Twin, KTM 690 Enduro and Honda CB500X), as essentially
a ‘sub-twin’ Adventure bike, with the associated physical
attributes (even lighter weight, and physically a little more
compact) that for many people makes it even more suited
to solo riding into unknown terrain.”
“Of course traditionally small bikes tend to be dismissed
as ‘entry level’, for ‘beginners’ or ‘women’s bikes’,"
Mitchinson said.
"While there is no doubt they certainly can suit that
demographic, equally they are increasing their appeal
with more experienced riders who are looking to ride
beyond where a traditional large twin-cylinder Adventure
bike can take them, or at least with a lot less effort than
is required to pilot such a beast of a bike off-road”, he
concludes.
AS THEY SAY, IT'S IN THE DETAIL ...
Compared to the Honda project, Rally-Raid were lucky
that BMW had already done much of the ‘hard work’ - not
least that the G310GS already has a 19” front wheel and
reasonably long travel suspension (170mm), together with
good ground clearance coupled with a modest seat height.
So rather than have to completely reengineer the
suspension to accommodate the extra travel and larger
front wheel for the CB, they were able to use what had
been learnt on that project to address all the weaker (and
typically budget orientated) elements of the BMW.
The most obvious and visually striking change was
to replace the standard cast aluminium wheels with a
tubeless spoked heavy-duty wheel set.
“They are built to the same specification as our rally
wheels for the KTM 690”, Mitchinson explained.
“And since bringing our hub production in-house with
the introduction of the CB500X range, we’ve subsequently
been able to manufacture our own dedicated tubeless
spoked wheels for the Honda CRF1000 Africa Twin and
now the G310GS too.”
Fundamentally, all their wheels utilise the respective
OEM bearings & seals, brake discs, ABS rings and cush-
drive components of the original bike - keeping the cost of
conversion down, and meaning any spare parts are readily
available at your local dealership.
The suspension of the G310GS has also received similar
attention - with Rally Raid offering both an affordable up-
grade range that retains the original travel and seat height,
together with a higher performance fully-adjustable shock
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