If you left your house and rode a motorcycle to alaska or chile, what bike would you take?

Okay, I'm curious to know what bike you would take if you were going to do an extended range trip to either Alaska, or the southern-most tip of Chile. So we can compare apples to apples, we could use the following parameters:
1. You choose to ride the best roads that are available.
2. There will be some gravel or dirt roads.
3. There will be freeways and secondary highways for 60 per cent of the travel.
4. You will be doing this in the summer.
5. You choose to ride as quickly as possible, obeying speed limits.
6. You must carry all of your own gear.
7. Comfort is a concern.

What bike would you choose?
How would you modify it?

 

Suzuki V-Strom 1000 ABS .... until Honda gets their Adventure models over here ....

 

Multistrada grand tourismo..........no question assuming that you have the cash to buy one that is. I actually don't so the VFR will have to do.

 

BMW R1200 GS Adventure.

Never been on one, but I like it.

 

I spent some time on this one last summer. It was OK but it felt like a tank and I don't know if it would be much fun in the gravel.

 

Probably the 650 V-Strom, with soft bags. I'd be looking at something that I can pick up by myself, which leaves out the mastodon-like BMW's. If you ride off road you're going to fall down at some point, so make sure you can pick the darn thing up. I rode with a couple guys on BMW "adventure" bikes and neither of them could touch the ground with both feet, and one guy was over 6 feet tall.

 

To Alaska.....GS1200

To Chile.......KLR-650

 

Two and maybe three Harleys.

 

1975 Yamaha DT125 Enduro!

 

Good question. Definately not the VFR. The most comfortable bike for long distance was my 1983 Suzuki GS750E, AND that includes riding my dads 1800 Gold Wing on a 1000km ride. The '80's..... good times

 

I'd take a small dual sport. My XT225 would be a good candidate for myself. Or maybe a CRF230L. A simple air cooled thumper. I've never had more fun on a bike than when I'm riding a small dual sport. It may be difficult on the interstates but that's just a good excuse to avoid them. It would be a bit of a pain, but at the end of the trip, you probably wouldn't be able to wipe the smile from my face.

 

I would take a Honda XR650. It's big enough fr road work and light enough off-road. It is air cooled with the reliability of a brick. Because it is a Honda you will have an easier time getting parts. I would upgrade the seat. My second choice would be a Kawasaki KLR for all the same reasons except for the water cooling.

 

I forgot about the DR-650. That might be the best choice.

 

I was gonna pick the dr but for those of us that aren't the tallest it can be a bit more difficult in the rough stuff. Harder to wrestle around and dig out of the sticky mud one might encounter.


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It looks like someone is ready for adventure.

 

Do they have Walmarts in Alaska and Chile?

 

If you could find one, a Transalp would be a good steed for such a journey.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

 

I was thinking about the scenario when you have engine trouble in a foreign country - water in the engine (from a river crossing? I didn't mention that), or just engine trouble in general (crankshaft? That'd be major). So you're in some small town in Peru, no one speaks a lot of English. What bike can they fix? A V-Strom? They've been around awhile now and I think Suzook has dealers across South America. DR 650? DR400? KLR? KTM Adventure? BMW GS?