The making of an adventure bike

What you need for adventure?

The will… but there some thing that can make your bike more capable for travelling long distances and going through rough terrains. But First of all, no matter the bike you use you must be determined to go places you don´t know, so be prepared for the worst. The following list is a Must before you start your adventure, then will see the good mods

Before you start your adventure:

Tool bag with enough and correct tools that will allow you to fix nearly anything in the middle of no where. Don´t forget extras tubes, or punctures kits, metal repair putty, wire, a lighter (you never know when it´s better to fire up you bike HA!!! Just kidding) (but for real starting a fire might make the difference when you have to sleep on the trail. Other important stuff, an umbrella, fixing a damaged bike under an stinging sun could be a nightmare without it.
Pack leaving additional free storage. This is a good practice because it allows you to carry a souvenir, or if weather changes along the route store those clothes that you don´t need any more. But keep it light!! And distribute the loads around the bike.
Something to clean the googles or helmet visor
GPS (or something to trackback), if you get lost at least have a way to return home or navigate an exit… my usual rides have no destination, exploring the trail around.

Now the Mods:

Why would you want to mod a Enduro, dual sport or dirt bike?

First of all, making it more comfortable on road, second improving the lightning for those night rides, third making it look COOL. Basically that's the reason we all mod bikes, to feel our bike has been improved from factory.

Lights

The most basic and needed mod is on the lighting system, dual sport and enduros OEM headlight is crappy, you don't have enough range of light. Solution is adding fog lights… But wait a second… Is your bike prepared for that extra electrical load? Usually not… Bang… your stator and regulator got damaged. This is not the end, mods must be done correctly, in our case we installed the Enduro2Rally kit. It replaces the OEM headlight with a nice rally looking design and LED light, each uses 35 watt (less than OEM = no electrical overload) in addition gave us additional room for mounting the gps and smartphone supports.

Wind Protection

When you take over the highway, usually your connecting trails and this connection is boring time… but it's also the place where you can relax a little, this means it´s very important to make it the most comfortable as possible. The E2R kit also provides a windshield, but you can fit a universal screen to any bike. I have seen setups with givi and spitfire universal windshield. Everything depend on your fine taste and personality.

The Seat

This is the most difficult and controversial mod. Due everyone is different and the solution someone has not always work for other person. There several options in the market, entire seat replacement, seat covers, air pillows, gel pads, foam pads, even sheepskin!!!

My choice… cycling pants, they come with gel pads that cushion my butt and it's cheaper than other options. Also this doesn't damage the look of the bike.

More Power?

Do you really needed? Probably not, so getting a loud pipe will only be for getting noticed. As an advice, high end engines with tons of power usually aren't reliable or have a reduced life. Having this in mind you tune depending of your use, if your going a worldwide trip the best you can do is to keep everything stock for the highest reliability. But you're going weekend trip or maybe one week adventure you can get a race engine and have no trouble. As before this is a personal choice.