Many "trail styled" bikes are not offroaders but offroad styled bikes
[quote]A bike for proper off road use will be rubbish on road. Low gearing, high seat, knobbly tyres, small tank. tolerable for short distances only on road.
A guys been round the world several times on an R1 (his name still escapes me though, even though I've met him) a guy's mate earlier on this thread did it on a mt-500, my dad regulalry does 1500-2000mile tours on his mt-500, sits at 70 on the motorway all the way to JOG, allong the back roads and a ferry to some remote island, and still more than capable of riding down a track to camp at the beach, previously he's done similar on an xt-500 and a enfield bullet (in 2 or 3 different guises).
A tourer will be rubbish offroad. Too heavy and wrong tyres steering and suspension
See above, and as you'r tandem proves, sometimes its not always about using the right tool for the job.
A single will not be much use as a tourer. Too slow and vibratory
Neithers an R1, and the mt-500's expoilts show they'll quite easily tour.
A 50bhp+ single is a rare beast Most are 25 - 40 bhp
tosh, most modern(ish, I'm not even going to look at CCM's etc seriously) 500cc singles produce more than that, most of the bikes on this thread produce more than 40! anywya, it's a first bike, power isnt everything, a bit of character is.
A supermotard bike will not be any use as a tourer. Tank too small, too uncomfortable. Too slow.
agreed, I've not suggested any, although the CCM does look like a hoot as a toy.
Many "trail styled" bikes are not offroaders but offroad styled bikes
agreed, as I said earlier in the thread the only off road it'll ever realy see is if i turn up somewhere and theres a mile of rough track to negotiate before reaching wherever I'm going, or possibly just because I've gone upto sheffield and fancy a bit of a challange riding stanage.
