8 Best Mid Segment Adventure bikes for Globetrotters
which adventure touring motorcycle strikes the perfect balance between comfortable touring sufficient off-road capability and has modern riding aids and equipment without casting a kidney like the dss and the multi-stratas of the world to find out let's compare and detail the new honda africa twin with the latest updates that can challenge some flagship adventure tourers the suzuki v-strom 1050xt that prides itself on simplicity not to mention its well-deserved reputation for bulletproof reliability the yamaha super tenere which was also touted as a gs competitor when it got an electronic suspension upgrade in 2014 the ktm 890 adventure and adventure r which may have a displacement disadvantage but the power delivery and equipment places them as aggressive competitors on both price and capability husband norden 901 is their handsome cousin that may look more sophisticated but has the same exciting engine and equipment lurking underneath that tuxedo the f-850 gs and gs adventure felt like the fairer contenders from the bmw stables because of the price segment and comparable engine specifications the tiger 900 rally and rally pro are triumph's adventure touring contenders in this comparison that get pretty good equipment to compete with the rest of them the ducati desert x is the latest entrant on this list that looks like a reincarnation of a 90's legend but we will find out if it can compete with these modern day war horses [Music] and even though looks are subjective and not a massive criteria for picking up an adventure bike looking back at your beautiful motorcycle after a ride is indeed a good feeling so i'm gonna stick to my personal top three specifically on looks i find the ducati desert eggs to be the best looking because of its kajiva elephant inspired design and the norton 901 that looks like a wild kid in a dinner jacket and after once with an adventure bike beak i like the overall styling of the tiger 900 rally more than the others of course i understand that you may have a different opinion please feel free to share it in the comments while i deep dive and compare these marvelous engines that have the power to take you on all the adventures that you can think of the afrika twin makes a hundred horsepower and gets two transmission options each for both the standard and adventure sports model option one a six-speed manual transmission and option two a dual clutch transmission i test with the dct in 2017 and it did not rock my boat but that doesn't mean it's bad it's just my personal preference for an old-fashioned manual clutch and throttle dance the strom 1050 xt's 90 degree v-twin engine is what gives it the bulletproof tack the assistant slipper clutch adds to its ease of use characteristic the super tener engine is of course the biggest and puts out more horses and torque than the rest on top of that t12 owners will tell you that a good tune will do wonders to the power delivery the ktm 890s shared the now euro 5 compliant lc8 engine with the norton 901 the engine may be a bit smaller than the other three but puts out comparable power and torque figures and delivers them like a champ the f850 engine does have the lowest power figure on paper but the smooth and predictable power delivery is what gives it the easy rider characteristic in the uk and india bmw is claiming 95 horsepower and 92 newton meters of peak torque on the 2023 model depriving the rest of the markets of the extra five ponies would be quite a scandal so i would like to believe that it's only a missing update on the american and australian website at the time of making this video tiger 900 rallies triple h cc t-plane triple cylinder engine takes cues from the 765 streeple and the t800 with some clever engineering that engine now weighs less than the tiger 800 engine but puts out 94 horses while being euro 5 compliant ducati also took that sweet l twin engine from the panigale 959 and plonked it into the handsome desert x with a tune more appropriate for an adventure bike all bikes have assistant slipper clutches and chain drives with the super t being the exception with a shaft drive and while our quest to explore new places makes us fall for the marketing punch lines the suspension tires and brake combination is a litmus test of what these bikes can really do the afrika twins standard variant gets adjustable shower suspension and the adventure sports es variant gets electronic adjustability for damping and preload both the trims have the same suspension travel and advantage touring oriented wheel size but the standard trim gets conventionally spoked wheels with tubed tires an adventure sport trim gets crossbow wheels with tubeless tires the medzalar karu streets are 70 on-road and 30 off-road tires the v-storm 1050 xt gets fully adjustable suspension but the suspension travel is 6.3 inches front and back even on the adventure and touring trims available in the us and australia that i will talk about when we get to the accessories comparison wheels are also spoked on tubeless but the size of the middle of the road 19 and 17 inch combination the bridgestone a41s on it aren't designed for hardcore off-roading either yamaha super tenera es gets the convenience of electronically adjustable suspension just like the africa twin in 2022 it's only available in north america and australia the suspension travels 7.5 inches front and back and the wheels are cross poked and tubeless bridgestone battle wings on the super 10 array are also 90 10 on-road off-road tires it may look like these two shouldn't be on an adventure touring comparison but in the real world the vast majority of riders who buy adventure bikes end up staying on tarmac most of the time for the dirt warriors the ktm 890 adventure r has the suspension wheels and tires for some serious off-road shenanigans but if you wanted something less aggressive 890 adventure standard has non-adjustable suspension that travels a little less but works just fine for touring and light dirt trails and for those of you who want their adventure bikes to be handsome yet capable husqvarna has got you covered the wp apex forks from the husky's handsome hunk have compression and rebound adjustability and the monoshock has rebound and preload the remote pre-load adjuster is super convenient and the pirelli tires are 50 50 on-road off-road just like the metzelers on the adventure are and for those who fancy a premium badge the bmw f850 gsa will give you just that but the wp apex forks are non-adjustable and the monoshock gets similar adjustability and travel as a norton 901 the bmw premium package which india gets as standard now includes the semi-active suspension in the rear but for some strange reason the front remains non-adjustable some reviewers have actually pointed out that the bmw suspension is too soft and that it nose dives quite a bit under braking triumph also seems to have done a better job with fully adjustable showa suspension that travels 9.4 and 9.1 inches front and back wheels are similar spec and the bridgestone a41s are the same as the v-strom just a different size in the front you could obviously get more off-road oriented tires if you wanted to play in the dirt which is also the case if you went with the desert x which gets fully adjustable kyb suspension that travels 9.1 and 8.7 inches and spoke wheels with tubeless pirelli tires which are 21 and 18 inch true off-road size and before i compare them all on the biggest drawback of adventure bikes let's look at the equipment that'll save your bacon if you send it too hard brakes thankfully lean sensitive abs has become a standard feature on all of these with the exception of the super 10 array which only gets standard abs and a unified braking system which actuates both brakes even when you only pull the front brake lever v-strom and super tener8 don't let you switch the abs off so backing it in is not an option at least for us mere mortals honda and suzuki get similar brake specs from different manufacturers yamaha calipers are axially mounted but the ubs works great for its intended use ktm and husky get the same brakes from jai huan the company that supplies to the moto gp guys bmw triumph and ducati get brembos f850 gsa gets axially mounted brake calipers as well and now let's talk about the most common thing about adventure motorcycles that intimidates most people who are new to the sport seat height and weight the africa twin and v-strom 1050xt both get height adjustable stock seats in all the trains but the v-strum seats require tools to take off and adjust you can also get optional low seats which also have 20 millimeters or eight tenths of an inch of adjustability the super tenera stock seat is also height adjustable but the low seat option seems to be taller than the other two bikes with the ktm height adjustability is differentiated between the two trims the 890 adventure standard gets an adjustable seat which goes as low as 32.7 inches while the 890 adventure r model gets a 34.6 inch
non-adjustable seat you can get an optional low seat for the r but it's still taller and retains its off-road stance the norden 901 standard seat does give you adjustability but the low seat setting is more comparable to the adventure r than the adventure standard the f 850 gs adventure doesn't get adjustability but the extra low seat option is lower than all the others triumph gets sweet adjustability but even the optional lossy is an inch taller than the bmw option the desert x seat also doesn't get height adjustability but the low seat optional extra can get you 34 inches off the ground which is the tallest low seat in this entire comparison shorter riders can also consider suspension lowering links to get closer to the ground which are offered as optional accessories of course some of us might just choose to balance the bike on either foot during a stop which is a matter of technique rather than strength and with that let's talk about weight the africa twin in base stream without dct weighs 505 pounds or 229 kilos the adventure sports es is 24 pounds heavier wiistrom 1050 xt is heavier even though it has a smaller fuel tank that we will talk about in a minute for the xt adventure or touring models you need to take into account the additional weight of the luggage accessories which are standard the super tannery is the heaviest of the bunch thanks to the shaft drive bigger engine and some standard accessories that are optional on all the others 890 adventure and adventure r weigh almost the same and are the lightest ones in this comparison but they don't include a lot of accessories that are standard on the others the norden 901 is the second lightest even with those massive fairings and the bmw 850 gs adventure weight is comparable with the 80 adventure sports and the standard gs weight is comparable with the base africa twin and the tiger 900 rally pro in india since the premium package is standard the weight is 4 kilos more than the standard trim elsewhere the tiger 900 rally is about 11 pounds or 5 kilos lighter than the pro because of fewer standard accessories that i will talk about later in the video the desert x weight is also comparable with the tiger 900 rally pro model but that's without any crash protection accessories and once you have come to terms with the sheer size of these voyages and two wheels it's time to understand how far can they take you on one tank of fuel the africa twin seems to be the most frugal and the adventure sports es with a 6.5 us gallon tank can exceed the 300 mile mark pretty easily that too on regular fuel that may be your only option in remote corners of the world the base trim africa twin gets a 5 us gallon tank v-strum 1050 xt and super 10a seem to have similar fuel efficiency but yamaha's bigger fuel tank gives it a bit of an edge both are happy with regular fuel thanks to the not so high compression engines the ktm and husky would expectedly have similar fuel efficiency but the northern tank is slightly smaller than the 890 adventure both prefer premium fuel thanks to the 13.5 to 1 compression ratio online resources seem to suggest that the 850 gs adventure fuel efficiency can be comparable to the africa twin coupled with a 6.1 us gallon fuel tank a 300
mile range may not be a stretch if you went with the 850 gs instead its 4 us gallon tank would of course reduce the range quite a bit the tiger 900 rally and rally pro have the same fuel tank and a conservative estimate of the range would be closer to 250 miles or 400 kilometers the ducati desert x has the lowest fuel efficiency which doesn't surprise me but you have an option of an auxiliary tank that can be fitted to the subframe to increase the fuel capacity by 2.1 gallon or 8 liters these estimates are of course based on internet-based research and websites like fuelee.com they will vary based on your riding style conditions and weight carried and even the quality of fuel you will get in different parts of the world and while you travel to different parts of the world on a motorcycle the idea of being exposed to the elements may be exciting but staying comfortable safe and carrying stuff is a lot more tricky than cars thankfully these bikes do have some creature comforts that used to be limited to cars back in the day like cruise control which all the bikes get standard except the ktm and the bmw which need you to shell out more money to buy that optional extra for connecting your smartphone with the bike africa twin has the most sophisticated apple carplay suzuki and yamaha get none of that smartphone connectivity on the 890 adventure are standard optional extra on the norton 901 850 gs adventure and tiger also have that as standard the triumph also lets you control your gopro from the switch gear ducati wants a little more of your money if you want your smartphone to interface with the desert x 80 adventure sports gets 6 riding modes as standard which is only matched by the rally pro and desert x on the list 890r lets you unlock a rally mode as an optional extra on the husky it's called the explorer mode the gs adventure lets you unlock three additional riding modes for a little more money for the afrika twin you can get an optional quick shifter for clutchless shifting or get the dct and completely do away with a clutch lever vstrom 1050 and the 10r8 1200 don't get a factory quick shifter on the 890 it's an optional accessory husqvarna calls it easy shift which comes standard gsa also has a quick shifter as standard in india and optional in the us as of the making of this video rally pro and desert x get it as standard and before i talk about the standard accessories let's compare the headlights that are capable of lighting up the darkest corners the honda africa twin standard gets led headlights and drls but the adventure sports trim goes a step further and gets imu triggered three stage cornering lights for brightening up dark corners the v-strom's rectangular headlight may look a little old cool but the lamps are led no fancy cornering lights though super tenere gets pretty bright dual projector headlamps and the turn indicators are led just like the other two the ktms get their dakar riley bike inspired bright led headlights but the norden 901 does one better with a pair of factory installed fog lights as standard next to the beautiful circular leds the turn signals are leds on both bmw and triumph headlights look a lot more premium than the rest of them and so do their sleek led turn indicators desert x gets two round led headlights with very cool drls and slim led turn signals standard accessories include windscreens that are adjustable on all except the norden 901 and desert x given their overall design ducati does offer a touring windscreen as an optional accessory and so does husqvarna the gsa windscreen is a bit short but since you're sitting so low on the bike it might actually work for a lot of riders triumph's windscreen is decent sized both bikes have very convenient windscreen adjustability as opposed to the v-storm 1050xt windscreen which is the most inconvenient and cannot be adjusted on the fly all bikes get hand guards adjustable brake and clutch levers are standard on all except the afrika twin that only gets brake lever adjustability and the adventure 890 which has both as optional extras and while ktm husky and ducati are the only ones claiming the adjustable handlebar as a standard accessory you should be able to adjust the handlebars on all of them to some degree of personal preference with some basic tools and wrenching heated grips are also a standard feature on half of them triumph tiger 900 rally pro is the only one that gets heated seats for the rider and the passenger as a standard accessory skid plates are also standard on all except the v-strum xt but you might want to ditch the stock skid plates anyway and get some sturdy aftermarket ones if you do expect some rough writing talking of rough riding only suzuki bmw and triumph are decent enough to provide some semblance of crash bars i just think it's a cheap trick to save on cost and even the curb weight figures some have even tried to save weight and cost of metal with something as basic as a center stand although in all fairness the list of electronic rider aids and standard accessories is much longer than what i could cover in this short video so i've got the detailed list and some more nuances of each of the bikes on my website riderxp.com what i did observe during my research is that africa twin user interface is not very user friendly although you do get a lot of customization the suzuki interface is relatively basic but to me simplicity is its strength i'm not a fan of the t12 dash that looks like it's never been updated having said that a lot of people who buy the t12 may not care about that as much ktm and husqvarna dashes are basically the same just customized to their respective brands they look like smartphones and are fairly intuitive and convenient i like the adaptive feature which changes the interface based on the available light bmw user interfaces are beyond a doubt the best in the business the gs dash has a clever anti-glare design as well tiger also gets a pretty neat purpose-built dash which is also adaptive it's the only one on the list that interfaces with a gopro desert x dash looks like a premium version of rally bike dash with a vertical orientation for better visibility even while standing it may take getting used to but once you do navigation on vertically oriented streams wins any day or horizontally oriented screens on the rest of them when it comes to cargo carrying capacity the bikes aren't very different in the standard trim honda has extended the passenger grab rails to give some semblance of a rear rack but for the most part you will need to buy the optional pannier mounts and panniers if you do plan a long trip and camping is part of the plan in fact that is true for all of them except the v-strom 1050xt trim with factory fitted panniers that is called adventure in the us xaa in canada and tour in the uk delta decks doesn't even have a rear rack but like the others ducati does offer optional pannier mounts and panniers with a touring accessory pack and if you're not a fan of the optional panniers i would highly recommend aftermarket soft panniers or even semi-rigid panniers which are significantly lighter than the heart panniers and won't crush your legs in the event of a crash you must get the ones that are lockable waterproof and slash proof so your stuff is secure for additional storage adding a hard top box to that is the ideal setup it gives you extra safety for cameras and other extensive electronics just remember to dispute weight evenly from side to side and front to back of course for a weekend trip with a hotel stay a pack rack and a tank bag should be sufficient if you pack smartly and keep it essentials only two important aspects of cost of owning these machines that often get ignored during reviews and comparisons are the service intervals and warranties the ktm house 49 ducati also have longer service intervals than the rest which is great considering they are typically expensive i can vouch for the honda service being quite a lot cheaper than the others with my personal experience with the honda service in india and the us and when it comes to the more committed and expensive valve clearance service yamaha seems to be the most confident about its engine than the rest of the lot bmw and triumph need that major service more frequently than the others in north america honda suzuki and yamaha get a 1 year warranty but the european brands are trying hard to improve the reliability perception with longer warranty periods bmw trumps them all with a 36 month warranty in the us and canada the warranty periods and conditions may vary by regions for example in the uk and australia the v strom gets a 36-month warranty and the ducati uk website shows a 48 months warranty for the desert x this may also give you an indication of the level of reliability to expect from these bikes of course ensuring timely service and maintenance significantly reduces the chances of unpleasant surprises and learning to be a little hands-on goes a long way especially on long hauls through remote locations and before we go to price comparison if you think i've done a decent job at helping you with your adventure bike due diligence please share this video with your adventure riding buddies and support the channel if you already own one of these bikes please share your ownership insights in the comments to help other riders who are trying to pick the best bike for their adventures here's a price comparison of the top trims of all the bikes in the top 5 countries that watch my videos of course in the us you need to account for the dealer free tag tax and title on top of the msrp uk websites seem to list on-road prices and for australia i was able to find the right-of-way prices for sydney india prices are extra room deli and when it comes to answering the question which one is the best adventure bike for you the answer is quite simple the one that checks the most boxes for the type of writing you are planning to do and if you're willing to push your budget a little bit watch this video i made comparing flagship adventure tours from top 5 manufacturers and if frugality is your style watch this video i made comparing bikes that fit more budgets but would still let you break away from mundane adulting responsibilities on the cheap this is for us helping my tribe of explorers one video at a time
2022-09-04 12:39
