Since Hubert Auriol’s victory in 1981, BMW motorcycles have won Paris Dakar four times. More than 1.2 million GS models have been built over six generations. The GS line launched 40 years ago with the 1980 R 80 G/S ( Gelande und Strassen, dirt and street). This is the grandaddy OG of adventure bikes. If you rarely go off road, then you can get the Pirelli Trail IIs for a little more contact patch. I’m not as good a rider as you, of course, but I’d think most riders will probably be satisfied with this combination. I was pushing it about as hard as I could going up and down the twisting mountain road and I never felt any slip or squirm. Depending on how much dirt riding you have planned, you could probably get this dirt tire as the only rubber for your Duc and be happy riding on it. The Pirelli Scorpion Rally STRs felt surprisingly grippy on the winding mountain road, while they chopped through the dirt and sand of our off-road ride with aplomb. In fact, on the way to and from our afternoon session in the dirt, we rode the same winding mountain road as we did for the on-road ride, except that we were riding on the dirt tire. The most remarkable thing was how well it handles both surfaces. Over the course of a long day of riding in and around Borrego Springs, California, I got to try the new Multistrada on a lot of street and a lot of dirt. The first three modes are for on-road and the third is for off-road. There are four riding modes (sport, touring, urban, and enduro), all displayed on the bike’s new 5.5-inch-or optional 6.5-inch-TFT screen.
The new valvetrain stretches service intervals to 36,000 miles-it was 6,000 miles on the first-gen Multistrada when that model came out in 2003. Peak power is 170 hp at 10,500 rpm (a 25% increase), while torque tops out at 92.2 lb-ft at 8,750 revs. With 2 mm more bore than the V4 engine found on other Ducs, the power and torque curves are flatter and more accessible. The new powerplant uses springs and rockers to open and close the valves instead of the Desmodromic system for which Ducatis are famous. The new Multistrada V4 has a new four-cylinder engine, too, replacing the V2 used in previous models. It even adjusts the auto-leveling function. The “inertial platform” of electronics even adjusts the semi-active Ducati Skyhook Suspension system, changing the hydraulics of the fork and shock absorber on the V4 S trim level. There is an IMU, or inertial measuring unit, that works in conjunction with everything from ABS to traction control to offer wheelie control, stoppie control (where the rear wheel might lift when braking) to cornering ABS. It has radar front and rear that not only aids safe-distance following with adaptive cruise control, but also offers blind spot detection and an efficient and speedy overtake function, the latter which accelerates when the road is clear and you hit the turn signal and lean into the passing position. It is brand new, so it’s loaded with new technology and increased efficiency almost never before seen on a production motorcycle.
If you wanted to mix metaphors really, really badly, you could say this is the Cadillac of adventure bikes. Read on and start planning your ‘round the world ride.
Here, then, is a fairly broad sampling of the best adventure bikes available right now, from the full-zoot high-end and brand-spankin’ new Ducati Multistrada V4, to a couple more affordable bikes you might not need to get a co-signer for. Then, when you’re ready to ride home on the freeway, they’re about the most comfortable pavement pounders around, except for cruisers and sport tourers. Yet unlike their four-wheeled friends, these bikes can actually go off-road-and you can actually have fun going there. And the seats on which your keister rests are comfortable enough that you don’t need to stop every half hour to get the circulation back.Īdventure bikes are the SUVs of the two-wheeled world they do everything and have more practicality than other segments of motorcycle. Windshields on most ADV bikes make long days in the saddle not only bug-proof but bucolic. Snap-on hard cases mean your fresh T-shirts and other gear stays dry and doesn’t get crushed if you’re crisscrossing the globe. On an ADV, as they’re called, you can cross the Kalahari as easily as you can cross town. But there is one category of bike that can do everything and do it well: the adventure bike. Each has a distinct and often narrow purpose, and most achieve that purpose with elan. There are so many different kinds of motorcycles out there now, from pure motocross dirt bikes you can fling off ramps like Evel Knievel, to luxury long-distance moto-cruisers as comfortable as your living room couch.
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