The 80s marked a time in the world of motorcycling where bikes transformed from their crude, muscular, generalist ‘70s designs into sleeker and purpose-built machines. This was especially true in the world of adventure bikes, which made their first appearance in the ‘80s. By the end of the decade, they were everywhere. 

Here are 9 adventure bikes from the 1980s that would be awesome bikes to either ride or collect.

1) BMW R100GS

The R80 G/S was the bike that really kicked off the ADV scene at its debut in 1980, but they’re getting harder and harder to find for sale. When you do locate an example, it is likely to come at a hefty price.

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The R100GS is basically the same idea, a classic airhead design but with a bit more power and a few other tweaks that make it a fun bike to ride even today. It’s arguably better-looking than the earlier R80 model, especially if you can find one in the classic yellow-and-black bumblebee paint option. It was the first BMW with a Paralever rear suspension, and just by the fact that it’s an R100-series engine, it’s fairly historic even if it wasn’t the first GS. The R100 was the last of the airhead boxer engines, and still used simple, old-fashioned carburetors instead of EFI. For some owners, that’s preferable.

Make no mistake, the R100GS is a collector’s bike now, but if you want to ride it, a wet weight around 460 pounds, a 21” front wheel and 60 horsepower on tap deliver a classic BMW experience that shows why the company became the leader of the ADV segment for decades. BMW built a lot of them, and parts are still available through the factory or aftermarket if you pinch pennies and buy a fixer-upper.

2) Cagiva Elefant 650

Moto historians would tell you the early adventure scene was dominated by Honda, Yamaha and BMW but there was an important exception. Italian manufacturer Cagiva got involved big-time in the adventure travel and desert racing scene in the 1980s. The Elefant 650 was their Paris-Dakar Rally Replica sold in showrooms around the world, even in North America. It was based around an air-cooled Ducati SOHC desmodromic valve L-twin engine putting out 54 horsepower, and it was one of the earliest multi-cylinder ADVs.

Reading contemporary reviews, the Elefant was a lot of fun on the street and on gravel roads, although reviewers noted that the fun tapered off once you headed down a tight trail. Hey, sounds like the same sort of thing they’re saying about ADV bikes today. But with a tall 34.5” seat height and high center of gravity, not to mention finicky mechanical bits, many riders of the era would have been happier with the BMW competition.

Today? Nobody’s buying a Caviga as a daily driver, but if you’re looking for something very cool and different, the Elefant is highly collectible, and still surprisingly affordable. Bring a Trailer sold an ‘85 model for only $3,000 back in 2022.

3) Kawasaki KLR650 Tengai

Gen 1 KLRs in good shape are getting a bit harder to find these days, and the Tengai sub-model is more rare than the standard dual-sport model, because they never made a lot of them in the first place.

The Tengai, aka the KLR650-B, was a travel-oriented version of the standard KLR, with more bodywork and a different set of gauges mounted in the fairing. A low-mount front fender echoed the looks of other adventure bikes from Europe or Japan, and the rear subframe and front suspension were slightly redesigned to better handle the weight of moto-travel. And instead of the awful single-piston front brake caliper that standard KLRs got, the Tengai got a two-piston caliper to better handle the load of a rider with luggage.

It’s still a KLR at heart, with that chuggy DOHC engine sound, a lot of weight and not much muscle. But that means this is one of the most mechanically reliable vintage travel bikes you can buy, and you can still find parts for it (although don’t expect much from the aftermarket). If you wanted to actually do long miles on a vintage bike, this would be a decent choice. Just make sure to fix the Doohickey before you head out.

4) Suzuki DR600

Coming to showrooms in the mid-1980s (depending which market you were in, around 1986 or 1987), the DR600 was a modern four-stroke that helped usher out the old SP-series singles (bikes that you never hear about anymore). Given Suzuki’s technical prowess in the 1980s, the DR600 is surprisingly lagging behind the competitors in certain areas with its air-cooled kickstart-only machine (no water cooling or e-start like the KLR), and the engine was known for its vibration as well. 

While it did come with a 5.3-gallon fuel tank and small top rack for longer journeys (the Dakar and Djebel models even came with small windscreens), the first big-bore DR was more of a dirt-bike-with-turn-signals than anything else. These machines were raced in Rally Raid all over the world, and were pretty tough by the standards of their day, and so were the people who rode them–they had to be!

Today, if you’re ok with the vibration and dirtbike-style seat, a DR600 can work relatively well as a weekend-rider, as well as a unique retro show-off machine. They’re reliable, and not terribly hard to find, but neither do you see them regularly. One of the most practical old-school ADVs for someone who’s a fan of vintage desert racing but not a fan of spending big bucks.

5) Yamaha XTZ750 Super Ténéré

This was the original Super Tenere, but it never came to North America.  Technically speaking, most of its production occurred in the 1990s, but it did come to market in 1989.

Following on the success of the XT660 single-cylinder ADV, Yamaha brought out this XTZ750 twin. This was a very modern bike at its debut, with liquid-cooled 750cc parallel twin engine with Yamaha’s trick five-valve heads. Fuel capacity was a massive 6.9 gallons. It was made to go long distances off-road, and fast, and it did the job very well. Yamaha won the Dakar in 1991 with this bike with Stephane Peterhansel behind the bars and used it to develop the closely-related XTZ850 and XTR850 models. Peterhansel used those bikes to win another six Dakar titles. 

In other words, this is one of the winningest desert bikes of all time, and it has classic lines (check out the endurance racing-style dual headlights!) that echo the days when cigarette and booze advertising paid the massive bills of these race teams. If you can find one for sale, grab it!”

6) Honda Transalp XL600V

Honda debuted the Transalp XL600V in 1987 with styling cues taken from its Paris to Dakar racing bikes of the time. The bike was beloved in Europe where it continued production run through 2012 growing in size from 600, to 650 and eventually 700ccs. Honda’s launch in the U.S. was less successful and slow sales meant the Transalp lasted just two years (1989 and 1990) in the States.

The Transalp’s engine is a softly tuned V-twin that puts out 55 horsepower in the original version. The large fairing, wide comfortable seat, 4.8-gallon fuel tank, and smooth V-Twin allows the Transalp to gobble up the miles on the highway. It easily accommodates a passenger and can carry enough luggage and supplies to go around the world.

Despite the rally styling, the Transalp is more of a street-oriented Adventure Bike. But it’s relatively light for a V-Twin with a dry weight of 386 pounds. It also has decent suspension travel, which makes it capable of handling off-road trails at a casual pace.

7) Honda NX250/AX-1

The U.S. market got the Honda NX250 very briefly from 1988-1990, a cool quarter-liter bike with liquid-cooled, DOHC four-valve, four-stroke single-cylinder, six-speed transmission and even electric start. With real ADV bike bodywork instead of a stripped-down dual sport look, there was nothing else remotely close on the market. Honda was years ahead of its time with this small-bore machine. Honda also made 125cc and 650cc versions of the NX line with similar bodywork, although these had more basic SOHC air-cooled engines that were borrowed from their XR dirt bikes.

The AX-1 sold in markets abroad was an even higher-spec version of this platform, with the engine retuned to make a claimed 29 hp at 8,500 rpm and 18 lb-ft of torque at 7,500 rpm. Basically, they built a motor with the same output as a WR250R, but 20 years earlier, in 1988. The numbers compare very well to a CRF300L, and it makes you wonder what Honda could do with the AX-1 design today, with the benefit of EFI and other technological advances.

With cast aluminum wheels (19-inch front, 16-inch rear), the AX-1 was built to ride on the street or maybe on easy gravel roads. But again, Honda was ahead of the game here. Scaled-down adventure motorcycles like the BMW GS310 or KTM 390 Adventure exist in territory that Big Red explored decades ago.

8) Triumph Tiger Trail

Sporting a 744cc OHV Air-Cooled Parallel Twin with 40 horses on tap, this is one of the earliest multi-cylinder adventure bikes, and unless you hang out at vintage motorcycle festivals, you’ve probably never seen one. Actually, even if you do hang out at vintage Brit bike festivals, you’ve probably never seen one, as these were produced in the early 1980s, which was a pretty tough time for Triumph. Originally built for their French distributor to compete with BMW’s GS series, very few of these bikes were built; under 200 over 1981-1982. The model never made it to the US due to emission restrictions but the Tiger Trail was available in Triumph’s other markets around the world.

In 1983, the Meridian factory closed due to Triumph’s bankruptcy and that was the end of any potential impact from this model. It’s too bad, because it would have been quite interesting to see if the scrambler-style lines could have continued their popularity through the 1980s and beyond, as an alternative to the blocky, futuristic look that BMW popularized.

If you can find and afford one of these bikes, you’d probably be crazy to consider it a daily driver, especially since it would likely leak oil everywhere. But as a collector’s item? One of the coolest, rarest old-school adventure machines you can buy.

9) Honda XRV650 Africa Twin

The OG. Along with the XTZ750, the original Africa Twin models were based on some of the most successful bikes ever raced at the Paris-Dakar Rally. The original Honda XRV650 Africa Twin debuted in 1988 and was closely related to the rally model NXR750 that won four Paris-Dakar titles. It was even produced by HRC rather than Honda. The 1989 XRV750 was still billed as a desert-conquering dual sport and was a better bike in many ways, but it was a downgrade in terms of off-road performance having gained 50+ pounds.

While the original design was built to win, in Joe Public’s hands, it was built to last. It wasn’t especially fast or light, but it was a very fun and competent machine that had a legitimate race pedigree while still being real-world practical and reliable. You couldn’t say that about all the repli-racer 600s that flooded the world back in those days.

The Africa Twin stayed in production through 2003, but it was never sold in the U.S.; American motorcyclists did import the bike by hook or by crook, though, and many rode it overseas. No wonder this is one of the most-coveted classic adventure bikes for those who’ve got the patience to navigate the red tape of bringing one into the country.

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Got a favorite Adventure Bike from the 80s you’d like to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!