Mick Fagan
Registered user
Riding any bike around Australia, is/or can be boring at times. For starters, no matter where you are riding, the maximum speed limit is effectively around 100/110 km/h actual.
The main problem with the vast distances, and they are vast in places, is that you cannot run your machine at high speed forever, you won't see anything much either, you will be concentrating on the riding using about 95% of your mind.
At relatively high speed, the fuel costs start to become quite prohibitive, plus, you have the very real problem of running out of fuel. Not a real flash idea, because unless you have a satellite telephone, or you're within 40 odd kliks of a reasonable town, you're walking.
Apart from that, you can quite easily hit a Kangaroo, Emu, Camel, Wombat, Eagle, Cattle, Sheep or a flock of birds, trust me when I say that hitting any of these at speed can be troublesome, to say the least. That is in the daytime when you can see quite easily, at night it just gets hairy, also, you cannot see the scenery either.
Whilst a GS, of any persuasion is a really nice bike to own and ride in this country, you don't need one. Currently, I own what to me is the best touring bike I've ever had the pleasure of riding. It is heavily Tourateched and has been since the late nineties, before Touratech really was on the radar as it is now.
My current bike has the 41 litre Elkamet fuel tank from Touratech, previously to that I ran a 1982 R100CS with a 42 litre tank, prior to that I ran a 1980 R80 G/S with a 39 litre tank, notice anything similar between the bikes?
If I were going to purchase a bike to travel around Australia, with reasonably limited finances, then I would certainly look at the DR650. You can get a brand new unit with obviously some kind of warranty, for under $8,000 on the road, ready to ride away.
Purchase a locally made skinny fat tank, which should give you a fuel range that is realistic for some of the places you will wish to travel to, and you're laughing!
A set of panniers that can be either a throwover set, a pair of plastic Jerry cans converted, or bucketloads of money on something like Touratech stuff, and you're away.
As you have the KLR (I think) I would be quite happy with that, by all accounts, it is a very worthy contender for travelling and seeing stuff.
My first six motorcycles were all 125cc or smaller, I travelled 3 times around Australia and twice on the South road in Central Australia, before I got a bigger bike. Basically my average speeds were about 30 Km/h and time was measured in weeks of travel to get to one place, instead of four or five days to Perth, if you're in a hurry, today.
I know things have changed somewhat since those days, but the basics of touring are the same, you do it so you can see and experience things that are outside the norm of where you are. Anything with wheels will do the job.
Regarding spare parts, well, with BMW it's quite interesting there are only a three dealers in the state I live in, Victoria. Two are in the city of Melbourne, whilst the third is in Geelong a 45 minute ride from Melbourne, that's it. Victoria is about the same size as the UK, to give a reasonable perspective. There is also a dealer in Albury which is in the state of NSW and yes, it's almost in Victoria but it isn't.
If you break down, parts will just have to be ordered and sent via rail, truck or aeroplane, meanwhile you'll get an indepth look at the area where you broke down, nice bonus sometimes. The parts scenario for Kawasaki and/or Suzuki is pretty much the same deal. If you are riding a normal farm bike out in the sticks, spare parts won't be a big deal, anything else, it's a long wait.
Mick.
The main problem with the vast distances, and they are vast in places, is that you cannot run your machine at high speed forever, you won't see anything much either, you will be concentrating on the riding using about 95% of your mind.
At relatively high speed, the fuel costs start to become quite prohibitive, plus, you have the very real problem of running out of fuel. Not a real flash idea, because unless you have a satellite telephone, or you're within 40 odd kliks of a reasonable town, you're walking.
Apart from that, you can quite easily hit a Kangaroo, Emu, Camel, Wombat, Eagle, Cattle, Sheep or a flock of birds, trust me when I say that hitting any of these at speed can be troublesome, to say the least. That is in the daytime when you can see quite easily, at night it just gets hairy, also, you cannot see the scenery either.
Whilst a GS, of any persuasion is a really nice bike to own and ride in this country, you don't need one. Currently, I own what to me is the best touring bike I've ever had the pleasure of riding. It is heavily Tourateched and has been since the late nineties, before Touratech really was on the radar as it is now.
My current bike has the 41 litre Elkamet fuel tank from Touratech, previously to that I ran a 1982 R100CS with a 42 litre tank, prior to that I ran a 1980 R80 G/S with a 39 litre tank, notice anything similar between the bikes?
If I were going to purchase a bike to travel around Australia, with reasonably limited finances, then I would certainly look at the DR650. You can get a brand new unit with obviously some kind of warranty, for under $8,000 on the road, ready to ride away.
Purchase a locally made skinny fat tank, which should give you a fuel range that is realistic for some of the places you will wish to travel to, and you're laughing!
A set of panniers that can be either a throwover set, a pair of plastic Jerry cans converted, or bucketloads of money on something like Touratech stuff, and you're away.
As you have the KLR (I think) I would be quite happy with that, by all accounts, it is a very worthy contender for travelling and seeing stuff.
My first six motorcycles were all 125cc or smaller, I travelled 3 times around Australia and twice on the South road in Central Australia, before I got a bigger bike. Basically my average speeds were about 30 Km/h and time was measured in weeks of travel to get to one place, instead of four or five days to Perth, if you're in a hurry, today.
I know things have changed somewhat since those days, but the basics of touring are the same, you do it so you can see and experience things that are outside the norm of where you are. Anything with wheels will do the job.
Regarding spare parts, well, with BMW it's quite interesting there are only a three dealers in the state I live in, Victoria. Two are in the city of Melbourne, whilst the third is in Geelong a 45 minute ride from Melbourne, that's it. Victoria is about the same size as the UK, to give a reasonable perspective. There is also a dealer in Albury which is in the state of NSW and yes, it's almost in Victoria but it isn't.
If you break down, parts will just have to be ordered and sent via rail, truck or aeroplane, meanwhile you'll get an indepth look at the area where you broke down, nice bonus sometimes. The parts scenario for Kawasaki and/or Suzuki is pretty much the same deal. If you are riding a normal farm bike out in the sticks, spare parts won't be a big deal, anything else, it's a long wait.
Mick.
