WHAT MAKES A TOURER?
Y
ou’dthinkbynow
we’dallknowwhat
a touringbikelooks
like.TalktoHonda
and it’sa GoldWing,ditto
Harleyandit’sanElectra
Glide.Inanycase,we’re
thinkinglandyachtwith
enoughmaterialsinthe
bodyworkandluggageto
constructa modesthouse.
Theywork.Everytime
I get offa GoldWingtest
bike,I’mquietlyendup
scouringtheclassifiedsfor
usedexamples,wondering
whatit wouldtaketo
scratchupthemoney.
Thiswhole‘whatmakes
a touringbike’theme
recentlypoppedup
somewhereontheroad
southtoCooberPedy,
as I wasridingmylatest
acquisitionhome.It’sa
1989 BMW R100GS Paris
Dakar (see page 108) and we
were on the run from Alice
Springs to Melbourne. I say
‘the run’ because this is the
second time in the space of
a couple of years that I’ve
done this trip. Last time it
was with a 1984 Kawasaki
GPz900R.
So, same 2200km trip
on two very different
machines. Now the BMW
makes all kinds of sense,
given adventure tourers
have successfully eaten
into the touring bike
market. You can see why:
at least some coverage
from a screen/fairing, big
carrying capacity thanks
to a rear rack and panniers
and really comfortable
ride thanks to long-travel
suspension.Theymakeall
sorts of sense.
And the GPz? Back
in the mid-’80s, this
was Kawasaki’s leader
sportsbike. Plus, it was a
movie star, with a cameo
role as Tom Cruise’s mount
in Top Gu n.
On the face of it, for its
time the Kwaka was the
exact opposite of a touring
bike. To be fair, a GPz
would now be classed as
a sportstourer and really
that’s about right.
So there I was, about
1000km into the trip on the
GS, making the obvious
comparison. Was the big
Beemer in fact better at this
task than the Kawasaki?
And you know what? I’m
not convinced it was.
This is ridiculous. Afterall,we’retalkingabout
something that has a
35-litre tank, panniers,
luggage rack, long-travel
suspension, shaft drive.
Hell, it’s clearly made for
crossing whole continents
in a single bound.
The Kawasaki meanwhile
had a 22-litre tank, no
luggage capacity other than
a pillion seat with some
tie-down points under it,
very conventional road/
sportsbike suspension for
the time (including a16-
inch front wheel versus 21
on the Beemer!), and chain
drive. It did however have
a whole lot more power,
at a claimed 115 horses
versus 60 on the GS.
The result of all that was
the Kawasaki, surprisingly,
was a supremely capabletourer.Particularlyout
therewhereyoucould
hold130km/hallday.It
wasjustascomfortableas
theGS,whilehavingmore
thanadequatefuelrange
forthetrip.Asforluggage,
well,everythingI needed
fora fewdays– including
a five-litrejerrycanthat
provedtoberedundant–
fittedintoanAndyStrapz
bagstrappedtotheseat.
A realbonuswiththe
Kawasakiwasthatwhen
I wantedtoplayit had
plentyofpowertomakeit
interesting.
AsI rolledintothe
outskirtsofMelbourne,
I wasforcedtoadmitthat,
asenjoyableastheGSis,
it wasnotsubstantially
betteratthesame2200km
tripthantheGPz.
Maybeit comesdown
to attitude.Onememory
of the Kawasakitripwas
rolling intoa reststopin
the middleofnowhere,
perhapssomewherenorth
of Glendambo.Thesky
ahead wasblackwithstorm
clouds andI’dpulledupto
put on wetweathergear.
Huddledtogetherunder
the one shelterwithin
cooee werethreeriders
on late-modeladventure
tourers who,verysensibly,
had decidedtowaitout
the storm.Me?I gotsuited
up and wobbledoffinto
the distance.
To me,thatkindofsums
up the wholething.More
often it’snotthebikethat
makes theride,butwhat
you makeofthebike.Guido ponders whether Kawasaki accidently built the ultimatetourer
It’s not the bike that
makes the ride, but what
you make of the bikeGuy Allen
Guido
MOTORCYCLE TRADER 123