WTB: Large adv-touring bike

[kbroderick]

I figure this is a long shot here, but what the heck...

I'm looking for a larger, adv-touring type bike. I'm trying to stay near $4500 including good hard luggage (good == as close to water- and dust-tight as possible, as I have a photography habit as well and want to keep that gear better protected). The R1100GS or a Tiger would likely fall into the plausible category; I'd consider stretching the budget for the perfect bike (probably a 1200GS with a salvage title but clean maintenance history...we can all dream, right ). If I'm really lucky and someone with a spare 1200GS needs computer work done, I'd be more than happy to trade consulting time towards the bike purchase (then again, if my luck were that good, I'd probably have managed to buy the correct Powerball ticket by now).

Oh, and I've got a 29" inseam and I'd like to be able to reach at least one foot easily. I don't expect to get both down at the same time.

Local is decidedly better, and leads are appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Chippertheripper]

I assume you've posted something similar on adv?

[sandman]

I figure this is a long shot here, but what the heck...

I'm looking for a larger, adv-touring type bike. I'm trying to stay near $4500 including good hard luggage (good == as close to water- and dust-tight as possible, as I have a photography habit as well and want to keep that gear better protected). The R1100GS or a Tiger would likely fall into the plausible category; I'd consider stretching the budget for the perfect bike (probably a 1200GS with a salvage title but clean maintenance history...we can all dream, right ). If I'm really lucky and someone with a spare 1200GS needs computer work done, I'd be more than happy to trade consulting time towards the bike purchase (then again, if my luck were that good, I'd probably have managed to buy the correct Powerball ticket by now).

Oh, and I've got a 29" inseam and I'd like to be able to reach at least one foot easily. I don't expect to get both down at the same time.

Local is decidedly better, and leads are appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

what kind of adv-touring? short or long range?

i think you might have a hard time reaching the ground on a tiger and forget about a gs unless your going to lower it.

a wee or v strom would be a good choice and can be found within your budget.

pelican cases make for a nice match for the stroms

look here for all of the above

http://www.advrider.com/forums/forum...=52&order=desc

out of all of the above imho the tiger is the best all around bike, especially if your going to do more dirt.

[kbroderick]

what kind of adv-touring? short or long range?

i think you might have a hard time reaching the ground on a tiger and forget about a gs unless your going to lower it.

a wee or v strom would be a good choice and can be found within your budget.

pelican cases make for a nice match for the stroms

look here for all of the above

http://www.advrider.com/forums/forum...=52&order=desc

out of all of the above imho the tiger is the best all around bike, especially if your going to do more dirt.

Longer range.

I've sat on--and test ridden--a 1200GS at Frank's. I can reach the ground comfortably on the low model, well enough on the low seat / standard suspension combo, and just barely on the standard / standard model (didn't even try the Adv). I'm expecting an 1100 to be similar.

I sat on a Tiger 955i that was listed on craigslist in Vermont. It had a Corbin, and I could barely get the ball of one foot down without swinging my ass way off to the side...to the point where I was afraid to try to take it off sidestand (I was afraid that, were I to made enough of dynamic move off my left leg to get the bike upright, I'd end up not being able to catch it on my right leg). Given the difference between a Corbin seat and a standard seat on the F650 I rode last year, I'd expect that a Tiger with a standard seat would work...unfortunately, the standard seat for the Tiger in Vermont was in Connecticuit, and I wasn't willing to plunk down the cash without being able to get the bike off sidestand.

If I found a well-equipped weestrom, I'd consider it--as Mark pointed out when I raised the subject in another thread, they're cheaper to buy and to run (and potentially more reliable). I'm not as willing to stretch the budget for one, though--I strongly suspect that I'd prefer a BMW, but I suppose I should try to ride a weestrom to verify.

Having ridden a 1200GS, well, I'm pretty sure what I want, it's just not quite in my price range at the moment.

I am also confident that I could eventually get used to a bike from which I couldn't easily reach the ground--there are plenty of folks who are shorter than I am who still manage to ride taller bikes. I'm also fairly confident that such a bike would experience at least a couple of scuff-inducing experiences before I managed to get the hang of it.

And no, I haven't posted a similar WTB on ADV, although I have been keeping an eye on the classifieds. I've found a bike in Arizona that's awfully close to being what I want, but it's in Arizona and I'm unconvinced that I'm getting a full description of all blemishes, etc from the current owner (I think that he's just not great at describing a bike the way I would for an Internet sale, but I'm not sure).

Thanks for the input.

[sandman]

Longer range.

I've sat on--and test ridden--a 1200GS at Frank's. I can reach the ground comfortably on the low model, well enough on the low seat / standard suspension combo, and just barely on the standard / standard model (didn't even try the Adv). I'm expecting an 1100 to be similar.

I sat on a Tiger 955i that was listed on craigslist in Vermont. It had a Corbin, and I could barely get the ball of one foot down without swinging my ass way off to the side...to the point where I was afraid to try to take it off sidestand (I was afraid that, were I to made enough of dynamic move off my left leg to get the bike upright, I'd end up not being able to catch it on my right leg). Given the difference between a Corbin seat and a standard seat on the F650 I rode last year, I'd expect that a Tiger with a standard seat would work...unfortunately, the standard seat for the Tiger in Vermont was in Connecticuit, and I wasn't willing to plunk down the cash without being able to get the bike off sidestand.

If I found a well-equipped weestrom, I'd consider it--as Mark pointed out when I raised the subject in another thread, they're cheaper to buy and to run (and potentially more reliable). I'm not as willing to stretch the budget for one, though--I strongly suspect that I'd prefer a BMW, but I suppose I should try to ride a weestrom to verify.

Having ridden a 1200GS, well, I'm pretty sure what I want, it's just not quite in my price range at the moment.

I am also confident that I could eventually get used to a bike from which I couldn't easily reach the ground--there are plenty of folks who are shorter than I am who still manage to ride taller bikes. I'm also fairly confident that such a bike would experience at least a couple of scuff-inducing experiences before I managed to get the hang of it.

And no, I haven't posted a similar WTB on ADV, although I have been keeping an eye on the classifieds. I've found a bike in Arizona that's awfully close to being what I want, but it's in Arizona and I'm unconvinced that I'm getting a full description of all blemishes, etc from the current owner (I think that he's just not great at describing a bike the way I would for an Internet sale, but I'm not sure).

Thanks for the input.

for long range stuff it's hard to beat a gsa, i can easily get 300+ miles to a tank and take just about anything i'd need with me. with the tiger i got better mileage than the gsa but with the smaller tank i was in the 250-270 range for a tank.

while it's a lot more than you want to spend, it can be lowered the same as a gs.

i dont remember the corbin being taller then the stock seat on a tiger, if anything it's lower and harder (this was a 05).

get a wee and ride it for a year or so, by then maybe you can bump up to the bmw or something else.

the wee is a lot lighter. i dont know what kind of stuff your going to be doing but the gsa can be a handful in the dirt. i've got 34" legs with ohlins and i've had a few close calls trying to get a foot down, then again that bike had no business being where we were.

btw: yesterday i was having a blast on a bunch of dirt rds in bridgewater vt

[kbroderick]

for long range stuff it's hard to beat a gsa, i can easily get 300+ miles to a tank and take just about anything i'd need with me. with the tiger i got better mileage than the gsa but with the smaller tank i was in the 250-270 range for a tank.

while it's a lot more than you want to spend, it can be lowered the same as a gs.

I kinda feel like lowering an GS Adv is, well, counterproductive. One of the benefits of the adv is the ground clearance and suspension--so why pay more just to replace it? And, yes, they're generally way out of my price range.

i dont remember the corbin being taller then the stock seat on a tiger, if anything it's lower and harder (this was a 05).

The owner thought the Corbin made the bike seem taller, and I've seen at least one reference on the net to the Corbin/Tiger combo being taller than stock. I think it's the width as much as the height that makes the difference--the Corbins tend to be wider, forcing your legs to go out to the side more before going down.

get a wee and ride it for a year or so, by then maybe you can bump up to the bmw or something else.

If I find a right-priced wee (particularly one with hard luggage), I'd certainly be very interested. The only one I've seen in that category so far, though, got snapped up within hours of being posted at the new, lower price that made it interesting.

the wee is a lot lighter. i dont know what kind of stuff your going to be doing but the gsa can be a handful in the dirt. i've got 34" legs with ohlins and i've had a few close calls trying to get a foot down, then again that bike had no business being where we were.

I expect to do at least some moderate Class IV stuff, i.e. stuff that the EX250 could almost pull off (and probably could pull off with better tires or a better-experienced rider), but I don't expect to be doing any particularly rugged off-roading anytime soon.