A case for the smallish ADV'ish bike

[Bama_Rider]

I went for a bit of a planned morning ride today.  Just about 125 miles in around 3 hours.



From my house in Rainsville 20+ miles on some little small narrow farm roads to where Cherokee 275 starts along the LRC.



That's quite a road.  Paved goat path.  Glad I wasn't on a big heavy bike on some of those grades and turns.  For some reason my phone kept ringing.  Three people called to chat while I was riding today.  On 275 I pulled over.  Seemed like I probably ought to be paying attention.  Over the side is way over the side.



Then back on to the civilized road along the canyon, turn right on 35 then left on 15 up into Menlo GA, then west along 48 and 40 and down the mountain to Guntersville lake.  There was a traffic jam, news crews and a clean up crew working.  Somebody had a nasty wreck in a tractor trailer full of paint.  http://jcsentinel.com/feature_story/article_d8b27f34-8394-11e8-b6c5-07fe3706411a.html?mode=image&photo=0.  Went around that and took 67 south down about half the lake, then back east up the stepladder that is Langston Gap road and then some more country lanes back home.  My steed for the morning was my happy little CB500X.



Of all the motorcycles I've owned, I can't think of any I would rather have been on for a ride such as this.  A mixture of barely paved (Butler motorcycle maps calls these PMT, paved mountain trail) bumpy and tight roads, smooth tight curves, high speed sweepers and 55 to 60mph straight state roads.   There were sections that would have been more fun on a sportbike but they were still a ton of fun on the CB and other sections would have been zero fun on my sportbike or tourer.  I've had the street legal dirtbike thing. It was no fun at all on fast pavement and the seat was almost unbelievably painful.    These bikes are quite popular in Europe and other places other than here because their roads are generally much narrower and rougher than here and in some part because of tiered licensing.  Most American reviewers admit to enjoying the ride but call them commuter bikes or beginner bikes and wouldn't dream of owning one.  In my view this is what a standard motorcycle used to be with the addition of a bit of wind protection, which I like.  Today's naked bikes are mostly stripped sportbikes with a relaxed but still not quite standard riding ergo's.  Most of the big ADV's are too tall for what they generally get used for.   I don't know about around here but back in the Northeast most of the big ADV riders are wealthy weekend riders that dress up like they are going on the P-D rallye and drive around for an hour or two on the smoothest paved roads around.  My touring buddy has a Tiger 1050 and he has neither the skill nor desire to wrestle it around in a real off road situation.  Just pavement and the odd dirt road excursion.  He has already dropped it once at a stop light because it is so tall.   The smallish ADV looking bikes get knocked because they aren't serious dirtbikes when that's really not what most riders want them for.  There is something to be said for a bike that a full sized rider can sit on without feeling like they are on a toy, that is closer to 400 than 500lbs (or more) loaded with fuel, has easy 80mph cruising ability and is comfortable enough to sit on for hours at a time without needing painkiller injections in the rump.  Bikes like this and the Versys 650 are the modern equivalent to the Triumph Trophy 500 or the Honda CL450.   They were great all around bikes then and the idea hasn't gone obsolete.  There isn't anything to brag about performance wise.  The handling is so light and neutral it's rather like riding a 100mph bicycle.   I probably wouldn't have thought about one but for a local guy I went to high school with that has an NC700X that has been in every state but CT,MA, RI and HI.  He didn't have it shipped to any of them.  It looked to me like a handy do-it-all motorcycle so I took a long look at it's little brother.  Same horsepower, lighter, a little smaller and a little cheaper.   I've only had it a few weeks and have already added around 1200 miles to the clock, just putting around the local county roads.  I saw another member whose wife recently got a Versys 300.   I bet when he rides it a few times he starts regularly borrowing it. 

[catang5oh]

I really enjoy the Versys, it a little frame full of fun.



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[klaviator]

I have a Versys 650 and have to agree that these small to mid sized are about perfect for much of the street riding around here.