The mind boggles

[Patar]

Hi,
I am at very early stages of planning an across Asia trip and am researching bike options. One thing to bear in mind is that I basically have no idea what kind of road conditions I am likely to encounter travelling through some of the more remote parts of Asia.
So my thoughts go along the line that it would probably be handy to have a bike with at least some sort of off-road capability. At first I was thinking of using a dirt bike so that I could drag myself out of any situation but as my arse isn't made out of indestructium I started to think a more comfortable approach would be best.
As such I've arrived at the conclusion that a dual-purpose bike would suit me best, but which one? Do I go for something that focusses on road with a hint of dirt, or do I go for something more capable of going off-road?
The contenders that I've lined up so far as good possibilities are the BMW F650, Honda XL700 Transalp and the Suzuki DL650 V-strom and to a lesser extent the Yamaha XTX660.

What can you guys recommend keeping in mind initital cost, mileage, off-road capabilities, luggage storage and being able to be repaired with used chewing gum, mud cakes and sheer will power?



Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

[Usarka]

What part of asia are you going to? The continent (eg india) or sth east - cambodia, laos, the nam etc....?

[sinfull]

Have to go with the triumph reliability ! 2nd hand bike shouldn't set ya back too much !
If i had a tiger i'd lend it to ya (insert cheezy grin here)

[Patar]

What part of asia are you going to? The continent (eg india) or sth east - cambodia, laos, the nam etc....?

My plan, only slightly ambitious is to start in Singapore and head all the way through to Europe. Don't know if I want to go through Russia or the Middle East. Well that's the 'plan' anyways.

Planning to graduate and work for a couple years saving up some money and then take a year off to go explore the world in which I live, the proper way, not on some stupid cruise ship.

[Patar]

Have to go with the triumph reliability ! 2nd hand bike shouldn't set ya back too much !
If i had a tiger i'd lend it to ya (insert cheezy grin here)

Shoulda prolly have mentioned that I don't really want to go over 700cc. This is probably just a concern about fuel consumption.

[clint640]

Suzuki DR650. Add a custom seat & an IMS 18L tank, little windscreen, luggage of your choice & you're good to go. If you're a big bugger &/or you want to take the kitchen sink beef up the suspension too.

Brand new, fully set up & ready to go a DR650 will still be cheaper than any of the others 2nd hand & it ticks all your other boxes in terms of mileage, offroadability & simple maintenance. They also don't scream 'WEALTHY FOREIGNER!' quite as loudly as the others.

The main issue with going for anything smaller will be luggage capacity, most stuff that's more dirt capable starts to get a bit light in the rear subframe.

The bikes on your list have their advantages, you will get a performance boost over a DR650, but not a large one, However they're all significantly more mechanically complicated, they're all at least 20kg heavier & they've all got a lot more in the way of plastic bits etc to break when you fall over.

Cheers
Clint