Aventure bikes, small is better.

[Kwasaki]

33 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Could never figure why guys put screens or windshields on bikes here.

 

22 minutes ago, AllanB said:

full screen and as you say why?

Horses for course, many types of bikes about the choice is yours.

Deflect some rain & flies, wind battering at speed, also being use to sports bikes a personal comfort choice for me.

Putting a screen on my Bandit 1200 made it more comfortable to ride at speed.

[jackdd]

42 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Could never figure why guys put screens or windshields on bikes here.

I want as much air flow as possible thru my mesh gear.

Even rain is OK 'cause it is warm.

A windscreen makes riding more relaxed because it takes pressure from your helmet, of course not really important if you drive just an hour or two or just at low speed, but if you try to cover a longer distance on the highway you will notice the difference.

And it deflects dirt, insects and so on. Once i was going from Ayuthaya to BKK in the evening. There were just so many insects, i had to make a stop every 15 minutes to clean the visor of my helmet because it was plastered with insects and i couldn't see anymore. In this situation a windscreen would have been nice.

[canthai55]

True - in that case it would be nice. I wear a 3/4 Jet style HJC so the screen keeps the crap off, except your mouth and below. Learned long ago to keep your mouth closed when riding !

Got an LS2 modular coming - my first with a chinbar.

Jury still out ...

[CMKiwi]

I had an LS2 modular....possibly the best I've ever owned.

 

  Just so functional and comfortable.

[eisfeld]

A good screen (and if riding in colder weather heated grips) can be a gamechanger on long trips. When I rode a CB650F from Chaing Mai to Khon Kaen and back, I got so plastered with bugs during the evening hours that I also had to stop every few minutes to wipe off the gue from the helmet so I could see something just like jackdd. Now with my Africa Twin I don't have any such issue because the windscreen deflects nearly all of the bugs.

 

About smaller being better: as always, it depends. For rides that span thousands of kilometers, I'd take my AT over a CRF250L any day. For a bit of offroading probably not. "Adventure" can mean different things to different people and so different bikes for different purposes. There is no "one size fits all".

[Kwasaki]

7 hours ago, eisfeld said:

About smaller being better: as always, it depends. For rides that span thousands of kilometers, I'd take my AT over a CRF250L any day. For a bit of offroading probably not. "Adventure" can mean different things to different people and so different bikes for different purposes. There is no "one size fits all".

Reminds of a guy who rode around the world on a Fireblade, very different than me,  me no way.

[AllanB]

On 17/04/2018 at 1:28 PM, jackdd said:

A windscreen makes riding more relaxed because it takes pressure from your helmet, of course not really important if you drive just an hour or two or just at low speed, but if you try to cover a longer distance on the highway you will notice the difference.

And it deflects dirt, insects and so on. Once i was going from Ayuthaya to BKK in the evening. There were just so many insects, i had to make a stop every 15 minutes to clean the visor of my helmet because it was plastered with insects and i couldn't see anymore. In this situation a windscreen would have been nice.

That is absolutely correct if the screen is high enough, although I guess you can scrunch down (for a while) and would be very good when the mayflies are out in force.

 

Knowing we were going to tour and in all weathers, we bought combination helmets and they do the job, since the screen on the vespa is only a 3/4 height.

 

These combo helmets are quite lightweight (and inexpensive) now and work well in both modes, never riden 500km in one day before and the set up of the Vespa was very good. Also they are easy to get on and off and are less clostaphobic.

 

But all this is Europe..haven't seen any reasonably priced combo helmets here.

 

On a different subject these "galvanised dustbins", they make a big difference to fuel consumption and the last guy we met had bugga all in them. Soft luggage behind the rider is the way to go and a tank bag to spread the load, also these big boxes act like a kite in crosswinds. 

[Kwasaki]

On 4/15/2018 at 2:54 PM, CMKiwi said:

Come on Honda...give us a CRF 450x for Thailand

 

On 4/15/2018 at 6:30 PM, Kwasaki said:

Too heavy.

@NickymasterI stand corrected but thought the weight difference was a mistake until a good report told of the ali frame.

Roll on ali frame for 250L. 

[AllanB]

8 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

 

@NickymasterI stand corrected but thought the weight difference was a mistake until a good report told of the ali frame.

Roll on ali frame for 250L. 

The price will go up too, not sure how many they will sell for the performance increase on a cheapo 250.

 

The CRF250L at B140k beats everything in sight on price, add B100k to that for an alloy frame, where does that leave it? So you have to up the power/torque and that leaves you with a CRF450...??

[Kwasaki]

57 minutes ago, AllanB said:

add B100k to that for an alloy frame

And where does that come from quality always outweighs quantity.

[taninthai]

They are never gonna bring a crf 250 l with ally frame.......rumours now are that  a crf650l may come along.....although these rumours have been around a while....could well be coming end of year

[Kwasaki]

7 minutes ago, taninthai said:

crf 250 l with A steel frame...

I've got one already. 

[AllanB]

14 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

And where does that come from quality always outweighs quantity.

A number of reasons:-

1. The material costs, look at any high grade alloy product and everything is expensive, including re-engineering everything, If you don't get the alloy right and the shape, the frame will crack.

 

Low carbon steel is inherently strong and very cheap.

 

2. Don't think you can change the frame material and keep eveything the same, it doesn't work that way. Engineering costs have to be recovered.

 

3. The 250L is made and sold in Thailand, which keeps this prices down, but has to be sold in large quatities, or it won't be made here at all. Example, why did the entire Australian car industry die, because the home market was too small to warrant the addition manufacturing costs. In Europe the local market is to a half billion people, in Australia, even if you add NZ (3,000km away) it is only 30 million.

 

Thais will not pay B240k for this sort of bike, so the market potential is just one then.....you.

 

Using an alluminium alloy for the frame has nothing to do with quality, it is about saving weight. The CRF has no frame quality issues..AFAIK.

 

 

[Kwasaki]

29 minutes ago, AllanB said:

A number of reasons:-

1. The material costs, look at any high grade alloy product and everything is expensive, including re-engineering everything, If you don't get the alloy right and the shape, the frame will crack.

 

Low carbon steel is inherently strong and very cheap.

 

2. Don't think you can change the frame material and keep eveything the same, it doesn't work that way. Engineering costs have to be recovered.

 

3. The 250L is made and sold in Thailand, which keeps this prices down, but has to be sold in large quatities, or it won't be made here at all. Example, why did the entire Australian car industry die, because the home market was too small to warrant the addition manufacturing costs. In Europe the local market is to a half billion people, in Australia, even if you add NZ (3,000km away) it is only 30 million.

 

Thais will not pay B240k for this sort of bike, so the market potential is just one then.....you.

 

Using an alluminium alloy for the frame has nothing to do with quality, it is about saving weight. The CRF has no frame quality issues..AFAIK.

 

 

Agree, yes it certainly makes sense as you say, would be nice to have an option though. 

[canthai55]

4 hours ago, AllanB said:

The CRF has no frame quality issues..AFAIK.

Only thing I have heard about is guys doing a lot of off road, with a luggage rack, and the rear sub frame breaks.

How much weight they carry, and how far to the rear, will have a definite impact on this.

[Neilly]

4 hours ago, AllanB said:

The material costs, look at any high grade alloy product and everything is expensive, including re-engineering everything, If you don't get the alloy right and the shape, the frame will crack.

Seeing as the CRF250X already has an ally frame I'm pretty sure it would be fairly straightforwad to do...and not overly expensive...they don't call the CRF250L the LRP for nothing (Little Red Pig).

 

The chances of it happening...slim to bu66er all

[jackdd]

17 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Only thing I have heard about is guys doing a lot of off road, with a luggage rack, and the rear sub frame breaks.

How much weight they carry, and how far to the rear, will have a definite impact on this.

This happens with other bikes as well, the general advise is to not go off road with a top box.

[papa al]

1 minute ago, jackdd said:

This happens with other bikes as well, the general advise is to not go off road with a top box.

yes &

papa has found:

top-box on unpaved rough roads will fatigue and snap the rack.

[Welding is cheap tho.]

Best to just lash a duffel on.

 

[Neilly]

35 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Only thing I have heard about is guys doing a lot of off road, with a luggage rack, and the rear sub frame breaks.

How much weight they carry, and how far to the rear, will have a definite impact on this.

A few have bent the frame where the foot pegs are attached...and also where the frame passes under the engine is flattens out quiet easily (even with a bash plate).

[papa al]

2 hours ago, Neilly said:

A few have bent the frame where the foot pegs are attached...and also where the frame passes under the engine is flattens out quiet easily (even with a bash plate).

That'll buff right out... 

[canthai55]

People need to realize what type of bike they want.

CRF is a cheap dual sport.

If you want a rock basher, MX mount, or other hard core bike, look elsewhere.

All those pics of bashed frames and cracks are directly related to using the bike outside its design limits.

There is a reason that it is street legal - it is a offroad 'styled' bike.

Like all the rest of the genre. Long Way Round proved that.

Like a 250kg bike is a dirt bike - 555 - Africa twin, GS1200, ...

My Dyna is only 50kg more - the weight of a Thai Girl and a 6 pack

[Neilly]

1 hour ago, canthai55 said:

CRF is a cheap dual sport.

And readily available here in Thailand...and if there were other options available that didn't require the selling of ones organs to fund the purchase I'd be more than happy. The CRF-L does what I ask it to do without too much complaining, and although it's not light it's not far off my old XR350 that I used to Enduro in UK many moons ago.

[Kwasaki]

5 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Only thing I have heard about is guys doing a lot of off road, with a luggage rack, and the rear sub frame breaks.

How much weight they carry, and how far to the rear, will have a definite impact on this.

My one is fitted with a rack it would have to be one hell of a lot of weight in my observation.

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, Neilly said:

And readily available here in Thailand...and if there were other options available that didn't require the selling of ones organs to fund the purchase I'd be more than happy. The CRF-L does what I ask it to do without too much complaining, and although it's not light it's not far off my old XR350 that I used to Enduro in UK many moons ago.

It's a great relief to me that it's lighter than my Versys. 

[canthai55]

9 hours ago, Neilly said:

 The CRF-L does what I ask it to do without too much complaining

Agreed - that is why I bought one.

But I also do not ask it to do too much.

[CMKiwi]

I may stand corrected but isn't there a sticker on or near the CRF250 sub frame that states a weight limit of around 5kg on the carrier?

 

That doesn't seem much or right.

[Neilly]

12 minutes ago, CMKiwi said:

I may stand corrected but isn't there a sticker on or near the CRF250 sub frame that states a weight limit of around 5kg on the carrier?

 

That doesn't seem much or right.

4.5kg for luggage actually...

 

 

[CMKiwi]

Dang that's a low number.  I know I loaded far more than that on the back of mine when I had it.

 

Mind you Hondas are tough little bikes...if you look after them.

[canthai55]

Mostly seems to happen to guys off road riding over rough terrain.

Probably with a dozen beers, a bottle of Jack, big bag of ..., tools, lunch, 357 Magnum, flashlight, spare bike ... all lashed onto the back of the rack.

[papa al]

1 hour ago, canthai55 said:

Mostly seems to happen to guys off road riding over rough terrain.

Probably with a dozen beers, a bottle of Jack, big bag of ..., tools, lunch, 357 Magnum, flashlight, spare bike ... all lashed onto the back of the rack.

A flashlight?

Doubtful.