RUST magazine: Rust#14

Adventure
They also became the call for ‘explorer
riders’. I call them explorer riders as back in
the mid 1980s no one spoke of adventure
biking. Post Jupiter’s Travels, long distance
travel into the Far East or Wild West was
starting to become more prevalent (not yet
popularised), and bikes like the XLs and XTs
were mana to those brave riders keen to
blaze new trails. The 600cc singles were
particularly popular as they combined
mechanical simplicity with a fair serving of
reliability, durability and comparatively
excellent off-road handling (comparative to
a Triumph Tiger T100 à la Ted Simon that is)
– plus just enough comfort.
Now while today the ‘bigger is better’
ethos has largely consumed the adventure
motorcycle market there are still many who
either remember those simple old days, or
who need something a bit smaller, a bit
lighter – usually on account of size, age,
even gender. Those 1200cc super-adventures
are awesome fun, but a 600cc single
really can supply most of what’s needed in
adventure riding. And so while the 1200s
are always making the headlines, the
middleweights still have a place (you might
pause to wonder what might have been had
Ewan & Charlie selected BMW 650 Dakars
for the Long Way Round…).