Are you really an ADV rider?!

As a Triumph rider, we prefer Tim Hortons

I would think about anyone would prefer Tim Hortons......

Take off, hoser

Edit: should have put a damn smiley

My attempt at channeling the Brothers McKenzie fell flat on its face.

Screw Tim Hortons, the coffee is not so great. But then again the breakfast sandwich is hard to beat when you're in a hurry.

But going back to the premise of the thread I have a couple of BMW street bikes that have both seen dirt and a couple of KTM's that have both seen pavement so I guess I'm lost somewhere.

Not sure which adventure started where...

New seven 11 in Hope had free coffee today. I like girls with purple hair.

Well, in that case, I've been an adventure rider for almost 40 years! Riding from Salt Lake City to Denver in an epic, Biblical storm almost the whole way being one of the more memorable moments. Then there was the day I picked up my brand new S1000RR in Denver in 2015 and got caught in another Biblical storm that produced a fucking TORNADO within a couple blocks of me! Scariest fucking sound I've ever heard in my life though the cloud cover was so low I couldn't see it, and I was on a stretch of I-70 with ZERO place to hide from it. Finally found an offramp and rode thru 8+ inches of rushing water following behind an SUV (hoping he wasn't going to hit a curb because I couldn't even se the street) to find a gas station awning to hide under from the rain, hail, and lightning everywhere nearby. It would have been zero protection from the actual tornado, but at least I was out of the rain and hail. Got home to find a tornado touched down a block or 2 from where I was.

If I rode the Moki Dugway (epic dirt road) 1/2 dozen times on a fully (overloaded?) sportbike does that make me an "Adventure Rider"? :)

Good lord... how on earth did you decide what to wear?

LOL If I was loaded up like that on an ADV bike people would be giving me props for being all "Adventure", but I can see hating on us sportbike guys as a rivalry thing...

The tank bag was full of full-sized camera and the very much needed liter of Gatorade (and pint of whiskey), GPS, wallet, maps, etc. And the red bag was full of tire inflator, tools, spare brake and clutch levers, tire patching kits, chain lube, and other stuff. Only the panniers had clothes etc. in them. I had to bring street clothes and shoes so when I got to a friend's in SLC we could go out to a nice dinner with me NOT wearing crusty/sweaty/bug-covered riding gear. I did 2,700+ miles in 5 days I think it was? Awesome trip, got to do Bryce and Monument Valley and other places again, then the South Rim for the first time.

I tell ya, all loaded up out there in the middle of nowhere on a sportbike, I definitely got a lot of looks and thumbs up, and lots of people wanted to talk to me for doing crazy shit like that. Met some really cool people doing my "sport" touring like that every year I did one. Not afraid of a few dirt roads on it either, obviously.

I also forgot about this photo. It's what happens when you follow an old man on a Goldwing!

Great thread, and I had to chime in.

I bought into the whole "adv rider" concept and bought a used v-strom which isn't really that great of an adv bike. Top heavy as shit, super long wheelbase, shit suspension, tall gears.

Having said that, in the six years I've had that bike, I've seen places in California I never would of seen without it. I've been all over Death Valley and up/down Lippencott Pass there on it. All over BLM land here in San Diego county - the valleys, hills, mountains, and high desert. All kinds of local rides, all off pavement. I've done Moto Ventures training out by Hemet on it 5 times. Kernville CA, several times, all off road accessing places again, that I wouldn't have seen without the bike. So many camping trips and great memories.

Still have the bike and still super stoked on the adv concept.

I never bought a motocycle to be comfortable in the slipstream; if I want that I'll just take my SUV.

For me at least, the adv thing is/was real and I'm very, very glad I didn't get a street bike.

I figure I would add for those who might be wondering:

The bike literally snapped off the internal fuel tank vent and toasted the rear shock from the constant pounding off road. But never bent the wheels, amazing actually.

Not an ADV rider here, although I have taken the '99 R1100GS off road several times. The vast majority of my riding has been on pavement, but I want to change that.

Why I chose this bike? Tons of character, a bit ugly according to some, super comfortable for the long haul if I ever want to do that. (longest trip so far was 1400km's in a single ride), can pack a ton of gear, (I'm a rock climber, we need gear...) and yes... the ADV image appeals to me. I like the outdoors, and the possibility to go into the outdoors with a motorcycle, rather then worry my rice rocket will get stuck or get a scratch.

The GS to me, is a utility vehicle.

Apparently not, as my bike has no beak.

My scooter has a very small beak and I am a short guy so I am an ADV-Rider. It is all relative.

I've ridden my CRF250L Rally around 8300 miles since I bought it a year and a half ago, and put 1000 miles on a friend's Versys 650 in that span of time as well

I've found that my favorite use for the dual-sport motorcycle is the same as its most popular use in Japan and South-East Asia where the bikes are made - urban commuting and light touring on roads of all qualities. Never taken it offroad, about 99% of those 8000 miles have been paved, and that remaining 80 miles has been primarily gravel and forest service roads, but every once of those miles has been reasonably comfortable within the bike's intended design parameters. I would certainly be comfy putting it on a BDR or the TAT once we've successfully overcome the pandemic. But for now, it's incredibly happy at eating up potholed city asphalt and muddy back alleyways on my 6 mile city commute

Has there been a definition formulated yet? I'm working on a new resume and I need to know if I can put "Adventure Rider" down as a hobby.

Just watch the Mitty movie and if you can say I have done that to anything he has done then yes you are an adventure rider and should most definately put it on your resume in big bold type.

Publicly? Never!

When I hit 50 in '09, I blew a spinal disc shoveling wet snow and had to stop rock climbing and mtn biking due to left leg muscles turning to sciatic jello. I was bored, miserable and restless, with a limp from it that lasted a year.

I decided if this wasn't my mid-life crisis, I wasn't getting one.

Started shopping bikes with no idea what to buy. Went to a Ducati dealer, was ignored and limped out. Went to Harley next door, also ignored and left. Talked to a client who rode. He recommended the newish F800GS, because it was "offroad capable". That sounded exciting. Went to BMW and they lined up to tenderly kiss my nether regions. I bought new.

After an hour of riding it out of the city, getting bored, and finding myself at a trailhead wearing Battlewings, which I'd been told were fine for dirt, I rode in. Instant adrenaline bath as I nearly keeled over in the sand about 20 times in 10 min. Decided dirt, not tar, was my future.

Bought crash bars, knobbies, Barkbusters, body armour, motocross boots, etc. Started riding harder and harder trails, falling, damaging bike and sometimes self -- nothing too serious. Discovered how to pick it up without making back any worse. This was key. Back and leg eventually self-repaired.

Met guys on trails, got numbers, reconnected for rides. Found myself in a sea of orange big boys, very capable and egos in check. Watched and learned. Started solo riding down to NY and Penn. Best days in years... navving by the sun toward the SE for some reason, taking every dirt road and trail that went south or east, no plan or idea where to end up. Running into seemingly insurmountable stuff, scaring myself getting through it. Loved the non-developed towns and wildness and mellow folk of PA. Went almost every weekend for a couple of years, got to know central and north PA and its millions of trails. NY, too.

Decided to ride to Los Angeles and back in 25 days. Rode trails in AZ, CA and CO with KTM riders, realized I was missing out on bike competence they had.

Came home 25 days later. Concluded that no matter what I did to it, my bike would always be a weenie on trails.

Found and bought a 950 Super Enduro with low mileage and a high price. Paid the bastard and rode to the trails. Smiling in minutes. Awash in capability at last. Six years and dozens of NY/PA trips later, it's modded to taste, an incredible machine that I will never equal. No screen. Clean air's OK up to around 80mph. I ride it to the trails every weekend in the non-winter. Often alone, which isn't great, but beats gardening at home.

I have separated a shoulder, done both sides of my ribs several times (they hurt the most and take the longest to heal), busted an ankle and a few other knocks and bruises. All my fault for not paying attention, never the bike's. The SE has made the last six years like a sexy dirty dangerous dream that never ends. I can't wait for the border to reopen so I can tour US backroads again.

I don't know if that qualifies me as an ADVer, but it sure makes me one content and deeply immature for his age mofo.

I like having the flexibility of an adventure bike, in my case a 650 V-strom, but if real dirt is on the menu I got KTMs for that.