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Buyer’s Guide

Cycle World complete motorcycle buyers guide is built to help you find the right bike. Compare and contrast multiple facets of competing motorcycles, in categories such as price, weight, displacement and seat height. Compare sportbikes, adventure bikes, streetbikes, dirtbikes, and cruisers by year or engine size. Browse by category, select your favorite make.

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Mid-Size Baggers Comparison Test - in-action

Mid-Size Baggers Comparison Test Honda Interstate vs. Star V Star 1300 Tourer vs. Suzuki Boulevard C90T B.O.S.S.

April 29, 2013 By 3 Comments

Southern California has its problems, but lack of good places to go for a ride isn’t one of them, even in February. We shoved off from CW HQ in Irvine under warm, partly cloudy skies and rode a couple of hours southeast to Lake Henshaw, elevation 2656 feet, where the temperature was in the 40s [...]

H-D CVO Road Glide Custom vs. Honda Gold Wing F6B - action shot #2

Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide vs. Honda Gold Wing F6B Deluxe – Comparison Test King of Bling meets the Clipped Wing.

April 22, 2013 By 16 Comments

  “What the heck is it?” That’s what most people ask when first laying eyes on the F6B, a Gold Wing whose big touring trunk and full-size windshield have gone AWOL. Without those key items, the F6B couldn’t possibly be the same dominant over-the-road touring rig as always. Could it? Nope. Honda instead bills the [...]

On hardpack roads near Randsburg

2013 Adventure Bike Comparison Test The road from Armageddon to Salvation.

March 29, 2013 By 16 Comments

The Mayans seriously screwed up. Either that, or we are not very good at reading their hieroglyphs. Most of us woke up last December 22nd and realized that the predicted doomsday hadn’t materialized. But it got the Cycle World staff thinking… Even though we dodged that one, shouldn’t we be prepared in case archeologists got [...]

Armageddon-metabox

The Armageddon Tour: Adventure Bike Comparison Test – Bonus Video What will you ride to the end of the world?

March 13, 2013 By 11 Comments

If you had to run to the hills and into unknown territory, which bike would you take? One of these. More from the Armageddon Tour: » Husqvarna TR650 Terra » Kawasaki KLR650 » KTM 990 Adventure Baja » Triumph Tiger 800XC » Yamaha Super Ténéré

Dual-Sport Budget Bashers

Dual-Sport Budget Bashers Work or play, these quarter-liters are ready to roll. Which one’s for you?

February 27, 2013 By 3 Comments

Great explorers have one thing in common: an insatiable desire to see what is beyond their own familiar territory. In the motorcycling world, dual-sports give us the chance to explore well past where the pavement ends while being able to get to that trailhead legally and efficiently with the benefit of a license plate. And [...]

Sportbike Shootout at the 4k Corral

Sportbike Shootout at the 4k Corral Less is not more, but it’s much more than it used to be.

February 25, 2013 By 8 Comments

A small-arms race! What fun! (Not to be confused with a small arms race; behold the power of the hyphen!) The Kawasaki Ninja 250 had been the best-selling sportbike in the U.S. and pretty much ruled the 250cc sportbike class until the Honda CBR250R got here two seasons ago and dethroned it in a thrilling [...]

Side view of the four one-bike Solution motorcycles

Four Affordable Motorcycles For City Commuting and Cross-Country Adventure BMW F700GS vs. Honda NC700X DCT ABS vs. Kawasaki Versys vs. Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS.

December 31, 2012 By 12 Comments

No doubt the all-new Honda NC700X is a great motorcycle, but it wasn’t long after the moto-press began throwing around terms like “revolutionary” and “game-changer” and “make mine red” before cooler heads (our readers) began to question the bike’s claim to unique fame. Dual-clutch transmission? It’s a fancy automatic; seen it. Built-in storage? Meh, the [...]

One-Bike-Solution_metabox

The Affordable Adventure One-Bike-Solution – Comparison Test Video BMW F700GS vs. Honda NC700X DCT ABS vs. Kawasaki Versys vs. Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS.

December 4, 2012 By 8 Comments

BMW F700GS Honda NC700X DCT ABS Kawasaki Versys Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS

Ducati and MV Agusta side-by-side comparison test

Clash of the Italian Middleweight Exotics – Comparison Test Ducati 848 EVO Corse SE vs. MV Agusta F3 675.

November 26, 2012 By 2 Comments

We have a soft spot for the “characters” of the motorcycle world. That’s why we were excited to throw a leg over the new 675cc, inline-Triple-powered MV Agusta F3. Like the Triumph Daytona 675 before it, this Italian-made middleweight flips the bird at the conventional 600cc-supersport-displacement norm by packing a supersized engine into its lightweight [...]

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