ADVENTURE bikes are still flavour of the month and it’s no surprise – even if you’re not actually trekking round the world they offer a great mix of practicality and fun while managing to look so much cooler than a commuter or tourer.
But if you’re limited to an A2 licence, are you going to be frozen out of the adventure bike scene? Definitely not – while the big bruisers that have made the style recently popular might be too powerful, there are plenty of smaller and older machines to choose from that will fit the A2 regulations.
Aprilia
Tuareg 600
WHILE the long-lived Pegaso 650 – made from 1997-onwards – is almost the ideal A2 class adventure bike, with a claimed 49bhp it’s just a couple of horses too powerful. Sure, you could get one restricted, but why not search out its predecessor, the Tuareg 600? With 45bhp and a wet weight of 168kg it’s bang on the 0.2kw-to-kg power-to-weight limit of the A2 class restriction, and it looks like a real Paris-Dakar racer from the 1980s – which is pretty much what it was.
Dorsoduro 750 (restricted)
WANT a brand new Aprilia adventure bike? The Dorsoduro 750 can be restricted to 35kw/47bhp with an official kit, bringing it within the A2 class rules. OK, so it’s not a real off-road style machine, but the £7732 Dorso still has the adventure vibe.
BMW
F650 Funduro
LIKE the Aprilia Pegaso that shared its Rotax single, the 2000-2007 F650GS is just a fraction too powerful for the A2 class (unless you restrict it). But its predecessor, the Funduro, should be ideal. Power is right on the 35kW/47bhp limit, and the weight of 187kg means it’s not too light to qualify under the power-to-weight restriction.
G650GS
BMW’s brand new £6195 G650GS is effectively the son of the Funduro, and its power is again exactly right for the new A2 class – only this time it’s by design rather than luck.
F700GS (restricted)
WANT a bigger GS but still stuck with an A2 licence? The new F700GS can be restricted to 47bhp from the stock 75bhp, using an official kit, if you’re in the market for a brand new bike. At £7595 it’s the bargain end of the twin-cylinder range.
F800GS (restricted)
LIKE the F700GS, only more expensive at £8595. Usually the extra cash pays for more power (85hp instead of 75bhp) but if you’re restricting it anyway, the F700GS might make more sense.
R65 GS
WANT a proper boxer-engined GS on your A2 licence? Well, an original R80 G/S could theoretically be restricted, since it made only 50bhp anyway, but it would be an expensive route to take. What about an R65GS from around 1987, with 45bhp as standard? Just the job for an A2 machine.
Ducati
Multistrada 620 (restricted)
DUCATI doesn’t offer too many options for either adventure bikes or A2 machines, but the original Terblanche-penned Multistrada 620 would be a candidate for restriction, since it made just 61bhp (in fact, even an 85bhp Multistrada 1000DS would qualify for A2 restriction). But it’s probably not the best option, either as an A2 adventure bike or as an A2 Ducati…
Honda
CB500X
WANT a new A2-class adventure machine? There’s arguably little incentive to look any further than Honda’s purpose-made tool for the job, the CB500X. At £4950 it’s not pricy, plus it's kitted with ABS as standard and it looks the part, too.
NC700X
OR there’s the NC700X, which also slots into the A2 class and fills an Adventure bike niche in Honda’s range. At £5999 it’s more expensive than the CB500X, and the styling arguable isn’t quite well resolved, but it offers the dual sport look and enormous fuel economy into the bargain.
Kawasaki
Versys (restricted)
KAWASAKI’S current line-up isn’t overflowing with A2-legal adventure machines, but the ER-6-based Versys, £6649, should be easily restricted to sub 35kW to create something that fits the bill.
Suzuki
DL650 V-Strom (restricted)
LIKE Kawasaki, Suzuki doesn’t offer an off-the-shelf A2 adventure bike, but the V-Strom 650, at £6899 new, is a great candidate for power restriction to meet the class’s regulations.
Triumph
Bonneville Scrambler (restricted)
IS it an adventure bike? Well, it would be if you were adventuring in the 1960s… Again, restriction would be needed to cap the 58bhp stock power to an A2-legal 47bhp, but that shouldn’t neuter the Bonneville Scrambler too severely.
Tiger 800XC (restricted)
CAPPING the £8699 Tiger 800XC’s power from 94bhp to 47bhp would be a serious loss to its appeal, but it’s just able to slip into the A2 class – any more than 95bhp would have rendered it ineligible for restriction. We’re not sure that a 47bhp Tiger would be that great an idea, but if you were planning to hold on to it long enough to enjoy it in derestricted form later, it might make sense.
Yamaha
XTZ660Z Tenere
THE Tenere is one of those bikes that happens to slip perfectly into the A2 class, even though it was designed long before the class even existed. With exactly 35kW (47bhp) it’s right on the limit, power-wise. The latest version is a pretty interesting to look at, too, even if it’s often passed over in favour of bigger machines. The A2 class could be a real boon to Yamaha’s sales of the £6999 machine.
XT660R
POWERED by the same engine as the Tenere, the XT660R is also right on the A2 class limit, while it’s also pretty close to the minimum weight at 181kg. A more serious off-road tool than most ‘adventure’ bikes, it’s the sort of thing that, regardless of licence class, real adventurers might be tempted to choose for some of their more arduous trips. At £6499, it’s cheap, too.
