Lone, Lone, Lone! You are kind of contradicting yourself a bit no? :thumbup: You say don't bash the Crossdresser due to points 1 to 3, which are all on about going off road touring, and then say that it's clearly not an adventure tourer.
I agree with your point about that it could still make a good bike (then V4 engine sure sounds nice!), just not for off roading at all. A person with no or very little offroad experience, who wants to do a little bit here and there would have a pretty terrible time on this heavy thing.
Adventure tourers try to meet the needs of going off road, with having the size and comfort for long haul tarmac bits too. The only bikes I can think of that do this well are the Tenere and Super Tenere, the KTM 990 Adventure, and the BMW GSs (1250 and 800, more the 800 though). These bikes are your answers to your points 1 to 3. Agreed a 250 mx or enduro would kick ass off road, but there's no way I'd like to ride all them miles on the tarmac! A 600 would do better engine wise but you'd still lack the comfort. The Crossdresser will do the tarmac bits fine I expect.
How does driving a big SUV in the middle of a city make sense? It's just a very big car, with a big engine, which gets used to take the kids to school/do the shopping/clog up the roads etc One can do all that in a smaller, cheaper to run, more economical car in a city. Chelsea Tractors we call them in London - they've never seen mud/gravel or grass in their life! :spank:
The thing I'm bashing is that this bike is being marketed as an adventure bike, which it will clearly be useless at. Honda should market it as a tourer, which it may well be excellent at. No person seriously considering adventure touring will buy this bike for that purpose.
No, no no! Re-read what I wrote you are putting words in my mouth, I said something completely different.
I am saying don't bash adventure tourers!
And
The Crossfire is
NOT an adventure tourer. It just has a piece of plastic shaped like a beak. That is the only thing it has which gives anyone ANY reason to call it an adventure tourer. It has
street wheels, street tires, street suspension. It has raised handlebars but by that reasoning the only thing preventing the FJR from being an adventure tourer is its front fairing not having a beak.
I disagree with absolutely nothing you have written about bikes. Re-read my post and you will see that. I’m just saying big fat-ass adventure tourers are great machines when used for their intended purpose….continent crossing through any terrain. They are Continent Class Assault Machines. The biggest and meanest. An R1200GS in matte black with crash bars and fog lamps gives me a chubby. It really does. So when people say they are like SUV’s not knowing what they want to be and are useless at everything, I say, ‘WTF you are wrong”.
And as for SUV’s, I agree there are rubbish at off-roading. They are also rubbish at cornering and things cars are good at. But for some people they make sense. They are like a minivan but not a minivan. Modern SUVs have no business going off-road. They need a lot of modification before they can claim any of that. Especially the luxury class ones like the BMW’s etc etc. But that’s not what they are for. They are for people who would otherwise be buying minivans if the SUV option wasn’t there and pick-up trucks wouldn’t work.
Small cars just don’t work sometimes. They don’t have the storage capacity and hauling 7 kids around in them is a pain in the ass.
So, finally to reiterate again, what I was saying is that adventure touring bikes (which the Crossrunner is not) are not like SUVs. They retain off-road utility and offer touring amenities. They serve a purpose and are great machines. They have off-road suspension, tires, wheels, ergos, and everything you need, but with the ability to haul ass across a continent or the world without crippling the rider or toasting the engine.
I'd say yes, and the smaller Tenere 660, and possibly the new Triumph Tiger, so you have a point on engine size. Your F800GS beats the pants off this though.
The Crossdresser reminds me a little of the Yamaha TDM, which was a really good tourer, and very popular over here in Europe. Some argued that that also had some off road capabilities....
While we are comparing non-adventure touring bikes to bikes with off-road capabilities (however major or minor), let me say that:
1) The Kawasaki Versys is less useful than a Tenere 600 off road
2) The Kawasaki Vulcan cruiser is less useful than a Tenere 600 off road
3) The Triumph Rocket III is less useful off road than a Triumph Tiger with off-road modifications
4) The Honda Goldwing is less useful off road than an 800GS
5) The Bergman is less useful off road than a KTM 990ADV
6) Oprah Winfrey on rollerblades is less useful off road than a Dakar series KTM 690
At least the Ducati Multistrada has a skid plate.
And ROFL @ “Crossdresser” haha. That’s a great name for it.
and not the Super Tenere and BMW R1200GS?
opcorn: Guess I shouldn't post up their 2011 Crosstourer Concept bike then, eh?
