The increasingly populated adventure bike market prompts dealers to sharpen their pencils.

For the October issue of Transmoto, we took two entry-level adventure bikes - BMW's G 650 GS Sertao and Yamaha XTZ660 Ténéré - for a 1000km mission through the Blue Mountains and the high plains of the Central West in NSW. Aside from the ride being an adventure bike awakening of sorts, what really surprised us about the market's fast-growing adventure segment is just how many sharp deals its manufacturers are now offering on their adventure models, as well as how ridiculously long these bike's service intervals are.

Seeing as we didn't want to clutter the mag's feature up with a bunch of tables, see below for comparative MLPs (Manufacturer List Price) for the key bikes in the adventure category, as well as a service interval snapshot for the 650 Sertao and 660 Ténéré.

Rebates/Deals/Inclusions

1. $2300 factory rebate until Sept 30.
2. $2250 factory rebate
3. $2450 factory rebate. ABS = Anti-lock brakes, ASC = traction control system, RDC = tyre pressure monitoring
4. $3450 factory rebate. ABS = Anti-lock brakes, ASC = traction control system, RDC = tyre pressure monitoring
5. Comes with free $660 worth of accessories
6. Includes free Outback Pack worth $2000 (headlight protector, sump guard, panniers, frameguards, etc)

Note also that by Christmas, Husqvarna will join the market with their TR650 Stada and TE650 Terra, while BMW has announced plans to up-spec its F 650 GS into a F 700 GS for 2013, which'll come with ESA (Electronic Suspension Adjustment) and ASC (Automatic Stability Control) for the first time.