What makes an ADV bike/ride

Insomnia, the curse of the shift worker. The one benefit of lying awake for hours at night whist the rest of the household sleeps is you get plenty of quiet time to think about insignificant issues, issue such as what makes an adventure bike. Is it the huge horsepower to be able to do warp speeds or is at having massive alloy boxes hanging off the side so you can pack overwhelming loads of shit that you may or may not need? Is it the ability to look like Ewan McGregor and pull chicks when parked at the local café?

Seeing I now have the RMX in my stable as the preferred weapon of choice for single trail riding, I’ve been toying with the idea getting an adventure bike. I really like them big arse BMW’s, the 800GS, like Mal5.1 has, they’re shit hot. Then there’s the New Triumph Tiger, or how about a KTM990, f#*k yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Charlie Boorman, eat ya heart out.

Then reality kicks me in the arse and I remember on a public servant salary the budget is not going to stretch that far. So what bike would fit my meagre budget? There’s the KLR650 :sick: . Then there’s the ever-reliable DR650, but really how much difference is there between a DR650 and the DRZ400 I already own. The 650 will do highway speeds a bit better with the 400 being lighter in tight stuff.

That got me thinking and I remembered that age-old proverb, stop dwelling on what you don’t have and start looking at what you’ve already got. I already own a bike, which has been used by many to ride to some of the most distant corners of the globe. You only have to browse adventure forums, shit even this forum and you will see the DRZ400 has racked up many of adventure Km’s. Sure it has some shortcomings but what adventure bike doesn’t, they’re all a compromise somewhere, that’s just the nature of adventure bikes.

My DRZ is already well setup with Teknik suspension, Barrett exhaust, bash plate, radiator guards, blah blah all the standard off road stuff.

Whilst lying there I made the decision, seeing I have the day off I should take my DRZ out on a short adventure style ride. I have done similar rides before but never really seen it as adventure riding. What is adventure riding anyway? Is it not just riding wherever you feel like going today, only carrying more fuel and gear so you can just keep going? Or is it having the biggest bad arsed, lasted and greatest of everything and riding to the local café for some sort of fagachinno?

Yawwwwwn, looked at the clock ,9am, should get up. I quickly geared up, after a coffee and some crumpets of course, and I hit the road. Quik check I had the essentials, Ipod, camera, first aid kit, spare tube, f#*k it that’ll do.
I headed out from home in Emu Plains towards North Richmond. Apologies to those in traffic who were subjected to me signing out loud to the tunes in my ears as I rode through town. I headed up the Bells Line of Rd about 30km to Mt Irvine Rd. Took the loop down around the ridge into the gully. There are some steep drop offs along this section with little or no fence to stop you going over the edge. If that happened I doubt you would ever be found. There is an old wooden bridge that crosses the creek at the bottom of the gully, this is a very pretty area and a good place to stop for a break. Not that I needed one, hadn’t gone that far.

From here it’s uphill till the road turns back to tar. I was having a blast on this section. Hard on the gas out of turns, third gear, flick the clutch and send the front wheel skyward, whoo hoo, wouldn’t be dead for quids. Even the tar section of this Rd is fun. The road runs through the little village of Mount Wilson. This is a very pretty little village that I have bookmarked to take my significant other on a picnic to build up the brownie points bank. I should have stopped to get the camera out but was too busy riding.

Once back on the Bell Line I turn west and headed for Clarence. No hardcore stuff planned for the run through here. I rode out along the power line track and hooked up with the Angus Place Trail. I stopped at the rock formations for a couple happy snaps before heading down the hill coming out at the back of the Angus Place colliery and a quick run into Lidsdale for fuel.

The rock formation out here always amaze me.

I’ve never really taken notice of how much fuel the DRZ uses because I usually ride with people who have bikes with smaller tanks so it’s never an issue. I had done 110km since I filled up in Richmond and only used 4.7 litres. That less than half a tank. That gives the DRZ with standard tank a 200+km range. With a 28L safari tank fitted it would be capable of 500km stretches (subject to how much it was loaded up with other shit).

I fuelled myself on some chocolate and headed back through Lidsdale turning East up the Beecroft Track. The first couple of Km’s of this trail are up hill back into the mountains. Parts of this track a quite rough with plenty of rock ledges and loose rock to negotiate. This is where I started thinking. Could I get one of those big BMW/KTM/Battlestar Galactica style bike up a trail like this without breaking the bike or more likely my body. The DRZ with a big tank and saddlebags would be a battle but still be capable. Would it annoy me to own a bike that made me avoid such trails.

I followed the Beecroft Track back to the power line trail then headed into some pine forest. There is something special about riding in the pines. It’s like they are purpose built for riding dirt bikes. I hooked into some single tracks, I know I was supposed to be doing the adventure thing but what the hell, singles are still an adventure and the DRZ is not all loaded up with gear, yet.

After some fun on the singles I got back onto the tar and headed for home along the GWH. As I sit here at home enjoying a beer in the afterglow of good day out on my bike, I ponder, how much would it take to set the DRZ up for long hauls. Today I only did 260km. Sure I feel like I’ve been sodomised by a gorilla but other that the DRZ does even the highway km’s easy. I know 260km is not that far for a day but with a better seat I could have double that and only be limited by fuel range.

There are plenty of forums out there on the subject and none of this is rocket science but from what I figure it will need;
Heated grips (after last weeks snow ride)
A big tank (derrr)
A comfy seat. There’s a few options out there.
Heated grips.
Some racks and bags.
Maybe a steering damper.
Did I say Heated grips?
And just to look the part some kind of screen.

The DRZ may not be a BMW1200GS, but at least I can pick it up by myself when (inevitably) it falls over. It may not have the speed of a KTM990, but I’m not that comfortable much over 120kph anyway. It may not look as cool out front of a café as a Triumph 800 Tiger. At least it won’t have a pool of oil underneath like the Triumph. I’ve never seen a pommy bike that didn’t leak oil like the Exon Valdez.

What the DRZ does have going for it is it’s mine, its in the shed, and with a few additions it will take me wherever I want to go and if that’s what you call adventure riding, I’m in.