Alternate Routes
ALTERNATE ROUTES
Seven dual-purpose invitations to nowhere. And back.
ON DAY THREE OF Cycle World S THREE-DAY. THREEstate, dual-purpose trek, the truth stood up in the middle of a dirt road and pounded the staff into enlightenment. Dual-purpose motorcycles, we realized, are the answer. It really doesn't matter what the question is.
We were on a Utah road that started off nowhere and ended up just outside of nothing. The only bikes that possibly could have gotten us there, and more importantly gotten us back, were the seven bikes that we had on hand. On the big end of the scale, we had the rugged lOOOcc BMW R100GS, a road-going version of the famed ParisDakar winner. And we had the Honda Transalp, 600cc of motorcycle that handles dirt roads with ease that belies its mammoth stature.
Then there were the three big Singles: the faired Kawasaki KLR650, the revitalized Suzuki DR650S and the new, electric-start Yamaha XT600. And finally, we had the 350s: the veteran Yamaha XT350 and the newcomer Suzuki DR350S. There are other dual-purpose bikes that weren’t in attendance, mostly 250cc Singles, but the seven machines here represent the best of today’s D-P market.
And those seven bikes were like seven little lifeboats bobbing around in that ocean of Utah nothingness. Whenever there was a direct route to get us from where we were to where we wanted to be, we took it. Dirt or pavement, hill or highway, it didn’t matter. Try that on a GSX-R750. Try that on a CR250.
But even if the setting is urban America, dual-purpose bikes still are the answer—or at least an answer. If the question is traffic, the answer is a D-P bike. If the question is economy, simplicity or practicality, the answer still is a D-P bike.
But if the question is which dual-purpose bike, that's a little more difficult. And that’s why we’ve assembled this group of seven bikes: to determine which is the right answer to right question. That’s a tough call, because no two of them are exactly alike. Each has a slightly different dirt/ street orientation, with the BMW having the most street blood and the DR350S being the dirtiest.
Because we’re in the business of simplification, we’ve divided them into three broad groups: the mid-size Singles, the big Singles and the Twins. What follows are three different answers to three very different questions.ZZ
