Adventure Motorcycles

What better way of proving a motorcycle than with a near-impossible journey? And what could be more impossible than riding to the south pole, in -40°C temperatures? Which will give out first, the bikes or the riders?

Triumph has made oblique references as to which adventure bikes it is gunning for with the heavily revised 2022 Tiger 1200 and it is the BMW GS. However, if it’s not careful, it will find itself going head-to-head with the KTM 1290 Adventure and is that a battle it can win?

Ducati will be hosting a series of six web-based premieres of its 2022 model line-up, starting on the 30th September. What could be the most interesting is being saved for last, as the Desert X middleweight adventure bike shown at the 2020 EICMA show is due to be revealed in production form.

Triumph is going all-out to promote the vastly upgraded Tiger 1200. In this latest teaser video, multiple MX World Champion Ricky Carmichael gets his hands on a test mule and puts it through its paces.

In the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die, both the baddies and Bond ride Triumphs. To commemorate (and cash in!) on the event, Triumph has released the Tiger 900 007 limited edition model. Only 250 available worldwide...

Triumph’s bid to turn the Tiger 1200 into the best adventure bike on the planet is revealed to be on track with the news that the engine will gain a T-plane crankshaft which offers the best all-round performance.

James Bond is quintessentially British and, apart from a brief flirtation with BMW in the ’90s, has driven British cars. In the latest film, Bond turns to a motorcycle and, naturally, it’s a Triumph.

Teaser videos are becoming all the rage and Honda is the latest manufacturer to introduce us to its latest model, the 2022 Africa Twin adventure bike. It’s short on details but big on inspiration.

Ever since the Triumph Tiger 900 arrived, speculation has been rife that the Tiger 1200 was about to receive a significant makeover. Triumph has now released a short teaser video and press release confirming that the new Tiger 1200 will have sharper claws.

It was a huge departure for the historic American manufacturer, but it seems as if the gamble has paid off as the Pan America adventure bike tops the sales charts in the Adventure Sports segment in the US, mere months after the bike was launched.

Husqvarna is really stringing the launch of the Norden 901 adventure bike out. We’ve met everyone at the factory and for the last two videos, we’ve been messing about in Iceland. Can we just see the bike close up now, please? You know, a bit of detail and specification? That would be nice.

Husqvarna is really ramping up the tension before the launch of the new Norden 901 adventure bike. In this video, we learn about how the marketing team at Husqvarna worked to create a campaign to introduce the bike to the world. Next week, we’ll probably meet the cleaners who serviced the toilets of the design and engineering teams.

Husqvarna is slowly releasing more details about its upcoming Norden 901 Adventure bike. Using the running gear from the KTM 890 Adventure, this will be the biggest Husqvarna ever and the company’s first adventure bike. This second video looks at the process of research and development, detailing how all the various departments are coordinated towards reaching the same goal over the two year process, finally delivering the bike the customer wants.

Aprilia has finally revealed its Tuareg 660 adventure bike. 660cc, 80bhp, 51.5 lb ft and 187kgs puts it directly head-to-head with Yamaha’s Tenere 700 although the electronics are more sophisticated and extensive. No word on price or when it will be available in the showrooms, but the Italian/Japanese battle has been joined.

Husqvarna showed the concept Norden 901 at the EICMA show back in 2019. Since then, nothing much has been heard of it, until now. The first in a series of videos introducing the bike before an imminent launch has been released on Husqvarna’s website and its Youtube channel. It doesn’t show the bike, but talks to the two designers responsible for taking the bike from concept to production-ready.

Manufacturers around the world are posting impressive sales gains in 2021 over the same period in 2020. These can be slightly misleading, however, due to the enormous differences in trading conditions from last year to this but the increases could be seen as a return of consumer confidence and a desire to just get on with life once again.

It might not be a fair comparison, given the difficult trading conditions at the beginning of 2020, but a better indication is that sales are up 9% against the same six months in 2019, the last ’normal’ year of trading.

A new exhibition at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles celebrating the spirit of adventure, from 1903 to the present day and beyond. Two- and four-wheeled vehicles, both earthbound and on other planets are on display, which celebrate not only the vehicles but the adventurers who rode and drove them.

BMW has extended the XR range with the new F900XR joining the S1000XR in the adventure-sports category. It’s an impressive bike but is there a problem lurking underneath the bodywork? The engine, built by Loncin in China, has no glaring flaws but BMW might have a problem on its hands due to buyer’s perceptions of the engine. Will it harm sales? Will the engine prove to be as bulletproof as previous BMW engine designs? Only time will tell and, if sales are harmed, that will be a pity as the F900XR has a lot going for it.