[tenacres650]

That's my style of touring right there !!!! Sounds like you had immense fun.

it was more fun than a barrel of monkeys!!
we try as much as possible to use dirt or "B" roads, you have more fun, no traffic and no cops!

[Blairio]

I my younger days I used to travel the length and breadth of the UK on a Suzuki AP100 (disc valve 2 stroke single), loaded with a tent, a sleeping bag and a rucksack. 



I couldn't go on the motorways (engine too small) and instead travelled A roads, B roads, cart tracks etc.  It was great fun.  The decades rolled by, and while I have had faster and more comfortable machines,  I don't think I ever recaptured that sense of freedom. My other bike is currently a 1954 "Frannie B" Falcon (197cc 2 stroke 3speed). 



The AP100 was probably faster, but the ethos is the same - you take your time and you'll get there eventually, having seen more along the way.  While on the subject of smaller capacity machines, I have to give a big shout out for the Suzuki VanVan 125. These can go pretty much anywhere, and are a lot of fun.

[wildbill]

true you can have a bit of fun. back in 71 with a mate of mine I rode a new rd125 Yamaha from orange nsw to Adelaide south aust and back and that was a pretty good run for a 125

[suitcasejefferson]

I have to admit I wouldn't take my Enfield on such a trip. If it weren't for my disability, I would have no problem taking a trip like that on my Yamaha XT225. Engine is less than half the size, but power is about the same. It has an aftermarket center stand and a 4.5 gal. gas tank on it. It has never broken down no matter what I put it through. It has over 30,000 miles on it, more than half of them off road and on dirt roads. Still runs like new. But I am reaching the point where fixing a flat beside the road or out in the middle of the desert is a bit more than I can deal with. It took me more than 4 hours to change my last off road flat, and I was so exhausted I almost wasn't able to ride back out.

I think way to much is made of engine size. I had a 234cc Honda Rebel that I put over 10,000 freeway miles on, at full throttle. The only real issue is that the bike was to small for someone my size. (the bike, not the engine) I would have no problems with a Yamaha V-Star 250 or Suzuki TU250. I have ridden all over the U.S. on Japanese 400-450 size bikes. One exception seems to be late model 800-950 Japanese v-twins. Despite the engines size, they make very little power. Supposedly it would be about the same riding long distance on a Yamaha V-Star 950 as it would be on a V-Star 250 powerwise. You could pack more on the larger bike. My old well worn Vulcan 750 will run circles around Japanese 1500cc v-twin cruisers.

[Blairio]

There is a Suzuki VanVan owners club here in the UK , and I believe a couple of members  managed to squeeze a TU250 engine into the VanVan rolling chassis.  The TU250 looks great, but was never sold in the UK market.

The Suzuki TS185 and TS250 were available here though, and they were great -  *fast* cool trail bikes, just like the Yamaha DT175.  Happy days.

There was a lot of snobbery amongst UK motorcycle manufacturers who saw smaller capacity machines as either commuters or 'entry level' bikes (gateway drugs?) to the larger 'real' motorcycles.  Contrast this with Italian and Spanish lightweight machines from Ducati, Gilera, Bultaco.  These were gems. A desmodromic valve Ducati 175SS or 200 super sport was a work of art. At the time here in the UK an Enfield Continental 250 or maybe a sports Greeves were the closest competition.

[SimonT]

Thanks for all the comments guys...

Im still thinking that there may be a better trip for us...

One of the other guys is going to use my Hyosung GT250r daily rider as he doesnt have a bike.

Taking all that into account, there are some nice roads along the coast here on the eastern side of aus

[malky]

From October issue Classic Bike magazine U.K.
 Quote
 "Meet Winifred Alison Wells, the 22 year old daughter of a Perth furniture maker who in 1950 casually made one of the toughest bike journeys in Australian history. At 5ft 5ins and 7st 13lbs.(much was made of her supposed frailty), Winifred set off from Perth and rode to Sydney on the opposite coast and back in 21 days 'just for the heck of it'. In the searing heat of the Australian mid-summer she averaged 366 miles a day on her 350 Bullet braving the waterless wastes of the 1000 mile Nullarbor Plains, twice during the 5504-mile round-up. Royal Enfield took out celebratory adverts on the other side of the planet when news reached them four months later."
Fantastic. Sorry if you know this already.

[wildbill]

that was a long hard one way run for me  back in 1980 so in 1950 I'd hate to think how bad that road would have been. plus I bet there could have been a fair bit of the dirt stuff tossed in too. great effect for any rider - very impressive for a 22 year old woman

[Desi Bike]

Get an extra set of cables. Run them beside the existing cables.  If you break a cable on the road it is an easy repair as the cable is already run.
Bring more than one extra plug. My bike goes through them every 2000km