What do you mean that you can barely ride a modern adventure bike? They are extremely easy to ride compared to many bikes. Comfy and forgiving.
Well, what I mean is I can barely ride one.
They are not extremely easy to ride, comfortable or forgiving if you are used to riding ON a motorcycle instead of INSIDE one. The seated position, the ground clearance and resultant high center of gravity and odd balance/bulk makes them very hard for me to ride and enjoy.
I ride Airheads and an oil-cooled twin.
Yeah the high CoG is potentially an issue, I guess. Iām a bit of a mug (and quite inexperienced) rider, but successfully toured southern Chile and Argentina on a KTM 990 Adventure with few issues. It seemed an easy bike to ride to me. A bit heavy and tippy at very low speeds, but otherwise, it was much better bike than I was (am) a rider. Controlled itself on loose, rough and steep roads, provided I didnāt try to step in and really do anything much. Long sections of the Ruta 40 road are (not literally) paved with golf balls, baseballs and the occasional bowling ball, all aligned into deep ridges and ruts. The bike just ate it up.
Bikes you start on and ride a long time will feel a lot more familiar and easy to ride than ones you havenāt 
My riding experience has mostly been on commuter/cafe/street fighters. I had one BMW long range touring bike and hated the āsit insideā feel of it. I recently dropped a friends F800GS as I was parking it, due to the high CoG, seated position and me expecting things to be just like my airhead.
I just did around 1200 mi, SF to LA and back, and Iāll tell you my airhead wasnāt all that comfortable after a 450mi day either.
Moderns Scramblers. Am i reading that right?
My experience prior to the KTM 990 Adventure was on a Honda CBR600RR. A more different bike is perhaps hard to imagine. But the KTM seemed an easy ride compared to the little sportsbike. Hence my comment, I guess. Iām not really experienced enough to continue to offer my uninformed opinion, so Iāll stop now. Just thinking about the that South American trip and Patagonia has me all emotional anyway!
Try again, due to your comment it has been fixed. Thanks.
: P I just wasnāt sure if it was a brand/manufacturer or something, not that i was being pedantic.
Thatās how I felt the first time on a Harley bagger. āInsideā a bike was kinda scary. I grew up on Trail 50ās, 2-stroke Yamahas, and Bultacos with my first ābigā bike being a CB750. This did nothing to prepare me for the bulk and odd center of gravity of a street bagger. I went about a block, turned around, and handed my friend back his bike with a āthank you but not for me if you want to keep your ride prettyā.
If I was looking for a world adventure bike, I think the CB750 would still be my choice. With the huge productions run, easy maintenance, insane reliability, and worldwide parts availability, itās the only bike I would feel comfortable taking anywhere and everywhere.
edit to add a pic of a CB750 setup for adventure
and a more purpose fitted adventure racer CB750
ok, last one, I promise. I just learned that you can watch On Any Sunday on youtube!
That first pictured bike is very handsome. Love the style on that.
There is only one motorcycle that all those apply to: the mighty Honda Super Cub.
The Super Cub is amazing sure and itās still in production, but itās a scooter and not really what Iād choose as a good off road adventure vehicle if highway speeds, climbing hills, and carrying your gear around are important to you. But that description does apply to the CB 750. Produced from 1969 to 2003 and in 2007 over 400,000 CB 750s were produced and you can still get parts in pretty much any country you might visit.
I ran into 5 guys riding them from LA to Seattle, a day after I finished an LA to SF run on a more full-sized bike. The conversation we had was hilarious. They get 20-30 miles in a day.
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