It took me a good couple of years to decide which bike is the one for me. There are many theories and stories about all the usual suspects, many are factual and most are completely subjective (Iv’e bought it, so I have to punt it!).
My first was a Yamaha XT 500 ’82, a classic thumper which after all the work, love and atttention it needed became an extention of myself. This is not just a bike, it is a way of life and a culture on its own, to me anyway. A good friend once told me that when he sees me riding it I looks like I’ve seen and experienced everything and the comment is not far off, from going to the corner café for cigarettes to dodging a heard of Cape Buffalo on the way back from work. My wife says that when I ride it, it looks like we came into this world together, which is partly true as we are the same age…
I then realised that it might not be such a bad idea to conform to technological advances made over the years to things like electric starters and digital instrumentation. There began the gathering of info that took many years, which I had at the time seeing that I still needed to save up for it. At the end after reading almost every article on the manufaturers and models it boiled down to 2 bikes, the BMW GS 800 and the KTM 990 Adventure. Both have pro’s and con’s and at the end I based my decision on my own personality, who I am and how I see myself! Obviously you’ve seen which one I took at first glance so you’ll have to decide for yourself as I am trying to keep my story as objective as possible, the performance of this machine will be a story for another day. All I can say is that BMW’s are for the faint hearted…
untill next time… Andre
Awesome post – Love the bike – I was thinking down the same line and will hopefully have my pony in the next year or so. A few hoops to jump through here in Oz to get the license.