None of the above! There was actually a thread about this a LOOOOONG time ago. I'll see if I can find it. I was the service manager in a shop for years and for the past several years have been working in a Italian/Japanese bike shop. I've been in motorcycles since 1983. Neither of what you just described is a good survival bike. One word, MAINTENANCE!
I'll start from the beginning.
Things to take into consideration when choosing a bugout or survival dualsport:
A) Versatility as pertaining to size.
The bigger you go, the less places are easily accessible. With a large motorcycle with a high seat height, you're instantly limited on where you can travel. Immediately, you're only good for forest service roads, fire roads, etc. No tight trails. Nothing the requires proper suspension. I did years of fun dualspot adventure riding and camping. The conclusion I came to, don't go bigger than you need.
B) Reliability.
BMW's, Triumphs, KTM, Ducati, etc. are all wonderful motorcycles as long as you HAVE THE MAINTENANCE DONE AS OUTLINED IN THE OWNERS MANUAL. If you don't catastrophic events are in your future. If you're a regular motorcycle mechanic that has worked on European bikes for years, you're good to go, provided of course that you have the proper tools. The problem with that is that the tools are expensive as hell and you'd have to carry a lot of them with you. If you valves get out of whack, BANG, you just fried the motor. For anyone who is NOT a seasoned European motorcycle mechanic, don't even try. There's a reason why you pay so much in service charges. Those guys are worth the money they charge. Without the proper maintenance, your bike will be a paperweight before you know it. Get something that is easy to work on and requires NO special tools.
That brings us to part C.
C) Ease of Maintenance.
Two words. BUY JAPANESE. They are the easiest bikes to work on on the planet and require no special tools. With a small bit of tool kit and a good Clymer's service manual, you can do everything you would need to in order to maintain the bike. You can easily carry everything with you to work on it. ALSO!!! Japanese bikes are like AK47's. You miss a little maintenance, no big deal. That sucker could run off human peepee without any wheels.
D) Storage.
Many people argue that the reason to go for one of the bigger Euro bikes is for the storage capacity. Wrong. You can get hard or soft bags, top cases, tank bags, for kits, you name it for ANY bike out there. One of the popular things to do amongst the super hard core is to go with an aftermarket tank and actually convert one storage spot to an extra fuel cell. I did this. Very cool for doing distance.
E) Suggestions.
Get a proper dirt bike. Don't just get one that one of the many LYING manufacturers tells you is "a great on/off road adventure bike". They're full of the dook. Some of the choices out there these days are plenty and inexpensive. Don't get something huge. YOU DON'T NEED IT! Here are a few I highly recommend.
Yamaha WR250R Dualsport. This bike is a proper dirt bike with great suspension and it will easily do 90MPH on the highway with a 220lb. man on it.
Kawasaki KLR250 Again, a proper dirt bike with real suspension and will go highway speeds.
With this next one, you're right on the edge of going too big. The Kawasaki KLR650. It is a big bike, about the size of a Vstrom. It's a little bit easier to pull through tight trails than any Euro adventure bike or Strom, but it is definitely on the huge side of what you would want in a bugout bike.
Next up, the Suzuki DRZ400S. This one has a good motor for the size of bike it is, but I will warn you, that motor will not increase top speed, only torque and low RPM and midrange power.
Suzuki also makes a 650 model that is pretty easy to hold up in tight stuff. Very nice dualsport.
As far as dualsports go, these are among my favorites. I like to go with nothing over a 400 and nothing that isn't a proper dirtbike. If you're limited to regular roads, fireroads, forest service roads, then why even get one of these. Just get a truck. Much more storage. However, if you want to be able to go EVERYWHERE, get a good proper dualsport. There are two kinds of dualsport/adventure bikes out there. Ones that "can also go on the dirt" and ones "that can also go on the street." You want the second one, "ones that can also go on the street". That means that they were designed to be a good offroad bike first, and just had some turn signals added on later. That bike will go anywhere you want.
And I'm spent. Feel free to ask any further questions.
