Cheap vs. Expensive Adventure: Honda XR650L & BMW R 1300 GS

In motorcycling and in life, more often means better. More power brings greater excitement, more electronic rider aids creates a wider safety net, and more amenities means more comfort.

There’s also a case to be made for simplicity. A bare-bones, air-cooled single means less weight and reduced maintenance, for example, while fewer electronic systems means less potential fail points as you venture into the unknown. Don’t forget the gratification of saving a few dollars while “doing it the old-fashioned way,” without electronic nannies, cruise control, and heated seats or grips to keep you all warm and fuzzy. Motorcycling is all about challenges and resilience, isn’t it?

The beauty of the modern motorcycle world is, of course, that you can have it whichever way you want. Wildly advanced machines exist alongside timeless hardware, and picking your experience is as simple as deciding which side of the complexity conundrum you want to be on.

BMW’s R 1300 GS and Honda’s XR650L are perfect examples of how large the playing field is. The former is one of the most capable and technologically advanced adventure bikes money can buy, whereas the brilliantly simple XR is famous for going largely unchanged since the 1993 model rolled onto the dual sport scene. Could you get two more distinct machines? Probably not! The question then becomes, exactly how different is the riding experience when you go from modern to old-fashioned? And does spending more money really get you a better adventure?

To find out, we grabbed the keys to BMW’s all-new 2024 R 1300 GS and a 2024 XR650L and headed out, toward the rolling hills of Northern California and the recently introduced Northern California Backcountry Discovery Route, a 940-mile on- and off-road route that stretches from Mammoth Lakes to the Oregon border. Schedules wouldn’t allow us to ride the full route, but given that the CABDR-North is divided into nine easily digestible sections ranging from 90 to 140 miles each, we figured there was no better time, place, or trail to experience two completely different machines.

To say that the new R 1300 GS is a change in thinking at BMW is an understatement. Built to extend the legacy created by BMW’s iconic GS models, but also be lighter weight and more capable than before, BMW’s big-bore ADV is littered with new technical solutions, like a six-speed gearbox that’s mounted below the engine rather than behind it, a sheet-metal shell frame that helps with stiffness and packaging, plus a long list of other innovations that make this the most nipped and tucked GS to date. Need we mention that the bike is 26 pounds lighter than the 1250 it replaces? Or that it makes a claimed 145 hp and 110 lb.-ft. of torque?

There’s a lot to unpack on any GS, but jumping up to the GS Trophy we grabbed the keys to— with Premium and Enduro Pro packages—gets you even more tech, like BMW’s Ride Modes Pro, active cruise control, sport brakes, electronic Dynamic Suspension Adjustment, crash protection, and more. Actually, we’re barely even through page 1 of the build sheet, which goes on to list things like BMW’s firmer (and longer-travel) sport suspension, heated seats, electronically adjustable windshield, centerstand, and… Well, you get the point.

Related: 2024 BMW R 1300 GS and R 1300 GS Trophy Edition Reviews

If you guessed that all this comes at a premium, you’d be right; our BMW R 1300 GS with Trophy, Premium, and Enduro Pro packages, plus a handful of upgraded components, comes in at $27,990.

If that feels like roughly four times the amount you’re looking to spend for your next adventure, consider that Honda’s XR650L is priced at just $6,999. And while you won’t find heated seats, electronic suspension, or even fuel injection on the XR, you’re in a roundabout way purchasing a piece of Honda’s off-road history, which was shaped in Baja and at the hands of off-road legends like Bruce Ogilvie, Johnny Campbell, and Scott Summers. You’re also getting an engine and chassis that’ve been proven time and time again. And then again, for good measure.

Simplicity, time-honored hardware, and a sub-$7,000 price tag are hard things to argue with in today’s overly complex (and expensive!) world.

Northern California isn’t short on breathtaking scenery, but to ensure we got the full adventure experience and got to appreciate the rich history that shaped this part of the world, we started in Sutter Creek, a gold rush–era town nestled into the area’s rolling hills. From there, we took a beautiful mix of flowing highway and tight, broken-up asphalt east, toward Bear Valley, where we’d start Section Four of the BDR, en route to Kyburz, California. Day two would be even more dirt focused and have us going from Kyburz to Truckee, at which point we’d split off toward Lake Tahoe, where we’d hang our helmets and enjoy the views.

There is nothing overly technical on these sections of the BDR, but if scenic vistas and an ever-changing landscape is enough to quench your thirst for adventure, you’ll be plenty happy following the predetermined route. The occasional off-route excursion down loose, rocky trails helps get the adrenaline pumping, and in our case, it wasn’t long before we were challenging each other to log jumps, hill climbs, and the occasional distance jump off water bars. In between the fun, we’d stop, soak in the views, and say a thank-you for the team that put the route together; it’s tough work finding such picturesque roads, then tying them together for adventure riders to enjoy, especially given that those things have a knack for disappearing off maps, replaced by highways and throngs of traffic.

It’s hard to imagine an XR650L rider enjoying the long days as much, but the honest truth is that every time you looked over at the XR650L rider, he’d be wearing a smile. Not because simplicity rules over technology-driven comfort, but because he was simply there—the motorcycle was a tool for seeing these things, and a capable tool at that.

There’s a certain charm to the old, dirt bike–like feel of the XR, which does almost everything you’d really need a dual sport to do. There’s newer and more capable machines, sure, but the torquey single still climbs hills with ease, the big seat offers surprising comfort, and there’s a sense of agility that you don’t get from a big adventure bike. These are obvious things, perhaps, but it’s fun to experience them side by side and to see how, while out on the trail at least, everything seems to balance out. The bike still lofts the front wheel effortlessly, rolls through rock gardens with ease, and crashes without breaking the bank.

You’ll miss the glow of a modern LED headlight and might spend an extra few minutes fiddling with the choke on a cold morning, but in a world dominated by technology, there’s something very special about not being completely reliant on complex electronic systems. There really is charm in the simpler things.

The ebb and flow naturally shifts in the BMW’s favor on longer sections of highway, where you can roll the windscreen up, throw cruise control on, and have a relatively vibe-free ride. You’ll need to be a little more careful to not drop your $28,000 investment when back on the dirt, but GS bikes have always impressed with their ability to go further than you ever imagined a big bike should, and that’s very much the case with the R 1300 GS.

This latest Bavarian beast feels a touch sharper than the 1250 it replaces, too, as if BMW is recognizing what other manufacturers have been doing with their more aggressive adventure bikes and is saying, “Yeah, we can do that too.” All this without losing the versatility and flexibility that the GS has always been known for. You’ll still do the big bike dance, and have to look a few extra feet up the road to ensure you’re picking the absolute best path possible, but on this latest iteration it feels like you can put more inputs, with less adverse effects. It’s genuinely hard to understand the performance ceiling, and chances are you’ll only think twice about climbing that hill because you don’t want to scratch anything—not because the bike can’t do it.

Related: 2025 Honda XR650L Dual Sport Preview

The reality, of course, is that the gap between the two bikes would be even bigger in more distinct environments. We’d ride from California to New York tomorrow on the GS if you asked, but wouldn’t chase an XR up a technical single-track unless there was a pot of gold at the end. And that’s fine; the point here is not to prove that one choice is better than the other, but that there are an endless number of ways to experience the world on two wheels.

The other point is that you shouldn’t wait until you can afford the latest and greatest machinery to go on that trip. If you can afford a bike like the BMW R 1300 GS Trophy, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy yourself. But you’ll also have just as much fun sitting atop a mountain watching the sunset on something as simple as an old-school XR650L. Replace these bikes with anything else that comes to mind, and the sentiment will likely be the same.

There will always be something faster, something more technologically advanced, or something that works better for the job at hand. But ultimately it doesn’t really matter what you’re riding. Only that you are out on the bike, enjoying life on two wheels.