Read Full Post | Comments(0) Ten Best Bikes 2012: Honorable Mentions
Ducati 1199 Panigale S An unbelievable, 174-horsepower V-Twin engine, 403 pounds dry, knockout styling and the leading electronics package offered on a superbike, including electronically adjustable suspension? All for $24K? Not cheap, but so much for the money! An amazing achievement from what is really just a small Italian company. KTM 450 SX-F Factory [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(0)Best Superbike: Aprilia Tuono V4 R
If you have one ounce, one molecule, one scintilla of hooliganism in you, the Tuono will bring it out faster than you can say, “But officer…” Try—just try—to ride this bike very far without snapping up the longest, easiest wheelie you’ve ever attempted. What? You say you don’t care about such things? Okay, but are [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(0)Best Adventure Bike: Yamaha Super Ténéré
There is no question that adventure bikes are hot. Early on, it was a one-pony show occupied by only BMW; but this segment, which is arguably motorcycling’s most versatile, has grown dramatically in the past few years. So, it was due time to judge adventure bikes solely against their peers. It is only fitting, then, [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(5)Best Touring Bike: BMW K1600GTL
The very existence of the luxury-touring motorcycle is owed to the great spaces in America and our desire to take not just everything we need but all the things we want on the road. BMW gave us a bike that does this in a most excellent manner but completely blew our minds by building it [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(0)Best Middleweight Streetbike: Ducati Streetfighter 848
In keeping up with the evolving motorcycle market, the time had come for us to reassess the definition of a middleweight motorcycle. The field has recently grown much larger, not only in displacement but in the vast number of worthy candidates. This required us to consider all sorts of supersport, standard, adventure and cruiser models [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(0)Best Sport-Touring Bike: BMW K1600GT
You can’t beat Mother Nature and you can’t cheat Father Physics. Or so we’ve always been taught. But BMW’s design team either never got that memo or ignored it, because the K1600GT they created flies in the face of those doctrines. With its adjustable windshield, flip-out air deflectors, heated grips and seat, and headlight that [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(4)Best Motocrosser: Suzuki RM-Z450
Dynasties aren’t created in just two years, but in the ultra-competitive world of motocross, back-to-back wins must feel like an eternity. Once again, Suzuki’s RM-Z450 proved to be the pick of the litter, backing up its 2011 performance with another exceptional display in ’12, despite being unchanged. Key to the RM-Z’s success is its class-leading [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(0)Best Standard: Honda NC700X
We’ve picked everything from the Suzuki DR-Z400SM to the Triumph Tiger 1050 for this category in the last five years, so don’t even try to talk us down from this year’s winner, Honda’s new-world NC700X. Even if our highly experienced Eurospondent, Bruno dePrato, hadn’t given the NC a rave review, this interesting, original, approachable and [...]
Read Full Post | Comments(2)Best Open-Class Streetbike: Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R
So, you thought the Suzuki Hayabusa was fast? Meet the newly crowned king of quick, the fastest-accelerating production bike of all time. And not by the slimmest of margins, either. Endowed with 192 rear-wheel horsepower, the ZX-14R will jumpstart your heart and redline your pulse while rocketing from zero to 60 in 2.6 seconds and [...]
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