A dilemma

OK, so this year I have got into off-roading in a big way - culminating in my Africa trip in October. I have a little 200cc AJP trail bike which has been fun to play around on, but I have a couple of quite serious issue that stop me using it as much as I would like to. Excuse my rambling post, but it's me going through my own thought processes as much as anything!

The main issue for me is my proximity to anywhere that I can ride off-road. I live in a pretty green area where the local authority don't approve of PTW use of the green space - there are no BOATs or other unsurfaced roads around here at all. In order to get any decent riding in I have at least a 35-40 mile ride -round towards Box Hill or up into Hertfordshire. Now 40 miles isn't that far to go for a days riding, but on a 200cc bike with a max speed of about 55 mph (if you can stand the vibes) it's not much fun. I have hired vans a couple of times, but that means having to make plans way in advance and paying for 2 days hire at least each time.

So, I think I have a few options:

1) Buy a van - issue being that I have no where to keep one
2) Get a towbar and trailer - my car doesn't seem to be particularly conducive to the fitting of an aftermarket towbar without cutting the bumper which I really am not keen on.
3) Get another bike that is useful off-road, but rideable in relative comfort on the road (only relative, doesn't need to be capable of hundreds of road miles at a time)

So really I've narrowed it down to option 3, does anyone have any suggestions? I know I will be compromising off-road ease and lightness for road manners, and I'd rather not make too much of a compromise if at all possible.

Money-wise I'd like change out of £4K.....

I've had a similar dilemma myself. I wanted to buy PeepingTom's Tenere off here which isn't registered so needed bringing back from his place which either meant hire a van (£50 a day or so) or install a towbar on my BMW (expensive and I don't want to) and borrow a mate's trailer. Needed to get it taken to its MOT when ready too which raised the same problems.

Fortunately for me I'm not too far away a few greenlanes but the best fun is definitely to be found a few miles away I think.

In any case, unless I can fit it in the back of a 4x4 (unlikely without removing the front forks) I'm just going to be looking for another Tenere (early 80s) as it is something I wouldn't mind doing a few road miles on first.

So, long story short I reckon 3. Go and get yourself a DRZ400, should be able to get a cracker for about £2.5k and have plenty of money left to farkle it however you want! It should feel much lighter and more manageable than your GS and more powerful (and better on roads) than your 200.

CCM644DS

what to do

buy a bike rack for the rear of your car

no trailer to buy ,
no parking problems
you keep your bike small is good off road
and cut down on the no of bikes you have to maintain
"Get Over " the towbar problem or Bike rack


pg

You didnt say which car you have but are you sure that the bumper needs to be cut. It could be the towbar is the swan neck style and would come down under the bumper without cosmetic changes.

Move.

Thank you.

Cut the bumper.

ExpatinIstanbul said:

Move.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

Now why didn't I think of that

philgunn said:

buy a bike rack for the rear of your car

no trailer to buy ,
no parking problems
you keep your bike small is good off road
and cut down on the no of bikes you have to maintain
"Get Over " the towbar problem or Bike rack


pg

Click to expand...

You can only use those on a conventional towing plate. The one that would need to be fitted to my car is a swan neck style one Will look some more into that today though

columbus said:

You didnt say which car you have but are you sure that the bumper needs to be cut. It could be the towbar is the swan neck style and would come down under the bumper without cosmetic changes.

Click to expand...

It's a BMW 535d M Sport. The undertray of the bumper needs to be cut in order to fit even the swan neck style towbar. Not too keen on doing that, as it will hurt resale of the car

Tonibe63 said:

CCM644DS

Click to expand...

Tell me more.....

I don't know why but for some reason I thought you might have a BMW with sports body kit. Definitely a pain to mount a towbar on there which rules out a trailer or bike rack which otherwise would have been my recommendation.

This is how I do it. First,a standard Witter towbar.Can you get the detachable one on your BMW? Witters website list 5 series ones that include M sport.www.witter-towbars.co.uk
Then bolted to it is a bracket into which the rack fits. Lift bike on. Easy.
The towbar was around £250 fitted,with electrics. The rack was £79.95 from www.autowbar.co.uk. they do two versions,a car one and a van/4X4 one.
I can have the rack fitted and the bike tied on in about 10 mins. and the rack slots out so you can leave it in the car whilst you're off on the bike.

Which would be good, except that I can't get one of those racks to fit the only sort of tow bar that can be fitted to my car (Swan neck style)