Currently I am riding a Kawasaki KLR 650. Another dual sport bike. Meaning off road and on road capabilities. It’s got better ground clearance than street bikes, longer suspension travel and spoked wheels which are a more reliable choice for travelling. It’s easier to fix a broken spoke on a trip than it is to fix a cracked alloy rim. The KLR doesn’t have the most powerful engine but it gets the job done. Most of all it is cheap. Which is good because – well money, and because you don’t shed too many tears when you scratch it up. Or break a left fairing, putting a 10cm hole in it because the wind blows it over on a stormy day in Seattle. Just saying..

The first bike I rode is a BMW F650GS. It’s from 2011 and the last one which was produced under this name and with this design.

It tries hard to be a dual sport bike but it’s really not. It doesn’t have the ground clearance and it has alloy wheels. Everything else on the bike would actually make for a good dual sport bike and it’s got a fantastically smooth engine too. BMW is even selling the exact same bike with taller suspension and spoked wheels as a dual sport version. The F800GS. Very surprisingly they also ask for a lot more money for that one.