Category: Motorcycle Tests

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

2010 Suzuki GSX1250FA Review – The Respect It Deserves

Suzuki has divorced the name “Bandit” for the GSX1250FA, much as it has the GSX650F, untying the bike from what has become a lineage of bland visual design and daily commuter associations. Then the Japanese brand went a step further and gave the FA a GSX-R fairing treatment and headlight, so the response at first glance from those at a recent group ride was, “I thought you were bringing the Bandit.”

Arctic Challenge Counterpoint: A Personal Evolution of Adventure Riding

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.

2009 GSX-R 1000 – The One-Litre Angel

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.

2009 Suzuki SFV Gladius – Just don’t call it Gladys

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.

Ducati Hypermotard-A for Adventure

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?

K1300GT and K1300S

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.

Konker KSM200 – Konkered Expectations

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.

Ducati Monster 1100S

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.

2009 KTM RC8 1190 – Poetry as Blood Sport

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.