I thought of it (I'll write on that separately), we both went for a spin around the block with her on the Triumph and me on the BMW.
In nearly 12 years of riding motorcycles with my wife, I've never seen her so immediately comfortable on a motorcycle ever. She was having fun goosing the throttle and passing me, playing with the different ride modes (which are intuitive and well thought out). Normally, if things aren't the way she's used to she gets thrown off. In this case she was riding in an area she didn't know, with a borrowed helmet (we didn't have ours with us), sneakers, and none of her normal gear (we didn't plan to test ride anything), and was perfectly comfortable. Not to mention, the engine and personality were immediately what she liked - those were always her favorite parts of the Daytona (and mine, for that matter), and Triumph does a good job of maintaining that with this bike.
Well, that was pretty much it. We talked about it and I said I didn't see her liking any other bike that much. We signed the papers, and will be bringing home her new 2022 Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro in a couple of weeks. The dealership is going to replace the Metzler road tires with Michelin Anakee Wild tires. Those are some very good 50/50 tires that will be good on the dirt and gravel roads as well as on road, and I was able to negotiate that swap as part of the deal.
With that, it's time to thin the herd a bit. I've had a goal of reducing the fleet size some when we're able to find ways to do so that make sense. So, we're going to be selling:
- Her 2009 Triumph Daytona 675 with just under 10k miles
- Her 2007 Harley Davidson Street Glide with around 10k miles
- My 2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic with a bit over 10k miles, and 115 HP
And two years ago, I did a significant upgrade on my 2009 Harley Ultra Classic in the form of an S&S 110" big-bore power pack with full exhaust, intake, and dyno tune:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...st-thinking-about-upgrading-my-harley.125869/
Although I've loved the bike with the changes and have put around 1500 trouble-free miles on it since, the reality is it doesn't fit our wants and needs. Between the move towards adventure riding and the significant weight not being great for around-town use, I find myself not wanting to take it places and not wanting to use it for future goals/trip plans. The main reason to keep it would be for riding it when my wife rides her Street Glide, and with it going away, it makes sense to let them both go and have a significantly shrunken fleet.
So I'll put them up for sale in the coming weeks, we'll pick up the Triumph, and be ready for a great season of riding!
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...out-a-dual-sport-adventure-motorcycle.132523/
If you follow the thread, the results have been that I now have an old BMW R1150GS that I've been tinkering with and riding off-road, as well as the old 1986 Moto Morini 501XE Camel that's more of a dedicated dirt/enduro bike that has been a fun and unique Italian motorcycle project. And then came buying the kids a dirt bike:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/thinking-about-kids-dirt-bikes.135343/
The real outcome of those has been discovering dirt riding, how much I enjoy it, and also that (in my opinion) it's the best riding around this area. We have lots of dirt and gravel roads, which have few other cars and some of the best scenery in our area.
Although my wife and I rode a great deal in Pennsylvania, since moving to Ohio and then Kansas (and having kids) we've had a harder time getting back into the swing of it. Kids make that harder, and my wife especially has had more significant breaks from riding. She loved her Street Glide, but at 800 lbs it is a heavy machine. She loves her Triumph Daytona 675, but as a race bike, it's about as far opposite of what you could get from the Street Glide and it's sort of like trying to maintain proficiency in a 747 and a Lancair 320 while flying 10 hours a year. Also, I felt that she would enjoy the dirt riding with me, but obviously neither of those bikes were the least bit good (or even safe) for that kind of riding.
I figured that there was a good adventure bike option out there for her, but the question was what it was. My inclination was the big BMWs, R1200 or 1250GS, because the GS is significantly lighter than the GSA, it holds its weight low, has some great technology that I figured would help her confidence, and is basically a very good jack of all trades that's fun everywhere. I'd also thought a Pan America might be a good option - she does really like her Street Glide, supposedly they hold their weight pretty low, and the active suspension has a really neat feature of lowering when you come to a stop to make it easier to touch the ground. Not an issue for me, but more of an issue the shorter you get.
So this weekend we had some time without the kids and bombed around a few dealerships. The first place we went was a Harley dealer to see a Pan America. Have to say, it was a disappointment. The fit and finish on it didn't seem great, and the styling in person wasn't as good as it is in reviews and videos. It looks better from that low, looking up view at the front. Actually up at it looking down like you see it when you walk around it, it's just not a great looking machine in our opinion.
Ergonomics seemed just fine, but it's also clear without ever riding it that this is Harleys' first attempt at an adventure bike to compete with the others who've been doing it for longer. Will they get better? Probably. But we walked out of there knowing it was almost certainly the wrong bike for her. It didn't help to have a salesman who had no idea about it, and didn't even have his motorcycle endorsement or own one, but that has nothing to do with the bike itself.
Next we went to a BMW dealer that had some other motorcycle brands as well - Triumph, Ducati, etc. Sitting on the big R1250GS, even a low model with a lower seat, was not hugely confidence inspiring for her.
What immediately caught her attention was a black Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro - and it's a fantastic looking bike.
I knew about the Triumph adventure bike lineups, but hadn't researched them a great deal. The Tiger 900 is a middle weight adventure bike with a 900(ish) cc DOHC 3-cylinder, basically a larger version of the 675cc triple in her Daytona. This motorcycle was immediately impressive, especially to my wife. At 900cc it's not much smaller of an engine with not all that much less power than the bigger liter-plus bikes. Rated at almost 100 HP, it makes more power than the old R1150GS, but has a dry weight of under 440 lbs, making it similar in weight to the Daytona and the CG is not too tall at all. Despite wearing sneakers (i.e. having a thin sole vs. something with a more built-up sole to touch the ground better) she was immediately able to comfortably touch the ground and pick the bike up with the stock seat on the low setting, something that's rare for her.
This dealership practically begged you to test ride their bikes, and as they had a used R1200GSA air-cooled version that I wanted to see what I thought of it (I'll write on that separately), we both went for a spin around the block with her on the Triumph and me on the BMW.
In nearly 12 years of riding motorcycles with my wife, I've never seen her so immediately comfortable on a motorcycle ever. She was having fun goosing the throttle and passing me, playing with the different ride modes (which are intuitive and well thought out). Normally, if things aren't the way she's used to she gets thrown off. In this case she was riding in an area she didn't know, with a borrowed helmet (we didn't have ours with us), sneakers, and none of her normal gear (we didn't plan to test ride anything), and was perfectly comfortable. Not to mention, the engine and personality were immediately what she liked - those were always her favorite parts of the Daytona (and mine, for that matter), and Triumph does a good job of maintaining that with this bike.
Well, that was pretty much it. We talked about it and I said I didn't see her liking any other bike that much. We signed the papers, and will be bringing home her new 2022 Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro in a couple of weeks. The dealership is going to replace the Metzler road tires with Michelin Anakee Wild tires. Those are some very good 50/50 tires that will be good on the dirt and gravel roads as well as on road, and I was able to negotiate that swap as part of the deal.
With that, it's time to thin the herd a bit. I've had a goal of reducing the fleet size some when we're able to find ways to do so that make sense. So, we're going to be selling:
- Her 2009 Triumph Daytona 675 with just under 10k miles
- Her 2007 Harley Davidson Street Glide with around 10k miles
- My 2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic with a bit over 10k miles, and 115 HP
And two years ago, I did a significant upgrade on my 2009 Harley Ultra Classic in the form of an S&S 110" big-bore power pack with full exhaust, intake, and dyno tune:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...st-thinking-about-upgrading-my-harley.125869/
Although I've loved the bike with the changes and have put around 1500 trouble-free miles on it since, the reality is it doesn't fit our wants and needs. Between the move towards adventure riding and the significant weight not being great for around-town use, I find myself not wanting to take it places and not wanting to use it for future goals/trip plans. The main reason to keep it would be for riding it when my wife rides her Street Glide, and with it going away, it makes sense to let them both go and have a significantly shrunken fleet.
So I'll put them up for sale in the coming weeks, we'll pick up the Triumph, and be ready for a great season of riding!
