No matter what bike you pick it will have a weak spot ,the thing is to know what can go wrong and have something in place to get you to a garage etc . You need to look at the roads you"ll be travelling ,tarmac or trails and availablility of fuel so tank range will come into it availability of dealers in case you need repairs .the Tenere would be fine one up with luggage but i don"t think i would want to be two up on it for that trip,although i have friends who have toured on Honda C90"s. the seat is not particularly comfy as the dip in it pushes you forward and your balls end up on your lap .If i was going i think i would go for a bike with low mileage rather than a new one ,new bikes have not been tested on the road and can still have faults, a good low mileage bike will have most problems sorted then with the money you have saved Mod the bike to suit your trip.:toot:

if you look at his pillion she is quite small ( no offence ) if your taking a heffer on the back you"ll have no room :mbounce:

HAHA! Na my girlfriend is also small! Insurance with my current insurer is ridiculous!

I have been considoring getting a 2-3 year old bike as the saving is good. Insurance seems over priced on the 660Z for me right now. I will have to wait another 11 months lol.

Remember, once you get to Turkey, then UK insurance is not an issue. But using a 2/3 yr old bike has it's benefits in other ways too, any carnets will be reduced as the value comes down, and older bike are less, erm,, attractive shall we say, to someone who may think they have more right to owning it than you do!

Thats another question I had, where does the UK insurance cover me to? I will just get 3rd party if its hardly any of the trip lol!!

you don"t need a 660 to go touring !! my mate is just back from a trip down to Dakar from Belfast at Dakar he flew the bike to Argentina he then rode up through south America on the west coast and across to New York and flew home 6 months !! 25000 miles he didn"t take a tenere he used a second hand DR650 Suzuki and kitted it out himself in the shed .he previously rode a BMW 650 across Europe to China .don"t think you need to spend �6 k on a bike to go touring :icon_lol:

It's true!! I will look to spend �2-�4k on the bike, also any info regarding insurance crossing the contintents? thx

I do know that Darren, who is currently on a 'long distance' holiday on his Ten two up, took his bike, loaded up to a suspension specialist who took weight into consideration and prepped him a custom made rear shocker.
This involved re-valving the standard shock and putting a stronger spring on, none of this silly money special shock stuff.
I also know that his bike prep is meticulous and he knows this bike well.
He had an R for a while so he knows the engine well and he and his G/F have travelled on the bike for practice and setting up.
He is on a long holiday and is in no rush so the Ten will suit him well.