Topic: Whats a good bike to convert into a tourer?

[MILO]

My boss is going overseas for a few weeks January next year, So I he said thats when my break is too lol.
The plan is to get as far away from home and back in two weeks.
I'm on apprentice pay, so i don't think i'll be taking a bmw gs series bike haha.

What do you guys think a cool bike to do some long distance touring on would be?

I like the idea of a suzuki gs550, and do a street tracker style build, i'll only be carrying a back pack with me, i travel light, school of infantry taught me that carrying heavy things sucks, so i take little haha.

anyway, any ideas appreciated.

[andy750]

Pretty much any bike can be a tourer  - just go to advrider forum and look at all the ride reports from every kind of bike. As long as its comfortable it will be fine for road touring. FYI - The most traveled motorcycle in the world is a Harley.

Why not tour on a CB750?

Andy

[Really?]

Andy is right, most bikes can be a tourer.  A good thing to have is a comfortable seat.  Monkey Butt is annoying.

[Bankerdanny]

With 2 weeks on the road, a medium sized clear windscreen is a worthwhile addition too.

[2wheels]

Any bike is fine for light touring.  CB 750 is excellent
I prefer shaft drive so you don't have to carry chain lube.  GS850 is excellent.
Make sure your back pack is NOT on your back or you will get a sore butt.
I like to use a luggage carrier and a tank bag

[MILO]

I've found out i have 3 weeks now, I plan to drive right up the east coast to see as many of my old army mates as i can.

A year ago I drove a CB100 about 2000km in vietnam over a month at an average speed of 50kph lol.... it topped out at 64kph!
I did that wearing a t-shirt and shorts in any weather condition you can think of, great trip till i hit that concrete barrier at night time haha.

I can go out and buy and old Honda XR600 or some sort of bike thats pretty much designed for this type of driving.

But, I want a bike to be my daily driver too....My cb550 is going to be cafe'ed soon, maybe I should just ride that?

[78 k550]

Can you f ind a cheap Old GL1000? There great for touring.

Paul

[MILO]

For some reason it seems most older bikes are worth a bit in australia.... i doubt i could get a decent GL1000 for less than 4-5 grand.

I'm looking at getting a 1983 kawasaki GT550 for my daily, and just keep building up my cb550.... maybe even take that for the trip.

[Really?]

It seems like a lot of the older bikes are going up in price.  Now if my Venture *Brownie* (see sig) would go up in price instead of down.  You can snag them from about 1k to 3k.  The 3k ones are generally very low mileage, very cherry and full of the original yammy options.  Excellent touring machine and play toy but you had better be ready for the nightmare maintenance.