Seriously Considering Adding a Third Bike

Considering my next bike:

 

I love how Americans always seem to think that anything over 3 digits is high mileage. It's like you guys never actually ride.
40K is only high mileage if it's a crappy bike, or if it's a track bike. For a quality bike, that is barely broken in. For me, it is about 3 years of regular riding (and I don't commute).

With proper maintenance, there is no reason a bike can't hit numbers in the range of most cars and no one would say that 40K is high mileage for even a small, cheap car. I know several people with 100K+ on their bikes, running like new with nothing but basic service parts and rubber changed.
Hell, Around here, we don't consider a GL-series bike broken in until it hits 60K. At which point you change the belt and do another 60K.

I assume it's down to culture. Here in the north, we ride a lot. But in Germany, Holland etc, they seem to view bikes much more as toys to take out when the weather is just perfect and you have nothing better to do. As a result of that cultural difference, we often see bikes imported from there with almost nothing on the clock (I have had 2 such imports).

 

Perhaps you should think before criticizing Americans. Your country might not be around today were it not for crazy Americans. We also like to collect guns just because we can. Parts of our government would like to be tyrannical by OUR standards but they forget that there are more guns than citizens for a constitutional reason. You're a pretty critical SOB. Get off your high horse or go ride in the snow...

 

It is very true North Americans are very adverse to a 6-digit odometer readings, the bikes become worth nothing if you're selling.... bonus if you're a buyer who knows his stuff. My new to me 5th Gen has one of those six digit odometers...... the price was decent! Meanwhile, the new T700 is getting lots of attention.

 

Amazingly, this is priced higher than a Tenere 7, but they both have pro's and con's. Weight and displacement being the two biggest differences. Don't know the specs on maintenance intervals, but my guess is that the 450 is a little more needy. It really depends on the intended use. I am looking hard at the T7, but I do have an attraction to the 450L as well.

 

Great stuff. I haven't laughed like that in a while.
Thanks

As for the Tenere vs 450...
Pretty sure the price difference is mainly down to the fact that they are different types of bikes. The Honda is basically a trail bike that can also go on roads, while the Yamaha is more a adventure-lite bike.
Also; Honda just tends to cost more than the competition.

As I recall, the Tenere uses the same engine as the MT-07. Very easy to squeeze a bit more power out of and overall pretty solid. But while I fully understand why it's so popular, I never liked the MT-07. The engine just doesn't feel right to me, and it sounds absolutely horrible.

If I was looking for a bike of that type, I would probably be looking towards the V-strom 650. Much better engine IMO and a lot of bike for your money.

But if I had to buy a new, sub-1000cc adventure bike. I would prefer to spent a bit more and get the KTM 790R

 

For me, a new moto is merely the base platform to start the fabrication of the actual bike I plan on ending up with.

 

IMO, after riding dirt bikes for over 3 decades, if I want to ride purely off-road, 250cc is enough.

I think most of these 600, 750cc dual sport are similar to SUVs, likely most off-road riding they'll see is likely to be hardpack, gravel roads.

 

True. Most of them are basically road bikes that CAN go off road. Some more off road than others.
The few that are proper off road worthy bikes, like the 1250GS, are mostly owned by middle aged dentists who's idea of off road, is going up the driveway, when there are a few leaves on it. At least that is how it is around here.
Always makes me a bit sad when I see a bike that was built for epic adventures, being forced into the degrading life of a pavement princess that barely gets 500 miles in a year.

But I do feel there is a place for the 600-800cc adventure bikes. As you said, most will never do much more off road than a bit of hardpack. But they do work for that while still being perfectly fine on road. I definitely see why that is attractive to a lot of people. And they are generally very comfortable to ride as well.