Quote:
Originally Posted by Thumper
I owned a V-Strom about 8-10 years ago. Nice road bike ("adventure-sport"). It was over 400 pounds fueled up, and badly top-heavy! I could ride it on a gravel/dirt on forest roads, but these bikes are not made for off road really. They are road bikes. Dual port tires on these things will slide right out on you easily. I did pick it up once. Nearly killed me! No one rides these bikes on a trail!
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EXACTLY i.e. consistent with what I've read - learning ... which seems to be why everyone says
"weight matters".
It intrigued me that KTM started mounting plastic fuel tanks
down on the side just behind the front wheel. Of course, KTM tested those fuel tanks - to be sure they wouldn't puncture/leak, when the bike was dropped. Low center of gravity
matters, too! In contrast, I've seen numerous Tenere 700 complaints about it's being top-heavy ... as you described with your V-Strom. I've read numerous accounts of baggage (especially mounted up high - over the tail) making bikes noticeably more difficult off-road, too.
And, I'm told that those top-heavy bike are much harder to pick up, too? Of course, I would never think of dropping a nice bike; that's just what I heard! <G>
I remember seeing an Ohio fellow (on YouTube), WELL over 6' tall, who learned on a little Honda Grom. He could toss around that and other light-weight dirt bikes like nobody's business; he had learned to
RIDE!
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To understand the 75 pound weight difference between a KPX250 and a Templar X 250, I think we, first, need to
verify weights ... and, if those weight differences are real/true, try to figure out the
source(s) of those weight differences. It is my understanding (correct me, if I'm wrong) that
both the KPX250 and Templar X 250 employ steel (rather than aluminum) frames.