Category: Motorcycle Tests

Which motorcycles and products we’ve tested, and exactly what we think of them.

VIDEO: Touratech’s 1st Ride on the Africa Twin

In November, Touratech-USA CEO, Paul Guillien and journalist Jonathan Bentman visited Touratech’s headquarters in Germany to see the product line for the new Honda CRF 1000L Africa Twin. As luck would have it, they found the keys to the Touratech-modified test bike and took it for a ride.

2015 Yamaha FZ-07 Review: Pure Bike-inium

Deep in the budget conscious corners of Yamaha, they have been mixing the core elements of naked bike-inium, not just stripping away the unessential fairings, windscreens, and bling, but paring down the internals. The result is the FZ-07, a bantam that punches way above its weight.

2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring – Urban Mode or What the Doctor Ordered

Ducati’s marketing says the Multistrada 1200 S Touring is four bikes in one, and each mode matches a riding progression in my recovery from this spring’s broken collarbone. Seems a good excuse for a series of mini-reviews covering the Urban, Touring, Sport and (maybe) Enduro modes as I reacquaint myself with riding.

Triumph Tiger 800 XC and Tiger Explorer 1200 Review: Cat Video

The Tiger 800 XC and Tiger Explorer 1200 are a direct attack on BMW’s F800GS Siegfried and R1200GS Roy, but the Triumphs are well capable of standing on their own merits. That raises another question, which big cat to take home? OneWheelDrive.Net puts the two Tigers to the test to find out, in our take on that standard internet meme – the cat video.

Snow Small Adventure – Triumph Tiger 800 XC versus the Seasons

Forget what the Earth’s position around the sun says, judging by the encroachment of the snowline down the Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains, we’re facing the onset of winter on the West coast. That makes each ride a rarity, sparking in the firmament of suicidal-gray skies, a colour achieved in a tedium of dark and rainfall. The drizzle starts at Squamish, making the rocks slick under the Tiger 800 XC’s rear Heidenau K60. Shod in Pirelli MT-21s and significantly lighter, Bart’s KTM 690 Enduro R scampers ahead with the ride’s instigator astride.

Yamaha Super Tenere – Solid Efforts

OneWheelDrive.Net tests Yamaha’s Super Tenere, a bike conceived by the Japanese brand as an answer to BMW’s R1200GS, but does the Super Ten make the cut as an adventure bike? And, what is its biggest strength in going up against the BMW?

2012 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 Review – Endangered Species

The GSX-R 1000 is howling like an endangered predator before stumbling and bumping against the rev limiter at 13,750RPM on the tach. In first gear the great 999cc beast is nuzzling exceptional speeds like fresh kill. Flick up a ratio through the slick and quick six-speed transmission into second and the howl eases for a moment, before you’re back to peak with182 hp at 11,500rpm and 86 lb-ft @ 10,000rpm gale-forcing through the Bridgestone S20 190/50R17 out back. Drive through to red and you’re watching the digital speedo indecisively flicker between 202 and 203. Third? Does it really matter? Without the salve of ABS, Traction Control, Electronically Adjustable Suspension or Anti-wheelie Control, it’s negotiation time with harsh Mistress Physics as you take the imperilled beast into the turns.

Road to Ruins: Episode 3 – BMW R1200GS Adventure v. Ducati Multistrada 1200 S

BMW’s R1200GS Adventure is the gold standard in adventure touring bikes, but now it’s facing down challengers like the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring. Is the road to ruins for the BMW paved by the likes of the Ducati? Before we find out off the pavement, a little protection and preparation is in order. If we had the licensing, we’d cue the A-team montage music and cut to the folks at AltRider.com.

Road to Ruins: Episode 2 – BMW R1200GS Adventure v. Ducati Multistrada 1200 S

BMW’s R1200GS Adventure is the gold standard in adventure touring bikes, but now it’s facing down challengers like the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring. Is the road to ruins for the BMW paved by the likes of the Ducati? Join OneWheelDrive.Net as we conduct a we conduct a monumental comparison against a back drop of dead seas, dying towns, a makeshift community on an abandoned military base and 800 year-old cliff dwellings from the end of the Sinagua people, all on “The Road to Ruins”.