Odometer EquityMiles past new

Used bikes, real miles

OdometerEquity

Getting on the road without a new-bike payment. A used Kawasaki Concours 14 — the 1400GTR, where it was sold under that name — and bikes like it: older sport-tourers, and slightly older adventure bikes, that still cover real distance.

Adventure touring and sport touring. The difference is whether that road is allowed to turn to gravel.

This week’s rides — week of October 4, 2026. Two round trips that start and end in Los Angeles. AI suggestions, not a trip report.

The Concours 14 This week's rides Which bike, which road
Shared highway, then a split A schematic map. A teal line stays on the paved grid, the way a used sport-tourer would. An amber line leaves the grid, the way an older adventure bike would. shared highway used sport-tourer older ADV
Teal stays on pavement: a Concours 14, an FJR, an ST. Amber leaves it: an older GS, GSA, or Africa Twin.
Adventure, used Sport touring, used

Two styles, used

Same horizon. The budget version of each is a sorted older bike, not a discounted flagship.

Sport touring

Shaft drive and a fairing

The anchor is a used Kawasaki Concours 14. Inline-four from the ZX-14 family, shaft drive, a real fairing, and hard luggage already fitted on a lot of them. The Yamaha FJR1300 and the Honda ST1300 sit in the same used aisle: pavement bikes that were built to carry a week of gear and still like a corner.

You are not shopping a new BMW RT or a new Gold Wing. You are shopping the bike that does that job after someone else took the depreciation. The limit is maintenance, tires, and whether the previous owner told the truth.

Adventure touring

A generation back, on purpose

Here the point is a slightly older BMW R1200GS or R1200GS Adventure, or a Honda Africa Twin — the CRF1000L, or the much earlier XRV750 if you want the original and will live with its age. A used Triumph Tiger 800, or a KTM 1090 or 1190 Adventure, belongs in the same conversation when the ad is honest.

These are not the newest GS. They are the bikes that still leave the pavement on purpose: graded roads, connectors, the odd rough mile between highways. Tall, used, and only a bargain if the suspension and the tires were not deferred.

Corridors

This week’s Los Angeles round trips are at the top of the routes page. These cards are still the long corridors.

01

Pacific edge

Coast pavement is Concours, FJR, and ST country. Take the older GS or Africa Twin when you mean to leave the highway for a forest road inland.

Season and bike fit
02

Rockies spine

Paved passes suit the shaft-drive sport-tourers. Washboard connectors suit the GS, the GSA, and the Africa Twin. Summer is the window.

Season and bike fit
03

Desert southwest

Spring and fall. The GSA is the used ADV people pick when fuel stops get lonely. Keep the Concours on the paved park roads.

Season and bike fit

The used aisle

Character, not a spec sheet. No prices, no horsepower claims, no curb weights.

ANCHOR

Concours 14

The budget sport-tourer this site keeps coming back to. ZX-14-derived inline-four, shaft drive, hard cases on many examples, and a used price that usually undercuts a new luxury tourer by a wide margin.

Riding character
ST

FJR and ST1300

The other pavement bargains. Yamaha’s long-running inline-four, Honda’s V4. Same idea as the Concours: fairing, shaft, luggage, miles.

Riding character
ADV

GS, GSA, Africa Twin

Slightly older R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure bikes, plus the CRF1000L and the earlier XRV750. The adventure side of a budget garage.

Riding character

Where not to save

The bike can be used. A few things on it should not be a gamble. The gear page goes further.

01

Helmet

Buy it new, current, and fitted to your head. A used helmet is how a cheap trip gets expensive. You cannot see the last impact.

02

Tires

The only contact with the road. Sport-touring rubber on the Concours and its peers. A tire matched to real dirt time on the GS or Africa Twin. Old date codes are not a bargain.

03

Brakes

Fluid, pads, and lines on an older bike are a safety job, not a place to hunt the lowest listing. If you do not know the age of the fluid, replace it.

From the journal

Composite sketches. Fiction, written in the shape of a ride on these bikes.

Sketch 01

The fog below the headland

A used Concours 14, a coastal morning, hard cases that already had hotel rash. Not a trip report.

The bike was willing. The fog was not. That is the sport-touring bargain on a used Concours: the motorcycle is rarely the limit.

Read the sketch