the bike quandary part 1
Blogger - Johnny Bang
Hello up there! I seem to have fallen down a cliff. I'm still alive, but I'm very badly injured. I think my legs might be broken, but I'll try to stand up. Ohh! Yes, they are broken. Perhaps you could toss me a band-aid or some antibacterial cream. I'm in an extraordinarily large amount of pain. The bone has gone through the skin. I fear it might be gangrenous. The wound is beginning to smell a little like almonds, which is not good. Please? No one? – Mustafa (Austin Powers)
My postie bike is dying - kind of, Remember that Mustafa character from Austin Powers, the guy that just won’t die? My postie bike is Mustafa. He should be dead, but he just won’t die - he just makes more noise (bottom end engine noise). You know he has to die soon – he won’t, he can’t survive his injuries, but he just won’t die!
Anyway, Mustafa has already done 34,000km’s without a rebuild. I’m not going to ask him to do another 37,000km – because 70,000km is too much to expect from a 110cc single-pot. So what do I do? I don’t know really, that’s why I’m writing this blog – to help me decide what bike to ride. The postie is the most ‘romantic’ option, but do I really care? I’m definitely not going to do the trip on a 1,000cc adventure bike (I’ll call that the ‘wuss’ option) – so what other options do I have? Do I spend $1,500 on the postie or put the money towards another bike?
This is the bike I don’t want – heavy, cumbersome and hard storage. Try lifting that onto an onion boat somewhere in Indo…
Hello up there! I seem to have fallen down a cliff. I'm still alive, but I'm very badly injured. I think my legs might be broken, but I'll try to stand up. Ohh! Yes, they are broken. Perhaps you could toss me a band-aid or some antibacterial cream. I'm in an extraordinarily large amount of pain. The bone has gone through the skin. I fear it might be gangrenous. The wound is beginning to smell a little like almonds, which is not good. Please? No one? – Mustafa (Austin Powers)
My postie bike is dying - kind of, Remember that Mustafa character from Austin Powers, the guy that just won’t die? My postie bike is Mustafa. He should be dead, but he just won’t die - he just makes more noise (bottom end engine noise). You know he has to die soon – he won’t, he can’t survive his injuries, but he just won’t die!
Anyway, Mustafa has already done 34,000km’s without a rebuild. I’m not going to ask him to do another 37,000km – because 70,000km is too much to expect from a 110cc single-pot. So what do I do? I don’t know really, that’s why I’m writing this blog – to help me decide what bike to ride. The postie is the most ‘romantic’ option, but do I really care? I’m definitely not going to do the trip on a 1,000cc adventure bike (I’ll call that the ‘wuss’ option) – so what other options do I have? Do I spend $1,500 on the postie or put the money towards another bike?
This is the bike I don’t want – heavy, cumbersome and hard storage. Try lifting that onto an onion boat somewhere in Indo…
I put together the table below to weigh up my options, with some bigger and typical bikes thrown in there for comparison. Note I haven’t put in the year of each model, so some specs are going to differ a bit - but you get the idea.
One thing I took away from the table is that it’s going to be so easy to justify a bigger bike to myself. I was thinking about a CTX200, but if I do that I might as well get a XT250, and from there it makes sense to move up to a DR400. And if I’m on a DR400 I might as well get the air cooled DR650… Before I know it I’m going to be riding some stupid 1200cc monster that can’t be ridden on wet grass and is heavier than Rosie O’Donnell.
No, I need to set myself a limit – I only need to carry around enough power I can reasonably use on poorly maintained roads that I am unfamiliar with – so 250cc and under. I have decided on a shortlist of bikes:
· Postie- Honda CT110
· Postie’s big brother - Honda CTX200 (farm bike)
· A Yamaha XT250/ TTR 250 or the like
Here is a well-set-up small adventure bike in CTX200 guise from a South African rider.
No, I need to set myself a limit – I only need to carry around enough power I can reasonably use on poorly maintained roads that I am unfamiliar with – so 250cc and under. I have decided on a shortlist of bikes:
· Postie- Honda CT110
· Postie’s big brother - Honda CTX200 (farm bike)
· A Yamaha XT250/ TTR 250 or the like
Here is a well-set-up small adventure bike in CTX200 guise from a South African rider.
Practicality
What do I need it to do? It will have to do 90km/h comfortably all day and 100km/h in short bursts. It will need to carry me (100kg) + gear (20kg). I’ll need to be able to pop onto a gravel shoulder to avoid motorcycle-blind bus drivers, and be competent for some serious adventure riding we are planning in Myanmar.
I have ridden over 15,000km on my postie, and can say with confidence it fails the above criteria. It is comfortable; but slower than a 1 legged dog on tranquilizers.
Another consideration is - should we find ourselves in a sticky situation, I would like to be able to jump on the bike and vamoose. There would be no disappearing into the darkness with a postie.
Budget
Can you really put a price on the vehicle that needs to deliver you safely and reliably across the world? When breakdowns and mechanical failure can jeopardize not just the trip, but you’re life itself? I don’t think so!
Unfortunately wifey does think so and it turns out the price is $4,000. This gets me a newer postie, or any number of low km used bike options under 400cc.
Reliability
Motorbikes can be as complicated as you want them to be. Personally I am a minimalist. It needs to be simple to ride and simple to work on - the fewer things you have on a bike the fewer things can go wrong. For me this means kick-start over electric start, single overhead cam, single cylinder, no ABS, no traction control, no heated handgrips and a carburettor over EFI.
The postie (CT110) is lauded for its simplicity and reliability. Here we are fixing Dan’s bike in the desert.
What do I need it to do? It will have to do 90km/h comfortably all day and 100km/h in short bursts. It will need to carry me (100kg) + gear (20kg). I’ll need to be able to pop onto a gravel shoulder to avoid motorcycle-blind bus drivers, and be competent for some serious adventure riding we are planning in Myanmar.
I have ridden over 15,000km on my postie, and can say with confidence it fails the above criteria. It is comfortable; but slower than a 1 legged dog on tranquilizers.
Another consideration is - should we find ourselves in a sticky situation, I would like to be able to jump on the bike and vamoose. There would be no disappearing into the darkness with a postie.
Budget
Can you really put a price on the vehicle that needs to deliver you safely and reliably across the world? When breakdowns and mechanical failure can jeopardize not just the trip, but you’re life itself? I don’t think so!
Unfortunately wifey does think so and it turns out the price is $4,000. This gets me a newer postie, or any number of low km used bike options under 400cc.
Reliability
Motorbikes can be as complicated as you want them to be. Personally I am a minimalist. It needs to be simple to ride and simple to work on - the fewer things you have on a bike the fewer things can go wrong. For me this means kick-start over electric start, single overhead cam, single cylinder, no ABS, no traction control, no heated handgrips and a carburettor over EFI.
The postie (CT110) is lauded for its simplicity and reliability. Here we are fixing Dan’s bike in the desert.
Availability
I don’t want some experimental, special, limited edition, exclusive, small batch, low volume, collector’s bike that I can’t get parts for – my bike needs to be something ultra-common that is sold in a multitude of countries and have the benefit of a long production run.
Postie wins hands down in this criterion, as the Honda Cub is the most abundant vehicle on the planet, though I should be ok if I stick to small capacity bikes from the big 4 from Japan (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki).
Stealth
This criterion could also be called the ‘not looking like a twat’ factor. Some of the countries we are riding through have a 250cc cap on local bikes so I don’t want to roll through some village sticking out like proverbial canine appendages because I am riding some 1,200cc monsterbike or hell-man wannabe moto-cross special.
Postie wins again for ‘looking like a local’ in the more volatile countries we will visit. I think I’ll mention here that whatever I end up taking I want to ‘make-under’ into something that looks a bit more old school – something like Ted Simon’s Bike with soft bags maybe. An old-school headlight and some mat green paint might do it…
The legendary Ted Simon's bike - Triumph Tiger 100
I don’t want some experimental, special, limited edition, exclusive, small batch, low volume, collector’s bike that I can’t get parts for – my bike needs to be something ultra-common that is sold in a multitude of countries and have the benefit of a long production run.
Postie wins hands down in this criterion, as the Honda Cub is the most abundant vehicle on the planet, though I should be ok if I stick to small capacity bikes from the big 4 from Japan (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki).
Stealth
This criterion could also be called the ‘not looking like a twat’ factor. Some of the countries we are riding through have a 250cc cap on local bikes so I don’t want to roll through some village sticking out like proverbial canine appendages because I am riding some 1,200cc monsterbike or hell-man wannabe moto-cross special.
Postie wins again for ‘looking like a local’ in the more volatile countries we will visit. I think I’ll mention here that whatever I end up taking I want to ‘make-under’ into something that looks a bit more old school – something like Ted Simon’s Bike with soft bags maybe. An old-school headlight and some mat green paint might do it…
The legendary Ted Simon's bike - Triumph Tiger 100
Radness
The most subjective criteria - I know. ‘Radness’ best described with the following scenario (based on Simpson Desert experience). You are in the desert, days from civilisation, you are on your bike and in the distance you see another dust cloud approaching. You haven’t seen any other vehicles in days so you pull to the side of the rutted, unused track for a chat.
When the other vehicle finally pulls up, Radness is measured on old mate’s face as he looks at what you are riding with a dumbfound expression trying to figure out how the hell you rode that thing out here, where you came from, and what the hell you are doing.
Postie wins on Radness every time.
The most subjective criteria - I know. ‘Radness’ best described with the following scenario (based on Simpson Desert experience). You are in the desert, days from civilisation, you are on your bike and in the distance you see another dust cloud approaching. You haven’t seen any other vehicles in days so you pull to the side of the rutted, unused track for a chat.
When the other vehicle finally pulls up, Radness is measured on old mate’s face as he looks at what you are riding with a dumbfound expression trying to figure out how the hell you rode that thing out here, where you came from, and what the hell you are doing.
Postie wins on Radness every time.
Summary
If the mantra is ‘You don’t need a big bike for a big adventure’ I guess what I’m trying to do is find the right balance of smallness vs practicality (or ‘not being a dork and riding a massive tractor bike’ vs being realistic and not making it way harder than it needs to be).
The head says: postie, it’s the logical choice. The heart says: nar get something that can pop a wheelie. This blog took a couple of hours to write and has gotten me no closer to a decision... dam… maybe I’ll just keep watching gumtree and let the universe decide…
If you want to read another blog on bike selection Walter Colebatch’s thoughts on Sibirsky Extreme are worth a look: Adventure bike selection
To be continued in part II the blog I’ll write in a few weeks totally justifying to myself whatever bike I bought as the right choice.
Johnny Bang
If the mantra is ‘You don’t need a big bike for a big adventure’ I guess what I’m trying to do is find the right balance of smallness vs practicality (or ‘not being a dork and riding a massive tractor bike’ vs being realistic and not making it way harder than it needs to be).
The head says: postie, it’s the logical choice. The heart says: nar get something that can pop a wheelie. This blog took a couple of hours to write and has gotten me no closer to a decision... dam… maybe I’ll just keep watching gumtree and let the universe decide…
If you want to read another blog on bike selection Walter Colebatch’s thoughts on Sibirsky Extreme are worth a look: Adventure bike selection
To be continued in part II the blog I’ll write in a few weeks totally justifying to myself whatever bike I bought as the right choice.
Johnny Bang
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