Big vs small? (bikes)

[Gremlin]

I personally don't like the idea of needing 2+ people to lift the bike

First question I'm usually asked on an adventure ride... can you pick that up by yourself?

A: Yeup, regularly tested it.

A second person does make it easier in certain situations, luggage on, or rocky rivers etc.

[Box'a'bits]

The Boxer motor has in built in levers, so it's already part way up before you start to lift. DAMHIK Unlike some lie flat bikes

[That looks like fun]

Sometimes even small (ish) bikes need more than 1 person to lift them

[GSers]

How you going Mate????????? Thought you where not supposed to be at computers.
Hows the recovery going??????

GSers

[Night Falcon]

If you cant control a small bike off road your gonna struggle on a big one so learning some skills on a more manageable bike is ALWAYS going to be a benefit, even if it only teaches you where not to ride a bigger bike then its of value. There are a lot of opinions on the internet but good old common sense will win the day every time.

My 990 was a capable but heavy bike off road compared to my 690 but I could get it most places; it was just a lot harder and tiring wrestling the bigger bike. You essentially use/adapt the same or similar skills on the bigger bikes but need to respect the extra GOBS of POWER and weight when picking lines. Nothing replaces seat time and a good dose of self preservation when learning how to handle a new bike...big or small.

[Gremlin]

The Boxer motor has in built in levers, so it's already part way up before you start to lift. DAMHIK Unlike some lie flat bikes

This is a myth, perpuated by I suspect, BMW. My proof is my own BMW. It's been flat on it's side many times...

[Racing Dave]

Also, the 8GSA et al will come with different tyre sizes. 21" front, what, 19" rear?

17-inch rear, same diameter as the 1200.

[That looks like fun]

How you going Mate????????? Thought you where not supposed to be at computers.
Hows the recovery going??????

GSers

Im fooked mate I was just coming right and got some gastro virus gut ripping thing is haveing a go at me now
I think head butting a truck was more pleasant in a strange sort of way

[george formby]

Perhaps the odd thing for me having not ridden a larger bike off road (I have ridden them on road), it seems like it should be a smoother experience than my current WR. The gearing in 1st and 2nd on the WR is really high, and whether it’s twitchy fuel injection or not I dunno, keeping a smooth throttle can be tough, especially when tired. It’s a fine line between steady throttle, or throwing yourself back with a bad throttle tweak, or no throttle and rocking forward under engine braking. Bigger bikes have longer pulls in 1st and 2nd, perhaps requiring more clutch at slower speeds, but that translates to more control by my way of thinking.

I also find the light weight of the WR at times almost a downside, as it seems too flickable in some cases. Being less skittish, more planted would seem to be a good thing, the downside being when\if things go wrong on a larger bike, the consequences will likely be more severe. But again, trouble should telegraph itself earlier.

Higher seat height doesn’t bother me really, I’m 6’1” but am used to tip toeing on the WR. I also hate to feel cramped when seated.

Up to a point your right but. I ride a twin & engine braking can cause the odd iffy moment, when it's really loose it feels like an anchor grabbing, same changing down, easy to lock the rear wheel briefly. Lots of torque & compromised tires need to be treated with caution. I tend to keep a bit of throttle on & use the rear brake rather than the clutch.
The TDM does not skip about like the DT but in treacherous going the space of time between "oh" and "shit" is much shorter.

[JimmyC]

Jimmy have you thought about a 690r as a replacement/addition to your WRR?

I'm thinking about lots of options at present (and it's a ton of fun!), but always coming back to the fact there's no such thing as the perfect bike. Rego costs alone mean I'm not entertaining the thought of more than one bike so it needs to tick as many boxes as possible. I don't think the 690 ticks enough of mine sadly.

I guess I've proven you can go straight into a big bike for adventure riding, but then I've always taken it easy, and never pretended to be great at it, just enjoying travelling the scenic trails/rivers that road bikes wouldn't.

This sounds much like me. Certainly don't take myself too seriously, and I know I've already taken my WR into situations I wouldn't dare on anything bigger.

Seat heights on the 8 and 12GSA are within 1cm of each other, circa 89cm. The WR incidentally is around 91cm.

[george formby]

Oops. Weight? Yeah, na. Avoid it. I've done a couple of rides two up with luggage full of grog & it can feel a bit like being at the top of a mast in a rough sea. I think my bike is 245kg ready to roll. The tiddler 133kg dripping wet.

[Devil]

I took a GS1200 for a road ride around the Christchurch port hills and was very surprised it felt not much heaver to ride than my Honda Transalp 680cc. It had a lower first gear too. They would be more expensive to fix than a Jap bike if you dropped one though.

GS1200:


1200GS:

[Devil]

Seat heights on the 8 and 12GSA are within 1cm of each other, circa 89cm. The WR incidentally is around 91cm.

Noticeable difference in width though, between the 8 and 12.

[Devil]

Jimmy have you thought about a 690r as a replacement/addition to your WRR?

I've actually found my 690 to be quite a handful on rough offroad. It's certainly no EXC - quite stiffly sprung, even when dialled back to the 'soft' recommendations in the manual and quite a snappy engine. If I was going to spend more time on the real rough stuff then i'd look at getting the suspension professionally sorted, but I expect it would be to the detriment of all the road/gravel riding I do. It's great on the road, and will scare many a sports bike in the tight stuff while being very very stable.

[Crisis management]

I've actually found my 690 to be quite a handful on rough offroad. It's certainly no EXC - quite stiffly sprung, even when dialled back to the 'soft' recommendations in the manual and quite a snappy engine.

You may find that it simply needs more speed to make it work well, that's not a piss take by the way. The 640 Adventure had the same set up and it wasn't until you hit rough stuff at 70km/hr plus that it began to work, I could cover rough ground very quickly when I needed to, was quite inspiring but was a pain in the tight, single track stuff as it wouldn't react at low speed.
It's the compromise of weight and plushness again.

To the OP, learn on a small (250ish) light weight bike, ideally a dirt bike, I was 50 when I started riding off road and had good road skills at that stage but learnt more in 6 months of trail riding than I had in the previous 35 years. Clint (I think) said it before, all the good big bike riders are exceptional small bike riders, it's where they learnt.