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Recommend a good touring bike

:laughing

Berto..

Awesome to hear.

The FJ is solid as hell.
Multistrada's are great because they tour so well but still can rip it up in the tightest of twisties.

I don't see you on a bagger.. but hey depending on your answer to Augistiron's question we will know more. ;)
 
augustiron said:
You guys are all putting the apple cart before the horse.

Most important question is who he wants to "be" when riding a touring bike:

- assless chaps :)twofinger) skull tshirt, do-rag and wrap around glasses under a half helmet with harley logos on everything including the banana hammock
Or
- hiviz aerostich under any and all conditions, wireless telecom, modular helmet, use work "farkles" a lot

Answer that and we can go from there

:teeth
Click to expand...


So true. And what is wrong with a WirelessHivisHelmet :afm199

Need to go finish my Corvid farkle list. :twofinger
 
Bikeama avatar = touring archetype achievement unlocked!

I'm just jelly as I'm rocking an HJC leather jacket from 1999 held together with zip ties, and a shoei rf900.
I do have nice boots though.
 
The BMW shaft drive problems were solved a long time ago. Unfortunately, the tale continues.
 
2020 Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES DCT
 
Touring bike:
- 200+ mile gas range (closer to 250 better)
- Good widespread dealer network and available parts (I'm looking at you ducati and Aprilia)
- good wind protection
- ergos that work for the rider (biggest ?) As one does not work for all.

From there decide on how tight of roads you will be on and what pace you expect to keep, versus more open road mile eating.

I don't think the bike makes as huge a difference there as a competent rider can rip on anything (i learned being chased by a stranger on some big Victory bagger in norcal near the Oregon border years ago through tight twisties
 
dravnx said:
The BMW shaft drive problems were solved a long time ago. Unfortunately, the tale continues.
Click to expand...

Not true, the driveshafts still fail pretty often and across a lot of different models and years.

Those that are deep in the BMWs know they need to be inspected often and generally have a lifespan of 60-80k miles.
 
The one thing it's important to know is how the distance will be traveled. In particular would this be a "hotels only" trip or will there be camping involved? If it's a camping type trip I would say it's gotta be an "ADV" type bike because sometimes those are full and you have to go sort of make your own.

Knowing this cuts the possibilities in half at least.
 
Holeshot said:
I'd like something no older than about 2-3 years or even new.
Click to expand...

That narrows it down to... just about any motorcycle on the planet :laughing

What's your budget?
Will you ever tour with a passenger?
Do you need to haul a ton of camping gear or will you stay in hotels?
Are you comfortable riding a bike that weighs twice as much as your race bike? Three times as much?

As a former track-day junkie who got interested in longer-distance riding, the following options have all caught my eye at one time or another. I've listed their (claimed!) wet weights, because weight was one of the biggest things I noticed coming from sport bikes...

Heavyweight: Yamaha FJR1300 (640lbs), BMW R1250RT (615lbs), Kawasaki ZX-14R (593lbs)
Midweight: Ducati Multistrada 1260S (518lbs), KTM SuperDuke GT (506lbs), BMW R1250GS (550lbs), Kawasaki H2 SX SE+ (577lbs), Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX (516lbs)
Lightweight: Yamaha Tracer 900GT (474lbs), Suzuki GSX-S1000F (474lbs), Ducati Supersport S (463lbs), any sportbike or standard that's all-day comfortable

If you think you'll be riding off-road as well as on, then there are a bunch of other possibilities (Suzuki V-strom, Triumph Tiger, Kawasaki Versys, Yamaha Super Tenere, KTM Super Adventure, KTM 790 Adventure, Honda Africa Twin, etc).
 
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Coming from the track you may like this lightweight BMW F 800 GT. Don't think you can find it new though :

2016-BMW-F800GT1-small.jpg
 
I'll toss in my vote for an FJR but I'm biased.
 
augustiron said:
Bikeama avatar = touring archetype achievement unlocked!

I'm just jelly as I'm rocking an HJC leather jacket from 1999 held together with zip ties, and a shoei rf900.
I do have nice boots though.
Click to expand...

I will make you feel better that is not my bike. It is a rental, but I am in Switzerland with my wife. Doing retirement right since 2010 :teeth
 

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You can narrow down the choices by engine (2, 3, 4 or 6 cylinders) and continent of origin preferences.

When I rented a BMW K1600GTL, rode Hwy 1 in the rain down to Morro Bay and back on 101, I was most impressed by its electrically powered windscreen, its weather protection, the cruise control, and seat comfort. I could dial in the perfect level of wind protection at any speed at the touch of a button. It felt like I hardly got any water on me in the heavy rain. I usually dread the straight freeway ride back home at the end of a long day trip due to the wind blast and sore butt, but with the great wind protection, cruise control and comfy seat of the K1600, it felt almost like cruising home in a car.
 
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Since retiring from racing, I’ve gone through some bikes and now have a couple I really like. One is the ‘wife bike’, a HD Street Glide Special for 2-up rides to the coast for breakfast and then back home (100-150 mile rides). The other is a R1250GS Adventure on Dunlop RoadSmarts, for banging out 400+ mile days (solo) to grab a tritip sandwich in Cambria, riding 25 at a stupid pace, sometimes on the back wheel. The other option I considered was a Multistrada. Call Cory and have him send you out on a low suspension GSA. I never understood these ugly af bikes until I rode one. I still love the looks of my Harley but the GSA is the best streetbike I’ve ever owned, and you’ll find a ton of ex-racers on these damn things. Cory did 58’s at Thunderhill on his. Spend the extra money for the 1250 because I rode it after Cory had me test ride a used 1200, and there’s no way you’ll buy a 1200 after riding a 1250. Turn off the TC and the bottom end is fridiculous, power wheelies on demand! My Aprilia RSV4 will be for sale after this SIP thing is over because I could definitely do a trackday on the GSA if I got the itch. It’s that good.
 
I've done light touring on both a chain drive and shaft drive, it's really what you seek in your travels that will affect your experience.

For me, this is criteria in looking for a bike that will do 400 miles + a day across all kinds of roads (some have mentioned these attributes which I absolutely agree with):

Tank Range: 200 miles + (I've done touring on my FZ1 with only 150 miles per tank and it is fairly doable but you risk running out of gas in dry spots. Stopping for gas isn't so much of a problem because after 2 hrs, you'll want to stop and stretch just for the sake of sanity and hydration).

Wind Protection: The bigger tourers are big for a reason, it's all because of wind protection. When you venture out in the midwest/central areas, wind gusts are no joke, they can get up to 60-70mph. Wind also accelerates a rider's fatigue, the more you have to fight it with your body, the faster you tire. A 400 mile day on my FZ1 and a 400 mile day on my RT are vastly different in terms of fatigue. Of course there are other variants to consider such as acceleration, road feel, and nimbleness. My FZ1 has a lot more pulling power than my older model RT.

Creature Comforts:

I would not tour without the following, after riding for x years, you just want to have these options:

- Cruise Control (slabbing it for 50 miles with cruise control is a much appreciated feature, you won't know how helpful it is until you use it)
- Heated grips
- Included or available hard luggage
- Center Stand (for repairs, parked stability)

I've gone on 4-5 days trips with both my FZ1 and RT. Feel free to ask any questions.
 
motomania2007 said:
If you are looking for:

Full boat touring rig then a goldwing or a HD tourer or BMW K1600GTL
Sport touring heavy: FJR1300, BMW R1200RT, Concours14
Adventure touring: R1200GS, Triumph Tiger 1200, KTM, Super Tenere
Sport Touring light: Tracer, Tiger 800, Versus 1000

There are more bikes but these are the ones I would consider for long rides, given your specifications.

The only ones of these I personally would choose as a 2-up mount are, in order: FJR1300 and Concours14. If I was travelling alone: Super Tenere or Tracer.
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Pretty much this. I'd also throw in some other niche bikes to make it even more confusing:

Africa Twin, VFR1200X, GoldWing (the king of them all), Yamaha Tenere 700 (new for 2020 and all of use eager to see).
 
As someone already mentioned "good" depends on what your riding style is like.

If you like a sporty ride and are willing to put up with Italian service and reliability, I personally really like the Multistrada because of its Skyhook suspension and great power band.

I had an S1000XR that I liked a lot. It was nearly perfect except for the suspension. Very reliable but service was very expensive.

I like fast bikes so if I had to do it again I'd look at a Kawasaki H2 as well.
 
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