You’ve probably heard about the next big thing in motorcycling – the Adventure Bike. In fact, if you haven’t heard of adventure bikes you might have been living under a rock. They’re everywhere, and if you’re one of the cool guy bikers, you almost HAVE to have one. Honda Africa Twin, Yamaha Tenere 700 and Super Tenere, KTM Adventure 890 (and a few other flavors), ad nauseum… who could disagree? I mean, all motorcycling is an adventure in a way, right? And some of these bikes are down right badass. Who could NOT like the Africa Twin or its cousins? Well, it depends…
What is an Adventure Bike?
If you look at the marketing hype, an adventure bike is big, powerful, and expensive. The Africa Twin puts out 94 h.p., the smaller Tenere 700 puts out about 72, and the Super Tenere puts out a whopping 108 h.p. Pretty impressive. The Africa Twin weighs in at 500 to 550 lbs. depending on trim, with the Super Tenere weighing in at 584, and the Tenere 700 is the lightweight at “only” 452 lbs. MSRP is $14,399 for the Honda and $16,299 for the big Yamaha, and $9,999 for the Tenere 700.
So you kind of get the idea… big and powerful. But really? These bikes are all “dirt capable” and you can find lots of (marketing) videos online showing (expert) riders doing stuff off road that I’d be afraid to try on my KTM 250 XC. Just how dirt capable are they really? I’m talking average rider here – middle aged, likes to ride dirt and pavement, maybe going through a midlife crisis (did I really just say that?), and is the obvious target market for these bikes.
OK, reality check… if you think a DR-650 is too portly at 360 lbs. to be a decent dirt bike, in what reality system is a 452 – 584 lb. bike going to be a legit dirt bike? How hard will it be to pick up if (when) you lay it down on a steep hill? I’m not saying these bikes suck, just that “maybe” for most of us they don’t quite live up to the marketing, at least when it comes to “dirt capable.” There’s no doubt these are awesome bikes, especially if your skills are awesome, but what about the rest of us?
An Adventure Bike for mere mortals…
I love the idea of an adventure motorcycle, but I don’t really love the idea of trying to take a 452 lb. motorcycle (let alone 584) on rough trails. I’ve been kicking around the idea of a DR-650, but then I started reading about people taking small bikes all over the world. Like… a Royal Enfield Himalayan. Heavy, underpowered, weak suspension… and it got me thinking. If people can travel the world on a Himalayan, why not on a DR-Z400? More (lots more) power, lighter (a lot lighter), better suspension…? So I started looking around online, and a lot of people do build the DR-Z into a light adventure bike. Hell, I don’t even need to reinvent the wheel…
My DR-Z400 Adventure Bike
I found this nice, clean DRZ with only 3600 miles on it, so I snagged it. This will be my adventure bike. It has SM wheels on it now, but it came with the stock 18/21″ dirt rims which will be going back on. Most of my ideas are coming from here, but the list will be modified to meet my needs. It will be a fun build, and even more fun going places on it. I can hardly wait to get started.