Rolling out of Frazier Park I’m setting sites on Palmdale, CA for the evening.  Lacking a detailed map, GPS or even coherent local instructions I’m at a bit of a loss as to the points between the two, but certainly don’t want the pounding drone offered by the I-5 or even 138.  Fortunately there’s a rider waving…

The CHP officer is standing in front of the cruiser parked facing traffic in my lane, his hand out palm flat in the universal symbol for stop. I’m confused and more than a little worried. With no plate, and papers only in electronic form on the laptop, I’m thinking a world of not good thoughts….

“We give bikes out without plates all the time.”  I completely fail to understand this concept and explain that in British Columbia it’s a pretty big deal.  Suddenly, I feel like a naive foreigner. Still I don’t have papers for the bike so that’s a good excuse to avoid slab on the 1098S – as…

Sitting in an over priced $190.00 Ramada Suite in West Hollywood I can only conclude things are not going particularly well with this excursion to test the 1098S.  It’s not the bike, that’s brilliant, but getting there certainly hasn’t been half the fun… and I’m waiting for a change of tide. Nipping up the Angeles…

Time flies when you’re having fun, and the KTM 990 Super Duke is a lot of fun. Our three weeks of testing, which has been punctuated by other bikes like the Benelli TNT 1130 Café Racer and BMW F800S, is almost up. Some bikes we return without a second thought, but the KTM is not…