
The BMW we really wanted to take along for our epic sport tour to Yosemite back in July was the company's new R1200RT, but a batch of faulty rear shock shafts on the ESA models put the kibosh on that, so we wound up taking the K1600GT instead. The big six-cylinder is a great bike in its own...
The new Indian Motorcycles, Star Bolt, Suzuki V-Strom 1000 and Yamaha FZ-09 we showed you in recent issues were just appetizers; here's the main course for 2014. BMW K 1600 GTL Exclusive BMW has been hard on the gas launching new-for-2014 models, including the F 800 GS Adventure (Rider, October...
In fact, the Bonnie really completes the old-guy trifecta. These three are modern interpretations of what the '60s were all about and long before that, really. BMW built its first Boxer (which was its first motorcycle) in 1923. Triumph built its first Speed Twin, the Bonneville's granddad, in...
Icelanders like big bikes – such as a modern Triumph, an Ariel Square Four and a Honda CBX. The town of Akureyri, on Iceland's northern shore, is so close to the Arctic Circle that polar bears sometimes float in on ice floes. It is not where you would expect a motorcycle museum, but there one...
Unmuffled motorcycle engines make a racket, and no less a person than Valentino Rossi likes to have mufflers on his race bike because he finds the noise distracting. Still, if you're not so close that it's giving you a headache, there are both music and information in the sound. Harley and...
Why don't we go to Baja more often? Well, one reason is the manufacturers want us to get special dispensation before we take their bikes to a foreign country, you need to buy Mexican insurance, everybody speaks a weird language down there, you can't drink the water... those are all really easy...
What is the connection between motorcycles and airplanes? Growing up with a father who was fascinated by both, my youth was spent scouring the countryside for dusty barn finds, spinning a greasy wrench and flying, in the air and on the ground, wind in my face. It seemed that most of my dad's...