Suzuki awakens, updates 12yo DL1000

[Garandman]

I am very interested to see how deep this "market" is. I remember the Tenere selling with some enthusiasm at first. That fizzled. Was it because the machine sucks? I don't think so.

I can't understand who the hell buys over $15K over 600 lb "Adventure" bikes in the first place. Don't forget the R1200GS Wasserboxer gained a bunch of weight also: curb weight of 575 or so.. So that all the manufacturers fixated on that segment was astonishing. The original R80G/S weighed 410 lbs wet.

At the YB meetings the F800 twins, including the GS model, are showing up in ever-larger numbers. They weigh around 420 I believe. So there is some sanity in the market.

[Stromper]

I am not a joiner but if you get a BMW you join a club with lots of activities which justifies the additional cost

MY brother has a super tenere but the engine seems tractor like not motorcycle

My impression is Hondas ME TOO entries often miss the mark
I view them as the soleless General Motors of motorcycling the Camels as you were.

[nhbubba]

At the YB meetings the F800 twins, including the GS model, are showing up in ever-larger numbers. They weigh around 420 I believe. So there is some sanity in the market.

Yeah, no. Not even close.

Unladen weight, road ready, fully fuelled 1) 505 lbs (229 kg)

You may be thinking of the old F650 rotax powered thumper.

Price tag is $13,895 for the GS adventure. Right smack dab where the Honda is parked. The two are infinitely comparable. Sitting on these two back to back @ IMS I was taken back how similar even the ergonomics are.
Just as the 1200GS and Tenere are. Except that a brand new leftover gen-1 Tenere may be had for $8500.

You're hanging around a different YB than I am. As I think you know, the pres sits a few rows over from me @ work. I don't see the glut of f800's in that crowd. Maybe it's perception, but I feel the bigger R and K bikes (and now 1000XR) are the majority.

I maintain that the 1200GS and 800GS serve different markets anyway. One is an almost dirt capable touring bike and the other is a tour capable almost dirt bike. Emphasis on the "almost" in both accounts.

I agree with the price tag. Although somehow I've brought myself to the brink where $13k for a brand new machine seems somehow reasonable.

[Spooler]

MY brother has a super tenere but the engine seems tractor like not motorcycle

I did a test ride at americade a few years ago and was thoroughly unimpressed with the engine. I don't ride twins too often, so maybe that was part of it, but I've spent a pretty good chunk of time on my mom's R1150R and I thought that was fine. The rest of the Super Tenere was fine, but pretty meh. It's a shame, I'd just warmed up to the looks.

[PinHead]

Tell ya what, I love my 1200GS. It's not a touring bike, neither is it a sport or dirt bike, but it is a great all around bike that is comfortable as hell and quite capable of all 3. I fall into the market that it is geared for, one day I spent 6 hours on the saddle cruising around NH for the hell of it and could have gone for much longer if I wanted to comfortably. Then the next day I took a little off road trip with it and my fly rod to do a little trout fishing. It's an adventure bike, whether on the slab or dirt it just does enough of both to keep a smile on my face. It's a small market, most people get a bike for a single purpose, touring, sport riding or getting dirty and there are plenty of bikes to choose from in all of those categories that do that specific job very well. But it isn't easy to build and market a bike that can mix it up and do a good job with multiple tasks in mind and bring it to a small market and expect it to sell like wildfire.

And here is the cute little guy I caught that day.

[Garandman]

Messr Condon speaks. Didn't know there are now five models.

ADV Review: 216 Triumph Tiger Explorer | MOTORCYCLIST

[Garandman]

Yeah, no. Not even close.

You may be thinking of the old F650 rotax powered thumper.

BMW Motorrad USA 472 lbs "Road ready, fully fueled."

You're hanging around a different YB than I am. As I think you know, the pres sits a few rows over from me @ work. I don't see the glut of f800's in that crowd. Maybe it's perception, but I feel the bigger R and K bikes (and now 1000XR) are the majority.

The one that rides a Harley?

I've been going to the breakfasts for years, there's a HUGE increase in the number of F series bikes. But there are anywhere from 30 to 110 bikes, you can find a few of anything. Someone will always have the very latest, whatever it is.

[Stromper]

I have a Strom or other adventure bike for RT 8a in the Berkshires

I am not exploring as much as I am booking down small roads away from all the cops

To me the best stuff was the roads built by the colonists that went around big rocks and trees.... real engineering

Look on the map for a town with no numbered roads going to it then tell "twisty roads" to go there or
if your really ballsy ask for shortest rout, taking me down actual single tacks mistakenly left on google maps.

[nhbubba]

BMW Motorrad USA 472 lbs "Road ready, fully fueled."

Ah, I see the confusion. F800GS vs F800GSA. The extra letter weighs more.

Irregardless, none of them weigh low 400's.

The one that rides a Harley?

Don't they all?

[Chippertheripper]

What really does the weight matter? 95% of adventure bikes never see anything beyond a casual pace down a dirt road.

Any of the bikes we've been jamming on are capable of that.

Ps: there's still a soft spot in my heart for the first gen 800gs.
Pps: I haven't had THAT feeling that comes with being grabbed by a motorcycle in a long time. I miss it. They're all just bikes now.

[TheIglu]

I rode a 1150GSA down at the Gap a few years back. I instantly "got" it as soon as I hit any rough pavement. Talk about riding on a cloud....

Id own a new 1200GS-A in olive green, please. Just cant figure spending 8x what I paid for my happy as a clam Wee for it.

[TheIglu]

Bubs, do yourself a favor and ride a GS-A. Even a 11 year old one is a marvel. I was truely impressed. If not for reasing to buy one, then just to appreciate why so many people own them. Just bring a ladder.

[nhbubba]

I don't mean to imply that I don't get it. I just mean to imply that it isn't for me. In just the same way that the GL1800 and Road King aren't fantastic to ride, but just not what I'm looking for right now.

That and I don't have $20k to throw into a motorcycle. But wait!

As for capable. The image of a 1200gsa wheelieing past me on a class 6 road while I was struggling with my DRZ400 will forever be etched in my mind. Big bikes can get it done, given the sack and experience.

[TheIglu]

Yeah, I'm not saying buy one. Just ride one. And make sure it has the A. It's all about the A.

[LXnastynotch93]

The BMW-A is a wonderful machine. However for the price you pay for one you could have a Strom 1000 or 650 and a fully kitted race bike of your choosing.

[Garandman]

A co-worker had a 2007 GSA with Ohlins dampers. Really terrific On rough pavement.

[markbvt]

Bubs, do yourself a favor and ride a GS-A. Even a 11 year old one is a marvel. I was truely impressed. If not for reasing to buy one, then just to appreciate why so many people own them. Just bring a ladder.

The dealer from whom I bought both of my Triumphs is a BMW dealer first and foremost, and he spent a long time trying to lure me over to the twatsuit side. He kept telling me to take an R1200GSA out for a test ride, and one Saturday I finally took him up on it. He handed me the keys to a brand-new GSA and told me to have fun and just have it back before they closed that night.

Pulling out of the parking lot and setting off down the road, I felt like I was riding a frigging aircraft carrier. I kept expecting panels to open in the bodywork and pit bikes to come zipping out. The thing nearly put my hands to sleep with the vibrations coming from the motor, it was unwieldy as hell in stop and go town traffic, and riding the damn thing made me feel a little self-conscious. But I headed out on a good long route that took me south and over the Middlebury Gap, Rt 125, which at the time was torn up for repaving on the western end. It was the GSA's rock-stable handling on the now-gravel twisties that made me begin to see the bike's appeal. Once the road turned back to rough, broken-up pavement, I understood a little more. The bike just ate that stuff up, and in the twisties its ponderous weight just seemed to disappear. I enjoyed the second half of the ride, especially once the engine had a couple hundred miles on it and smoothed out some of those handlebar vibrations.

I dropped the bike back off at the dealer and told him I now understood why people buy these things for extended touring. Definitely comfortable and capable. But what I kept to myself is that I still wouldn't buy one. The GSA just didn't really speak to me. Objectively it's a very good motorcycle, but it didn't make me want one.

By contrast, a couple of years or so later Kenn let me ride his Tiger Explorer, and my reaction was very different. It too was very comfortable and pleasant to ride, but it was a lot smoother than the GSA, it handled absolutely awesome ripping up the Rt 9 twisties heading east out of Bennington, and when I got off it to trade bikes again with Kenn, the first words out of my mouth were, "If I ever do that ride up to Alaska, I have GOT to get one of these!" The Explorer was good in the same ways the GSA was, but it did have that extra something that made me love riding it.

From there I got back on my Tiger 800 XC and was amused to discover just how much it felt like a big dirtbike by comparison. So much more minimalist... yet still very comfortable for the long haul. Over the longer term, the 800 won out. Sure, one of the 1200s would be nice if I find myself doing a seriously long-haul extended trip, but for the riding I do -- lots of longish day rides and a couple of one-/two-week trips each year (say 3000-4500 miles each) -- the lighter, nimbler bike is my preference.

To me, the new V-Strom 1000 occupies an interesting slot in the ADV market. In terms of overall size, it seems closer to the smaller ADV bikes; it doesn't have the somewhat imposing physical presence of the 1200s and seems like it would be a little less unwieldy in tight spaces. But it makes more power than the 800s. When it came out, it struck me as a compelling answer for people who pretty much stay on pavement. Now the Africa Twin occupies a similar position, except with a much greater dirt focus. It'll be interesting to see whether other manufacturers decide to repopulate this more minimalist liter class of ADV bikes too. IMO it's pretty much the sweet spot they should be aiming for, rather than the increasing bloat of the 1200+ class.

--mark