Wr250 Rally

While the outlook for riding during the winter period is typically grim in the UK, the turn of the new year is an exciting time as most motorcycle manufacturers choose to unveil and launch their newest motorcycles. If you intend on doing lots of proper off-road work they still offer a version called the R1200GS Adventure (R1200GSA) which has a larger tank, lots of drop protection and more ground clearance although it's another 20kg heavier and is due a major update soon.

If you are a smaller rider, then a 250cc may be your only option or if you are primarily looking for a lightweight dual sport bike to link up trails. In my opinion there are many more important areas to consider such as weight, seat height, engine capacity etc when choosing your adventure bike, being air cooled or watercooled shouldn't really be considered a showstopper.

Riders depart from Middlecreek Campground Saturday AM for Gray Pines Group Campground, Stonyford. I still love riding KLR's even after riding adventure bikes for many years. The point from these two scenarios is that the term adventure riding” can mean totally different things from one rider to the next.

Disc brakes allow frame clearances for fatter tyres, making for a bike that can cope with a very wide range of surfaces and that points & laughs at potholes. Based in the heart of rural Norfolk, Adventure Bike Training offers complete, top-notch motorcycle training packages for novice, intermediate and expert off-roaders across East Anglia.

We're seeing more tyre choice as well to go with the bikes, such as the Panaracer Gravel King, to name one example of the growing selection aimed at gravel and adventure riding. Adventure road bikes are simply light drop handlebar bikes designed with versatility in mind.

Since a lot of the most respected adventure motorcycles on the market are essentially dirt-focused machines that have been re-jigged to accommodate for rider comfort and sensible road riding, we thought it would be nice to add something different: a road motorcycle that has been essentially modified for a bit of off-road exploration.

Although a number of people use smaller capacity engines (250 cc or less) personally I wouldn't recommend it. I spent the best part of two years exploring the South Island of New Zealand on a DRZ250 and although I had a fantastic time on a string of brilliant trips, the downsides of a small capacity engine had me upgrade to a larger capacity bike.

The dual sport SWM SuperDual adventure bike will be launched sometime this year, we think in the first quarter of the year. Purchased new, the most commonly used bikes for adventure riding nowadays are fairly reliable, some more than others, but most major design faults have been identified, removed and refined from bikes ageing past their debut period.

THe wee strom is the best sorted all round adventure bike-popular world wide and a lot cheaper than a BMw. Triumph's Tiger 800 range has been a best seller for years and for 2018 there's a new selection of three on-road and three off-road models. Motorcycles brought them together, and just saying yes has brought new adventure in to their lives, as they travel around the world.

In fact, since the engine is a rather simple single cylinder arrangement, it's a nice and basic motorcycle that you can fix with whatever you've got in your tool kit. To me, the most exciting motorcycle in that future product line is the Pan America, a large-capacity, liquid-cooled adventure bike in the BMW mold.

5. Riders are required to use a provided GPS device. I know you're going to tell me that a 60c tyre is great for x and y, but most people are simply not going to put something that heavy on a road bike that is not for touring. Advanced electronics, updated styling and less weight, along with a superb 1200 cc engine makes the Tiger 1200 an attractive proposition for the big adventure bike lover.