greetings from switzerland!

[nEEdLzZz]

hey guys

 

so i currently don't own a tenere 700 (yet?) but i'm really interested in one.

i have a MT-09 SP as a road bike since mid 2018 and i've done 25k km on it. it's just the perfect road bike IMO - coming from several naked and sportbikes over years. also i just sold my little wr250x in order to get an adventure bike.

but the thing is, i have very little to none experience in offroad riding and i'm torn between getting the tenere 700 or starting out on a smaller bike, since it will be easier to learn the ropes on a smaller bike. but i also want to use it to get to the offroad places to ride, since we are pretty limited in switzerland in that regard.

 

what would you guys recommend me? get a smaller bike or jump straight to the t7?

 

cheers!

[WalterT]

Welcome!

 

I have come from bigger bikes (BMW R1150 GS adventure, Triumph Tiger 800xc). Learning off-road riding, or more precisely getting the confidence in the bike and your skills is actually what it's about. I started with zero confidence and slowly gained that, with the added bonus of lighter bikes. 

The skills - imho - are best learned coming up from a small bike (wheelies, turns etc, are easier when your bike is more forgiving and built to fall down often. Confidence might need a toss - coming from a 250, a 700 or larger may even seem daunting.

 

The T7 has got the sweet spot between agility for off-road and endurance on long motorway hauls. Bigger becomes more cumbersome, smaller less capable as a travel bike. 

 

The best advice I can give: do an off-road training. It helps your to avoid the most common mistakes. Then practice, practice, practice. Ride with other people sightly better than you (if they can do something, you probably can too). And buy crash bars :-).

[cabby]

MT09 and sports bikes while living in Switzerland, I'm surprised you're not in the jail with their speeding laws. 

[Alpenschrauber]

Hi nEEdLzZz,

 

welcome to the forum. Same here, I do not have a T700, currently. I've been riding a Bonneville over the last years, but sold it due to some reasons, e.g. time, job etc. It was a quite reliable and simple bike but the riding position was too low for long trips. So, coming from Yamaha DTs/Enduro in the 80ies, the T700 would make sense. 

You will find off road tracks in Italy, Spain, Germany(?) and France and on the other hand, riding an enduro bike over the narrow passes in the Swiss alps is perfect, too. So, go for the T700...

 

Cheeers from Bern

Olli

 

[nEEdLzZz]

20 minutes ago, cabby said:

MT09 and sports bikes while living in Switzerland, I'm surprised you're not in the jail with their speeding laws. 

hahaha right!

that's why i only ride in the blackforest...it only takes me 15 mins from my place to the black forest ^^

[nEEdLzZz]

2 hours ago, WalterT said:

Welcome!

 

I have come from bigger bikes (BMW R1150 GS adventure, Triumph Tiger 800xc). Learning off-road riding, or more precisely getting the confidence in the bike and your skills is actually what it's about. I started with zero confidence and slowly gained that, with the added bonus of lighter bikes. 

The skills - imho - are best learned coming up from a small bike (wheelies, turns etc, are easier when your bike is more forgiving and built to fall down often. Confidence might need a toss - coming from a 250, a 700 or larger may even seem daunting.

 

The T7 has got the sweet spot between agility for off-road and endurance on long motorway hauls. Bigger becomes more cumbersome, smaller less capable as a travel bike. 

 

The best advice I can give: do an off-road training. It helps your to avoid the most common mistakes. Then practice, practice, practice. Ride with other people sightly better than you (if they can do something, you probably can too). And buy crash bars :-).

thats what i thought...getting a dedicated trail bike to practice the essentials would be much better...but owning 3 bikes is a luxury i can't afford at the moment, because i definitely wanna keep the MT-09 SP ^^

i also tried the africa twin, but that was too heavy for my liking, allthough i could flatfoot the bike easily unlike the tenere 700 (i'm 178cm)..

[nEEdLzZz]

34 minutes ago, Alpenschrauber said:

Hi nEEdLzZz,

 

welcome to the forum. Same here, I do not have a T700, currently. I've been riding a Bonneville over the last years, but sold it due to some reasons, e.g. time, job etc. It was a quite reliable and simple bike but the riding position was too low for long trips. So, coming from Yamaha DTs/Enduro in the 80ies, the T700 would make sense. 

You will find off road tracks in Italy, Spain, Germany(?) and France and on the other hand, riding an enduro bike over the narrow passes in the Swiss alps is perfect, too. So, go for the T700...

 

Cheeers from Bern

Olli

 

 

the bonneville looks like a really awesome street bike...love the styling of it!

do you know some good gravel passes in switzerland that can be legally ridden?

are you keeping the bonneville and adding an adventure bike to your garage or replacing the bonneville?

 

[Alpenschrauber]

sorry for the late reply...You are right, the Bonnie is a great bike-even for a some gravel and travelling. Just add some off road tires and you almost have a scrambler.

I was told that in the TET you can find some off-road passages, but unfortunately only a few km. I never rode this myself.

Switzerland - Trans Euro Trail

---

The Trans Euro Trail® is a 38,000km cultural dirt road adventure from deep within the Arctic Circle to the doorstep of Africa, and back.

Yes, I've sold the Bonnie as I am currently travelling the world most of the time for business reasons. So there is no time left for a motorbike, but this will change and I will get a T7

best

Olli

[erey]

You can find few dirt road in Valais and Graubunden. Not easy to find the allowed one.

France, Italy, Spain, Portugal are the paradise but they are not a daily trip.