In his counter point to the Arctic Challenge, Joe Lloyd argues that in our rush to embrace the bigger is better marketing message, many riders are too quick to overlook the lighter cheaper bikes that hooked us on adventure riding in the first place. Case in point, the Suzuki DR650.

In Part 2 of the Arctic Challenge the BMW F800GS, R1200GS Adventure and KTM 990 Adventure take to the dirt as we try to find the king of the adventure hill, in our survey of the three most asked about adventure bikes for 2009.

Three top-notch adventure bikes, the KTM 990 Adventure BMW R1200GS Adventure and BMW F800GS and it all comes down to the Dempster Highway – seven hundred and thirty-six kilometers of dirt, clay, mud, shale and gravel… The perfect environment for the ultimate adventure comparison.

Costa Mouzouris brings us the 2010 Ducati Hypermotard 796 Launch Report from Bologna, Italy, enjoying the European roads and a bit of a shower.

Why? Why did I forsake the litre-bike? Why did I wait so long to begrudgingly throw a leg over the 2009 GSX-R 1000? True, I thought I’d grown up making litre-bike immaturity a thing of my past, and that I’d moved on to more upright and relaxed rides. Then the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 proved me utterly and completely wrong.

If you were in the market for a sword, what would you be after? A finicky, finesse-centric epee? A saber? Which is just a long skinny hassle? Anything long and you’d forever be inadvertently skewering people in lineups and crowds. No you want something short, manageable and without airs – you’d want a Gladius.

There’s a lot of buzz about Ducati’s upcoming Adventure oriented Multistrada replacement, but do we really have to wait? We at OneWheelDrive.Net have gotten impatient. Well, that and our 640 Adventure is waiting for parts, so can our long term loaner Hypermotard stand in?

If the 2009 BMW K1300GT and K1300S have a hallmark over their previous 1200 incarnations, it’s progress. But, trumping the slatherings of electronics, enhanced mechanicals, improved braking, and revised suspension may be… switch gear.

I’m skimming over a thoroughly potholed logging road in the shadow of the Chief just outside Squamish, BC. Below me is the Konker KSM200, a diminutive supermoto and one of the first wave of the storm of Chinese motorcycles to reach our shores.

There it is, the scrape of hard knee puck plastic against pavement – proof positive of the Ducati Monster 1100S’s prowess. At coffee shops the world over Monster owners will high-five over lattés celebrating what great riders they are, the truth is in the bike though.

I’d boxed this guy up and shoved him away into a corner of my mind. I thought I’d moved on to more sensible things like adventure and touring, replacing this raving self with a better person, a responsible rider who takes the high road and chooses his moments. Then KTM comes along and hands this speed-ist hooligan a 155hp and 88.5 lb-ft of torque sledgehammer labeled RC8.

Brapppppp! In the far lane a rider on a R1200GS Adventure (GSA) has just sailed through an opening in rush hour’s waning traffic. Well played sir, but BMW’s F800GS isn’t so easily tossed aside. The GSA may have more guts, but it also has more mass, and the F800GS is proving epee precise and saber effective at slicing its way through the automotive throng.

I throw the Harley-Davidson Sportster Nightster into the corner, hard and fast enough that it wobbles on Quebec’s pavement chop. This will pass, but sometimes a little active intervention helps – we throttle on out of the apex to a scrape of the peg. A long straight and the little Sportster’s needle brushes 160kph, this Harley-Davidson/Best Western press tour hasn’t been going to plan, but thundering down the straight and setting up for the next corner I can’t help but crack a smile.

The parking lot encircling the hotel was packed, despite it being a weekday. Among a sea of rental fleet specials, a leviathan tractor trailer was parked, taking up four parking slots and the adjacent lane. …

lubricious |loō bri sh əs| (also lubricous | loōbrikəs|)
adjective
1 offensively displaying or intended to arouse sexual desire.
2 smooth and slippery with oil or a similar substance.
A mobile contradiction in terms the Honda CBF1000 is at …

Periodically in a review I dance around the topic of whether a bike “spoke” to me or not. This is not one of those reviews. Let’s cut a swath of broken daisies through the meadow and directly to the point; the KTM 950 Super Enduro R is pure delightful lunacy.

“What displacement is that?” The ice cream truck driver has ditched his station and crossed the street.
“That’s a quarter litre.”
“Quarter Litre?” Labeled that way the Kawasaki Ninja 250R sounds much more intimidating, in …

I’m doing something I absolutely shouldn’t; riding in jeans, t-shirt, gloves and a helmet.  I’ve just walked through the heart of Toronto to pick up our 2008 Triumph Speed Triple test bike from Rev Cycle’s …