(04-12-2020, 02:14 PM)BobAintStoppin Wrote: My 2006 trip to Alaska was with a buddy on a Wee-Strom. He loved that thing... Everything I've heard is that the 650 is a better bike than the 1000, but that may be old info.
GG- good to see your enjoyment of motorcycles has a rough and dirty side.
If you're really interested in off-pavement travel for camping, and a bike to complement your RS, lighter is usually better, easier, and a lot less expensive.
Anytime the dealer tries to sell you a winch and a lift for your bike, you should suspect you are overdoing it.
Given my enjoyment of BMW engineering, I've worked hard to get into the GS/GSA spirit, but even with my size and strength, my talent at wheelying and bunnyhopping the really heavy stuff sucks; the lighter bikes are much more forgiving (and easier to repair). (By the way, this from a guy who cracked an oil filter cover on his new 1986 K100C trying to wheely it up the half-dozen concrete step to his front porch.)
As I have found - even with fire roads, on my current 510-pound beast that is the RS, it only takes one big tree across the road to turn me around. A little frustrating, as a smaller motocross bike could have slipped up and around the tiny space between the trunk of the tree and the embankment, with little effort - or dragged under the gap between the tree and road. (I've been looking for spaces in the garage to hide a KTM 250 XC-F.)
You might have read in the August and September issues of the MON the article by Jocelin Snow and the head-to-head competition between the 310 and 1250 GS through 16 challenges. Weren't you thinking of adding a 310 to the garage? Think of how much money you'd save in bike, parts, gas, etc. Think of how many weekend camping trips that money would fund.
On the other hand, if you're looking at weekend travels to some dirt or gravel roads without steep hills, and much of the mileage will be on the highway where you love the comfort and carrying power of the 1200, you can always save even more money and equip the RS with a skid plate, radiator guard, and perhaps some of those semi-knobby "adventure" tires. 5 inches of suspension travel is plenty, if you don't go crazy.
If you're really interested in some back-country camping, here's a post from a pretty talented rider and photographer (RTWPaul.com), who has evolved from "Adventure" to dirt bikes as he travels the world the last 9 years since his bike accident and stroke. (Hint - his website has packing lists for round-the-world travel for 40 liter and 70 liters.)
The video - I believe shot in the White Tank Mountains - shows off his KTM 500 EXC with 18 kg (40 pounds) of kit in 60 liters.
Of course, I'm also reminded of a world traveller who outfitted his liter superbike with luggage and outrode other riders through some of the sand of northern Afica. In the end, one should go with what makes them comfortable.
Thanks for taking our minds off the day-to-day(-to-day-to-day...) that SARS-CoV-2 has imposed.
"A good man always knows his limitations...."