Best all around bike ever? (if there is such a thing)

[Travlr]

Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport comes close!

 

[Tom]

It probably does in terms of durability, but for twisty road riding paralever plus Marzocchi fork is (vastly) better performing.

For me I liked the R80G/S because it weights less and for me the handling worked just as well as the R100GS (seems the / was left off in 1987.)  Top speed is close to the 100 even though it makes 10 horses left.  For the big guys the paralever and more horsepower might make up for the bulk of the rider.  YMMV.

I could still ride the 80 like a dirt bike vs the 100. 

[LowRyter]

And everyone I know who's bought one has sold it.  One switched to a Super Duke, one went green with a Versys, another went to a Yamaha XT250.  If you hang out in the middle you're going to get run over.

Like me saying, "I don't own one and really don't want one"?

[T4halo]

Like I said earlier, I owned a 650 strom for 6 months.....  ugliest bike I ever owned and the plastic crap was horrible. When you walk out in to the garage you have to like what youre looking at. I think I replaced it with an R80ST. Sweet little bike but had no soul.

These bikes brought me back to Guzzi. A lot of old Loops have been cruising dirt roads for over 50 years. Heavy but fun.

Owning a 70 Ambo and a 83 Cali 2, if I bought a new bike it would be V7 III. Probably a Rough because I like the spoked rims. I’d add arrow hi-pipes and think I was a cool scrambler guy.

[tetarabra]

My post has been removed respectless without any explanation .
It was just a question raising without any aggressivity the point about the difference between BMW  GS and G/S , point which was not that clear for a forum member (and so far doesn't seem to be ) .

Are some members more equal than others ?

Is my only choice to disappear with the summer breeze ?

[Tom]

Mike added in the response to your question.  You didn't read the whole thread.  Here's my quote on the matter.

"For me I liked the R80G/S because it weights less and for me the handling worked just as well as the R100GS (seems the / was left off in 1987.)  Top speed is close to the 100 even though it makes 10 horses left.  For the big guys the paralever and more horsepower might make up for the bulk of the rider.  YMMV.

I could still ride the 80 like a dirt bike vs the 100.

[Seventy One]

I currently own a DR650, a Triumph Tiger 800XC and a Kawasaki Versys 1000LT.

Of the three the DR650 is the most fun to ride, most practical and most economical. It's even fun to maintain.

The Tiger was the opposite of the DR. Expensive and time consuming to maintain. Highly unreliable. Terrible off-road.

The Versys is just a street bike.

The DR650 would get my vote as best all around bike ever.

[LowRyter]

Best All Around Bike Ever?

Reading this, apparently there is not one.

[Tom]

Bronson's Sportster.  It could do everything you'd want from a motorcycle...at least according to the tv series. 

[ohiorider]

I think the R80 G/S surpasses the R100 G/S.   






fixed. R59

I'd do one of those in a heartbeat!  Since cosmetics mean something to me, it'd have to be the PD version, as in the pic you posted.  Beautiful lightweight machine   .....   kept BMW from folding up the motorcycle tent nearly 40 years ago, and kicked off the ADV bike thing.

[Tom]

I put on some mileage on the bumble bee version in the Alps.  The PD version More dirt compatible.  Either version....loads of fun. 

[Knuckle Dragger]

I currently own a DR650, a Triumph Tiger 800XC and a Kawasaki Versys 1000LT.

Of the three the DR650 is the most fun to ride, most practical and most economical. It's even fun to maintain.

The Tiger was the opposite of the DR. Expensive and time consuming to maintain. Highly unreliable. Terrible off-road.

The Versys is just a street bike.

The DR650 would get my vote as best all around bike ever.

At last!  Another fan of the Bush-Pig.  I thought for a while that mine was a distant cry from the wilderness, with others all to willing to castigate my nomination of the DR650.

Nevertheless, they're right.  The DR650 IS a shit bike.  Old as the hills, possessing similar technology to the horse & cart.  Air cooled, carburetted, soggily suspended, dimly headlighted, short tank-ranged, wooden slab seated, unchanged since the dawn of time.  Just about any 250cc enduro will run rings around it in the dirt.  Likewise, any contemporary 250cc+ roadie will show it a clean pair of heels in the twisties too.  It's incapable of carrying the 22-wheeler type payloads that BMW's 1250cc behemoths can.  That rough old big single plugger of an engine can only be described as anaemic & gutless in comparison to the latest water-cooled single & twin cylinder offerings.  Etc. etc. etc.

Yet these very vices are precisely what make it one of the greatest allrounders ever made.  It can be had for as little as AU$4k.  Half that in US$.  Upgrade the bulb, fit stiffer fork & shock springs & a long-range Acerbis or cheaper equiv. tank, LED spots, racks, bash plate, lighter slip-on muffler, comfy seat, hard or soft luggage, bigger, solidly mounted wider pegs, bigger carb jet, nosecone fairing & barkbusters/handguards, fit better quality Dunlops or equiv., upgrade the gennie & fit electrical outlets etc. & STILL have change available for a few months on the road touring.

I'm talking about maybe AU $8K (US$4K) all-up. The Bush Pig is cheap.  Ludicrously, laughably, astonishingly cheap.  To buy, to maintain, to modify.  The precise lack of evolutionary development is perhaps this "shitbox" bike's greatest virtue.  Parts are readily & cheaply available.  The engine is disarmingly simple to maintain "on the road".  There's absolutely NO high-tech electronics anywhere - unless you're sufficiently Luddite to consider electronic ignition "sophisticated"!

Thus inexpensively & appropriately modified, the Bush-Pig makes a remarkably capable and effective all-road (yes, even the roughest, goat-tracks too) tourer par excellence!  An allrounder 'though?  Depends on your individual interpretation of the word, I suppose.  From a local perspective, I've yet to find a better bike tailored for the roughest, most challenging roads (to both man & machine) of the Great Southern Land.   

It's just a pity that more bikes aren't as "shitty" as the Bush-Pig!

[Aldo]

All boils down to personal choices. I've ridden and owned lots of motorcycles. But for me it's all about simplicity and reliability. Guzzi loopframe (with front disc brakes)... certainly one of the best hands down. They've proven time and again they can pretty much do anything and go anywhere, and still keep up with today's traffic despite it's 45+ years. Here's mine.

[coast range rider]

I love putting around off pavement on my R100GS, even 2 up. And it is comfortable on a 600 mile day, even 2 up. I guess that qualifies it as an all around bike. It looks good and is easy to work on. Great bike it is, holding it's value well. I don't think it's the best all around bike though.

My buddy sold his R1200GS because it was too expensive, he was always paying the BMW dealer a lot of money for repairs in addition to the required maintenance. Best all around bike shouldn't do that to your wallet.

My 650 V-Strom would seem more like an ugly piece of **** to many, rather than the best all around bike. $3000 in farkles transformed it into the [move]best all around bike[/move] (Still ugly though). Front and rear suspension mods made it great on any condition pavement and even ok off pavement. Running it to redline allows it to keep up with many other bikes in the twisties. It almost keeps up doing 90 mph uphill into a headwind. Comfortable on all day rides. Unlike the above 2 mentioned bikes, it goes 100,000 without need for any repairs. Mostly just needs gas, oil change, and tires.

[DaSwami]

Ummm I mentioned DR650 early in the thread...not with your extensive analysis though...

At last!  Another fan of the Bush-Pig.  I thought for a while that mine was a distant cry from the wilderness, with others all to willing to castigate my nomination of the DR650.

Nevertheless, they're right.  The DR650 IS a shit bike.  Old as the hills, possessing similar technology to the horse & cart.  Air cooled, carburetted, soggily suspended, dimly headlighted, short tank-ranged, wooden slab seated, unchanged since the dawn of time.  Just about any 250cc enduro will run rings around it in the dirt.  Likewise, any contemporary 250cc+ roadie will show it a clean pair of heels in the twisties too.  It's incapable of carrying the 22-wheeler type payloads that BMW's 1250cc behemoths can.  That rough old big single plugger of an engine can only be described as anaemic & gutless in comparison to the latest water-cooled single & twin cylinder offerings.  Etc. etc. etc.

Yet these very vices are precisely what make it one of the greatest allrounders ever made.  It can be had for as little as AU$4k.  Half that in US$.  Upgrade the bulb, fit stiffer fork & shock springs & a long-range Acerbis or cheaper equiv. tank, LED spots, racks, bash plate, lighter slip-on muffler, comfy seat, hard or soft luggage, bigger, solidly mounted wider pegs, bigger carb jet, nosecone fairing & barkbusters/handguards, fit better quality Dunlops or equiv., upgrade the gennie & fit electrical outlets etc. & STILL have change available for a few months on the road touring.

I'm talking about maybe AU $8K (US$4K) all-up. The Bush Pig is cheap.  Ludicrously, laughably, astonishingly cheap.  To buy, to maintain, to modify.  The precise lack of evolutionary development is perhaps this "shitbox" bike's greatest virtue.  Parts are readily & cheaply available.  The engine is disarmingly simple to maintain "on the road".  There's absolutely NO high-tech electronics anywhere - unless you're sufficiently Luddite to consider electronic ignition "sophisticated"!

Thus inexpensively & appropriately modified, the Bush-Pig makes a remarkably capable and effective all-road (yes, even the roughest, goat-tracks too) tourer par excellence!  An allrounder 'though?  Depends on your individual interpretation of the word, I suppose.  From a local perspective, I've yet to find a better bike tailored for the roughest, most challenging roads (to both man & machine) of the Great Southern Land.   

It's just a pity that more bikes aren't as "shitty" as the Bush-Pig!

[wymple]

We are all influenced by our nostalgia, maybe to an unreasonable degree. I vividly remember the sounds and feels of my early bikes, a 1967 305 Yamaha Bear, a 1969 Yamaha 250 dual purpose, a 1972 Yamaha R5 350. My 1st big bike, a 1973 TX650. My 1st really fast bike, 1982 GS1100 EZ. Every one of those was a darn good machine. I've been into Guzzi since 1988, still my favorite nameplate. There were other Yamahas,  Kawasakis and Hondas in the mix, but they never boiled the blood. The nephew and my brothers rode Triumph & Harley. Lots of issues, couldn't get interested. Now I'm old, and my next bike may well be a large 500-600cc scooter. But a bike? It has to be comfy for the old man, light enough for my old butt to not struggle with, yet interstate capable. AKA 85TT.

[Bobic69]

My brother reckons his new Multistrada 1200 is the best bike he's ever ridden and great for any type of conditions.

[T4halo]

+2 on the old Loops. Mine is 50 years old and I’d ride it anywhere. Actually taking her out next week to ride and see all 5 great lakes.  It’s a bike you love to look at, built like a tank and easy to work on. I am far from a mechanic and I’ve been through the entire bike. What is not to love.

T4

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

+2 on the old Loops. Mine is 50 years old and I’d ride it anywhere. Actually taking her out next week to ride and see all 5 great lakes.  It’s a bike you love to look at, built like a tank and easy to work on. I am far from a mechanic and I’ve been through the entire bike. What is not to love.

T4

Definitely my personal "best all around bike ever", but for a lot of folks here, they'll be too slow, don't stop with just two fingers, too much maintenance, blah, blah, blah. 

Touring mode:





Offroad mode:

[tazio]

Touring mode:

 Meadows of Dan, Virginia?
Was there last week on the mighty GRiSO.
Sweet!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

 Meadows of Dan, Virginia?
Was there last week on the mighty GRiSO.
Sweet!

Yep, headed home from the Virginia Rally, obligatory photo at Mabry Mill.

[roadscum]

There is no one 'best' for all riders, it will depend on what each individual need is.

The 'best' for me was my BMW GSA because it was  well suited for the type of riding I was doing at that time. Day rides, local touring, and long hauls sometime with long days in the saddle, reliable, strong dealer network, good customer support. When the tarmac ended I could keep on going with confidence and poke around those places where few had gone before me. It was a great all a rounder for my riding needs at the time.

Paul

[inditx]

Well said Paul! 
I like antietam classic cycles touring and off road mode too! 

p.s. You can’t tell enough about a bike with a 10 minute test ride either....

[twowheeladdict]

Let’s hear it.
What do you believe is the best choice, if you could only ride 1 bike, and it needed to take you through most types of riding?

Go!
inditx

I hope I never have to face that scenario, but if I could only ride 1 bike it would have to be an adventure style bike because it is the most versatile machine made.  I would have to research what bike would be the best compromise in size, weight, power, ease of use, and ease of maintenance before making a decision. 

Today I would give the V85TT a serious consideration. 

[Jim Rich]

Schwinn 10 Speed, mowed grass all summer to pay for it when I was 12.

[Tusayan]

Those who thought the early GS is a candidate for Best All Around Bike Ever might be amused by this auction result...  an '81 R80GS with 56K miles for (brace yourself)...  $20,000.   I remember not too long ago when a friend bought one of these cheap for use as his "rainy day bike" 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1981-bmw-r80gs-paris-dakar-2/

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Those who thought the early GS is a candidate for Best All Around Bike Ever might be amused by this auction result...  an '81 R80GS with 56K miles for (brace yourself)...  $20,000.   I remember not too long ago when a friend bought one of these cheap for use as his "rainy day bike" 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1981-bmw-r80gs-paris-dakar-2/

My buddy Leo traded his in when he bought a new GS in '09 - they gave him $12,500 for it.

[Guzzistaracing]

For me it was the Griso! Faboules on a afternoon spin and managed a ten days two up eastern Europe tour!

[Jim Rich]

Simple -

The Bike - The 1978 version of the Triumph Bonneville that did everything for me.

The Person - The 1978 version of me, no debt, no worries and taking big bites out of life.

[motorcop]

For me it's the BMW R1200GS Adventure. Any Hexhead or Camhead. Easy maintenance. Super reliable . I use mine for touring, commuting and track days. It has plenty of power,  good weather protection and ground clearance. Very smooth boxer engine.