[Ketan]

Greetings folks! I'm planning to purchase a new motorcycle, slightly confused between a couple of them and thought of checking here and take other perspectives.
little background: I ride Machismo500, REH411 and Xpulse 2004vPro. I usually ride to places around all states in southern India, at times with friends and other times solo as well. It's been a long time, I have stopped riding motorcycle to the places in city or to work, unless I have to. Breakfast rides to the outskirts are usual. I love to ride the GRIT (trails), did some stretches in KA/TN; either with limited group members or solo, I've got the xpulse just for that. I've found an amazing application for xpluse recently where I ride it to my farmland/garden in the outskirts of the city, exploring backcountry roads and sometimes trails a well. It's a great commuter at that. I think I like riding backcountry roads more than riding long highway stretch (may be since I don’t have a motorcycle that can do that with ease!)

I'm contemplating on giving away one of the small capacity motorcycles that I have and get a middle weight/capacity motorcycle. Although it's not very practical decision when I look at it rationally, but this time I may go purely for experience, satisfying ego and chasing that dream of owning a big motorcycle that we (my son and I, he's been riding our REH411 for few years now and waiting for new gen KTM 390 Adv) can use it for long time, it may also be my last one to purchase! Some options I'd like to list here follows.

Ducati Desert X: I fell in love with Ducati Desert X in past few months since I started learning about it and have watched some videos around it's capabilities. It's an amazing looking motorcycle alongside being a big motocross one that can ride to many places. However, I'm concerned about throwing around such a big (and costly!) motorcycle on dirt and trails, knowing a Ducati will not be easier to maintain considering the service/spare cost. It surely can be used with limited off-pavement usage, but again, there would be regular maintenance. Desmodromic valve service would be one example which may be a big cost every 30K kms. Desert X seems to have the most functioning ride modes among all the competitors, Ducati electronics are one of the best ones and it'll be a lot of fun riding aggressively on winding roads, trails and even for highways, only if it was easy to run, maintain and age!

Honda Africa Twin: Reliability, function, legacy, refinement, longevity are some of the things that makes me look at this one. I think running and maintaining this Japanese motorcycle would be far easier than the Italian beauty. There are good chances that we may get an ATAS (adventure sports) edition only for the India this year. I may get confused again if we get the base edition since I love the slender base edition with the ES and would also love to keep this motorcycle as a long-term, road biased adventure tourer and ATAS would fit that spot just right with the DCT, ES and 19" front wheel size. This 19" front would help compensate the excess weight that ATAS carries by providing lower saddle height/CG and help achieve better road manners. Although it won't be that much fun as Desert x on any surface, it can be a refined, reliable tourer for long time (lower compression ratio, higher cubic capacity to produce not so high power). I'm presently more inclined towards the ATAS. I'd try not to go for a multipurpose/function one like Desert x and would stick to one function that ATAS does better. I shall keep a second motorcycle for taking it off the pavement that's easy to throw around.

Honda Transalp XL750: Now this one is in a different category altogether, but I just slid this one in the list, asking myself if I can get most of what ATAS does with this motorcycle for way less, it's not a bad idea! This would require some after-market tubeless spokes, optional QS, suspension upgrade (!) in the future! So, it may add bit of cost anyways, not go as far as an ATAS does in terms of features and longevity. However, there is one major point about this one which forced me to keep this on the list is the weight of the motorcycle. I thought I can compare this with the other two, especially for my use case and added it to the list, I may be wrong to compare them!

Please let me know your opinion for a decent middle weight category adventure motorcycle that I can get today (I don't mind waiting for some more time, if better options are coming to India in near future, e.g. Yamaha Tenere 700 and likes but that would again be in the same category as Transalp!)
Thanks in advance.

[Darkcloud]

The three motorcycles you have mentioned are all excellent. A lot will depend on what you plan to do with your motorcycle and the type of rider you are.

Another big factor is the price. The Desert X is almost 10 lakhs more expensive than the Transalp here in Mumbai.

The Transalp is a fantastic machine. Does almost everything well. But then it’s got no cruise control and has tubed tyres. God knows what Honda were thinking when choosing tubed tyres. If you factor in the cost of replacing the rims to tubeless the Transalp is not value for money.

The Africa Twin AS is heavy and unless you’re skilled, not easy to handle off road. It’s a great road going machine, more so now with the 19” front tyre. But if you want to throw your bike around on some rough roads and have some fun, the AT is not for you. Unfortunately, we don’t get the base AT here in India.

Finally, the Desert X. If this motorcycle was around when I was purchasing my GSA I would have got it without battling an eyelid. I’m too old for it now!

You can also think about the Tiger850 as an alternative to the Transalp. You would gain tubeless tyres but lose out on the fun.

The Tiger 900 is a good option with its various variants and the recent upgrades make it a compelling choice.

These are very difficult decisions to make. They’re all great motorcycles! Good luck!

[7.83hz]

I was in a similar conundrum around this time last year.

Took multiple test rides of the Africa Twin and the Tiger 900 and then finally got a chance to ride the Desert X.

Happy to report that I have a Desert X in my garage for a year now and I couldn't be happier with the decision.

In terms of reliability and service related issues, they really shouldn't be things to worry about because this 937 testastretta L twin has been in service for over a decade now in various applications and has been refined and calibrated to perfection.

I've had 0 niggles so far and among all the 'big bike' brands Ducati currently offers the longest service intervals of 1 year or 15000 kms. If I'm not mistaken, Triumph tops out at 12k and Honda at 6k.

Because of the L twin motor, the bike is slim around the midriff making it extremely natural feeling for off-pavement riding. The Tiger with it's triple is the widest, making an awkward angle when stood up. Africa Twin slots right in between but feels a lot more road touring than 'big enduro', the Honda's engine is a gem tho, bags and bags of torque.

I live in Guwahati and the closest service point for me is 2 days away in Kolkata. And yet I've taken the bike all around the north east without a worry of breakdowns or service concerns because the bike just feels so well put together.

Please go take test rides of all three bikes in your shortlist. Suzuki's also just announced the VStrom 800 in India and the Tiger 900 comes in an updated engine spec (internationally). The new F900GS also seems like a worthy contender.

It's a great time to be buying an ADV. (Tenere and Tuareg are sorely missed from this list.)

[Sebring]

Honda service in Bangalore is fantastic. Both Transalp and AfricaTwin are great machines. Having ridden the AfricaTwin (Non-manual) quite a bit, I'm inclined towards it but I believe Transalp makes for a strong case for itself. It's great in the city as well.

Originally Posted by Ketan

Greetings folks! I'm planning to purchase a new motorcycle, slightly confused between a couple of them and thought of checking here and take other perspectives.

[Rajiv0909]

As I share my experience, I am reasonably confident that I would end up confusing you more with the shortlists, however, that confusion would have some additional facts for your to consider.

To begin with : The adventure bikes I own/own(ed). H411 (first batch, 6 years of ownership), KTM 390 (2022, 12 months of ownership, bought it as an upgrade to H411), xpulse (default choice) and the Desert X (8500 kms in 7 months of use)

The motorcycle I yearned and aspired for - Honda AT. I rode it first in 2018 and instantly fell in love with the proposition - DCT, off-roadablity, reliability and ease of maintenance. That was 6 years ago - A crash in 2019, pandemic in 2020, lowered suspensions in 2021 and other distractions ensured that I couldn't buy one till 2023.

Icing on the cake was the Mahurat selling system at honda - 2 batches an year , one for manual, another for DCT, one colour per batch. You miss a batch, you miss out on an year of ownership. Desperate me, I even wrote to the big bosses at Honda India in March 2023 to help me source/import the std variant with full suspensions (some hopes people have in life) i.e. if they don't see feasibility for that variant in India. Guess what? Not only did they not respond to my email, they didn't import any (std or ATAS) in that year

Frustrated that I was, I started checking out other bikes. I started with vstrom 650 and hated it. Ducati wasn't even a consideration, I always thought (and still believe), the customer profile is very different than what I signal myself to be. I ended up at the showroom because of an acquaintance with no intention of checking out the Dx. Then I actually saw the bike - The retro modern Italian design, reminiscent of the OG Himalayan and the AT profile. I was then presented with the price list that made no sense. However I thought it deserved a test ride for how it looked.

Tiger 900 has been a benchmark, friends owned and recommended it. I thought it would be unfair if I don’t try it. So I decided to test the DX and Tiger back to back over city, highway and some off pavement stretches. While Tiger was compliant (like a good boy), DX was engaging and fun (like a rebel). Despite the price point (and unreasonably priced accessories), I decided to go for it

DX ownership : Ducati screwed up the delivery, I have been vocal about it. Support experience through the ownership term has been bittersweet. However the 8000 odd kms have been ecstatic. I don’t think I could have asked for more riding pleasure from a machine - on or off the road. I think that summarises the motorcycle - It is that one motorcycle that you can ride happily and confidently across any terrain. It’s not perfect but has a prominent character. Handles extremely well, is nimble across terrains. It’s not cheap to own or maintain, but then this isn't the category for value buys.

Transalp - in my mind is a compromise that will make you want to upgrade in a few years (and that might be late).

So to summarize - AT, if you can match the mahurat and live with the lack of choices. DX if you want unrestricted fun, do things that you haven’t yet on an adventure motorcycle but with a terrible ecosystem and a premium