Adventure/Off-Road/Dual Purpose - What to get?

[Spectaitor]

I am what they call an 'all day' rider. So definitely more than 400km a day, depending on the terrain and pace of my group of course.

I am taking another look at older bikes as well. The KTM 950 and 990 were absolute beasts. The 1190 is also a force to be reckoned with and has all the kit you could want for adventure touring.

But the newer 850 gs and tiger 900 are great bikes. And very appealing, considering the price of used adv bikes. The 950/990 owners still sell their bikes for near a 100k.

My dream bike is 990. Stupidly snatchy throttle and a real bunch to handle according to a few guy's I've ridden with - don't care!

If you are looking at 2nd hand then that opens up the KTM 1090.
The 1190 is just far too much bike to ever take on the gravel, it really is a road bike closer to a BMW S1000XR.

I regularly ride with a friend on his 1090 and it does absolutely everything my trusty DR650 does in the dirt but then makes me jelly on the highway. Out of the 3 'big' bikes we ride with, GS800 and AT1000, the KTM1090 is the "Premium" that whoops the other for days. My mate easily had pillion for a full trip while enjoying just as much dirt as the rest of us. The bike performed flawlessly.

Katoom 1090 Review

 

[Sub-lime]

1090 is a bit older on the tech side tech though and it also got a height seat 890mm is a bit high for most. They are a lot cheaper than an AT, T900 and probably a 850 too. It also has the least fork travel compared to AT, T900 and again the GS which I'm not too familiar with.

 

[DannyBoyOPC]

The issues with the Africa twin is

1) damn heavy, when you get stuck you gonna need a mate or 2 to help you
2) When you drop the bike , expensive to repair.

My cousin had one and he took a tumble on a tour and damaged the side plastic and the tank. It cost him 10K for the side panel alone.
I cant remember the total cost of the repair but it was not cheap.

He has since changed to the KTM Adventure 790R and is loving it. I cant comment for the Africa Twin but the KTM is a awesome ride and very capable bike in good hands. Also the panels are waaaay cheaper if you do drop the bike. I stand to be corrected but think the side panel on the KTM is only 3k or there about.

 

[iamgigglz]

Late to this party but here's my contribution:

Africa Twin: Go for the newer CRF1100; lots of little tweaks that make it a much better bike overall. I rode the 1000 and 1100 back to back and the newer bike's throttle response was telepathic. If I got one it would be the DCT but not the bigger "Adventure Sports" model. The "normal" model is missing few bells & whistles but the weight difference is huge and you can feel it. The DCT is bloody incredible, especially in technical riding. Yes it's an extra 10kg but it's all very low down; you don't feel it.
The 1100 felt about as fast as my 990 but SO much easier to ride. Did 200kph without much effort but wouldn't do more than that. 130kph to 170kph for overtaking was definitely faster than my 990 and at half the revs.

Triumph: I've ridden the 1200 and older 800 Tiger and it just cemented my opinion that 3 cylinders don't belong off-road. It's fun to use the power to spin up the rear but it's a real pain when you genuinely need real traction. Their newer cross-plane motors address this problem so I'm sure they're much better but it's an un-proven motor. I'd wait for 2nd gen. Also, their dealership structure is forever changing which could make servicing etc a problem.

BMW: Kinda like Apple IMO: Great bikes but I feel like you're paying for the dealer support etc. Not a bad thing, but just weigh up the value proposition carefully. The 1200GS is the one to beat but it runs out of talent when properly off-road. Kicks ass the other 90% of the time though. Can't really comment on the 850 but I feel like there's a reason you don't see them very often.

KTM: Probably where you should be going. The 2021 1290 is a proper monster with major changes over the 2020 model. All the greasy bits are much the same though. New ECU sorts out the low down snatchy/chuggy issues which were the only real shortcoming of the 1290 off-road. The V-twin is ridiculous fun and their suspension is unbeatable. The motor is set pretty high though so picking it up is a lot more effort than a GS or Africa Twin. Remember that picking up a bike is easy. Picking up a bike for the 8th time after a full day of off-roading is another story.
Give yourself the time to fully understand the differences between the S and R models. The S is still great off-road and benefits from a lot more electronic tricks.
The 890 is great but you might find it tiring on longer trips. It's fairly naked.

The rest: I don't know of any other bikes on the market that can tick both the long-distance touring and proper off-roading boxes. Yes, there are better tourers (Ducati for eg) and there are better off-roaders (690, T7) but they don't do both worlds as well as you want them to.


TL;DR: Africa Twin CRF1100 DCT (non-"Adventure Sports") if you want a surprisingly capable off-road tourer.
Cough up the extra R50k for a KTM 1290 to add 60 horses and some sexier suspension to the Africa Twin. Give the S model a chance before jumping to the R.

Seriously TL;DR: Just ride all of them and the bike will choose you. Cheesy but true.

 

[Cyst]

@PandaAttack1 , did you eventually decide on what to get?

 

[PandaAttack1]

@PandaAttack1 , did you eventually decide on what to get?

Not yet bud. I have a few bikes at the top of my list. For now I am just enjoying my S1000R and Ducati. Between the two I am super happy. I might delay the touring bike for another year or so. Too many smiles from those two beasts at the moment.