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TINASA 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 tourer will be rubbish offroad. Too heavy and wrong tyres steering and suspension
A single will not be much use as a tourer. Too slow and vibratory
Many "trail styled" bikes are not offroaders but offroad styled bikes
You need to decide what you want and get a suitable bike
Hah! I was just going to suggest one of these:
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A mate had one and it was a whole lot of fun.
Suzuki DR 800 BIG
There are about 5 bikes that fit your wish list but you dont seem to like any of them. Tenere 3aj model, Honda XL600 P-D, TT600 with Acerbis tank, DR600, KLR 600.
Regular bike shops arent going to stock thse kind of bikes you will really have to hunt for them.
we're getting somewhere 🙂 cheers pigface, I'll go research those, I've been using the internet to find bikes for sale as I'm shoping outside stuff from the last 5-6 years which seems to be all dealers have.
Aprilia Pegaso. Loved mine when I had it, loved the thumping when you wound it on from low revs (had 12 points on my license for a while so needed low speed thrills). Went all over on it and could occasionally feel my hands and feet on arrival as well!
I've had a couple of thumper trail bikes in the past - a Yamaha XT600E and a Suzuki DR350SE. I quite liked the DR but I wasn't a fan of the XT, however I preferred 2-stroke off-roaders so didn't keep either for long.
Earlier this year I got an old Honda XBR500 as a play-bike and it's a lovely little thing:
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It's economical, reliable and has an entertaingly punchy engine. It's not that fast (it'll break 100mph but not by much) but has decent mid-range acceleration and fun handling. I wouldn't want to do 500 mile days on it, but messing about on A and B roads or in town it's great.
Moto Guzzi Quota - two big single cylinders one either side of the engine & limited off road capability, what more could you want?
Forget to had BMW F650...
Had a couple of these in my youth, a red one and a beautiful metallic blue one:
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CB250RS.
You don't need a huge single cylinder bike to have fun, this is one of the best Honda's ever made - revs higher than a big 'un, minimal vibes, great handling, easy to fix and cheap.
Almost as fast as an FT/SRX/XB too, and much more fun IMO.
None left now though - cam ran directly in the head, and by the time I could afford a really nice one, they were mostly all dead. 🙁
OMG is this still going.
TINAS: Are you female?
Tandem Jeremey idea of a Transalp is sensible idea, as is say an Africa Twin. TJ is hitting the nail on the head.
If you want a single, then go XT600 for a good old round compromise (main prob would be motorway stuff: transalp, africa twin etc better at this). If you want smaller more offraodable get a DR350, if you can find one in rght cond for money.
I'd be dubious of a single any bigger than a 660cc. DR600's were ok, but you'd get a much newer XT (in whatever guise)for the money. Dan Walsh from bike rode XT round the world. I know of a group who took DR350's round the world.
I see Yamaha now do a re born Tenere.
No photo of a Dominator?
Here's mine. Bought while my wife was away and I was drunk. £100 on ebay in a vaguely bolted together painted with a stick kind of state. A few days and a couple of hundred £s later...
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It was a bit of fun but I got bored of it fairly quickly.