BMW R80ST Buying a bike for off-road adventures Part 2

MY VEHICLE OF CHOICE FOR MORE THAN 15,000 miles of travel abroad has been my R100RS, but previous trips have been predominantly on tarmac and I’m now looking to see what adventures are available off-road. I’ve bounced the sump of my R100RS along a rocky mountain pass in Albania and I can assure you it’s not the best tool for the job! I need something lighter and more upright with wider bars, yet still capable of long miles. A modern adventure bike doesn’t quite do it for me; manufacturers seem to be obsessed with making them bigger, more powerful, more sophisticated and heavier – nothing I need or that is of any help when negotiating gravelly roads in the back end of nowhere. It turns out that the answer to my question has been sitting in my garage all along...

I’ve been storing a friend’s R80ST in my garage for the past six years. As the deal for storage involves leaving the keys in my possession, I’ve racked up a few miles on it, including using it for photos and research for last month’s Guide to the R80ST. Compared to the big, heavy RS with its narrow bars, the ST feels like a lot less effort to get on and ride. Its lightness makes it easier to wheel out of the garage and, with less inertia