So, let's say I quit spending money on my Bronco, didn't have kids, and saved up to buy a motorcycle. I've always wanted a dual sport bike to cruise around town on and be able to take up dirt road exploring in the mountains. The ability to ride singletrack would be cool, but probably not realistic on a bike that was also capable of comfortable highway speeds. A decade of web reading has led me to look at the BMW 650GS Dakar, which is currently going for $4-5k for the early 2000's model years. Any others I should look at in my fantasy dream world of motorcycle ownership?

Im a big fan of the Yamaha super tenere. I'd lean more towards an adventure bike over a dual sport. Dual sports are more geared towards dirt (KLR650, DR650) and are not that good on pavement at highway speeds. Adventure bikes like the Yamaha, BMW, KTM, and not Honda are the way to go. And plan on getting a bigger bike(1000+cc) as the smaller ones are fine for in town but will struggle up i70 with some gear on it. go check out advrider.com

I raced a '00 XR650 in Nevada (MRAN) it was geared for a buck-20 (yes that 120) loved it; by the way im a petite 250#. Tried to race it/ ride here and whoa was I quickly informed that didnt work. Then ended up getting a YZF 426 with WR lighting coil/ dress. Loved it for the trails out here. My $.02, whatever you get (besides KTM) your going to want aftermarket suspension valving & possibly a stabalizer.

PS: I would love a BMW 650GS Dakar as well

Now tell me this wouldn't be a kick to ride!

I have a DRZ400. It's a decent mix of trail and street. I commute with it in the summers and have done some multi-day trail rides.

I really like the Honda XRs as well and will be testing out XR650s if I upgrade. The KLR650 are too street-oriented for my taste.

Rob, thanks! I probably should have titled this "Adventure bike" instead. That said, how much do the actual dual sports suck to ride on the road. Digger, does your DRZ actually keep up with traffic, run up I70, etc.? I'd like something that could be ridden in moderate comfort (think Early Bronco level of comfort), ridden around the Moab trails, and ridden back home without wanting to die.

I70 speeds and back roads are two different things. A BMW will do 65-70 just fine. I wouldn't want to ride a 350-400 size bike for 4-6 hours on the highway. Granted, I can't afford a new enough bike to have all the comforts that a lot of them have these days.

The best website on the web: http://advrider.com/index.php

If you sign up there are section and "The Basement" that only inmates can use.


I'vd had 20 bikes in my lifetime, 3 now.

Erik

I've spent some time poking around on advrider, cool site. Mostly I'm having fun picking the brains of people I know. Oh, and DanHall, exactly.

I have a couple of friends that bought the little 650 BMWs and they both sold them and bought bigger bikes. Tom said the 650 didn't do anything well not enough power for the highway & terrible off road manners.

Hmmm, sounds like I need to ride both. They look to be similarly priced and I'm honestly not sure which would be the better fit. I like the idea of being able to trail ride and am not realistically going to be doing many long trips, but the option would be nice. Something that's a perfect 50/50 split or slightly highway biased would be ideal.

You'll be better served with a 650 or bigger. The DRZs are dirt bikes, up-packaged for the street.

I was looking for a dual sport, KTM 950 Adventure..big and fast.

I found one at the BMW dealer, did a test ride...100mph in 3rd...pretty good.


Ok in its off-road test behind Home Depot, broke the rear end loose, some slides, a little jumps.. etc...


I felt it was too tall and too big for off road and didn't buy it.


Turns out it was my flight instructors bike that he traded in...he said it was too big..he downsized to a 650cc, said that was the perfect size.


Go watch Long Way Round...the little Russian bike kicks ass compared to the giant BMW GS's.


Erik

Have to say, after reading up a little more on the DRZ400, that might be the ticket with a big bore kit and a set of wide ratio transmission gears. Smaller, much lighter, I'd get to take it apart and it'd still cost less than the BMW including upgrades. Hmmmm....

Doesn't KTM make a 400 dual sport too?

This has sort of been my path with the Bronco. Bought it with the intention of never going bigger than 35's. Wheeled it, and the more I wheeled it the burlier I wanted it to be. I haven't really found it's simple and somewhat brutal nature to be too bad to live with, even on day long trips.

If DRZ400 is to your liking you should also consider a Yamaha WR450F that has been made street legal. I think they have been EFI since 2009 or 2010.

Really nice bike.