Trails And Trials!

Two of the smallest adventure bikes available in the world, endless trails and a question that begs answering. Need any more reason to ride?

- Ashok George

Many many moons ago, my friends and I had an idea. A couple of us decided that it would be fun to head into the mountains on some motorcycles. But then came the big question – what motorcycles? All our lofty ideas of big BMW GS Adventures were shot down eventually. What we ended up with were a couple of little commuters, none of them over 125cc. We took them up to one of the highest inhabited villages in the world. Did we have fun? Hell yes! It was an adventure of epic proportions. But did we wish we were on motorcycles that were built for the job? Yes, to that too.

The adventure motorcycle exists for a purpose – to bridge the gap between the highway-loving mile-muncher and the short-geared, knobbly clad enduro. It does a bit of what both of these formats do and a lot of what they each can’t. My biggest problem with these ADVs have always been that they were too heavy. It’s all great when you’re on black top, but the moment you hit the trails, you just cannot get those 300 odd kilos out of your mind. Imagine having to hike down to the next village to rally troops to help pick up your fallen motorcycle. It’s embarrassing, inconvenient and, quite honestly, a massive pain in the backside. Not to mention, if the damn thing falls on you. “Here lies Ashok. He thought he was strong enough to lift a 300kg motorcycle. He wasn’t.”

In my handbook of adventure motorcycling, the lighter the motorcycle is, the more I like it. Of course, I could just head to the gym and build some strength.