Lord protect us from Motorcycle News specials (Adventure Bike of the Year, 19 March 2014)

[Richard Simpson]

I think it was a BMW, a Triumph, a Yamaha and a KTM.

No prizes for guessing which was the last man standing


http://www.motorcyclenews.com/mcn/news/ ... st-part-2/

[Sweeney Todd]

Was it this test?

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/ ... EPI-136713

[Tim Cullis]

In a fashion you may have a point Tim, but, in retrospect most riders’ of these bikes are more than likely going to use them to trips to TESCO rather than the back-of-beyond, meaning; that boys’ with their toys, is that low mileage & weekend use? buy these machines more as on on-road ride than an off-road tool.

There will always be some people who buy into the brand/model rather than use the bikes for what they are intended for. I guess that's an odds-on bet for owners of the Honda and maybe the Triumph and Yamaha as well. But my experience of UKGSer and the KTM forum, together with owners I've met on the road, is that a high proportion DO use their bikes for more than just a paddle in the pub car park, which is about all the MCN crew did.

Taking a bunch of adventure bikes on a group test without asking that off road tyres were fitted is a joke.

[minkyhead]

not much of extream adventure

they cracked the sump on the tenere ...no bash plate

took the behemoth tiger off road with no handguards and broke the lever

took the bmw with n cylinder protectors and bust the head

the ktm was the only bike standing

what were they thinking about .......


the paris dakar guy didnt look too impressed either :whistle:

[Richard Simpson]

They were braver than me...I would not have ridden any of those bikes (apart from the KT) in those conditions.

[Rederic]

In a fashion you may have a point Tim, but, in retrospect most riders’ of these bikes are more than likely going to use them to trips to TESCO rather than the back-of-beyond, meaning; that boys’ with their toys, is that low mileage & weekend use? buy these machines more as on on-road ride than an off-road tool.

There will always be some people who buy into the brand/model rather than use the bikes for what they are intended for. I guess that's an odds-on bet for owners of the Honda and maybe the Triumph and Yamaha as well. But my experience of UKGSer and the KTM forum, together with owners I've met on the road, is that a high proportion DO use their bikes for more than just a paddle in the pub car park, which is about all the MCN crew did.

Taking a bunch of adventure bikes on a group test without asking that off road tyres were fitted is a joke.

Spot on I was thinking how can they tell that one of the bikes is a clear winner off road when the bikes where all on road tyre's
So the triumph come first mainly on price,I am not knocking the trumpet but what would have won if they had used a more than capable Kawasaki versey ,at less than half the price ?
It was not long ago that the bmw was to heavy now it's hardly mentioned about the pounds the others have gained
I also think the standard GS would have been a better match for the bikes on test, lighter, faster, cheaper, the same outcome ? probably

[I of the strom]

MCN - it's a comic and should be produced in Dundee home of the Dandy and Beano :laugh:

[special one]

A lot of you guys on here seem to be confusing adventure bikes with off road bikes, I never bought my explorer to go off roading, I've got a drz for that, I'll do some fire roads etc but that's it.

I bought it for the style, protection, riding position, looks etc etc, which is what most riders of these big lumps will have done.
I very much doubt majority of 1200 GS owners ever see real off road, they might try it once to say they have but then be like most owners, use it for touring.

Even the 1200 ktm has gone softer to slot in to this same touring genre, the 990 is the only bike I'd wanna take off piste, I'd imagine the high percentage of those owners actually do use theirs off road, unlike most of the other brands.

Ride and MCN both rating the explorer now, we only need Ewan and thingy to do a trip on them and triumph will be on to a winner (thumbs)

[Tim Cullis]

Though I've done tens of thousands of km on rocky/stony/sandy pistes in Spain and Morocco, most of those have not officially been off road.

The way most travel insurance companies view the subject is that so long as what you are riding along is used by local four-wheeled traffic then it's a road. Just not surfaced. And that's the view taken by the authorities, these pistes are shown on the (remarkably high-tech) land registry mapping systems. In Morocco the government owns a minimum of 5m width for narrow tracks and 10m for 'pistes national'


In Spain, these are roads

So your fire road probably matches what I'm talking about, and for good grip in wet or loose conditions I would then fit road-legal knobbly tyres. But it's not really off road in the same way as just riding off across an open hamada.

[Spike941]

Won't be long before the Explorer is out selling the GS1200 then. Just need to treble their sales, and more. Well I did my bit.