Thinking about a dual sport/adventure Motorcycle

Aviatordoc said:
My 2020 R1250 GSA.
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I wish that color scheme was available. Truthfully I’m not a huge fan of any of the color schemes they have this year, but the ice grey was ultimately the one I liked the most. Once I find some proper decals to add I think that will improve the look.
 
Daleandee said:
Ted is killing me with this thread and you ain't helping. I recently acquired a Honda 1800 VTX and been riding it quite a bit. Still the weather lately hasn't been conducive to plane flying or motorcycle riding ...
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I plan on riding the GSA through the winter. Just saying. ;)

Oh, and BMW just announced 2.99% factory financing on leftover 2022s.
 
TCABM said:
Tempting.
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A lot of 2022s are “missing” certain features. Dynamic ESA (electronic suspension), in some cases LED headlight or at least adaptive headlight. Mine has no adaptive headlight or D-ESA. I’m happy with that - the cost reflects that and I’d prefer Ohlins suspension. But for many those are non-starters, hence the now over supply (plus economic worries, etc).

Some really good deals to be had.
 
Had the GoPro my wife got me for Christmas on my helmet the other day while following one of my daughters around. I was on the R1150GS and she was riding the TTR50. If you want to laugh at me, a good opportunity :)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-duNmu2S6-I
 
charheep said:
At least its now broken in with you falling like that.
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This is the old R1150GS. It's been dropped many times.

The new R1250GSA is still drop and scratch-free. For now.
 
Ted said:
Had the GoPro my wife got me for Christmas on my helmet the other day while following one of my daughters around. I was on the R1150GS and she was riding the TTR50. If you want to laugh at me, a good opportunity :)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-duNmu2S6-I
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The best part is that you saw what she did, and then didn't compensate quite enough to keep you upright, lol. Looks like fun!
 
SoonerAviator said:
The best part is that you saw what she did, and then didn't compensate quite enough to keep you upright, lol. Looks like fun!
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It was a combination of seeing her do that and then laughing/enjoying what she managed, and so I wasn't thinking about my own riding. :)

And those tires are getting pretty worn.
 
Ted said:
It was a combination of seeing her do that and then laughing/enjoying what she managed, and so I wasn't thinking about my own riding. :)

And those tires are getting pretty worn.
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Well, that, and the center of gravity being a little different as well. She powered out of it like a champ.
 
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I've had my new R1250GSA for exactly a month now and have just over 400 miles on it (which means I've put a bit over 300 miles on it). Considering being out of town for 10 days and it being winter (and the fact that I just generally don't drive very much these days) that's not too bad. Unless the weather turns truly awful I should hit the 600 mile service sometime this month.

I'm really enjoying the motorcycle. When compared to the old 1150, it is definitely and obviously a superior machine, although I have the 1150 so well sorted and customized to my liking that I am still able to do more with it. The 1250 is faster, has much better fuel economy, is better balanced, etc. But it also has much more road oriented tires. When these tires wear out I may put something more off road oriented on, or I may not. The ergonomics are different than the 1150 for off road, and I'm finding the position references (seat, tank, etc.) differ with the 1250 when standing up riding.

There hasn't been much customizing I've done yet. The bike came with the BMW Nav mount and I got an iPhone adapter for that. I put the bike on a bit of a diet, removing the center stand and then the pannier rack mounts since I don't intend to run panniers, at least not on a day-to-day basis. I think the bike looks cleaner and it saved something around 10-12 lbs.

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I've thought about deleting the passenger seat and luggage rack, and replacing them with a purpose built parcel shelf. For now, this works fine and although I haven't had a passenger on it yet, I expect I will at some point, so I'm waiting for the time being.

I asked for (and received) a discounted GRmoto muffler to throw onto the bike and review. I haven't put it on yet, since I need the time to do a good review. But the stock muffler is too quiet for my liking. There is still a level of engine noise when you get on the throttle, but this bike has a good exhaust note. The stock muffler is bulky, heavy, and unsightly as well as being too quiet. The GRmoto muffler claims a >7 lb weight savings, so getting me close to 20 lbs removed.

I did get both a heated vest and heated pant liners (Hotwired brand) and have some heated gloves coming as well (same brand) which have done a lot for helping sustained comfort in cooler riding temps as I intend to keep riding it over the winter.

No regrets. A fantastic machine.
 
I finally got around to installing the GRmoto exhaust today. I haven't gotten to ride it yet, but a before picture and a couple of after pictures. Note that I also removed the passenger pegs while doing this. Total weight reduction today, a hair over 9 lbs (the passenger pegs were about 2.5 lbs total - heavy things).

With stock muffler:

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With the GRmoto muffler:

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From the side, I'm still thinking about what I think of it. I like the rear view - it's clean and tight. I think from the side view the extension pipe they add makes it look a bit off, but I'm still digesting. Hopefully I'll get a chance to ride it tomorrow and see how it sounds on the road.
 
Looks good! I assume you’re not going to be using the bike for any touring in the near future?
 
Bill said:
Looks good! I assume you’re not going to be using the bike for any touring in the near future?
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I have some trips I'd like to do this year on the bike. However I've also had trips that I'd like to do the past couple of years, and they never end up happening. If I had to guess, that'll keep happening, but going to hopefully get to do some this year.

I actually still like some level of exhaust noise while touring, and the goal is an exhaust at a volume where it's what I can deal with on trips as well as local/around town. However I am not selling the stock exhaust and it takes all of about 5 minutes to swap if I want to, so I can always do that.

One thing that's interesting with how they did this with the adapter pipe is that the exhaust exits in more or less the stock location. This is good for people who have panniers (which I'm not planning on putting on, even when I do trips). On my R1150GS the exhaust I put on is much more stubby/sporty and would not work well with panniers as the exit is too close behind where the rider sits and the heat could cause issues.
 
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My bike is lonely in the motorcycle parking at work. Wonder why? :)
 
Bill said:
About equivalent to my coldest moto commute day. Actually, I think my lowest was 6*F, I loved the looks on my cow-orkers faces that day lol.
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9F was the lowest the bike showed on the ride in. Yeah, I definitely caught some "WTF?!" expressions. :)
 
BTW, the two day adventure course was excellent, learned some great new tricks, and the gravel and sand pits were quite fun. Later in the summe I'm going to look for a second set of wheels for the GS, keep one set with 90/10's for corner slaying and another set with nice 50/50 tires. I really want to get the beast offroad more. I also want to run some of the BDR routes, probably starting with the MABDR since it's in my backyard. Sorta.
 
Oh, I'd forgotten you were doing that! Who were your instructors?

If you get a second set of tires, I'd recommend more aggressive than 50/50 personally. Especially if you're swapping back and forth...
 
Ted said:
Oh, I'd forgotten you were doing that! Who were your instructors?

If you get a second set of tires, I'd recommend more aggressive than 50/50 personally. Especially if you're swapping back and forth...
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Instructors were two girls, Wendy and Mackenzy. Both were very skilled and excellent, and Mackenzy is a pro rider, I think she won the GNCC women's title again this year. The chick rips!

For offroad I'm probably going to the the MotoZ Tractionator RallZ tires, they are more like 80/20 tires, 80% offroad, 20% road.

https://motoz.com.au/product/tractionator-rallz-2/
 
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Wendy was one of our instructors last year when we went. We really liked her.

That sounds better. The 20/80s will do you better for off road use.
 
Ted said:
Wendy was one of our instructors last year when we went. We really liked her.
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The school was great. So good that a subset of us will probably go back for a private at some point. Good stuff!!!

The school bikes had the RallZ tires on them, and they did great in the wet slippery mud and red clay. We had thunderstorms all night, so the second day was really wet and slimy.
 
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I’d thought that the GSA’s tank was too plain. All the schemes except the GS Trophy leave it fairly plain. So, I added some decals:

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And then did some riding around the property with one of my girls:

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Anyone in here have any time on an Africa Twin with a DCT?

I found a new left over '21, and they told me that they'd make me a smoking deal on it. Currently I'm on a '13 Vstrom 650, and I've had the itch to move up to something with more power...
 
a572mike said:
Anyone in here have any time on an Africa Twin with a DCT?

I found a new left over '21, and they told me that they'd make me a smoking deal on it. Currently I'm on a '13 Vstrom 650, and I've had the itch to move up to something with more power...
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A coworker recently bought one to replace his KTM 890 and he loves it. Says he enjoys the DCT too. Another coworker I ran into last year had an Africa Twin with the DCT and he said he was happy with it.

For me, DCT is an automatic no just because I hate automatics. But, people who buy them seem to liek them.
 
I had a WeeStrom for some 50k miles. Loved it. Moved to the Africa Twin in '17. It now has almost 20k on the clock. Mine is a manual. I spent some time on the DCT before I pulled the triger on a manual. So...... The DCT is really great. It does very well on almost any thing I asked of it. That said, i felt something lacking. It's just the fun factor. It's fun to shift and work a clutch. Like I prefer a manual tranny in a sports car. It's just more fun. that's my opinion. That said, i would not hesitate to buy a DCT. especially if I was planning to sit in traffic a lot. It's certainly better on tight trails. The manual you will slip the clutch, a lot. But is a 600 lb bike fun on tight trails? For other stuff. that Honda has the WORST stock suspension of any bike I have ever ridden. I was ready to dump it and move on when i rode one with some cogent work on the suspension. So i did that on mine. totally different bike and well worth the effort and money. It's not the pack mule the Wee was, but much better on dirt. I dropped my primary gear one tooth. I like that much better, but of course the more agressive tires I use are a larger diameter, even though they are the stock size. The DCT won't need that. There are a couple threads over on ADVenture rider about how many DCT's are for sale. But I think if you not the type who enjoys total control over the engine and fiddling with the engine, then you will like the DCT. I think I would really like the DCT much of the time, but again, I like to shift for myself.
 
a572mike said:
Anyone in here have any time on an Africa Twin with a DCT?

I found a new left over '21, and they told me that they'd make me a smoking deal on it.
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I can’t comment on how good or bad the DCT is but it is worth noting that there are likely leftovers for one of two reasons. Honda either overproduced the DCT models or nobody wants them. I know it was extremely hard to find a manual transmission Africa Twin in 2020-2021 and a lot of people were looking for one. A friend of mine had to travel a long way to get the one he has because they were basically impossible to get.

But I’d say go test ride a DCT and see if it is something you like or can live with. Maybe you’ll be one of the folks that love them. As far as I know, there haven’t been any major transmission problems with them so if the concern is that they’re bad, I wouldn’t be.
 
I do find it interesting (and happily so) how much motorcycles have managed to be essentially exclusively manual transmissions while the automotive world has gone so far automatic that you can't buy hardly anything with a manual anymore. There have been several attempts over the decades to produce automatic transmissions (outside of the centrifugal clutches we find in small displacement bikes/scooters) and thus far none of them have really caught on. I hadn't realized that Honda had gone full in on the DCTs for the Africa Twin. I seem to recall that's what they're doing on Goldwings now, but in that market I can see it making a lot more sense.

A lot of people worry about resale. I never worry too much about it - I'm not buying things for the next owner, I'm buying them for me. If you can get a really screaming deal on a leftover 2021 (which being February, a leftover 2021 model, and potentially being a DCT) you should be able to, and you think the DCT is worth a shot, no reason not to try it out. As I said it would be an automatic no for me at any price, but I wish I could convert my bus to a manual (and I could, it's just way more effort than would be worthwhile).
 
because most cars are appliances, getting from A->B without much fuss and in some sort of comfort. Motorcycles are about being more connected to your environment.
 
Lots of foreign countries it is hard to find automatic trans in cars. Manuals are more common.
 
UngaWunga said:
because most cars are appliances, getting from A->B without much fuss and in some sort of comfort. Motorcycles are about being more connected to your environment.
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If your car is an appliance, that is a choice. Fine if you want it that way, but it doesn't have to be. My opinion is if your car's an appliance, you're doing it wrong.
 
Oldmanb777 said:
Lots of foreign countries it is hard to find automatic trans in cars. Manuals are more common.
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I was disappointed when we were in Austria in December and I had reserved a manual transmission car and the guy at the counter said "You're in luck! I'll upgrade you to an automatic transmission for free!" I said "grumble grumble.. thanks". I miss my 99 VW Passat 5-speed. It was fun to drive. Now all I have is the 'ol 03 Jeep for the kids to learn to drive a stick with.
 
I rode a Goldwing with a DCT transmission and honestly thought it was a bit gutless. It really wasn't much faster than my old Gl-1100. That said I haven't been able to test ride a non-DCT Goldwing, but with a nearly two-liter engine those things should be a hoot.
 
Pretty sure I will always prefer a bike I can shift.

That said, Karen’s CanAm Ryker has a CVT transmission. There’s something exhilarating about just being able to twist the throttle at any speed and have it seamlessly accelerate. And with 900cc’s, it’s no slouch. So, not for me, but I can definitely see the appeal.
 
steingar said:
I rode a Goldwing with a DCT transmission and honestly thought it was a bit gutless. It really wasn't much faster than my old Gl-1100. That said I haven't been able to test ride a non-DCT Goldwing, but with a nearly two-liter engine those things should be a hoot.
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What mode? Tour?
 
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Took the Moto Morini out today in the mud. It's definitely more challenging to ride than the GS, but a lot of fun and overall more capable.
 
steingar said:
I rode a Goldwing with a DCT transmission and honestly thought it was a bit gutless. It really wasn't much faster than my old Gl-1100. That said I haven't been able to test ride a non-DCT Goldwing, but with a nearly two-liter engine those things should be a hoot.
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I have one (GL1800, non-DCT). Way faster than any ****ing Harley cruiser thing, no matter how many Screamin' Eagle parts they bolt on. Fast enough to keep up with most bikes on any reasonable ride. Definitely not a liter sports bike.

Most reliable machine I own. It just works.
 
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