the Ferret
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This article showed up on my tablet this morning. Since I tend to read articles about motorcycles, the tablet automatically comes up with several articles a day for me to peruse.
I thought this might be a fun read, since in a thread yesterday we were talking about if the NC 750X made an adequate touring platform. I thought about bikes available today and tried to come up with 10 I thought might be touring friendly for beginners. Then I read the article. I wanted to see if the NC 750X made the cut. Hint: Nope. Only (2) of the bikes I thought of made the list of the ten the article mentioned. About 1/2 of the bikes mentioned in the article I would NEVER have thought of as touring bikes, beginner or otherwise. I would also place the NC 750X above 4 or 5 of the bikes listed in the article, even though I don't think the NC 750X could be considered a "touring bike", but maybe it's because I have toured all 48 states, 2 provinces of Canada and 5 countries in Europe 2 up on what I consider real touring bikes. I'll admit that I have never personally considered anything under a liter in displacement, under 100 hp, under 75 ft lbs of torque, that can cruise comfortably at 80 mph (the highest speed limit in several states), with some wind protection and some luggage accommodations capable of true cross-country travel. Bikes like BMW RT's, Honda Goldwings and ST 1300s, Yamaha FJR's, Kawasaki Concours, and Ninja 1000, Suzuki GSX 1000. Bonus points to those that also have shaft drive and cruise control.
I also freely admit any bike can be toured on, with certain restrictions such as solo riding, no interstate, no time frame for completing journey, very limited luggage, and how much discomfort you are willing to endure etc. knowing guys that have made such trips on smaller displacement motorcycles, like these 2 guys that rode from California to Fla on Honda Groms
Heck, my wife is considering a scooter with more displacement than a Grom and we're afraid it might be too gutless for her just riding the back roads in our county lol.
So what do you guys think of that top ten list of beginner touring bikes?
And would you consider riding from Cali to Fla on a Grom?
I thought this might be a fun read, since in a thread yesterday we were talking about if the NC 750X made an adequate touring platform. I thought about bikes available today and tried to come up with 10 I thought might be touring friendly for beginners. Then I read the article. I wanted to see if the NC 750X made the cut. Hint: Nope. Only (2) of the bikes I thought of made the list of the ten the article mentioned. About 1/2 of the bikes mentioned in the article I would NEVER have thought of as touring bikes, beginner or otherwise. I would also place the NC 750X above 4 or 5 of the bikes listed in the article, even though I don't think the NC 750X could be considered a "touring bike", but maybe it's because I have toured all 48 states, 2 provinces of Canada and 5 countries in Europe 2 up on what I consider real touring bikes. I'll admit that I have never personally considered anything under a liter in displacement, under 100 hp, under 75 ft lbs of torque, that can cruise comfortably at 80 mph (the highest speed limit in several states), with some wind protection and some luggage accommodations capable of true cross-country travel. Bikes like BMW RT's, Honda Goldwings and ST 1300s, Yamaha FJR's, Kawasaki Concours, and Ninja 1000, Suzuki GSX 1000. Bonus points to those that also have shaft drive and cruise control.
I also freely admit any bike can be toured on, with certain restrictions such as solo riding, no interstate, no time frame for completing journey, very limited luggage, and how much discomfort you are willing to endure etc. knowing guys that have made such trips on smaller displacement motorcycles, like these 2 guys that rode from California to Fla on Honda Groms
Heck, my wife is considering a scooter with more displacement than a Grom and we're afraid it might be too gutless for her just riding the back roads in our county lol.
So what do you guys think of that top ten list of beginner touring bikes?
And would you consider riding from Cali to Fla on a Grom?