Adventure Bike Truth

Adventure Bike Truth – Marketing V Reality

I take a look at what the marketing people tell us about adventure bikes and compare that to reality.

Video footage from:

MADtv: https://youtu.be/yr_PoNQkkas
ADV Pulse: https://youtu.be/szllJzMbPtc
Visordown Motorcycle Videos : https://youtu.be/qI8yq1wvB3o
Million Dollar Bogan: https://youtu.be/sWqgstg176k
Big Bike Adventures: https://youtu.be/aC-KbCFg2G4

adventure is a marketing term the human mind lusts for adventure as an escape from the routine of everyday life those bastards in the marketing department know this and they use it against us so here today we’re going to look at what is the difference especially with the big adventure bikes between the marketing and reality i just want to show you a little clip of my mate dave he’s testing the triumph tiger 900 rally pro just think about that description for a minute 900 rally pro this is a clip of him from his channel mad tv now that’s more excitement now what dave’s actually trying to do here is get started on a slight incline with a hundred horsepower you can see how he’s struggling just to get moving again i’d like to propose that maybe with less horsepower you might get up there easier how much horsepower do we actually need i ride a crf 300 rally that’s got 26 horsepower if i’m lucky i can go everywhere and i can have fun a ktm 500 say has around it’s like i guess 50 horsepower now that’s fun but these big bikes with 100 horsepower can you really use all that power let’s have a look at this review of the husqvara norden 890 and see how they manage all that power what you get with the nord 901 is 889 cc parallel twin with 105 horsepower you also have the full array of electronics which include traction control lean angle sensitive abs even the traction control is lean angle sensitive you’ve got rider modes for rain street off-road and the optional explorer mode which allows you to turn on the rally setting for more high performance throttle response different levels of slip you can change the throttle responses you can customize how much intervention you want with the traction control it’s basically the top of the line in terms of electronics now for me reading between the lines i can think they’re trying to say [ __ ] it’s too powerful let’s tone it down so they can actually write it so this brings us to point one in our marketing versus reality table here marketing says you need a hundred horsepower maybe more in reality you don’t just get out there and ride now i have to admit it was one of these honda africa twin videos marketing videos that got me i saw the big bike it’s flying through the desert and i thought that’s what i want an adventure bike like that let’s see some real world average adventurers in the desert she’s bogged again keep going now those marketing guys are always saying you need this big adventure bike must be big powerful but guess what big bikes are heavy really heavy like two people to lift them up heavy i want to hear from you i love adv writing i really really love it let’s put that on the table marketing says you need a big bike guess what you don’t this next one is the one that really pees me off marketing guys tell us you can do all this straight off the showroom floor really i can go on all those different terrains with the stock tyres hmm let’s see i think i’m going to be buying this bike she’s got the wrong few ties one let’s add that one to the list marketing says ready for adventure in reality it is ready for adventure as long as you don’t go too far off-road don’t go on too many loose surfaces definitely don’t go on mud but yes it’s ready for adventure if you like gravel roads and just exploring very minor dirt roads anything else and you’re going to have to upgrade the tyres at a minimum now for the biggest marketing con of all these marketing people are selling us the dream of adventure if you look at all these ads is that adventure hmm someone say yes i would argue it’s really touring and if they call them travel bikes or off-road touring box i wouldn’t have a problem with them but these sneaky bastards call them adventure bikes and that’s what sucks us in i know everyone’s definition of adventure is different and you can have a great adventure on a posty bike or any small bike and just ride a general dirt road but they’re selling us the big adventure dream crossing deserts climbing mountains forging rivers now unless you’re chris birch or some other enduro gun most of us average riders are far better off thinking of them as touring bikes off-road travel bikes that’s essentially what they are this brings us to the biggest marketing ploy of all the labeling of them as adventure bikes well in reality we should think of them as travel bikes or off-road touring bikes that way our expectations are set we don’t find ourselves taking them into places or situations that perhaps our skill level can’t back up you know half of these manufacturers do have a smaller lightweight less powerful bike that they’re willing to sell you but the bastards don’t advertise that they suck us in with this adventure bike and we fall for it time after time as i said earlier i was sucked into i bought myself a africa twin thinking that’s what i needed for adventure but i soon found out places i wanted to take it the africa twin wasn’t for me so bought myself a little brother crf 300 rally and guess what now i can ride everywhere i want explore those tracks that i never could on the africa twin because i was too worried about its weight would i be able to get up this slippery hill with a hundred horsepower these things you’re going to have to work out for yourself and i hope this video has helped you to understand the difference between marketing and reality if you like this video please subscribe to my channel and show some support i hope to do more videos like this in the future maybe even some real world bike tests i might have to find bikes that people own because i doubt the manufacturers will like me telling the truth anyway thanks for watching and i’ll see you next time