2013 Kawasaki Concours 14 Review
Greg Drevenstedt
May 6, 2013
When the Kawasaki Concours 14 sped onto the sport-touring scene for 2008, it easily arm-wrestled the competition into submission. With its liquid-cooled, 1,352cc in-line four derived from the time-warping Ninja ZX-14 sportbike, the mighty Concours puts 144.2 horsepower to the rear wheel—4.4 more than... Read more »
2013 BMW R 1200 RT Review
Greg Drevenstedt
May 6, 2013
Now in its 34th year of production, the BMW R 1200 RT has long been sport touring’s standard-bearer. Designed, built and refined in the shadow of the Alps, the RT name is synonymous with tractable power, intuitive handling and first-rate comfort and wind protection. Its trademark air/oil-cooled boxer... Read more »
2013 BMW K 1600 GT Review
Greg Drevenstedt
May 6, 2013
Tremors and aftershocks are still being felt two years after the Big One, when BMW’s dynamic duo—the K 1600 GT and GTL—reconfigured touring’s tectonic plates (Rider, May 2011, and on ridermagazine.com). After impressing us in their respective solo and comparison tests, both models shared Rider’s... Read more »
Harley-Davidson’s 2013 FXDB Street Bob Tour Test
Clement Salvadori
May 6, 2013
“Give me a road-trip report,” says Editor Tuttle, tossing me the keys to the Harley Street Bob. “Let me know if the modifications we asked for made it into a decent cruiser-touring bike.” Bob is your basic big twin, styled like a 1950s bobber, when it was the fashion to cut down, or bob, the... Read more »
2013 Honda F6B – Rider Test
Mark Tuttle
May 3, 2013
Last year, more new touring motorcycles were sold than bikes in any other individual street bike category, even cruisers. Touring includes luxury performers such as the Honda Gold Wing, BMW K 1600 GTL and the like, but the vast majority of those top-selling machines were “baggers,” large V-twin touring... Read more »
Retrospective: Ducati Sport Desmo 500: 1977-1982
Clement Salvadori
May 2, 2013
The moral of this story is simple: Do not let non-motorcycling bureaucrats run a motorcycle company. Ducati had a pretty successful run from its inception in 1946, especially after it introduced the Diana 250 single to the American market in 1961. However, financial problems cropped up in the early... Read more »
BMW F 800 GS Adventure – First Look
Greg Drevenstedt
May 2, 2013
Adventure touring’s rapidly expanding universe can be traced back to a Big Bang moment: BMW’s introduction of the R80G/S in 1980. Gelände/Strasse—Off-road/Road in German, or GS for short—has become much more than just a model designation. Among the BMW faithful, it has become an expansive identity,... Read more »
Ridden & Rated: 2013 Harley-Davidson Breakout
Paul Garson
April 29, 2013
Once upon a time, wide 240-series rear tires were only found on $50,000 custom motorcycles, or bikes heading for the drag strip that needed a big footprint to maximize traction. Today, they’re pretty common on cruisers, many of which handle poorly because of them. Not so for the new Harley-Davidson... Read more »
Ridden & Rated: 2014 Star Bolt
Bill Stermer
April 29, 2013
It’s a smart company that studies the market, conducts research and builds its products based upon what the data indicate will be successful. In the case of Yamaha, its Star Motorcycles division (which builds its cruisers) is a very smart company indeed. While noting that cruisers compose about 49... Read more »
26th Annual All-British Motorcycle Weekend, San Jose, California
Clement Salvadori
April 15, 2013
You have to give those Brit-bike lovers a big hand; they are an incredibly enthusiastic bunch of enthusiasts, putting up with aged machines that were none too reliable when new…by current standards. I rode British motorcycles all through the Sixties, when they were the hot item—and regular... Read more »
