Are you really an ADV rider?!

My bike says yes, but my tires ( Michelin Pilots) say no. I do some dirt roads and some camping. Mostly my V-Strom 1000 was bought to carry the wife on the back and big luggage. But, I do dream of putting knobbies on it and doing the NEBDR. I don't know; I am not really an adventure rider. I would not trade places with my buddies who mostly polish their expensive useless choppers and ride to a bar twice a year. I am adventur-ish, but very mild adventures.

For example, I am a sailor but only coastal. Last weekend I crewed a yacht delivery from Saybrook Ct back to NY. Not exactly adventure on the high seas. Did drink rum and tell stories and it was better than sitting home. I am not going to write a book about it.

Ultimately, this is the truth of the matter. Adventure is all about perspective and personal achievement. If it is an adventure to "you" then it's an adventure.

Not YET, but I WILL be after over 3 decades riding sportbikes and pure dirtbikes. It's time, and the 890 R seems to be the PERFECT bike for me!

Adventure isn't a location or environment, it's experiencing something new, and unexpected.
Adventure is all in ones willingness to find it.

My third solo ride north of the Arctic Circle...2019.

Dirty... Yep, I've done that.
Still, it sees more trips to the office than mud holes.

I'm curious, how much time did you spend there?
Snap a pic and head back the way you came?
Hang out and contemplate your journey for a few hours?
Camp overnight?


.

I spent several hours there. I went to Grandma's Kitchen and listened to John tell stories about life in Tuk, the new road, hunting whales and the northern lights reflecting on the Arctic Ocean in the winter.
I rode on every road in Tuk and walked to the end of the breakwater, felt like I was standing in the Arctic Ocean.
I tried the Beluga whale and had a Muskox burger while sitting on the Arctic Ocean coast.

What did you do when you were there?

I use my van to haul street legal bikes around...

So probably not!

No.

Every commute is an adventure!

"Adventure" (marketing term) bikes generally have very good ergos, sit high for a commanding view, and look cool (to some, not to others).

Here are three I spied recently. Note they are all three spit polished and shod with street tires. The fellas riding them seemed happy enough. That's all that matters in the end.

How and if they label themselves I have no idea, nor does it impact my life.

I'm probably not an adv rider since I skip the boring bits and put my Husky 701 on the back of the motorhome.

When I get where I want, I unload and explore with a bike that can handle pretty technical terrain and is also light enough to pick up when riding solo. It's pretty rare to see anyone else out there, in some of these more remote trails, so I feel I must be doing something right.

I get about two weeks before I have to dump and take on water, so I can really do a ton of riding and really explore an area.

I´m definitely not an "Adventure Rider", I wonder what I am even doing on this site half the time. I don´t enjoy riding offroad, it doesn´t interest me at all. That is probably a function of learning to ride in a country (UK) where the offroad options were extremely limited. I ride a lot of gravel roads and badly made barely graded roads but that isn´t through choice, there is just no avoiding it where I live. I would very happily spend the rest of my days riding on well surfaced roads given the choice. I find it fairly strange seeing pictures of people (inevitably) dropping bikes costing $20k plus weighing the same as a CBX1000 seeing it as a mark of pride normally with some comment about a bike "taking a nap". That looks stressful and expensive to me, but as long as people are enjoying themselves why not?

I see large ADV bikes as great road bikes, the modern reincarnation of the UJM, good for less than perfect roads, comfortable ergos, good lights, some weather protection, I would definitely consider one for road use and I like BMW´s design philosophy and their twins in general. One of the best road bikes I owned was a 2nd gen Strom, great headlights (car quality), good handling, fuel efficient reliable motor with enough power for any legal(ish) speeds, perfect ergos for me (no forward lean), but the idea of using one offroad just never occurred to me to be a fun thing to do. As ever YMMV.

Nope ride an 03 Bonny setup like a Euro/roadster for sport touring

I tried to get to Spuzzum today. I had to turn around because the snow on the side of the road was getting deeper.

Does that make me an ADVRIDER on my 2014 Honda Forza 300 with a Michelin M+S City Grip 2?

Adventure: Discomfort recalled

While out riding my mud covered Tiger. I was told “your not a real biker” so, I guess add me to the nope list......

I have had all pavement road trips that ended up being real adventures:

*almost died in the mountains of KY on my harley when we got caught in a blizzard up near a pass. The trucks were doing 80-90mph and passing us at incredible speed compared to us. There was literally nowhere safe to pull over. We were drenched to the core with falling body temps. It was a real shitty situation. We found of all things, a tiny pizza place that had hot coffee and food. Wrapped our socks with plastic take out bags, which is an old biker trick and it saved our toes. That was the year after which, i fully upgraded my gear to goretex.

*got extremely lost when a bridge/road closure forced tens of thousands of cars onto rural roads, who all ended up competing for a literal one man ferry to cross a river. You either did this, or backtracked more than a hundred miles to get around the hazmat spill that closed the highway. We rode through an immeasurable amount of snaky country backroads at stupid speeds trying to find a way over the river before dark, then after dark. At one point we sputtered for gas and coasted into the gas station which had one pump and sounded like claptrap from a century ago. Rip my fuel filter.

We ended up giving up, and backtracking to a motel maybe 75 miles back. In the morning they were *just* finally opening the road and we were able to cross the river.

*tended to a few very bad wrecks in the mountains where we had to help guys on the side of a hill while either ems or hillbilly ems (some friend with a truck) came to help. This led to me always having a legit first aid/trauma kit with me on the bike nearly always.

These are just a few tiny “adventures” ive had on two wheels that did not involve dirt or an adventure bike.

I think “adventure” is in the heart of the adventurer.

I’ve heard someone say that a trip becomes an adventure as soon as you get out of your comfort zone (intentionally or not)

But having experienced the dark side of motorcycling, I’d like to say; every ride is an adventure, you only need to survive!