Adventure motorcycles have been some of the most popular choices for riders for the last decade. Why is that? In this this episode we are joined by Octane Media Group's photo director Jeff Allen to discuss the ins and outs of ADVs. We talk about some of our favorites as well of the most notable models. Join the conversation and tell us what adventure bikes you think are the best in the comments.
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00Hey, welcome back to the Motorcyclist Podcast, where we talk about motorcycles and what makes
00:00:04them great.
00:00:05As always, the topics on this show always change, but one thing that remains the same
00:00:10is two-wheel fun.
00:00:12On this episode, we are talking about adventure motorcycles and why they are so popular.
00:00:18They've been the it bike in the it segment for almost a decade now.
00:00:23It seems like the best sales, the most sales, everyone's into adventure bikes these days.
00:00:29So we're going to talk about why, and we're going to talk about some of our choices, and
00:00:34then we're going to maybe just talk about some travel and our adventures on adventure
00:00:39bikes.
00:00:40So as always, we're going to start out with introductions.
00:00:44So we've got editor Adam Waheed, got myself, Justin Dawes, executive editor, and we have
00:00:50a new addition for this episode.
00:00:52This is the photo director, Jeff Allen.
00:00:55Hey, how are you?
00:00:57Good to have you here, Jeff.
00:01:00Good morning.
00:01:01Let's have you introduce yourself real quick.
00:01:04We all know that Jeff takes the raddest photos in the motorcycle business, but give us some
00:01:10backstories and history, Jeff, for the listeners.
00:01:13Backstory.
00:01:14Okay.
00:01:15Jeff Allen.
00:01:16I've been a photographer with this magazine and Cycleworld and Dirt Rider for a long time,
00:01:22longer than I care to say, honestly.
00:01:24I think you should say.
00:01:25I think you should brag.
00:01:26Yeah, you should say it.
00:01:27I want to know.
00:01:28Absolutely.
00:01:29How many months?
00:01:30How many months?
00:01:31Oh, months.
00:01:32It's been, you know, well over 300 months.
00:01:35It's like 30 something years, 30 plus years doing it at Cycleworld and previously a couple
00:01:44of car magazines.
00:01:46And to be honest, you wouldn't think somebody could do something for that many years and
00:01:51still love it.
00:01:52And I honestly love it now as much as I ever have.
00:01:56I just really enjoy the things that we get to do and the places we get to do them.
00:02:03And obviously doing it on motorcycles.
00:02:05Yeah, it definitely shows in your photography.
00:02:08And you know, the thing is with Jeff is not only does he shoot the photos, but he rides
00:02:15along with us in every situation with like 40 or 50 pounds of camera gear on his back.
00:02:22So if you see us on an adventure bike doing some gnarly adventure, Jeff's riding right
00:02:27along with us, but with weight on his back.
00:02:30It's funny you say that, because I always see those, those like adventure, like skiing
00:02:35videos or the, or the guys, you know, rock climbing or whatever, and the whole story
00:02:41is about them.
00:02:42I'm like, there's a dude with a camera doing it right next to him.
00:02:44I'm always thinking about that guy.
00:02:45Exactly.
00:02:46There's a guy that climbed up before them, like on the rock climbing things that set
00:02:49up the cameras.
00:02:50Yeah, exactly.
00:02:51But I mean, set up the shot and is waiting for the guy that's the, that he's supposed
00:02:55to make good, look good coming up, which Jeff always makes us look good.
00:03:02So we're really glad to have Jeff.
00:03:04He's got a ton of motorcycle knowledge.
00:03:07He rides for fun as much as he rides for work, just like the rest of us.
00:03:11So he's a good guy to add onto this podcast.
00:03:14Obviously he's replacing Bradley Adams, who's no longer with us.
00:03:17He's gone to the dark side of corporate life with a manufacturer.
00:03:21So let's, let's talk about what we've all been riding.
00:03:26Jeff, since you're new here, we're gonna, we're gonna throw it to you first.
00:03:31What have you, what have you been riding lately?
00:03:32Well, I've been riding two bikes.
00:03:35I've been riding motocross quite a bit on the Honda CRF250R.
00:03:42But the most interesting thing is just the day after Christmas, I jumped on our, our
00:03:48test unit, the Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Plus.
00:03:52I strapped, I put the luggage on it and I strapped my surfboard to the side and I, I
00:03:57rode the thing down Baja to, to Cabo San Lucas, making stops along the way to surf and check
00:04:04out the scenery of Baja, which I love so much.
00:04:07I love going to Baja and I spent about 10 days doing that and hitting different spots
00:04:13and it was, weather was awesome.
00:04:15It was fantastic.
00:04:16And that bike, that bike is so solid.
00:04:20Like I spent, I had some long days just trying to get to the next spot and that bike is so
00:04:25comfortable.
00:04:26So good.
00:04:27So you, you rode a touring bike, a sport touring bike, but it seems like you kind of traded
00:04:34it like an adventure bike in a little bit of a way.
00:04:36I mean, you, you, you get some big bumps and yeah, more than, you know, yeah, there
00:04:42was a, there are certain sections that are, have, you know, big potholes and the road
00:04:48might be fabulous until that spot.
00:04:51So they, they can come up on you quick.
00:04:53And that's what happened one day, just, I was doing maybe about 65, saw the pothole
00:05:00going all the way across the road, tried to break, wasn't going to stop.
00:05:04So I got on the gas and to try to get the front over it and I hit that so hard with
00:05:11the rear wheel.
00:05:12I, I, well, for one, I thought I busted the wheel, but it bent it and it broke one of
00:05:20the bolts in the shock linkage, which was shocking.
00:05:24I hadn't, I didn't think you could do that on a sport touring bike.
00:05:27Well, you know, a lot of, a lot of speed, extra weight in the bags for all your, your
00:05:32gear plus a surfboard, eh, you know, big enough hole.
00:05:36It's going to, you know, it's going to mess some stuff up for sure.
00:05:41Yeah.
00:05:42Typical Baja fashion found a guy in five minutes and 10 minutes later he put a rusty old bolt
00:05:48in it and I was back on my way and that bolt's still in that bike.
00:05:52It's holding strong.
00:05:53That's that's rad.
00:05:55Cool story.
00:05:56Cool story.
00:05:57What about the wind with, with the surfboard?
00:05:59No problems?
00:06:00Yeah, no.
00:06:01It's like, it's kind of funny.
00:06:02I've done it a few times with bikes and I always think, oh, this is not going to work.
00:06:07Like it just seems like something's going to go wrong and it's worked every time and
00:06:11that I have this surfboard rack mounted on the side and, uh, I didn't think it would
00:06:17make it, but it, it did and the wind's not an issue at all.
00:06:22There were no issues with it whatsoever.
00:06:25Just the potholes.
00:06:27Just potholes.
00:06:28All right.
00:06:29It was a good trip.
00:06:30Yeah, it was fantastic.
00:06:31All right.
00:06:32Uh, Adam, what about you?
00:06:33What's uh, what'd you ride this week?
00:06:35I've been operating the 2025 Vitpilen 801, which is a naked style middleweight plus bike
00:06:42from Husqvarna.
00:06:43So we got to ride that and yeah, another nice entry into the very popular middleweight plus
00:06:50middleweight naked bike segment.
00:06:52So yeah, it's a nice bike, you know, probably no better than any of the competition, but
00:06:57no worse either.
00:06:59You know, it's a good time to be in that segment, you know, nice bike.
00:07:03I, uh, Husqvarna fans will be pumped that you pronounced Husqvarna correctly.
00:07:09For sure.
00:07:10So, I mean that, that bike, um, you know, it shares a pretty rad engine platform with
00:07:14a lot of the KTM group bikes and, um, it's amazing the amount of versatility they can
00:07:21get out of that engine for so many different motorcycles.
00:07:25Yeah, it really is.
00:07:27And you know, it's also neat, you know, that powertrain has been around for many years
00:07:31now and, but it's significantly, it's evolved very nicely.
00:07:35Like when that thing came out in 2018 or 19, it wasn't, it wasn't super awesome and polished
00:07:42by any means.
00:07:43We ride that 2025 bike today and that thing is approaching, you know, Japanese standards
00:07:49for, for polishness, for polishness and just, you know, lack of noise vehicle harshness.
00:07:55It's a very smooth running engine.
00:07:57It's great.
00:07:58Yep.
00:07:59I will have to say that there probably some 2017, 18 LCHC owners right now screaming,
00:08:09but what about the cams?
00:08:10Yeah, for sure.
00:08:11Yes.
00:08:12The cams, the cams were a problem, uh, but, uh, we haven't seen any failures in quite
00:08:17a long time in any of our test bikes.
00:08:19So, you know, we can't really comment on it besides, you know, uh, what we, we hear on
00:08:24the internets and that's always, uh, circumstantial evidence or hearsay.
00:08:29So, um, us personally, they've run great, um, but you know, back in the day they did
00:08:38have a reputation of some serious problems with camshaft hardening.
00:08:42So, um, myself, I have been riding the pine a bit.
00:08:48Uh, I got back, um, I wrote a Himalayan, uh, four 50.
00:08:53Last week, this week, I haven't written much.
00:08:55I got a little bit of mileage on my Bistrom 800 D race bike, um, just to reacquaint myself
00:09:01with how rad that thing was.
00:09:03And hopefully you'll be hearing more about that soon, uh, maybe a, a 2.0 iteration of
00:09:09that thing.
00:09:10So, uh, but that's an adventure bike and that's a very nice segue into talking about what
00:09:17an adventure bike is.
00:09:20So, uh, you know, an adventure bike is a touring capable motorcycle.
00:09:26That's basically able to go off road in some extent and how far they can go off road varies
00:09:32widely, um, across, across that whole segment, usually multi-cylinders, but not always.
00:09:38I mean, there's, you know, there's huge, uh, you know, uh, flat twins like the R 1300 GS.
00:09:48There's multi-stratus that are V4 that are basically, you know, uh, uh, almost a sport
00:09:54bike engine inside of a adventure bike.
00:09:57And then it goes all the way down to like small twins to where, I mean, you could really
00:10:00call like a CRF 300 L rally and adventure bike in a way.
00:10:04So, um, you know, it's, it's, it's all in everything.
00:10:10What do you guys look for in an adventure bike?
00:10:13Like what defines an adventure bike for you?
00:10:17Well, just basically you had mentioned just a really versatile motorcycle that, you know,
00:10:22you can ride on the road and ride off road as well.
00:10:26But in addition to that, you have to be able to carry things with you that, you know, that's
00:10:30my definition.
00:10:31So, you know, on-road off-road would be a dual sport, but on-road off-road with the
00:10:36ability to actually tour and bring stuff with you.
00:10:39Now that's adventure touring.
00:10:41Yep.
00:10:42Yeah, that's sort of the, sort of the, the SUV or the, uh, of, uh, motorcycles, you know,
00:10:47like it has that look, it has maybe sort of sometimes the reputation of not being used
00:10:53in those ways, but they're so capable and we know, we all know, uh, they're amazing.
00:11:00Then you can haul a lot of stuff and it's a, it's a good way to go.
00:11:06Yeah.
00:11:07And basically I look at it as, like you said, it's the SUV, but it's also, um, it's basically
00:11:13what you'd want if you're riding from Alaska to Argentina or across, you know, the African
00:11:18continent or something like that, where you don't know what you're going to run into,
00:11:23but you're going to be gone for a long time.
00:11:24That's what an adventure bike is, is modeled around.
00:11:28Right.
00:11:29And, um, you know, BMW generally takes credit for the start of the ADV segment with its
00:11:35RADGS back in, uh, in 1980 or 81.
00:11:39Um, you know, the story is that, uh, some of the BMW engineers wanted to race ISTE,
00:11:46uh, but obviously BMW is a street bike company at that point.
00:11:50Um, and so they took a RAD engine and built a chassis around it.
00:11:55They made it more off-road capable, but then they found out, Hey, it still works pretty
00:11:59nice to go cruise around on and travel long distances.
00:12:03That spawned the RADGS and, uh, since then it's been, you know, uh, they were kind of
00:12:08the weird bikes for a very long time, right?
00:12:11You would see a few things and they kind of had like a little bit of a bump in the, probably
00:12:17the mid nineties, late nineties when, you know, there was Africa twins and there was
00:12:20Teneres and all that kind of stuff.
00:12:22And then they went away.
00:12:23They totally went away when sport touring was, was super hot and, um, you know, but
00:12:29now they are back and big time, right?
00:12:32Yeah.
00:12:33Like you said, I mean, virtually every motorcycle manufacturer in, in 2025 offers an adventure
00:12:39touring bike.
00:12:40Some manufacturers even offer multiple adventure touring bikes in multiple displacement segments.
00:12:46So, you know, it's a very popular class, you know, it depends kind of to where you are
00:12:52in the United States.
00:12:53Some regions, those, those products are more popular than others, but you know, if you're
00:12:58looking for a great way to get around and explore earth and all conditions, it's hard
00:13:03to beat ADV bikes.
00:13:05Yeah.
00:13:06It's sort of, they sort of feed the, uh, like the Lewis and Clark part of my brain.
00:13:10You know, like you, you look at a map and you try to figure out how, you know, this
00:13:15dirt road connects to this back road connects to this and you can connect States and sometimes
00:13:20borders and it's a, it's a very, very cool what it does for you.
00:13:26You know, like, uh, your, your sense of adventure and exploration.
00:13:30Yeah.
00:13:31I think that said, like you said, like it, it, you may not want to ever ride to the tip
00:13:40of South America from your house, but if you have an adventure bike in your garage, you
00:13:44could absolutely do it on, you know, you could hop on the thing and go and you could, you
00:13:49could probably make it, you know, and that's part of the popularity is in why they're the,
00:13:55one of the best selling segments in motorcycling right now is, you know, they just are so
00:14:00versatile in so many ways that, you know, everybody, it makes sense.
00:14:07It almost makes sense to own an adventure bike over any other motorcycle in some, in
00:14:11most cases.
00:14:12It really does.
00:14:13I mean, you can buy like a, uh, a liter size or liter plus size ADV, like the R 1300 GS.
00:14:20And you know, you get an extra set of wheels for that thing.
00:14:22And now you have a legit bike that you can ride on, on pretty gnarly off-road trails.
00:14:28And then you put your street bike wheels on and now you have extremely capable, you know,
00:14:32sporty touring bike.
00:14:34So you know, they're definitely expensive, but when you look at it from the multi-use
00:14:39case, you get a lot of value, a lot of versatility out of this, out of this kind of bike.
00:14:45And we're singling out BMW, but you could do that with the Africa twin.
00:14:48You could do that with many other, uh, uh, manufacturers products.
00:14:52Yeah.
00:14:52But I mean, you could say that's why BMW sells more GSs than all of their other motorcycle
00:14:58models combined, right?
00:15:00The GS is just a powerhouse in their, in their sales, uh, lineup.
00:15:06And it is in, in general, right?
00:15:07Like, and like you said, like you could, you could do all the things with it and you could
00:15:13have one bike, like, I'll say, say you're more of a sporty rider or somebody that was
00:15:18into sport bikes a lot that just isn't as flexible anymore or doesn't like to be hunkered
00:15:23down, man, go get yourself a multi-strata, right?
00:15:26That thing is V4, 180 horsepower monster that will embarrass sport bikes on a twisty road
00:15:36if you know how to ride, right?
00:15:38And, and you're going to be comfortable the whole way.
00:15:40If it's cold, you put on the heated grips, you've got wind protection, you, you know,
00:15:44and you're not going to, you're not going to get home and hate your knees.
00:15:47Yeah.
00:15:47And you can bring a passenger even, you know, there's so much room on them and the, and
00:15:52the, the, the luggage is so, uh, so big, you can just, you can bring it all, including
00:15:58a passenger.
00:15:59Yep.
00:16:00Absolutely.
00:16:01And the aftermarket accessories.
00:16:02I mean, the sky's the limit with these aftermarket accessories.
00:16:05I mean, you can equip these vehicles to do whatever type of mission you want.
00:16:10Like it's just truly incredible.
00:16:13Let's say, you know, the manufacturer doesn't offer a really good luggage option.
00:16:16Well, I guarantee you there's someone in the aftermarket that's going to answer that question,
00:16:21you know?
00:16:22Yeah, for sure.
00:16:23They're like, I say they're like the Legos or the, the AR 15s of the motorcycle world,
00:16:28right?
00:16:29You can, there's an attachment or an accessory for everybody and you can make it your own
00:16:35in so many different ways and so many combinations and make it usable for what you exactly want
00:16:40to do with it.
00:16:42You can change it easily to do something different.
00:16:44Like Adam said, change your wheels and go sport bike riding.
00:16:47You want to go on a long, you know, street adventure, throw the bags on it.
00:16:51You want to go just go bang around in the dirt, yank all that stuff off and you know,
00:16:56put some knobbies on it.
00:16:57Like you can do so much stuff with the bike and it's, it's so easy to do.
00:17:01Yeah.
00:17:02To expand on that comment, I mean you, I mean the wheel thing was kind of maybe going overboard
00:17:07a little bit because these bikes are so versatile with such high electronics package with such
00:17:12versatile capable tires that you really don't even need to switch tires.
00:17:16You can run a good, you know, 70, 30 street dirt bike tire and you can still go on some
00:17:20nice trails and kick at some dust, but still have, you know, good handling performance
00:17:25on the asphalt.
00:17:26Yeah, for sure.
00:17:27Yeah.
00:17:28And to touch on your versatility, you know, I've done track days out at, out at Chekwala,
00:17:33you know, and in the other groups I've seen guys out there on a GS having a, having a
00:17:38track day.
00:17:39Like it's like, it doesn't sound like something, you know, that I might want to do, but I see
00:17:45those guys and they're having a great time.
00:17:47Just another point, another example of their versatility.
00:17:52I would, I would honestly take a Multistrada, especially like a Pike's Peak model over,
00:17:58or an RS over a Panigale any day at a track day, because I just don't want to be uncomfortable
00:18:05and it's plenty fast to get your kicks.
00:18:09You know what I mean?
00:18:10Yeah.
00:18:11And it's crazy too.
00:18:12We were talking about aftermarket support, you know, like even the tire manufacturers
00:18:16have jumped on the bandwagon, like tire manufacturers are now making extremely street and road capable
00:18:24tires for these 19 inch and 21 inch diameter wheel sizes, which normally it'd be like,
00:18:29why would I want a high performance street bike tire on a 21 inch wheel?
00:18:34But they're doing it because people want that.
00:18:36And so now you can get that.
00:18:38So yeah.
00:18:39And on the exact opposite end, they're, they're building like full on off-road knobbies for
00:18:46very heavy, big motorcycles as well.
00:18:48Correct.
00:18:49Yeah.
00:18:50DOT legal off-road tires.
00:18:51Yeah, exactly.
00:18:52That was the point I was going to make, Dawes, is how they, they have some very good tires
00:18:59for, you know, very large SUV, ADV bikes that are so good in the dirt.
00:19:06Yeah, they really are.
00:19:07And then there's all kinds of things in between to, to, to do how you want.
00:19:13I think another reason that these bikes are so popular is they do foster a bit of community
00:19:18as all motorcycles do, but it seems like, like forums and discussion groups and Facebook
00:19:24groups really, really drive this segment that people are so active in those groups and talking
00:19:30about what they're doing, where they're going, how they're doing it.
00:19:33You know, it, it seems to be, you know, sometimes they may talk about riding more than they
00:19:39actually do it.
00:19:40Yeah.
00:19:41Some of those groups are even talking about what they're bolting on their bike, you know,
00:19:44what new accessories, what luggage, like to Adam's point, like what aftermarket luggage
00:19:49is, you know, more acceptable than the manufacturer's luggage, which is not, you know, the aftermarket
00:19:55is usually more durable aluminum stuff.
00:19:57Well, yeah.
00:19:58And, and, you know, that's the thing too, is you could, you know, you can talk to your
00:20:02community specific to your bike in a forum, which we all know forums have been a thing
00:20:07for a very, very long time, but it just seems like the amount of activity in an adventure
00:20:13bike group is so much higher than some other stuff where you can really find the answers
00:20:17to what you want to do and get some really solid suggestions from, from your, your community,
00:20:23you know, you know, and then there's, uh, there's some other, you know, things that
00:20:30really drive adventure bike riding, like the back country discovery route stuff, right?
00:20:36Like, like you don't see it so much in cruiser stuff.
00:20:40I mean, there's some famous roads, but you don't see them going like, I'm going to make
00:20:44a trip to all the way across the United States to ride this one single section of road.
00:20:50But on a BDR, people are coming from all over the States to go do a section of BDR.
00:20:55And they're like, Oh, I did the California BDR, the Colorado BDR.
00:20:59Right.
00:21:00And, and it's a, it's a bit of a badge of an honor to do it.
00:21:03Yeah.
00:21:04Yeah.
00:21:05They collect them.
00:21:06So like, uh, like we all do sort of collect locations that we've, that we've been to.
00:21:11Exactly.
00:21:12Exactly.
00:21:13And then of course there's the Instagram factor.
00:21:16There's plenty of people that also have them, uh, you know, and they, they, uh, they tell
00:21:24you their story through photos and, and look at, look at what I'm doing and that's, that's,
00:21:29that's cool.
00:21:30Like, you know, um, I like that people are sharing what they're doing and, and bragging
00:21:35about going to, you know, wherever they may be going, that's epic and showing us what
00:21:40these bikes can do.
00:21:41But you know, being able to brag about your exploits definitely adds to the factor of
00:21:45owning one.
00:21:46Yeah.
00:21:47Yeah.
00:21:48Yeah.
00:21:49Justin, talk about the displacement categories a little bit, you know, big group, lots of
00:21:53displacement categories, you know, of course we're talking about the R1300GS, which is
00:21:57$30,000 big heavy, but you don't need to ride a big heavy bike if you don't want to.
00:22:01No.
00:22:02Yeah.
00:22:03So let's start off with, you know, there's, I like to say there's an ADV for everyone.
00:22:08There's segments within the segment, uh, in ADV riding.
00:22:12Um, and it starts off with, you can find some very beginner friendly, single cylinder bikes
00:22:17that are plenty capable all the way from like Kawasaki's Versys 300.
00:22:22Like that thing, uh, is probably one of the most bare bones, one of the most simple, um,
00:22:29it does have a parallel twin.
00:22:31So it's, it's not really a single per se, um, I think, right.
00:22:37It's a, it's a twin.
00:22:38Twin.
00:22:39That's a good thing though.
00:22:40That's a good thing.
00:22:41So it's a, it's a small bike and, uh, it hangs out with a, in, inside of a segment that's
00:22:48got a lot of singles in it, but it's just a, it's a simple bike that can take you around
00:22:52the world if you want, like our friend, Aaron Frank used to be on Motorcyclist.
00:22:58His daughter rode one from like Minnesota all the way to Argentina, bought it, bought
00:23:04it and wrote it all the way down.
00:23:06Um, and then he can't, he flew down and wrote it all the way back up, you know, you know,
00:23:12so I, it's a, it's a very capable bike, even though it's more street slanted than some
00:23:19others.
00:23:20And then you've got, you've got a lot of rad singles, right?
00:23:22You've got like a KTM 390 adventure, which has always been pretty cool.
00:23:26Um, and now they're updating it for 2025.
00:23:30So it's going to get like a 21 inch front wheel and it's gonna look more like a rally
00:23:33bike and it's a little bit bigger and it's probably got a little more power.
00:23:36We don't have the details on it, on it yet, but, um, you know, it looks pretty rad.
00:23:43And then they oddly tease the photos at the Ike muff show this past fall, but didn't really
00:23:48have any information.
00:23:49I thought that was very odd.
00:23:51It was very odd.
00:23:53It's like the slow burn that they, they like to do and keep you interested for a long time.
00:23:58Um, at the, uh, taking the risk that you may get tired of waiting and go buy something
00:24:04else.
00:24:05Right?
00:24:06Because I mean, that happens a lot.
00:24:07You go, you get excited and you're like, Oh, look at this bike.
00:24:09I'm going to get one of those.
00:24:10I'm going to wait.
00:24:11I'm going to wait.
00:24:12I'm shopping.
00:24:13I'm looking, I'm looking at this bike.
00:24:14I need more info.
00:24:15Oh wait, what's this bike?
00:24:16Oh, this is a, uh, a Royal infield Himalayan.
00:24:19It's also a single, it's a four 50.
00:24:23Oh man.
00:24:24That thing's pretty cheap.
00:24:25You know?
00:24:26Hmm.
00:24:27I really want to get riding.
00:24:28And I, KTM hasn't said much more.
00:24:29Yeah.
00:24:30I'm just going to get the case.
00:24:31I'm going to go get the Himalayan.
00:24:32Right.
00:24:33Yeah.
00:24:34That happens.
00:24:35That definitely happens.
00:24:36So, uh, but there are people that'll stick around and wait.
00:24:38And you know, that goes to me talking about the Royal infield Himalayan four 50.
00:24:42That thing is awesome.
00:24:46$5,900.
00:24:47Um, and it has great performance for what it is, you know, four 50 single 40 horsepower
00:24:57liquid cooled.
00:24:58Um, the suspension, you know, it's awesome.
00:25:00I mean, Jeff, Jeff went out and shot photos of me.
00:25:02Yeah.
00:25:03I was, I was actually pretty jealous of you riding that thing.
00:25:05It looked like you were having a good time.
00:25:07Yeah.
00:25:08I mean the, the tires were a little skatey obviously.
00:25:10Um, but I mean, you got some pictures of me with, with air underneath the bike.
00:25:15So yeah.
00:25:16Yeah.
00:25:17Yeah.
00:25:18That's what I say.
00:25:19I mean, I was jealous.
00:25:20You were doing it all and the tires are, those are, you know, those are always the things
00:25:23you want to switch out first.
00:25:24If you're, if it's going to be more off-road bias anyways, that's, it's not an, it's not
00:25:30an issue.
00:25:31Yeah.
00:25:32So there's a, there's one single out there, Jeff, that's been around probably longer than
00:25:36you have.
00:25:37Easy.
00:25:38Easy.
00:25:40Easy there.
00:25:42That's the KLR 650.
00:25:45Yes.
00:25:46Uh, has it been around longer than me?
00:25:49I don't think so.
00:25:50Eighties, early eighties.
00:25:51It's eighties.
00:25:52Right?
00:25:53Mid eighties.
00:25:54Yeah, for sure.
00:25:55Mid eighties.
00:25:56There was a, there was the KLR 600, I think before that.
00:25:59So I mean in, in that engine architecture has been around since easily the mid eighties,
00:26:04if not the early eighties.
00:26:05Sure.
00:26:06Yeah.
00:26:07Yeah.
00:26:08Yeah.
00:26:09Yeah.
00:26:10Yeah.
00:26:11Yeah.
00:26:12But it's a, it's a pig that is, I call the stone hammer, right?
00:26:16Like it's been around for so long and it's hasn't changed much.
00:26:21Even the newest iterations that you know what you're getting, you know what you need to
00:26:26fix in order to go on a world around the world trip and you can find stuff for them all around
00:26:32the world, you know, because they've, they've been around for so long and they're not, they're
00:26:38not too bad.
00:26:39You know they, they're definitely a single, so they're not the best at pounding out lots
00:26:45of miles in a straight line and they're obviously not the best at jamming on super hardcore
00:26:50off road, but they, they'll get you there.
00:26:53Absolutely.
00:26:54Yeah.
00:26:55And before, like, so this sort of front crop of high performance ADVs, they were the best
00:27:01there was.
00:27:02I mean, it was, that was a great option.
00:27:04I did, I did trips to Mexico on those and it was, it was what you wanted.
00:27:09Just as you were saying, it was what you wanted to be on.
00:27:12Yep.
00:27:13So let's, we talked about one small twin, but let's get into some, some other twins.
00:27:19You know, almost everyone in the segment has a parallel twin and that seems to be the hot
00:27:25ticket at the moment, right?
00:27:27It is a parallel twin in varying displacements, but you know, everything from like Yamaha's
00:27:36Tenere 700, which, you know, started out its life in 2000, 2001 is like, man, like an insane
00:27:47deal.
00:27:48Less than 10 grand, you know, super cool rally looking adventure bike, and then you can go
00:27:54all the way up to, you know, BMW's R1300GS flat twin, you know, a hundred and whatever
00:28:02it is, 150 ish horsepower with all the torque in the world and everything in between, you
00:28:08know?
00:28:09So, you know, Honda, they got an Africa twin with a DCT.
00:28:12What do you guys think of that DCT?
00:28:16I think it's so cool that American Honda offers that product, you know, maybe for off-road
00:28:21riding, maybe not the best, but it's still cool that they offer it.
00:28:25And you know, if you don't ride a lot of off-road, it's totally fine.
00:28:29Yeah, I'm sort of the same.
00:28:31It's not, it's not my first choice DCT off-road, not because there's anything wrong with it
00:28:37or it doesn't work well or whatever.
00:28:39I just, I just like the idea of, you know, operating the machinery myself.
00:28:42I just, I'm old school.
00:28:46I, I feel that it has some challenges when you're riding off-road for sure, but a third
00:28:56of them are DCTs that are sold.
00:28:59Yeah, yeah.
00:29:00Like the people that are spending and voting with their wallet are, are, are interested
00:29:05in it.
00:29:06And I think it's great for, you know, road riding.
00:29:10It simplifies some stuff, you know, when you're pounding out long distances.
00:29:15But I will say that the DCT is really fun on slick fire roads.
00:29:19You know, you can bang through the gears just by pressing a button.
00:29:23You don't have to move your feet around and you can, it's really fun.
00:29:27It kind of feels like a little sports car on fire roads.
00:29:32Yeah.
00:29:33I didn't want to say, I didn't mean to say that I don't have fun on it.
00:29:35It's just as it gets a little more technical, I just like the comfort of being the guy making
00:29:43the decisions.
00:29:44Sure.
00:29:45Yeah.
00:29:46No, I totally get that.
00:29:47If you have to learn a new technique, you have to drag the rear brake to act like a
00:29:53clutch almost.
00:29:54When you're trying to find traction and really gnarly stuff, you have to modulate the power
00:29:59with the rear brake rather than taking away the power with the clutch.
00:30:04So it's interesting.
00:30:05A few years ago, they added that G button too, and that G button, that, that certainly
00:30:10helps where, you know, reduces the clutch engagement point and just makes it way more
00:30:14snappy.
00:30:15You know, I wish they had that button on their street bikes.
00:30:18Yep.
00:30:19No, I, it, it definitely works well.
00:30:23The G button.
00:30:24I think it's called G button.
00:30:26Yeah.
00:30:27Gravel G for gravel.
00:30:28Yeah.
00:30:29So you can't not talk about KTMs, 890, 790, Norden 901 Husqvarna, Husqvarna's when you're
00:30:38talking about this segment, they are probably the performance king in middleweight twins,
00:30:46for sure.
00:30:47They're just, you know, they went full all out rally style, low center of gravity, you
00:30:56know, saddle tanks, and they're gnarly.
00:30:59I mean, uh, you can get really, really, really crazy with them.
00:31:05Yeah.
00:31:06Yeah.
00:31:07Yeah.
00:31:08Awesome.
00:31:09Like capable bikes.
00:31:10We've seen people we know who like hit like really technical stuff, even sometimes on
00:31:14the motocross track.
00:31:15Yep.
00:31:16For sure.
00:31:17I, uh, I built a 790 back in, what year was that Jeff?
00:31:23It's 2020.
00:31:24Oh, I can't remember.
00:31:26Maybe 2021.
00:31:27I don't know.
00:31:292019.
00:31:30Sounds right.
00:31:31It was a 2019 model and I think I built it in 2020 because I bought the bike, um, and
00:31:36then we built it into a, uh, into a, you know, a project bike that had a price tag of over
00:31:4330 grand when it was done and you know, an MSRP of 30 grand and it was gnarly.
00:31:50It was awesome.
00:31:51It was gnarly, but it was awesome.
00:31:53Yeah.
00:31:54It was, that was a really good adventure bike.
00:31:56Yeah.
00:31:57It felt like a 450.
00:31:58Yeah.
00:31:59I, uh, remember we went and shot it and we took a Tenere as the photo bike.
00:32:07Jeff was like riding the photo bike and I was riding obviously the 790 to go out and
00:32:11shoot photos and go down this trail and I'm like, dude, what is taking Jeff so long?
00:32:16Like why, why am I waiting so long for him?
00:32:19And then we switched bikes and I was like, oh, okay.
00:32:23Well that's the thing.
00:32:24I think I even told you how much I liked the Tenere, you know, off-road prior to that.
00:32:29I'm like, this thing's really great.
00:32:30And then, yeah.
00:32:31And then you would just walk away from him like, how are they going that fast on that
00:32:35thing?
00:32:36Like, especially when we go in the, like the, the sections that had whoops, I was just like,
00:32:40you can't go that fast on a bike that size.
00:32:43Yeah.
00:32:44Yeah.
00:32:45So super rad.
00:32:46And you know, um, then we kind of last year did the same thing with Suzuki's Vstrom 800.
00:32:53So Suzuki's got a line of multi-cylinder bikes, just like everyone else does.
00:32:58So they have the old 650, the Vstrom as they call it.
00:33:02Now they have the 800 and they have the 1050 and the 800 is like that sweet spot, but it
00:33:07did need a little bit of help in performance if you wanted to make it a more capable off-road.
00:33:14So we built a rally bike to show that like you could go steps lower than this and really
00:33:19get, get some, um, some usability out of it off-road.
00:33:23And I will say that that is my favorite adventure bike is my Vstrom 800 race bike.
00:33:30It's even better than that KTM I built.
00:33:32Yeah.
00:33:33I would agree that I, again, like you're the guy making the good V, the good 80 V bikes
00:33:38because you made that first one.
00:33:40And then this one, that same thing I got on it and I was like, oh wow, this thing is crazy
00:33:44good.
00:33:45Yeah.
00:33:46It's really awesome.
00:33:47Yeah.
00:33:48So when we're talking about crazy good and we're talking about twins, we cannot not talk
00:33:53about the, the, the king of the room, the king, the king of the sales floor.
00:33:58And that's the, the R 1300 GS, right?
00:34:02That thing is it's, there's a reason that it's, it's always on top 10 lists.
00:34:08It's always picked as a best 80 V. It just does everything good.
00:34:13It may not do everything exceptional, but as a whole, it reaches and ticks so many more
00:34:19boxes than any other bike.
00:34:23Love riding that bike.
00:34:24It's every year I'm like, if I had to buy one bike, it always is that bike.
00:34:29Yeah.
00:34:30I tend to agree.
00:34:32Right.
00:34:33Although I, I have people ask me, they'll ask, you know, what, what, what should I buy?
00:34:38You know, the KTM, the, the big KTM or the, or the big BMW.
00:34:43And I just say, buy what your friends have.
00:34:46Like if you're going to go riding with your friends, buy what they have simply because
00:34:51they're both so good.
00:34:52And it's kind of a, it's a hard choice to make between the two, at least for me and
00:34:57like between shared parts or tools and knowledge, like just buy what they have.
00:35:04Right.
00:35:06Solid advice.
00:35:07No, I totally agree.
00:35:09It's very solid bike and everyone's got a GS because they, you know, they're just good.
00:35:16They're really, really solid.
00:35:18And so here's a question though.
00:35:20Okay.
00:35:21So instead of a KTM versus a GS, GS or GSA?
00:35:27Oh, that's easy for me.
00:35:29The GSA.
00:35:30Yeah.
00:35:31Adam.
00:35:32Why?
00:35:33Well, you gotta, you gotta give me more than that.
00:35:36Well, I mean, one, one obvious reason is the greater fuel range.
00:35:40Like I always say you can't have too much gas unless you're on fire.
00:35:44So having like, having like a giant fuel tank is, is perfect.
00:35:49You just put in the miles, whether it's to get in there miles, like you just have to
00:35:54slog a bunch of miles to get to wherever it is you're going, Utah or Baja or whatever.
00:35:59But then just once you get off road, you're not sweating the gas, you know, cause it could
00:36:05be a long time between stops.
00:36:07So that's that.
00:36:09And I do like the, I like the flatter seat.
00:36:14You know, I like more of a moto seat on that thing.
00:36:16Okay.
00:36:17Adam, what about you?
00:36:18The eight gallon fuel tank is certainly a plus.
00:36:22Whenever we ride that thing, I'm always like, why don't, why doesn't the Honda Goldwing
00:36:27have an eight gallon gas tank?
00:36:29You know, like every big bike that's set up for touring should have an eight gallon fuel
00:36:34tank.
00:36:35Uh, yeah, I, I totally agree with Jeff on all those points.
00:36:39And the GS adventure is a wonderful bike, no doubt, but I would opt for the slimmer,
00:36:44the slimmer and trimmer version, you know, just because it is slimmer and trimmer and
00:36:49not that the, the GS adventure is not capable because it totally is.
00:36:53And you can do, you can do all the things the standard model can.
00:36:57The standard standard model is just a little bit narrower, a little bit more, just lighter,
00:37:02you know, a little bit.
00:37:03And then you can still get the, the luggage capacity.
00:37:06You can still put luggage on it.
00:37:08You know, you could probably still figure out, uh, not as good fuel solution, but some
00:37:12type of fuel solution.
00:37:14Yeah.
00:37:15The wind protection is not quite as good for all the freeway travelers, but you know, the
00:37:20standard one isn't bad, you know, especially now with it's, you know, extreme, uh, articulation
00:37:26of that electronic windscreen, I'd probably just opt for the standard one.
00:37:30What about you, Justin?
00:37:31I'm, uh, I'm in the standard camp as well.
00:37:34I do like, you know, like you said, like the ability of the larger tank, a little bit more
00:37:40suspension travel, um, flat seat, but it's such a big motorcycle to an already big motorcycle.
00:37:49And don't get me wrong, the GS hides its weight so well.
00:37:54Like it, thanks to that, you know, low center of gravity from the engine.
00:37:58Now they've put the transmission below the crankshaft.
00:38:01So it's even, it's even lower center of gravity.
00:38:04Like you would never know that it weighs as much as a dying star, you know, it's they're,
00:38:12they're huge, but you don't know it when you're riding it.
00:38:14But there's a, there's a point where to me, like the extra fuel capacity doesn't, isn't
00:38:21worth the trade off in terms of slimness and ability to move it around and even, uh, maybe
00:38:27pick it up when you do screw up, you know?
00:38:31So yeah, I do love the way it hides its weight.
00:38:35I know that I've been in a couple of these adventure rallies where you have, uh, challenges
00:38:40and one of them is the, the slow race and that GS is always the choice.
00:38:45Like that thing is so well balanced if you're doing the slow race, that's the one you want
00:38:49very much.
00:38:50So it just stops.
00:38:51So, which is odd for having a bike with two cylinders sticking out the side, it doesn't
00:38:55really make sense.
00:38:56It doesn't make sense.
00:38:57Yeah.
00:38:58And it's pretty good.
00:38:59It's really good off-road until you find a place that there's two big rocks that aren't
00:39:02movable, skinnier than the, than the cylinders.
00:39:06Right.
00:39:07And then you're like, Oh, well, all right.
00:39:08That's the end of the trail here.
00:39:09You got to go.
00:39:10Um, but overall, you know, pretty rad, but let's talk about, um, one of the newcomers
00:39:16in the adventure bike space in the last few years.
00:39:18And that was, that was Harley Davidson and their Pan America, um, you know, quite the,
00:39:25the upstart for, for that motorcycle.
00:39:28And in fact, it actually outsold everything for a very short time in the adventure segment
00:39:34for a couple of months when it first came out.
00:39:38But cool to, for Harley to rest their hat on that.
00:39:41That's neat.
00:39:42Neat stat.
00:39:43Yeah.
00:39:44What do you guys think of that thing?
00:39:47I like it.
00:39:48I like it.
00:39:49I like that.
00:39:50It looks different.
00:39:51At first I thought it was a little odd looking the front until, you know, I, I realized that
00:39:57it is just like a, it just looks like it belongs in the family, you know, with that, that Harley
00:40:03front end.
00:40:04And I think it's, I think it's fun to ride.
00:40:07For me, it sort of fits, which is probably what they were going after.
00:40:11I think it's a motorcycle that fits really nicely between the BMW and the KTM it's riding
00:40:19characteristics.
00:40:20Yeah.
00:40:22Adam, what do you think?
00:40:24Like Jeff, I enjoy the styling of that motorcycle.
00:40:27I think it looks neat.
00:40:29It's got kind of a Tron-esque front end, but not too aggressive.
00:40:33And a lot of the lines and styling points really do follow the family of it's, you know,
00:40:39touring family.
00:40:40So yeah, I like the styling of it.
00:40:42I think it looks cool.
00:40:43Yeah.
00:40:44Kudos to Harley Davidson for not trying to make something that looks like all the others.
00:40:49Yep.
00:40:50I agree with that.
00:40:51I would say that it looks better in person than it does in photos and video, but it's
00:41:00still to me, it's kind of funky looking, but once you're behind the bars on the thing,
00:41:04it's amazing that they did that good of a job in their first run at it.
00:41:10Right out of the box.
00:41:11I agree.
00:41:12Yeah.
00:41:13I think that's amazing.
00:41:14Really, really great handling motorcycle.
00:41:15That engine is so peppy and so good.
00:41:20It feels, how do I, it's an American engine, but it doesn't feel like an American engine.
00:41:25Right?
00:41:26It doesn't feel like an American V-twin.
00:41:28It feels like more like a KTM than it does a Harley Davidson in the way that it delivers
00:41:33power and does its thing.
00:41:35I thought that was really rad.
00:41:37And then, you know, them coming out with the automatic lowering, you know, like how did
00:41:42no one think of that before?
00:41:45You know what I mean?
00:41:46Right?
00:41:47Yeah.
00:41:48And then, like, as all these people do, you know, complain about seat heights and worry
00:41:52about seat heights.
00:41:53And Harley was like, why don't we just lower the bike when they stop?
00:41:56You know?
00:41:57Yeah.
00:41:58You know?
00:41:59And now everyone's doing that.
00:42:00So.
00:42:01Feet on the ground in the dealership.
00:42:02Yeah.
00:42:03You know?
00:42:04That definitely helped sell some bikes.
00:42:06And then, you know, obviously there's a built-in audience because it's Harley Davidson and
00:42:11a lot of guys, or I should say a lot of people that owned Harley just stepped over into a
00:42:17Pan America as a second bike or, you know, to try the segment out because it's in the
00:42:23family.
00:42:24It's what they know.
00:42:25Totally.
00:42:26So.
00:42:27And they did a great job.
00:42:28They really did a good job.
00:42:30And it cost us a lot of money for a pizza party.
00:42:32Yeah.
00:42:33Yeah.
00:42:34Yeah.
00:42:35Are you going to tell that story?
00:42:36I guess.
00:42:37I guess I'm going to have to.
00:42:38So when that bike got shown off for the very first time in a video, Harley Davidson did
00:42:43this big tease video about, you know, this venture bike.
00:42:47And I went frame by frame and I like pointed out, Oh, it's got this kind of fork on it.
00:42:52And it looks like it's got this kind of suspension on the rear and that, you know, we just went
00:42:57frame by frame and picked it apart.
00:42:59And there was a line in my article that said, if Harley can make this thing weigh less than
00:43:04550 pounds, I will buy everyone in the engineering and design group pizza and beer.
00:43:10You know, because there was no way that you looked at it and there's like, there's no
00:43:13way this bike is less than 550 pounds.
00:43:15It's got to be 650 pounds, especially coming from Harley.
00:43:19And turns out they read my article and, uh, the boss, the, the product project manager
00:43:26printed it out, highlighted it and put it on every engineer's desk in, in Harley Davidson
00:43:33and showed them that.
00:43:35And that was their challenge was to beat that weight.
00:43:38And when, uh, you know, the, the base model came out, it was 535 pounds and we kept our
00:43:46word and we threw a pizza party.
00:43:48Um, you know, they called me out at the press launch.
00:43:51They were like, Dawes, you owe us beer and pizza.
00:43:54And so, so we did, it was a beer and pizza for like four or 500 people.
00:43:58Um, cool story.
00:44:00Um, I'm sure the accountants were not happy with me in my big mouth, but, uh, we stuck,
00:44:06we stuck to our word.
00:44:07So anyway, um, you know, then let's talk about, we're still talking about like engine architecture
00:44:12and displacements.
00:44:13And so let's talk about, uh, the weird ones.
00:44:16Um, you got some triples from triumph, right?
00:44:19You got the tiger 900 and the 1200.
00:44:22Um, I really like the tiger, um, fun bike and that, that triple really lends itself
00:44:30well to, um, road riding and gravel road riding for sure.
00:44:38The way that it builds power, it's very controllable and it's really, really fun.
00:44:42Yeah.
00:44:43On the pavement, that motor is fantastic.
00:44:45It's one of the best road riding, uh, adventure bikes there is.
00:44:51Yep.
00:44:52I think so too.
00:44:53It's really, and it, and it, and it can go off road and it can, it can definitely hold
00:44:59its own in most off-road situations until you get into really, really gnarly stuff.
00:45:06And that's like, that's a 1% thing when we talk about like gnarly off-road riding.
00:45:11We like doing it because we like to push the limits, but let's be honest, like the most,
00:45:16most people are going to do is some crappy dirt road with full of rocks.
00:45:21You know, it's some sort of like Jeep trail, right?
00:45:24So it's still, yeah, so Joe, I mean, you're riding that stuff, you're still riding that
00:45:28stuff and it's still fun and it's still very adventurous.
00:45:33And then you've got Ducati's Multistrada V4, right?
00:45:39Super cool.
00:45:40We talked about it.
00:45:41It's a, it's like the super bike of adventure bikes.
00:45:44Um, you know, it's got all the tech in the world, you know, and, uh, I really enjoy riding
00:45:52them.
00:45:53Um, but I'm always worried about dropping them because they're so pretty.
00:45:56Yeah.
00:45:57Yeah.
00:45:59They need a super bike for off-road.
00:46:00Those things are terrifyingly fast, terrifyingly fast, kind of an interesting choice in a powertrain
00:46:06for that application, you know?
00:46:08Yeah, I know.
00:46:10I mean, let's, let's be honest in Europe, they don't ride adventure bikes like we ride
00:46:14them here in the U S or in, uh, South Africa or Australia.
00:46:20Like we all that, that trio seems to pound on adventure bikes off-road more than in Europe.
00:46:29There's a lot of them that just spend 99% of their time on the street.
00:46:33It's not as much off-road riding available.
00:46:35Um, and if it is, it's just, it's chilled dirt roads.
00:46:39It's not gnarly.
00:46:40So, um, for that market, it makes a lot of sense and they sell a lot more street bikes
00:46:44in Europe than they do in the U S it's just, yeah, that's still fantastic for there's like
00:46:49the beat up back roads with absolutely.
00:46:52Like I can say like with giant potholes, there's still, yeah, still a good, a good choice.
00:46:58Um, other weird engines, uh, you've got Moto Guzzi's Stelvio, you know, it's got the, the,
00:47:08the longitudinal V twin, uh, you know, cylinder sticking out the side that don't stick out
00:47:13as far as a BMW, but, um, you know, still has, uh, the character of a Moto Guzzi.
00:47:20And I rode that thing, it's been a few years, but I really enjoyed that motorcycle.
00:47:25I think it's one of the best Guzzi's that has ever been made.
00:47:30Yeah, I, in my experience, they're, they're a bit heavy and, you know, not quite as, you
00:47:39know, performance based as some of these others we've been talking about.
00:47:44No, definitely not as a way of saying that performance is definitely not, but it's got
00:47:48a cool character and, you know, I wrote it off road on some fire roads and it was great.
00:47:54And on the street, it was, it was fantastic.
00:47:57Um, I think it's, it's much better than the, the, the V 100 Mandela, uh, that they, you
00:48:04know, that it's kind of based on.
00:48:05Um, I think it, it's a much more sensible Moto Guzzi than all the rest of them.
00:48:11And if I was to buy a Moto Guzzi, that would definitely be the bike I would go for.
00:48:16So, and then we've got electrics and Adam, you've got pretty, probably more experience
00:48:23with electric adventure bikes than the rest of us.
00:48:26You just wrote the Can-Am Origin a while ago, which is like, is it really an adventure bike?
00:48:33They're positioning it as that type ask.
00:48:37Yep.
00:48:37Not, it's not really, but I mean, kind of, they're positioning it that with an asterisk.
00:48:43Yeah.
00:48:44I mean, you did, you did write a little bit of dirt on it, but how did it do in the dirt?
00:48:48Like, I mean, granted you don't have the range that is basically a prerequisite.
00:48:56I would say for an adventure bike, like you're not going to be able to, to go
00:49:00long, long ways on it, but you know, how, how is it in the dirt?
00:49:06I honestly had more fun operating it off-road than I did on the road.
00:49:10As crazy as that sounds, you know,
00:49:13is the, the motor characteristic is good for the off-road.
00:49:17Uh, yeah, I mean, it, it just kind of feels like almost like a big Sur-on, like
00:49:22it feels like a big Sur-on off-road, you know, and, and, you know, on-road it, it
00:49:27has a very odd handling character when you're riding on the street and when
00:49:31you're riding an off-road, that odd handling character was less apparent.
00:49:35So that's why I liked riding it off-road more than road, you know, but yeah, it's
00:49:41a cool entry into the segment and, you know, it's just interesting that Can-Am,
00:49:46you know, it just goes to show you how popular this segment is, you know, BRP
00:49:50is looking to get in on a piece of the action, you know?
00:49:54Yeah.
00:49:54A piece of the action in adventure bikes, for sure.
00:49:57I mean, they, let's not forget, they actually, they have another adventure
00:50:01unit that I didn't put on our, on our outline here, and that's the Canyon.
00:50:06Just the, the, the three-wheeler.
00:50:08Oh, good point.
00:50:09They have an adventure three-wheeler, right?
00:50:11So they are really chasing that, that adventure.
00:50:16Thing, right?
00:50:17Because they've built this, this three-wheel trike, it's got the bags, like
00:50:22it looks like a, it's, it's got all the stuff that an adventure bike has.
00:50:27It's like this overlanding behemoth.
00:50:30Yeah.
00:50:31I mean, it's just, I mean, kudos to BRP for, you know, inventing that three-wheel,
00:50:36you know, auto cycle category with two wheels in the front, one in the back.
00:50:40I mean, I mean, they didn't totally invent it, but they were able to invent
00:50:45it in like a rate manufacturing type of way.
00:50:47And those spiders, like you wouldn't even believe how many spiders
00:50:51they sell in the United States.
00:50:53It's always boggles my mind when I see how many of those things they sell every year.
00:50:58Yeah.
00:50:58Yeah.
00:50:58I think people like to, to travel on them.
00:51:01I usually see them in there and they've got all the luggage on, on the top trunk,
00:51:04everything, and then you can tell they've been somewhere, they look
00:51:07like they've got miles on them.
00:51:09Yeah, for sure.
00:51:10I, um, I went to Austria two years ago and did the Grasglockner challenge.
00:51:15It's a, um, a Can-Am event where it's all spiders and, you know, Rikers, um,
00:51:22in Austria, and they go up to the Grasglockner, which is this amazing
00:51:25Alpine road and it was fun.
00:51:28I, I actually took my wife along and we had a, we had a big RT with
00:51:32all the bags and stuff on it.
00:51:34And it was, it was rad.
00:51:35And then when we were up at the top, it started snowing.
00:51:38And we're in the summer and it started snowing and there was, you know, all
00:51:41these spiders and then there was a bunch of guys on GSs and multi-stratas.
00:51:46And on the way back down the hill, it got so cold that there was ice, black ice.
00:51:51And there was three or four adventure bikes that were bend into the sides
00:51:57of the roads and in the ditches.
00:51:58We're on this three wheeler.
00:51:59Just like, oh, it's all good because we don't have to balance.
00:52:02We don't have to worry about falling over.
00:52:04I understand why some people may buy them, you know, for those things.
00:52:09And then, you know, dirt roads are even better for some people.
00:52:13Maybe that will never have the skills to ride off road and don't
00:52:17want to develop those skills, but they want to, they want to
00:52:19get out there in the dirt.
00:52:20Sure.
00:52:21Why not?
00:52:22Right.
00:52:24Yeah.
00:52:24I mean, yeah, they, they, they look, they can look pretty fun.
00:52:27I did a photo shoot, I don't know, maybe a year ago with somebody who was on a
00:52:32Riker and just, it was, what is it?
00:52:34The Riker rally is the sort of adventure version of that.
00:52:38And they were doing stuff on that thing.
00:52:41I didn't think you would do on, on a, on a three wheeler.
00:52:43It was, it was pretty cool.
00:52:45Yep.
00:52:45They being your son and our associate editor.
00:52:48They being Evan, my son.
00:52:49Yeah.
00:52:50Yeah.
00:52:50They being his, his son and our associate editor who, uh, pretty much
00:52:56will jump and wheelie anything he can.
00:52:58Yeah.
00:52:58If you could have wheelied that Riker, he would have.
00:53:01Yeah.
00:53:02So, um, and then, uh, zero is the other electric, uh, the DSX DSR X.
00:53:11Have you written that one, Adam?
00:53:13I have.
00:53:13Yeah.
00:53:13Yeah.
00:53:14It's a, it's, it's a, it's a nice bike.
00:53:16I really enjoy that bike.
00:53:18That's probably my favorite electric motorcycle made today would be that model.
00:53:24Yeah.
00:53:24Where did you write it?
00:53:26Uh, I, I wrote it at the official press introduction, I believe in
00:53:292021 or 2022, I think it was.
00:53:33And yeah, it's just, it's awesome because really the most awesome
00:53:37thing is that it just has a huge battery.
00:53:40It just has a giant, you know, battery that's, you know, two and a half
00:53:44times larger than can am or any other.
00:53:48Electric motorcycle manufacturer.
00:53:50And yeah, I mean, you feel it when you ride, it is very, very heavy,
00:53:53but it just gives you range like that.
00:53:55That's an electric motorcycle that you could actually, you know, ride 120
00:54:00miles on, you know, between charges.
00:54:03Yeah.
00:54:04Solid.
00:54:04You know, I, I haven't ridden the DSR, but I've always enjoyed
00:54:08every, every time I've gotten on a zero.
00:54:10I think they, they do the job well of an electric motorcycle and
00:54:15they feel like a big motorcycle.
00:54:18They feel right.
00:54:19You know what I mean?
00:54:20And they're, they're well put together.
00:54:22I mean, they're, they're, you know, American Eric, American manufacturer,
00:54:25they don't sell a huge quantity of these bikes in America, but
00:54:30they're, they're well put together.
00:54:31They're, they're nice electric bikes, you know?
00:54:34Yep.
00:54:35Definitely.
00:54:35So, um, let's talk about, so we, we were, we've been talking about all these bikes.
00:54:41So let's go with, um, I want to know what your favorite adventure bike is.
00:54:46And then I want to know, which may not be, this also may not be your favorite
00:54:49bike is the bike you would pick if you had to pick just one for everything.
00:54:55So, um, let's start with Adam.
00:54:58Uh, I mean, it, for me, it's no surprise.
00:55:00Our 1300 GS, I would totally buy that bike.
00:55:03I, I, I just love that bike.
00:55:05Yes.
00:55:06They're extremely expensive, you know, now that the new, the new generation
00:55:10has come out, you certainly don't want a 2023 or older R 1250 GS.
00:55:17You want the 1300 and, you know, those things are commanding a very mighty
00:55:22price, you know, in today's market, but they're absolutely worth it.
00:55:26And I would do whatever I could to buy that bike.
00:55:29Cause that bike's just awesome.
00:55:30If you're going to shell out and you went all out, you'd be bumping
00:55:34right up against 30 grand for one.
00:55:36I mean, that's unfortunately the reality.
00:55:40When you say that, cause it's so painful sounding, but that's just is what it is.
00:55:45You know, but you get what you pay for.
00:55:47Like those things are magnificently engineered and finely
00:55:50tuned instruments of versatility.
00:55:53So I'm gathering a lot, but you get what you pay for.
00:55:55And then what about you?
00:55:56Like you're, you're do it all.
00:55:58You're just one for everything.
00:56:00If this may not be your favorite bike, but like if someone was like, I need
00:56:04a bike for everything, what should I buy?
00:56:07I just that I know that 890 Adventure R is a little bit aggressive, you
00:56:12know, off road, but it's just awesome.
00:56:15It's so capable in every riding scenario.
00:56:18You know, if you can stand the orange color away and it's insect like looks,
00:56:22which is always kind of borderline for me, the, the, the performance of it is
00:56:27just, it's so awesome in every condition that I don't know, I just, I really like
00:56:32that bike, you know, if that bike was just a little bit more touring friendly,
00:56:35not that it's not touring friendly.
00:56:37Cause it is, you know, that would probably be the, that would be my, my
00:56:40absolute go-to bike that would replace the R 1300 GS, but yeah.
00:56:46And you know, those 890 Adventure R's, you can get those things for a
00:56:49really good deal right now, the 2024 models.
00:56:52So, you know, it's a good time to get into that platform.
00:56:56Yeah, definitely.
00:56:57If you want a KTM now is the time to buy one for price price wise.
00:57:02So for my favorite, you guys have heard me talk about this bike nonstop.
00:57:08It's the Vstrom 800 D rally racer bike that I built.
00:57:11That's my favorite ADV that I've ever built, ever had, ever owned, ever written.
00:57:16And it's because I built it for me.
00:57:18And I think that's the point of, of ADV is you can build it for you and you
00:57:22can build it for how you want to use it.
00:57:24So that's my favorite, but my do it all has to be what Adam's favorite is.
00:57:30And that's our 1300 GS.
00:57:32It just does everything so well.
00:57:34There's a reason that we pick it as a 10 best bike often.
00:57:38It just does everything so good.
00:57:41And if you were to have just one bike in the garage and wanted to do it
00:57:44all, that's the one you got to get.
00:57:49So that's where I'm at.
00:57:52Well, for my favorite, I'm going to go ahead and take my own
00:57:56advice and pick the KTM 1090.
00:58:00I know more people who I would ride with who have a 1090.
00:58:04And like I said, shared knowledge, shared tools.
00:58:071090.
00:58:08Wow.
00:58:09Used.
00:58:09Yeah.
00:58:10Yep.
00:58:11Solid.
00:58:13Uh, but that's the reason, you know, it's a shared tools and knowledge.
00:58:17Uh, and then my do it all, I'll go ahead and jump on the bandwagon
00:58:21and, and, and, uh, claim the R 1300 GS adventure.
00:58:26I like the bigger bike.
00:58:28Okay.
00:58:28That would be my do it all, but it's, it's a bit of a Sophie's choice.
00:58:32I like both the big KTMs and the big BMW.
00:58:37Yeah.
00:58:38I mean, I really do like the big KTMs too, but that BMW, it's
00:58:42just a, it's a choice that isn't wrong.
00:58:46You can never go wrong picking that bike.
00:58:48So, and Hey, we all, we all picked it in one form or another.
00:58:52So there you go.
00:58:54So, uh, we're going to wrap this thing up.
00:58:56I really, really appreciate Jeff joining on this, this podcast.
00:58:59Um, you know, uh, if you like hearing Jeff, let us know,
00:59:05maybe we'll keep him around.
00:59:06Uh, maybe we'll make him, uh, uh, integral part of this podcast, at
00:59:11least for a little while, till we, till we figure out, uh, who the,
00:59:14the third is going to be for, for good.
00:59:16So, um, let's, uh, let's talk about the takeaways.
00:59:21ADVs they're super popular for one very obvious reason.
00:59:27And that's versatility, right?
00:59:29There's, you can do it all.
00:59:31That's what we've been talking about.
00:59:32That's why we all pick the R13 and GS.
00:59:35You can do, you can do everything on them there.
00:59:36And there's so many options in models and in focus that you can
00:59:41find a bike that is right for you.
00:59:44And they're massively customizable.
00:59:45You can make it your motorcycle.
00:59:48So you can fine tune it, fine tune it, fine tune it till it's absolutely
00:59:52yours and nobody else's, and it'll make you happier than probably
00:59:56any other motorcycle you can own.
00:59:58So, uh, what's your thoughts on this podcast?
01:00:01Let us know.
01:00:02Um, like tell us about what you think about the current crop ADV bikes.
01:00:07Are they too expensive?
01:00:09Is there anything out there that gets your attention and what's
01:00:13your main concern with these bikes?
01:00:15Like if you were going to buy one, is it the price?
01:00:17Is it the size?
01:00:17Is it the weight?
01:00:18Is it the ability?
01:00:19Like, let us know why you would be shopping for an ADV or if you even
01:00:24like you may disagree with us completely and say we are insane
01:00:28for liking adventure bikes.
01:00:30So let us know.
01:00:31Engagement helps.
01:00:32We really appreciate you listening and we'll see you on the next one.