Two New Middleweight Adventure Bikes: Honda'S Crossrunner, Suzuki'S New V-Strom 650

[BigBikeBKK]

XRunner test ride...

I see duct tape!

BTW, isn't the exhaust a bit low for an adventure bike?

That exhaust is certainly not condusive to any real offroad riding (though no worse than the Versys)

But who really expects anyone to take the 240kg crossrunner on anything more challenging than some graded dirt roads?

Most adventure bikes are twins or singles. Triumph Tiger 800 is a triple of course. The crossrunner is the only adventure-type bike I know of that's powered by a 4 cylinder engine... Odd...

[SumetCycle]

Perhaps a smaller version of the Crossrunner would do well in Thailand.

Not exactly a mini-version but will this one do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDhNIZog_TM&feature=related

That would do just fine. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[JonnyF]

Just some perspective. A dedicated dirt bike like a CRF450 is around 240 lbs, and much of the motocross community consider it an overweight pig compared to the sub 200 lb 2 strokes on the market.

This Honda is 240 kgs, not lbs. Get this thing covered in wet mud and drop it on a tiring dirt track and you'll be wishing you'd bought a KLX/D-Tracker. So it's going to be average on the road and pretty much useless off road. That never stopped the SUV market though so maybe it'll be a success?

[Atmos]

To be honest when has Honda ever gone out on a limb? Granted there was the 6 cylinder 250cc engine they had....50 years ago!

I'm deadly serious...Honda is well known of reliable, stable bikes. Name one of their bikes in the last two decades that was a definitive leader or started a class...it's very hard.

well they tried with this, 680cc v-twin automatic; friend worked for Honda NZ and they sold a few - someone mentioned the ugly-stick for the Crossrunner. This one got it first!

EDIT: just had a look on NZ's TradeMe (their version of ebay), found 4 DN-01 bikes for sale, including these two: (excuse caps - cat and paste) - seems they didn't sell too well.

Honda DN-01 NSA700 2010

THIS BIKE IS AUTOMATIC WITH ABS BRAKES.

THESE BIKES WERE $23,495 + $750 ORC

HOWEVER WE HAVE A MASSIVE DEAL ON OUR LAST 2 BIKES THAT ARE ONLY $14,500 INC ORC.

Edited June 30, 2011 by Atmos

[Atmos]

the weight of this Crossrunner surprises me - 240kg? Huge.

About 2003 I was loaned a Transalp to do 2000km before it did the rounds as a demo for Honda dealers in NZ, about 200kg.

Good for city/street use great for lane-splitting, and nice visibility sitting so upright, fun on unsealed gravel roads, diabolical on the beach, though it did have dual-purpose tyres, slushy suspension and an awkward beast in the dirt.

At same tine I had access to a BMW F650, the Dakar version, probably the same weight but far more suited to off-road, had one day on a standard F650 and it was more comparable to the Transalp, a 'pretend' off road bike.

Edited June 30, 2011 by Atmos