Cycle World - Travel and Adventure 2016

BMW R1200RS
EXPLORING THE PL ANET ONE ROAD AT A TIME
MAYBE THE PERFECT

SPORT-TOURER
Discover
AFRICAN
ADVENTURE
HONDAS NEW CRF1000L AFRICA TWIN
RIDE OF
AKENYALIFETIME
TO CALIFORNIA, CIRCA 1978
URAL ACROSS
EUROPE
41 COUNTRIES, 17,000 MILES,
4 MONTHS, 0 ZOMBIES
HIMALAYAN
TOUR
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING ON A CLASSIC
SPORTBIKE REBOOT:
RIDE LOCALLY:
ADVENTURE RALLIES:
HOW TO:
EXPERIENCING KTMS
SUPER DUKE GT
IN MALLORCA
EXPLORING ON
TRIUMPHS
TIGER 800 XCX
DISCOVERING
THE ROCKIES &
THE SIERRA
TUNE YOUR
ADV FOR
COMFORT
2016 TRAVEL & ADVENTURE

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FEATURES
C O N T E N T S
30: Worth The Wait
Riding Hondas new Africa Twin inwhere elseAfrica
A Bike Before Its Time: Remembering Hondas 1989 Transalp
Go With The Flow: The Africa Twins optional Dual Clutch Transmission
38: Out Of Africa

A life-changing ride, from Nairobi to Newport Beach, circa 1978
44: Vladimirs Luck

When you grow up in Transylvania, you always pack a zombie slayer
50: Indian Reservations

Riding over the backbone of the world, on a bike out of the last century
54: Think Globally, Ride Locally

Adventure is where you nd itespecially in your own backyard
58: BMW R1200RS

A sport-touring bike, before the term even existed
On the cover: Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin.
TRAVEL & ADVENTURE 3
COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS
6 Passport: Just your common terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk, rolling down the road
WAYPOINTS
8 First Ride: KTM 1290 Super Duke GT
14 Short Take: CSC RX3 Cyclone
15 Short Take: Royal Eneld Himalayan
16 Short Take: Rally-Raid Honda CB500X
18 Timbersled: Snowing outside? Perfect riding weather!
20 Choosing The Right Adventure Bike: A new way of looking at an age-old dilemma
22 Why Twins And Singles: Think of them as the opposite of antilock
24 Bonnier Adventure Rallies: A great way to enjoy your adventure bike
26
28
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66
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69
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71
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4 CYCLE WORLD
Giro dePrato: Our European editors Euro bucket list

First Read: Lightweight Unsupported Motorcycle Travel
The Savvy Traveler: Booking a tour? Heres how to be the best client ever.
The Cutting Edge: It slices! It dices! But can those trauma shears cut Kevlar?
How To: Adjusting your bike for a perfect t
How To: Pick the right touring company
World Of Hurt: What happens when things go south in a foreign country?
Big hill? No worries! BMWs Hill Hold and KTMs Hill Start Control
Clearwater Lights: Fiat Lux! (Let there be light!)
AltRider Hemisphere Bags: Turn any bike into a beast of burden
Venture Heat Clothing: Power to the peopleelectrical power, that is
Out There: African dessert
CYCLEWORLD.COM
EDITORINCHIEF MARK HOYER
VICE PRESIDENT, GROUP PUBLISHER ANDREW LEISNER
CONTENT STRATEGY DIRECTOR KURT HOY
DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL STRATEGY BRIAN SCHRADER
EDITORIAL
POWERED BY
TRAVEL EDITOR MARK LINDEMANN

MANAGING EDITOR TERRY MASAOKA
COPY EDITOR JESSICA MATTESON
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ART
ART DIRECTOR RICHARD M. BARON
PHOTO & VIDEO SERVICES

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PAUL DEAN, BRUNO DEPRATO, BARRY HATHAWAY,
MARCUS HELLRIGL, NICK IENATSCH, GARY INMAN, PETER JONES,
CIRO MEGGIOLARO, VIR NAKAI, MIGUEL SANTANA, NED SUESSE
EDITORIAL OFFICES
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2016
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Rockies July 1417

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From tarmac to trail, the GEICO Motorcycle Adventure Rally Series challenges
rider and machine. Team up with your favorite riding buddy(ies) or form a
team with other participants. By day discover self-navigated checkpoints
ranging in difficulty and distance, special tests, and more. By night enjoy
base camp with fellow competitors, Cycle World, Motorcyclist, and Dirt
Rider staffs, as well as guests from leading companies in the motorcycle
industry. Join the adventure!
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PASSPORT
I AM MY
OWN SNAIL
WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A DREAM AND A PLAN? BY MARK LINDEMANN
ho hasnt sat on a motorcycle

and wondered what it would
be like to ride off over the
horizon and just keep going?
For a generation, Then Came Bronson
dened the dream:
Taking a trip?
Yeah.
Where to?
Oh, I dont know. Wherever I end up,
I guess.
Man, I wish I was you.
All we need is the right bike and a way
to carry our stuff. George Hayduke, in
Edward Abbeys The Monkeywrench Gang,
has a back any pack would t. Cowboys
have their leather saddlebags, a slicker
rolled and tied behind the cantle. Scott
dragged sledges across the Antarctic
icecap. Bronson tied his bedroll to his
handlebar. Dennis Hopper and Peter
Fonda tied them to the sissy bar.
Modern motorcycles? There are plenty
of choices here. Todays touring bikes
(Honda Gold Wing, Harley Road Glide,
BMW K1600GTL) are largely dened
by their windshield, bodywork, and
integrated hard luggage. ADV bikes like
BMWs class-dening GS series, KTMs
1190 Adventure, and the new Honda
Africa Twin? Those iconic aluminum
panniers. For the rest of us theres everything from Cordura saddlebags, Giant
Loop horseshoe rolls, or GI dufe bags
strapped to a passenger seat. You can
even become your own luggage system
and stuff it all in a daypack if you travel
light. Channel your inner Bronson.
I was riding off to Mexico not long
ago, a little three-day trip. Gear lashed
on the motorcycle, standing in the
driveway, savoring that last cup of coffee
before I set off. My lovely wife looked at
me and passed judgment: You are your
own snail.
6 CYCLE WORLD
Born and raised in Germany, she

doesnt sugarcoat her criticism. Ive
developed a thick, leathery carapace to
deect the worst of it. Still, this seemed
pretty unforgiving. Sure, maybe Im not
the wing-footed god of the road I once
wasbut to be called a snail, by your
own inamorata, and before youve had
a chance to twist the throttle? Even by
Schwaben standards, thats harsh. My
coffee went cold in my cup.
Thats not what I meant. I mean that
you carry your house on your back, like
a snail. Or one of those hermit crabs.
Youre self-contained.
A singular moment of clarity. As
motorcyclists, when we set out on an
adventure, we are all our own snails.
Because, really, isnt that what touring or
sport-touring or adventure riding is all
about? Independence, taking the road not
traveled, going far enough away that you
wont be sleeping in your own bed for a
day or two or a year? Bringing what you
need with youwhether thats equipment
or skill or knowledge or curiosity? The
bike itself imposes limitations, forces you
to pare things down to the essentials,
clarify things even further, and then, by
the act of riding, distills our experiences,
makes them that much more powerful.
And wherever we stop, thats home.
Motorcycling is full of variety, from
sportbikes to cruisers to motocrossers.
But theres something that sets the
bikes with luggage apart: Possibility.
The dream and the freedom that a pair
of saddlebags or a windshield promises.
The wanderlust thats had us folding up
our tent and moving on since Australopithecus, or since some enterprising
Homo sapiens gured out they could use
a dog or a horse to carry the load. Weve
just discovered a better pack animal.
Embrace your inner snail.
BY THE NUMBERS
6,834
CAPACITY, IN CUBIC
INCHES, FOR
BMW R1200GSS
PANNIERS AND TOP
CASE (112 LITERS )
$1,299
COST, TOURATECH
ZEGA PRO PANNIER
SYSTEM FOR
KTM 1290 SUPER
ADVENTURE (ADD
$679 FOR TOP CASE)
129
POUNDS
THE MOST
THIS SNAIL
HAS EVER CARRIED
ON HIS BACK
(KELTY SUPER
TIOGA, CIRCA 1978)
RI
ITS NOT THE NUMBER OF MILES. ITS THE EXPERIENCES YOU MAKE WITH THE
PEOPLE WHO MATTER THE MOST. RIDING A HARLEY-DAVIDSON HAS NEVER BEEN
ABOUT JUST GETTING THERE. ITS EVERYTHING YOU TAKE IN ALONG THE WAY.
LIVE YOUR LEGEND. SIGN UP FOR A TEST RIDE AT H-D.COM/TODAY

2016 H-D or its Afliates. H-D, Harley, Harley-Davidson and the Bar & Shield Logo are among the trademarks of H-D U.S.A., LLC.
B R
CREDIT
8 CYCLE WORLD
A Hand Full
Of Smart
KTMs new 2017 Super Duke GT will
make you rethink what a sportbike is
BY PETER JONES
CREDIT
TMs new 1290 Super

Duke GT thinks its a
sportbike. It doesnt
look like one, and
KTM doesnt call it a sportbike, yet it does everything a
rider would ever ask from a
sportbikejust with bags.
In strict motorcycle enthusiast vernacular, the new
Super Duke GT is, of course, a
sport-tourer. Those hard bags.
The heated grips. It has a onepiece handlebar, not clip-ons,
along with a reasonable passenger pad and cruise control.
It has an alternative damping
range for a passengers added
weight. But it also has 173 hp,
traction control, a quickshifter, and modes for Sport
riding and Sport suspension.
The 1290 Super Duke GT is
a slightly updated 1290 Super
Duke R with changes to the
fairing and engine, the latter
getting new heads with both
modied combustion chambers and the intake ports
further upstream from the
valves. New mapping, plain
bearings, and timing for the
75-degree V-twin go a step
further and are intended to
reduce vibration and engine
noise, allowing KTM to meet
ever-restricting vehicle emissions standards while at the
same time helping the bike
maintain its huge horsepower numbers and deliver
PHOTOGR APHY COURTES Y OF KTM
a wider torque curve. Output

is 173 hp at 9,500 rpm and
106.2 pound-feet of torque at
6,750 rpm. This is a for-real
high-performance engine, not
some oversize comfort pump.
The throttle is ride-by-wire
and the engine management
has revised mapping. For
smooth downshifts the 1290
Super Duke GT has a slipper
clutch plus Motor Slip Regulation (MSR), a system that
monitors the drag torque of
the engine and slightly opens
the throttle to quickly match
engine speed to wheel speed
and avoid tire hop or drifting
at corner entry.
Accompanying the riding
modes (Sport, Street, and
Rain) of the 1290 Super Duke
GT is Traction Control (MTC)
that varies depending on
which riding mode is in use.
Obviously, the modes are for
providing maximum comfort
and condence, so the MTC
is most intrusive in Rain and
least intrusive in Sport. It can
also be shut off.
Braking is with combinedABS (C-ABS), which means
that a measure of rear braking is applied with a pull of
the front brake lever, and
the rear wheel, like the front
wheel, will not lock. The CABS is selectable and can be
shut off or put in Supermoto
mode for ABS up front and a
WAYPOINTS
lockable rear wheel.

Master of the MTC and
C-ABS is the Bosch Motorcycle Stability Control (MSC)
module, which reads and
communicates the motorcycles lean angle so that
these systems can perform
properly from straight up
to full lean. In other words,
leaned-over braking or
accelerating on wet pavement or dry pavement are
managed alike for maximum
safety and performance. Just
remember, the system doesnt
actually sense rain; the

rider must voluntarily select
between modes.
If that aint enough, a
quickshifter is also standard.
With it, upshifts are accomplished without the need for
clutching or rolling off the
throttle. All you do is hold
fast and ick your toes.
Additional electronic
options include a Hill Hold
Control (HHC) system, which
keeps the Brembo M50 monoblock brake calipers engaged
for ve seconds after the
KTMs 2017 Super Duke GT

makes you rethink
what a sportbike is.
Its fast and easy to ride
but has hard bags,
a comfortable passenger
seat, and suspension that
keeps a passenger in mind.
It truly puts the sport
in sport-touring.
10 CYCLE WORLD
front brake is released (when

the system is activated) or
until the machine moves forward, whichever comes rst.
Theres also a Tire Pressure
Monitoring System (TPMS)
for instant knowledge of a
change in tire pressure, and
the turn signals cancel (ATIR)
after 150 meters of travel.
Electronic cruise control is
standard too.
The suspension is as smart
as the rest of the 1290 Super
Duke GT. On the mechanical
side, travel was added to the
WP semi-active suspension
resulting in nearly 5 inches
of travel for the inverted
fork and more than 6 inches
at the rear. The semi-active
suspension has three modes
to choose between: Comfort,
Street, and Sport. While in
motion, the Electronic Suspension Control Unit (SCU)
continuously adjusts the suspension to riding style and
road surface. The Comfort
and Street modes default to
providing the most comfortable ride possible, while the
Sport mode provides the

best handling package, with
comfort taking a backseat,
so to speak. For all modes,
rear preload must be selected,
but the damping parameters
automatically adjust to the
proper laden-weight algorithm to maintain optimum
suspension performance.
The fork features a spring
in the right side only, and all
damping is handled by the
left fork leg. A WP steering
damper is also on board.
Other features include LED
cornering lights, a big 6-gallon
fuel tank providing a 250-mile
range, one-hand-adjustable
windscreen, heated grips, and
9,300-mile service intervals.
Its easy to ride the 1290
Super Duke GT hard because
it has your back. The electronics manage traction from
hard acceleration to hard
braking, all with a seamless
assist thats so invisible it
allows the rider to assume
full credit. Im far more
talented on the 1290 Super
Duke GT than on any other
bike Ive ever ridden, and it

hurts me to admit that. Were
it not for the occasional ashing lights on the dashboard
that communicate that the
systems are functioning and
engaged, youd barely know
that the bike is thinking and
taking action.
The quickshifter is as good
as the rest of the electronicsso good in fact that I
kept forgetting to use it properly. Not only does it provide
a totally smooth full-throttle
shift, matching engine speed
to wheel speed, but it also

winds the throttle back open
so smoothly that you can
grab a higher gear while still
leaned hard over. For the
street its truly golden.
The underlying conceptual
difference about this bike is,
of course, that when riding
it aggressively its a rare
event that the EFI is doing
what your right hand is telling it to do. Not only is the
rider riding by wire, but the
various electronic systems of
the bike are also driving by
Hard bags and an adjustable screen help turn the

Super Duke GT into a great
mount for longer rides,
with the former providing a place to store your
goodies and the latter
keeping the wind blasts
from wearing you down.
WAYPOINTS
wireinterpreting, interrupting, and managing the riders

demands to the dynamic contingencies. But thats not all.
I found myself running
deeper and deeper into
curves and then braking ultra
hard without worry or concern. Linked brakes, linked
ABS, and cornering ABS are
my new friends. Together
they produce a feel and condence that four riding schools
and a few years of roadracing never gave me. Please
remember, though, that
the KTM 1290 Super Duke

GT cannot actually violate
the laws of physics. But by
electronically managing the
complicated dynamics of rubbing up against those laws, it
does signicantly transform
the riding experience.
Sixth gear is quite high,
resulting in an engine speed
of about 4,000 rpm at 75 mph.
That might sound proper, but
the LC8 engine isnt really
happy that far down on the
tach, and a KTM engineer
agreed that for highway-legal
With the Super Duke GT producing a claimed 173 hp and

106.2 pound-feet of torque, it
was only right for KTM to keep
with the Brembo M50 front
brake calipers. With Hill Hold
Control activated, they stay
engaged for five seconds after
the front brake is released or
until the machine moves forward, whichever comes first.
12 CYCLE WORLD
speeds, fth gear is probably

a better choice. The sweet
spot in sixth gear is more like
90 mph.
We were told Sport mode
would be too harsh for touring, but either I didnt care
or the near-perfect roads of
Mallorca made the Comfort
mode unnecessary. After 160
miles of aggressive touring,
primarily in Sport mode, my
butt was ready for another
400. And so was the rest
of me.
So the KTM 1290 Super
Duke GT can be ridden
calmly or brutally stupidly,
which is pretty much how
I ride. As long as an error,
lack of judgment, or careless indiscretion is within
the limits of the rules of
physics, it can forgive. The
big takeaway is that the rider
assists really are just assists
and not numbing or distracting intrusions. This feel and
feedback from such a smart
and talented machine is the
1290 Super Duke GTs stunning grace.
Its the ride

;,!;1!'89W
When the sun meets the
horizon and theres nothing
in front of you except the
open road. Thats the only
way to live.
'; 3;38$@$'
-29<8!2$';3&!@W
Motorcycle
geico.com | 1-800-442-9253 | /RFDO2IFH
Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance
Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. Motorcycle and ATV coverages are underwritten by GEICO Indemnity Company. 2016 GEICO
JEFF ALLEN
WAYPOINTS SHORT TAKE
Chinese Takeout
CSC Motorcycles RX3 Cyclone: ADV lite, ATV cheap
BY MARK LINDEMANN
hen it comes to CSC

Motorcycles RX3
Cyclone, we might
as well confront the elephant
in the room straight on: As
shown here (windshield, engine guards, luggage) it costs a
mere $3,895 new, and thats all
some folks will need to hear.
Its also made in China, which
is maybe all another group
will need to hear. Finally, its a
250cc adventure bike in a land
where most ADV bikes are
four or ve times larger.
The RX3 uses a Zongshendesigned 250cc, SOHC,
liquid-cooled counterbalanced single, fuel-injected
and with a 77 x 53.6mm bore
and stroke. Its smoothness
and powerband are surprisingly good: The fuel injection
meters awlessly, and the
14 CYCLE WORLD
modest power is linear all the

way up to redline. At freeway
speedsan indicated 78 mph
but a veried 70the engine
is turning 8,000 rpm; redline
is 9,000, and the rev limiter
cuts in around 10,500.
The seating position is just
about perfect (from a 6-foot,
160-pound test riders point of

view). The small windshield
also does an excellent job all
the way to the motorcycles
maximum speed, a real
surprise given the shields
modest size.
Of course the RX3 is not
without fault. The 262mm
single front disc requires a
mighty squeeze and even
then returns only modest
stopping power. The 258mm
rear brake is better. The
Cyclones suspension is
likewise less than what one
would expect from a more
expensive Japanese bike.

Since it is an ADV-style
bike we took the RX3 off
road, and it performed ne so
long as those dirt roads were
relatively smooth and we kept
the speeds down in deference
to the suspensions limits
and street-oriented tires. Run
pretty much wide open the
Cyclone averaged 59 mpg.
Around town it was easy to
get it up to the low to mid-70s.
Fuel capacity is 4.2 gallons.
Just as many of us order
our books and music online, if
you want an RX3 Cyclone, you
contact CSC Motorcycles and
purchase it directly from the
company. A local shop handles
your warranty service with
reimbursement through CSC;
parts are available online.
2015 CSC RX3 Cyclone
Price
$3895
Engine:
SOHC single
Displacement: 250cc
Seat Height: 31.3 in.
Fuel Capacity: 4.2 gal.
Claimed
385 lb.
Weight:
ROYAL ENFIELD
SHORT TAKE WAYPOINTS
Madras
Modernization
Program
Royal Enfields Himalayan
BY MARK LINDEMANN
how up for a ride in the

Karakoram or the Hindu
Kush, and likely as not
youll be given the keys to a
Royal Eneld Bullet. Designwise its a relic from the time
when the sun never set on the
English empireand of course
thats precisely why so many
riders nd them fascinating. Like the Short Magazine
Lee-Eneld rie, they might
be low-tech, but they just keep
soldiering along.
All thats changing with

a new offering from Royal
Eneld: the Himalayan.
Like the Bullet, its a midsize
single but far more up to date.
The all-new 411cc engine is a
two-valve, single-overheadcam design, fed by a carburetor. The chassis is also a
new design, and in a rst for
Royal Eneld, the Himalayan
uses a single-shock rear suspension with far more travel
front and rear than the Bullet.
Engine output is a whopping

25 hp, modest by Interstate 5
standards but quite in line for
the Khyber Pass.
Once you get outside of
North America and Europe,
adventure-bike riding takes
on a whole new meaning
youll be as likely to see a 1982
XL250 Honda as a new BMW
R1200GS. The new Himalaya
shows that Royal Eneld is
upping its game, making the
move from the quaint/classic
to the more modern but still

basic. Bikes like the Royal
Eneld or the Ural arent for
everyone, but they carry a
pukka adventure cachet that
just makes you smile.
2016 Royal Eneld Himalayan
Engine:
SOHC single
Displacement: 411cc
Seat Height: 31.5 in.
Fuel Capacity: 5.5 gal.
Claimed
Wet Weight: 401 lb.
Rally-Raid Products CB500X Adventure Kit

BY MARK LINDEMANN
onda's CB500- and

CBR500-series twins are
machines I like to think
of as solution bikes, motorcycles that are fun, practical,
affordable, generally easy to
ride, and a great choice for
a wide range of riders. The
adventure-styled CB500X is
a real do-all favorite. But note
we said adventure-styled; if
you plan to ride many unimproved roads, youll probably
want something with a little
more ADV cred.
Enter the folks at RallyRaid Products, a UK rm
thats an ADV riders candy
store. They offer three kits
that make your 500X far
more dirt capable, turning
it into something of a mini
Africa Twin. Opt for the Level
16 CYCLE WORLD
3 treatment and youll get a

new rear shock with 2 inches
more travel than the original,
along with a remote reservoir
and fully adjustable damping.
Depending on how much you
weigh and how much you
intend to carry, you can also
choose from three different
spring weights; new linkage
also accompanies the spring
and shock.
Up front new fork internals (springs, damper rods,
shim valve stacks, adjustable
preload caps, and 1.2 inches
more travel) are held by a new
top triple clamp incorporating a Scotts steering-damper
mount and an adjustable bar/
riser block. Standing on its
taller suspension, a longer
sidestand is also included.
The most visible changes are

a new 17-inch rear wheel and
a 19-inch front, both laced
using stainless-steel spokes
(these replace the standard
wheels, which are 17-inch
cast pieces front and rear). A
new front fender completes
the list. Add a set of ADV tires
and youre ready to go.
The kit is available directly

from Rally-Raid Products in
the UK or Giant Loop here
in the US. The latter also
offers additional pieces like
footpegs, engine guards,
luggage racks, and more for
the CB500X. Total price from
Giant Loop for the Level 3 kit
is $2,899.
RALLY-RAID PRODUCTS 8 Williams Way Wollaston, Northants NN29 7RQ United

Kingdom +44 (0) 1933 663386 cb500xadventure.com
GIANT LOOP LLC 63025 OB Riley Road, Suite 17 Bend, OR 97701
(888) 358-8347 giantloopmoto.com
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIANT LOOP/RALLY-RAID
Africa Twin Lite
The Anti-Snowbird Effect

Learning to love winter and snow-covered mountains with the help of a Timbersled snowbike conversion kit
BY BRADLEY ADAMS
dventure is where you

nd it. But where do
motorcyclists nd it
in the depth of winter?
Having grown up in sunny
Southern California, winter
is hardly my favorite season.
Thermometer dips below 70
degrees? That uffy white
stuff falling from the sky? No
thanks. Or at least thats what
I thought until earlier this
year, when I had the chance
to ride a Timbersled snowbike.
More dirt bike than
anything else, a snowbike is
technically an off-road motorcycle with a conversion kit
that replaces the front wheel
with a ski and spindle and
changes out the swingarm/
rear wheel for a paddle-lined
18 CYCLE WORLD
track. Theres more than

meets the eye, of course: The
latest conversion kit utilizes
a specially designed ski with
three individual keels and six
metal biting edges. Its laid
out so when youre riding in
a straight line, youre only on
the middle keel, and you use
the outers as you lean into a
turn. The 12.5-inch-wide rear
track has a convex shape that
provides the same type of
linear steering as you tip into
a corner, with 2.5-inch deep,
snow-gripping paddles down
the middle and shallower
paddles on the sides.
While the overall handling
is slower and less linear
compared to a dirt bikes,
its still easy to get a feel for
the Timbersled. The ski and

track make it tough to steer
on hard-packed snow but let
you carve through a mountainside with the handlebar
skimming the surface the
second you ride off into a
deeper section.
The deeper you go, the
more fun the bike becomes
and the more you see the
attraction. In terms of
weight, the Timbersled puts
a conventional snowmobile
to shame. Narrow, uncharted
lines between trailside trees
are a cinch to navigate, and
mountains that you wouldnt
consider walking up even in
summer become mere amusements on the snowbike. In
just minutes youre standing
on the mountain peak, both

you and the snowbike asking,
Where to next?
That willingness to go anywhere and conquer all leaves
you as the rider (albeit a cold
one) yearning to explore
more. Youll hit jumps, leap
off ledges, and go deeper than
you imagined you could, the
snowbike taking it in stride
and teaching you all at once
how to properly love winter.
And then theres the added
satisfaction in knowing that
as soon as the snow melts,
all you have to do to convert
your bike back for dirt duty
is remove the swingarm bolt,
upper shock bolt, brake line,
and chain, and reinstall your
stock components.
PHOTOGR APHY BY Todd Williams
PICK YOUR POISON

Timbersled offers its snowbike conversion kits in three
slightly different packages. They vary in track length and
cost: The longer track (137 inches) offers more traction
(for better exploring in rougher conditions) and the shorter
track (120 inches) improved steering quickness.
Short Track Raw (unpainted components): $4,299
Short Track: $5,299
Long Track: $5,999
What about your bikes

engine, pushing so
hard, so long, and with
such increased driveline
demand? Timbersled
asserts that, because
the snowbikes run in
cooler climes and clean,
mountain-fresh air, the
machines dont experience
any adverse engine wear.
WAYPOINTS CHOOSING A BIKE
SEEING THE BIG PICTURE

By Ned Suesse
Go big? Go small? Which bike is going to suit you best.
t doesnt matter if youre exploring a powerline trail at the

edge of town or setting off for Ushuaia, adventure bikes
are as much about expanding your horizons as well as your
options. Whether you want to channel your inner Valentino Rossi or Ernest Shackleton, choosing the right bike is key
to how happy youll be.
Were limiting our discussion here to bikes that are both
on- and off-road capable rather than dirt-only or street-only
machines. Even then theres a huge range from small, light,

inexpensive 250cc singles to large, substantial, expensive
continent-roamers with engines ve times as large. And while
theres some temptation to think one choice more righteous
or rened than another, thats rubbish. Its a matter of nding
a bike that suits the kind of riding you do and understanding
that the bike itself will most likely shape the adventures you
seek out. The rider on a 250 may well ride up rocky single-
MORE
Heavyweights sacrice
off-road ability for
day-long on-road comfort
ON-ROAD
Twins of any size are a

better choice for long, highspeed dirt or paved roads
Technical off-road
is the strong suit for
the smaller singles
COST
WEIGHT
BETTER
SMALL: YAMAHA WR250R HONDA CRF250L KAWASAKI KLX250S KTM 350 EXC
MIDDLEWEIGHT: KAWASAKI KLR650 SUZUKI DR650 KTM 690 HUSQVARNA 701 ENDURO
TWINS: BMW F800GS TRIUMPH 800 XCx SUZUKI DL650 V-STROM HONDA AFRICA TWIN
HEAVYWEIGHT: KTM 1190/1290 BMW R1200GS TRIUMPH TIGER EXPLORER SUZUKI DL1000
20 CYCLE WORLD
CHEAPER
OFF-ROAD
LIGHTER
Middleweight 650
singles tend to be evenly
developed across the
board but excel in no
single area
BIKE
LB.
BMW R1200GS ADVENTURE
573
PRICE
$18,695
BMW F800GS
505
$13,895
KAWASAKI KLR650
388
$6499
KTM 1190 ADVENTURE R
506
$16,134
HONDA AFRICA TWIN
503
$12,999
YAMAHA SUPER TNR
584
$15,090
TRIUMPH TIGER 800 XCX
481
$13,499
ON-ROAD
(BETTER)
What Shape Is Your Ride?
PROS: Big twins are the new sporttourers. Theyre among the best two-up
bikes available, and you can bring plenty
with you for long trips.
Weve tried to dene seven popular

ADV bikes strengths and limits.
Choosing the right one for you is
a matter of being honest with
yourself and dening
your priorities.
WEIGHT
(LIGHT)
400
CONS: Expensive and complicated. They

need traction control and lots of other
rider aids, and even still they are a handful
in less-than-perfect conditions. Require
superior technique off road.
500
$18K
PROS: Big singles like the classic

KLR650 are capable of anything. With
some aftermarket accessories you can
make your bike work for any mission.
CONS: These bikes are usually specialist at nothing. While capable of highway
speeds, they arent much fun to drone
along. Too heavy to be proper dirt bikes,
they dont make difficult trails any easier.
$12K
$6K
COST
(CHEAP)
PROS: Middleweights are better on the

road than any single, and they can be
surprisingly capable off road. They typically offer fuel injection, traction control,
ABS, and more.
OFF-ROAD
(BETTER)
tracks that the 1200 owner will never explore. On the other
hand, the rider on a bigger ADV machine may roll up the kind
of cross-continent mileage that few 250s will ever see.
One thing these diagrams should make apparent: Machines
that excel in one area often do so by sacricing broad-scope
capabilities in others. This is the difference between a scalpel
and a Swiss army knife: Broadly dened, theyre both just
cutting implements, one highly focused, the other a jack-of-
CONS: Complicated and expensive compared to the singles. Riding them well off
road requires good technique. Much better off road with the addition of knobby
tires But those tires wont last long.
all-trades. Riders who are after a specic experience will

look for high peaks in the chart. Riders who take the Swiss
army approach must understand that theyre sacricing
the peaks but gaining overall area within the bikes scope.
Were these dyno charts, one rider might look for a high peak
number, while another values more the shaded area under the
horsepower trace, knowing he or she values a atter torque
curve more.
WAYPOINTS MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
WHY TWINS AND SINGLES?

Antilock brakesjust in reverse
hy is it that
off-road
motorcycles
have either
one or two
cylinders? An obvious answer
might be that when you leave
behind the cell towers and
repair shops, the fewer parts
your system has, the more
reliable it will be. I have sat
in the dirt, sanding a seized
piston, knowing that a few
minutes work will have me
back under way. Thats a good
feeling, but theres more to
be said.
Sixty years ago, the dirttrack performance of BSAs
jack-of-all-trades singlecylinder Gold Star was so

remarkable that some people
running twins changed their
ring order from 360 to 720
degrees, so both cylinders
red simultaneously to
mimic a single. Such engines
were called twingles. This
suggests what so many
believe: The number of cylinders an engine has, and the
interval of their ring, has a
strong inuence on traction.
Back in the 1980s, Honda
was pouring R&D into
its NSR500 four-cylinder
two-stroke roadrace bikes,
but their riders couldnt get
Once an engine gets much above 650cc,

its time for multiple cylinders. With counterbalanced engines and offset crankpins,
a twins cylinder angle (parallel, flat, vee)
matters less: Witness the current BMW,
KTM, and Honda twins.
22 CYCLE WORLD
By Kevin Cameron
on-throttle in corners as soon

as the Yamaha men. In 1989
Honda tested with Yamaha
ring orderring pairs of
cylinders simultaneously, 180
degrees apart. When this was
done, riders reported that
they could throttle-up just as
early as the Yamahas.
Two years later, Honda
made a further change
after an exhaustive series.
Engineers found that if the
separation between the two
pair rings were reduced
from 180 degrees, further
gains of traction resulted.
They found an optimum at 67
to 68 degrees.
During the preseason

of 1992, results of Hondas
testing with this ring order
quickly reached Yamaha and
Suzuki, who conducted their
own tests, switching from
180- to 90-degree-pair ring.
This change gave engines
a deep, motocross-like tone
because all cylinders red
within a short interval: the
so-called Big Bang engines.
Since big-bang ring order
delivered power in stronger
pulses, clutches and gearboxes had to be redesigned.
Bikes with big-bang engines
now could accelerate harder
than ever off corners without
Below 650cc, most bikes with off-road

aspirations still opt for single-cylinder
engines. Why? No other design produces
such forgiving power delivery under conditions of compromised traction without
elaborate software.
sudden grip loss.

What was not so clear was
how big bang worked, and
to my knowledge there is no
help from the engineering
journals on this subject. So
here goes. A couple of guys
cant push a heavy crated
bike across the set-up oor,
but if one or two others put a
shoulder to it, all four can get
it moving, after which just
two can keep it going. The
principle here is that static
friction is greater than sliding friction. When an object
sits still on a surface, there is
time for the objects weight to
force its surface irregularities
into intimate contact with
those of the surface it is lying
upon. When we push on the
crate, this intimate contact
increases friction, requiring a
high force to set the crate
in motion.
Once in motion, though,
there is no longer enough
time for such intimate contact to be established, so the
friction force diminishes. If
you can locate an old spring
scale, you can try this experiment with a brick, a surface,
and a bit of string; sliding
friction may be as little as
one-half of static friction,
depending on the nature of
the surfaces.
With the 90-degree ring
of Hondas original NSR500,
the engines pull on the drive
chain was almost continuous,
so if the tire slipped, another
power pulse would arrive
in 0.0015 second to keep it
sliding. But with big-bang
ring, if the tire slipped, the
three-to-four-times longer
interval before the arrival
of the next cluster ring

allowed the slipping tire to
at least partially return to static
friction against the pavement.
By keeping part of the tire
footprint operating in static
friction, big-bang ring order
increased tire grip.
This is just antilock brakes
operating in reverse. As a
braked wheel begins to lock,
it loses grip and directional
control because sliding
friction is less than static
friction. The ABS system
then reduces brake torque
just enough to restore rotationand grip. The inverse
is engine torque beginning
to slip the tire then the tire
returning to static grip as
torque falls in the long interval between engine rings.
If nothing else, this effect
eases the transition from not

sliding to sliding, which is
valuable for control.
Why hasnt car racing
led the way in exploring
this traction effect? Former
Polaris engineer Rob Tuluie
(now in F1) explained that
because cars drive their
wheels through slender, torsionally exible shafts, such
torque variations are ltered
out before they can reach the
wheels.
Those who have played
with the throttles of their
four-cylinder bikes on dirt
roads report a creepy dont
do that lack of grip that
doesnt occur on a single or a
twinthe underlying reason
why high-revving multicylinder engines have never
done the deed on dirt.
THE NUMBER
OF CYLINDERS
AN ENGINE HAS,
AND THE INTERVAL
OF THEIR FIRING,
HAS A STRONG
INFLUENCE
ON TRACTION.
WAYPOINTS BONNIER ADVENTURE RALLY SERIES
ONE-STOP ADVENTURE SHOP

These two rallies have something for everyone By Mark Lindemann
ne size ts all. Rightsince when has that ever

been close to satisfactory? One adventure ts
all? Even more ludicrous. Some riders think you
need to be kidnapped by terrorists, break major
bones, suffer poisonous snakebite, or throw a rod
in the Sahara to qualify a trip as a real adventure; others
dial 911 and re off ares if they get lost on the way to
Starbucks. To each his or her own.
Adventure bikes are one of the most popular motorcycling niches todayand for good reason. Theyre fun,
capable, comfortable, and exciting. And most of all, theyre
vehicles that fuel our wanderlust and dreams. They offer
the promise of riding to new places, unbound by the denitions of smooth, paved interstates. Now, actually going on
one of those adventures, well, thats something else.
The folks at Bonnier have come up with a way to make
some of those dreams a reality. As the publishers of Cycle
World, Motorcyclist, and Dirt Rider, theyre true believers in
all things two wheeled. The Adventure Rally Series theyve
24 CYCLE WORLD
PHOTOGR APHY BY Miguel Santana & Jeff Allen
put on each year since 2013 is designed to give riders an opportunity to have an adventure as big or as modest as they want,
all while keeping headaches to a minimum. In 2016, there are
two offerings: The Rockies Edition and The Sierra Edition.
As Ned Suesse, one of the principals at the Colorado rally
puts it, you get all the positive parts of a group ride (riding
with friends, meeting new people, fun in the evenings, visiting
new places) without any of the typical group negatives (half
the riders are going faster than they want to, half are going
slower, and everybody but one guy is eating dust).
Heres how it works: You get yourself and your bike to the
rally basecamp. Your rooms, breakfasts, and dinners are all
group affairs with your fellow riders. Ride solo, or bring a
passenger. Show up with your riding buddies, or the staff will
hook you up with a partner there.
You get a route book with points of interest but no xed
order to see them. Butler maps gives you a 2-D way to connect
the dots, and you can download routes into your electronic
devices too. How many points you visit is up to you. At the end
of the weekend, the most ambitious get some pretty generous
prizes, but everyone rides off a winner.
There are also some special test sections designed to help
you develop your off-road riding skills. Test is a bit of a misnomer because you can ride the sections over and over again,
building ability through expert coaching and practice.
Both the Rocky and Sierra rallies will expose you to some
breathtakingly beautiful adventure-riding country, with the
routes and destinations hand-picked by expert riders who live
in the area. Youll also get to interact with riders from the magazines and other industry insiders like representatives from
You set the pace and

decide what you want
to see. The Adventure
Rally has something for
everyone, from challenging slickrock and singletrack to cruising through
picturesque towns. The
special test sections are
really more of an open-air
classroom for honing your
riding skillsyoull be
amazed at what you can
do with a big ADV bike
once youve mastered
some technique.
series sponsors GEICO, BMW, Klim, Honda, Avon, Doubletake,

and Glenddich.
What bike should you ride? Youll see everything from dualsport 250 singles to fully equipped 1200s. A surprising number
of riders y in and rent an ADV bike, combining a little test
riding with a great adventure weekend.
The 2016 Rockies Edition is sold out at press time, and the
Sierra Edition is lling fast. Whether youre a rst-time ADV
rider or have a shoebox lled with worn-out passports, the
Adventure Rallies are a great way to enjoy your bike and meet
some new people. The fact that so many people come back to
the rally year after year is testimony to that.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE THE BONNIER ADVENTURE R ALLY WEBPAGES: C YCLEWORLD.COM/ADVENTURE-R ALLY
25
WAYPOINTS EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS
GIRO dePRATO
Five must-see destinations, five must-ride routes for your next Euro trip
By Bruno dePrato
Mandello sul Lario, Italy

The Moto Guzzi Museum in Mandello sul Lario has devoutly
preserved the front buildings where Carlo Guzzi and Giorgio
Parodi started manufacturing their beautiful bikes back in
1921. The museum is one of worlds richest, featuring some of
the most rened motorcycles of their day, including the legendary Moto Guzzi V8 500cc GP racer. The ride to the museum
is smooth and pleasant, mostly on sweeping freeways that
depart from the highway north of Milan, at Monza. Follow the
Lecco signs and, approaching Lecco, stay on the freeway and
toward Sondrio. Exit the freeway at Abbadia Lariana and tiptoe
the last 4 miles at 30 mph to Mandello (speed traps!).
DUCATI FACTORY AND MUSEUM

Bologna, Italy
DUCATI
MOTO GUZZI MUSEUM
PIAGGIO/MOTO GUZZI
obody knows Europe better than Bruno dePrato, Cycle Worlds European editor.
Hes spent a lifetime testing cars and motorcycles there. We asked him for some of
the highlights any rider should see, especially on a bike. Heres his bucket list. ML
BMW MUSEUM
Munich, Germany
If you rst went to visit the Ducati Museum in Bologna, the
ride from there to Munich will be absolutely glorious. Youll
head north to Verona and from there through the Brenner Pass
in the Austrian Alps; the highways in Bavaria are awless.
Visiting the BMW Museum takes a whole day: Youll see two
sides of this legendary brand, both motorcycles and cars. Not
one single model is missing, starting from the legendary protoboxer R32 of 1923. The quality of each item, perfectly restored
and preciously kept, is a sign of wonderful dedication, and the
museums ambiance is equally elegant and rened.
26 CYCLE WORLD
BMW
If youre coming from Milan, the ride to Bologna is a bore: at

land and straight highway. Still, your destination will be worth it.
Approaching Bologna bear right into A14 and take the rst exit:
Bologna-Borgo Panigale. Ducati is just 3 miles from there. They
welcome visitors, but youll need to book your visit in advance.
Until 1998 Ducati had no museum, but since then superintendent Livio Lodi has painstakingly assembled a comprehensive
collection of Ducatis legendary bikes, many of great value. Every
production model and racer is represented in the museum.
IMOLA RACETRACK
Imola, Italy
The track at Imola took shape thanks to the passion of a local
motorcycling enthusiast, Francesco Costa. Originally it was
just a road encircling a park on the hillside. Races were held
only a few weekends per year, but it was extraordinarily
challenging and beautiful. Eventually grandstands and pits
were added, but it took years to transform it into a full-time
racetrack. Current noise restrictions now limit the course to
mufed bikes at specic times of day, but a lap at Imola is a
great experience, worth waiting in line.
MORES RACETRACK
Sardinia
Few people have heard of Mores racetrack, and in truth a trip
here is just an excuse to enjoy Sardinias beauty and its impeccably paved twisty roads, snaking through the hills and by the
seaside. Never mind where the ferry ship drops you off: Sardinia is just too beautiful anywhere you go. Mores is close to
Oristano, the third largest town of Sardinia; theres an airport
here if you must y. Mores is the only racetrack in Sardinia,
small but nicely designed, worth a few laps on an appropriate
bike. Sardinia is more than worth a rideand both the food
and the red wine here are excellent as well!
FIVE MAGIC RIDES

Florence-SienaLake Trasimeno
Milan To Livigno
Through Switzerland
From Florence to Siena

by the Roman consular
Cassia road (now SS2) is
one of the most emotional
rides in Italy.
From Mandello sul Lario

head to Chiavenna and then
into Switzerland. On to
St. Moritz and then to Zernez
and Livigno. If you like
mountain roads, this ride
will make your day.
Florence
Livigno
Cannes-Marseille By Frejus
Cannes to Marseille is a classic ride along
the French Cte dAzur and Provence. The
A8 highway is inviting, but the real ride is up
the hills, through the Frejus Pass and then
along the coast, on the A57 and A50.
Cannes
Frejus
Milan
Marseille
Mlaga-Ronda
Livigno-Bormio-Meran
The road to Ronda (the site of the

oldest bullghting ring in Spain) is
beautifully sweeping, a great ride on
any bike, touring or sport.
The purest Alpine ride ever. From Livigno take

SS310 up the Passo del Foscagno then toward
Bormio. Turn on SS38 to Passo dello Stelvio, a
Giro dItalia legend. East on SS40 then
to Meran, South Tyrol.
Meran
Livigno
Siena
Ronda
Mlaga
Bormio
JEFF ALLEN
WAYPOINTS FIRST READ
Lightweight
Unsupported
Motorcycle Travel
Is less really more? Aerostichs Andy Goldfine thinks so.
BY MARK LINDEMANN
n 2004, Aerostich founder

Andy Goldne penned
this small volume (4 x 6
inches, 68 pages), reminiscent in format and style
of the popular handbooks
Outing published a century
earlier. And it appears here
because it sets a tone: Sure,
who wouldnt like a trust
fund, a 1,200cc motorcycle,
traction control, and aluminum panniers? Yet in Andys
28 CYCLE WORLD
world, less is more, and even

hot food is a luxury.
For a certain generation,
Robert M. Pirsigs 1974 Zen
and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance showed us that bikes
could be incredible vehicles
for self-discovery. Lightweight
Unsupported Motorcycle Travel
wont be as life changing as
Zen, and it isnt a lavishly
illustrated how-to manual.
Some criticize it for that, but
we think theyre missing the

point. Its a short essay with
footnotes, an amuse-bouche
to adventure, reminding us
how little we really need to
make that adventure happen,
challenging us to do more
with lessjust as the volume
itself does. He believes that
once we discover how little
we need, we facilitate actually making those dreams
a reality.
Motorcycles have always

been minimalist vehicles
compared to cars, campers,
and motorhomes. Andy Goldne is standing in the pulpit
and preaching the gospel
of the attainable adventure.
And, he argues, you might
even have a better time.
$5; free with orders more than $50.

aerostich.com
T H E P E R F E C T P L A C E T O G E T A TA S T E O F H O N DA S N E W
AFRICA TWIN? WHERE ELSE BUT AFRICA ITSELF?
S t or y By Ned S u e ss e
Photography Courtesy of H on da
eres an unwritten rule every marketing manager and PR ack should take to
heart: If you choose to name a new motorcycle for a place, you had better release it there. Someone at
Honda must be thinking along the same line because here we are, in South Africa, riding one of the
most anticipated motorcycles in recent memory: the new 2017 Africa Twin.
Africa has something for everyone. The second largest continent on the planet, when most motorcyclists think of Africa, they probably think of Dakar or the Sahara in the north. Were at the other end,
the very southern tip. Naming conventions aside, its a tting location to showcase this bike: Theres the
wide mixture of dirt to ride in the Karoo desert, along with every kind of pavement from at and straight
to tight and twisty. The area we rode reminded me of Southeastern Arizona, but the comparison isnt
very precise. Among other differences, while Ive seen a lot of odd sights riding in the Copper State, especially some of the life forms hanging around the local liquor store in Morenci, Ive never encountered any
actual baboons sitting on the roadside there.
Here in South Africa there are baboons everywhere. When I rst arrived I noticed mile after mile of
electried and barbed-wire fencing. I initially thought it an emblem of the stark divide between the
Honda says the new

Africa Twin is all about
True Adventure.
Our initial impression:
If you do your part,
the bike will
do its part.
32 CYCLE WORLD
haves and the have-nots in South African human

society. And while there may be some degree of
truth in that, mostly its a divide between rungs
on the primate evolutionary ladder. You think the
occasional whitetail or mule deer is a trafc hazard
in America? Wait until you see a troop of baboons
in the road.
Africa reminds us of evolution, thats for sure.
And heres a little moto evolution for you: Honda
released its original Africa Twinthe XRV750in
1988. At the time, Honda was deeply involved in
Paris-Dakar racing. That early Africa Twin was one
of the worlds rst true adventure bikes, before the
class even had a name. A 742cc, three-valve, dualplug V-twin, it was offered in Europe until 2003,
developing a huge, loyal following. (See the sidebar
on page 35 for the American-market Transalp.)
But those models are ancient history, and Honda
has been absent from the market for more than
a decade.
The new Africa Twin is a clean-sheet design
based on a 998cc parallel-twin engine, and one
look will tell you Honda means business with this
motorcycle. Every aspect projects a genuine go

anywhere attitude. At the initial technical brieng,
two of the men responsible for the bike, Tetsuya
Kudo and Naoshi Iizuka, went into great detail
about the decision-making process they undertook,
trying to strike a balance at every turn between a
machine that is either too much or not enough for
the job at hand. One example: They made a deliberate decision to locate the water pump inside the
cases, thus protecting it from the too-often-seen
failures that come when a bike tips over and the
vulnerable pump casting breaks. True Adventure
is a Honda marketing phrase oft associated with
the Africa Twin, and its interest in a true adventure
bike clearly goes beyond a styling exercise.
The rst morning, we took off for a primarily
paved loop. My bike wore the OEM tires, designed
for 90-percent street use. We headed west on a mixture of wide highways and smaller country roads,
with some dirt sections thrown in, toward the
world-famous Bainskloof Pass, built using convict
labor in 1854. (Kloof, in Afrikaans, means cleft.)
This narrow, twisty strip of pavement climbs up
and down a low mountain range and is a great place

to put the bike through its pavement paces.
My rst impression is one of the most enduring
this machine feels absolutely right ergonomically.
The relationship of bar to seat to pegs is great for
the intended use. Likewise, the throttle and clutch
and brakes are all linear. Even though I dont have
any Hondas parked in my garage back home, on the
Africa Twin everything is well positioned and intuitive, and the bikes t and nish are excellent.
Unusual for the area it was spitting rain. Oil was
leaching out of the pavement (riders in the American Southwest know how slick the roads can be
after the rst rain of the season), so our pace over
the pass was something less than ten-tenths. But
consequently, the conditions offered an opportunity to check out the bikes wind and weather protection. The windshield and bodywork provide an
excellent still-air pocket for the rider; my face shield
gathered only a few drops of rain, and I could get
them to blow off when I moved my head out into
the slipstream. Later in the day we got to try the
bike on some dry pavement. The bike handled well,
Progress:
The new Africa Twins
electronic engine controls
and instrumentation are
a world apart from the
original bikes.
Africa is all about

varietyfrom the
bottomless sand dunes
of the Sahara to
the mountain passes
of the south.
34 CYCLE WORLD
but this brings up a note. The Africa Twin features a

21-inch front wheel, as do most true dirt bikes. This
choice is better off road, but some other adventure
bikes choose a 19-inch front, and those smaller
hoops generally provide superior grip and precision
on paved roads.
Day two: We head to a large ranch where we get
the chance to ride in the dirt. And now our bikes
are shod with Continental TKC 80 knobby tires.
The terrain is a mixture of sandy and silty roads
with some ruts and rocky ledgesexactly what I
would look for if I were taking the Africa Twin off
road. I was immediately impressed by the suspension: plush, controlled, and balanced. The motor is
adequate, the gear ratios well chosen, and the whole
package makes traversing everything we ride on
not just easy but enjoyable.
A couple of technical observations. First, on the
Africa Twin, the rider uses separate, dedicated
buttons to select both the bikes ABS and traction-
control options. These buttons are intuitive, easy

to understand, and easy to use, unlike some other
machines that feature menu-based controls with
a high degree of abstraction. To my way of thinking, this helps the technology enhance my riding
experience and control, rather than the technology
becoming the centerpiece of the experience itself.
An exception is the front ABS, which a rider
cannot switch off, but even here I had a surprise. In
the past Ive found that ABS really suffers on hard,
rough surfaces (for example, stutter bumps leading
into a corner), where the wheel is momentarily
skipping off the ground. So I was skeptical and
deliberately tried to fool the Hondas ABS. Try as
I might to trick it, the Honda program seemed to
work just ne.
Likewise the traction control is also good. Unlike
the front ABS, you can turn the traction control off,
and if you dont, theres a level for everyone and
every situation. In the future Ill be interested to try
the bike on home terrain where I can make a more
direct comparison with other models.
Another point of technology: the Africa Twins
Dual Clutch Transmission. I split time between a
bike with a conventional manual six-speed transmission and another equipped with Hondas DCT.
Ever since Ive returned from South Africa, Ive
been asked two questions: Whats the bike like, and
is the DCT any good?
The answer to that second one is easy: Yes. The
DCT works well. Every aspect of it, including its
automatic-shifting feature, seems well sorted. What
is harder to dene is who should choose the DCT
option.
I think riders with less off-road experience generally appreciated it more in the dirt, as getting the
bike moving forward took less effort, no matter the
speed or situation. More expert riders found less
to rave about, thinking it lacked some of the ne
H O N D A S 1 9 8 9 T R A N S A L P
WA S I T S O R I G I N A L A D V
BIKE FOR AMERICAN
RIDERS
BY MARK LINDEMANN
ondas new Africa Twin has

to be one of the most anticipated ADV bike offerings in
recent memory. And youd
need a long memory indeed to recall
its predecessor in the US market: the
1989 Transalp.
Norteamericanos never had the
chance to purchase Hondas original
XR750V Africa Twin (19892003).
The Transalp was as close as we got,
and its an insight into motorcycling
here nearly 30 years ago. By modern
standards, the original XL600V
Transalp seems almost quaint. The
whole Adventure Bike idiom was in
its zygotic stage, and the Transalps
583cc V-twin engineso modest
todayseemed by the days dirt bike
standards positively enormous.

Cycle World got it. The original road
test notes: The Transalp is a superb
do-it-all motorcycle, a perfect choice
for the rider who likes diversity in his
riding. Cycle was even more clear:
The XL600V enters 1989 as our
favorite any-surface explorer: comfortable, versatile, utilitarian, and
stylish. If chasing the horizon down
seldom traveled roads, paved or not,
is your picture-perfect weekend,
the Transalp is a first-class ticket. It
unearths the old idea that a motorcycle ought to do a lot
of different things well,
rather than just one
perfectly.
With almost 8 inches
of front-wheel travel
and nearly 9 inches of
ground clearance, the
Transalp used a 21-inch
front wheel and 17-inch
rear. The 52-degree
V-twin featured
Hondas offset dual-pin
crankshaft and was
notably smooth. The
full-coverage bodywork
and short, Euro-style
windshield offered a
high degree of wind and
weather protection. Curb weight was

441 pounds; seat height 33.5 inches;
price $4,498.
I recall the Transalp as lots of fun
on the pavement and an excellent
fire-road bike, though a handful
when I ventured onto steep singletrack. Part of this was due to the
bikes street-biased period tires.
A recent ride on a well-kept original
reinforces those overall impressions.
And it also reinforces how much
brakes, tires, chassis, and engine
management have improved since
the Reagan administration. Yet

even today the Transalp is an
approachable bike when some of
the bigger twins are intimidating,
though its not nearly as refined
as a modern bike.
Americans gave the Transalp a
lukewarm reception; consequently it
was only imported here for two years.
ADV bikes are no longer a rarity now
theyre some of the most popular
machines anywhere. In hindsight, the
Transalp was clearly a bike before its
time, as the new Africa Twin proves.
PHOTO FROM CYCLE MAGAZINE ARCHIVE
A Bike
Before
Its Time
Go With
The Flow
DUAL CLUTCH
TRANSMISSIONS,
S M O O T H P O W E R F L O W,
AND THE SEARCH
FOR TRACTION
BY KEVIN CAMERON
n conditions of limited traction

the very definition of off-road
riding much of the timeriders
frequently encounter situations
where momentum is the difference
between negotiating an obstacle
successfully or flopping around like
a landed carp. And the key to maintaining momentum is steady power.
In mud, sand, and rocky sections, it
takes a great deal of skill to make a
gear-change without losing momen-
36 CYCLE WORLD
tum. What if technology has made

that skillhowever admirable it may
beunnecessary?
To become motorcyclists we all
learned to synchronize throttle and
clutch engagement, and many of us
have colorful stories to tell about
not getting it right. Once we had
the basics, we went on to integrate
smooth gear-changes into our riding
until we no longer had to think about
it. But that special situation of needing to keep momentum up through
heavy going via a gear-change is not
easy, sometimes not satisfactory.
One approach is to just crunch the
shiftno clutch. That used to be standard for upshifts in racing, but the
resulting clunk is especially large in
lower gears, which are farther apart.
That clunk itself can lose you the traction youve tried so hard to conserve.
The alternative could be a dualclutch transmission, or DCT. A DCT
can take the form of either an
automatic gearbox or as a sort of
paddle shift manual.
With standard foot-shift gearboxes, the shift drum first disengages the gear that is driving,
passes through a neutral, and only
then engages the next gear pair. In
a DCT the gearbox countershaft is in
two coaxial sections, each with its
own clutch. One clutch controls the
odd-numbered gears: first, third,
and fifth, while the other one controls second, fourth, and sixth. With
a little imagination you can see

where this is going: When you select
first, the odd clutch releases and
the power runs through the firstgear pairing. Twist the throttle, the
clutch feeds in, and you accelerate.
When its time to upshift, the even
clutch engages second while the odd
clutch simultaneously releases first.
A DCT actually does better what the
seamless shift transmissions now
being adopted in MotoGP do
so expensively.
A DCT is an automatically operated
gearbox, but unlike the automatics
in most cars that rely on torque converters, the DCT features the rugged
gear pairs of a conventional manual.
Some purists will reflexively reject
this automatic function: Im not letting some machine do my shifting for
me! But because it can so smoothly
keep power flowing when a manual
clutch/foot-shift would lose momentum or disturb tire traction, riders
whose real goal is getting there will
give DCT careful consideration.
control that a clutch offers. On the road, everyone

agreed that it worked ne and one could get used to
it, but the benets are also less obvious. (For more
on the DCT, see the sidebar on the facing page.)
I found the Africa Twin to be excellent in almost
every dimension, well balanced and developed but
not exceptional in any single aspect. The motor is
smooth and linear but not particularly inspiring.
The suspension is balanced and comfortable but
will clank off the bottom if pushed hard. The ergonomics and wind protection are among the best
in class, and I am certain the machine will prove
durable and reliable. All that makes the Africa Twin
an impressive machinebut perhaps not one that
will make you feel like Fabrizio Meoni on your way
to work.
Its a great choice for people who are looking for
an all-around adventure bike, a machine thats not
so big as to be comical, intimidating, or forbidding,
and one that offers neither too much nor too little
in terms of power and features. In short, the bike
will be ideal for those who want an adventure bike
to focus on their own adventure and not just the
adventure of ownership.
And when it comes to adventure, one cant do
much better than the Dark Continent. We only
experienced a taste, but what a taste it was. One
evening, after wed put the bikes away, we went for
a jeep tour around the game reserve. African big
game is amazing and impressive no matter what,
and watching the antics of a young rhino chasing
a wildebeest isnt something Ill soon forget. The
only thing that could have made it better would
have been if I were sitting in front of a camp re,
next to my tent, in a place I could only reach on a

motorcycle. Maybe sipping a good glass of South
African cabernet. The new Africa Twin certainly
would be on my short list of bikes to ride on a trip
like that.
You can find adventure

on a new continent or
in your own backyard.
The new Africa Twin
promises to be
capable of both.
TEN THOUSAND MILES, THREE CONTINENTS, AND ONE SIMPLE
38 CYCLE WORLD
The Valley of the Kings and the pyramids of Giza

are a days ride apart in Egypt but are amazingly similar in the
way they affect your psyche. There is an energy thereundenable but undeniable. Queen Hatshepsuts Palace, King Tuts tomb,
and the Sphinx all project a mysterious spell over anyone within
sight. Its odd. The energy there lled me so deeply that I didnt
eat for an entire day yet never felt tired. I slept more deeply that
night than I had on my entire trip. And then I did something
King Tut never could have envisioned: I dropped my bikes
panniers and tank bag and spent an hour wheelying, sliding,
and motocrossing in the shadow of those grand monuments.
GOAL: RIDE HOME
Stor y & Photography By E r i c A n d e r s o n
How did this all come to be? In 1978 I found my

younger self in Africa, with a motorcycle and some
time on my hands. Id been stationed there for the
last three years with the Peace Corps, one of the
most exciting and ful lling times of my life. Id
taught biology and coached basketball at Menengai High School in Nakuru, about 90 miles up the
Great Rift Valley from the capital city of Nairobi.
But I was a motorcyclist too. In fact, Id brought my
Honda Elsinore to Africa with me and rode it to the
Kenyan National Scrambles Championship.
Now my time in Africa was overbut a dream
began to take shape. Simply ying home had little

appeal. Why not extend the trip by another eight
months and ride home to Southern California? Nairobi to Newport Beach, by bike. What if I cashed out
my US government-funded plane ticket and used it
for gas money? Was this really a good idea?
Id seen the overlanders arriving and departing
Nairobi, huge gear-laden Unimogs, Land Rovers,
and Bedford trucks piled high with sand mats, gas
cans, roof racks, and smelly people, Cape to Cairo
explorers nding their way along north-to-south
routes via the friendliest border crossings. I began to
Top: The equipment I

packed for the trip. By the
fourth day, I had ditched,
used, or given away about
a third of it. Above: With
my Elsinore, I was twotime Kenyan National
Scrambles Champion.
Panniers from cowhide
at the local Kenyan tannery carried mostly fuel
and water. I was a rolling
Molotov cocktail, heading
across the Nubian Desert.
40 CYCLE WORLD
press them for trans-Sahara intelroutes, fuel stops,

range requirements, water sources, border situations,
and, of course, the seasonal ooding of the Nile River.
It took me four months to nally commit. The
overland truck drivers had doubts about a solo
motorcycle making it across the Sahara, but I knew
it had already been done by a few XL250 Hondas,
which still remained in and around Kenya. I knew
how to ride deep sand thanks to years of racing
AMA District 37 desert events, albeit on lightweight
Huskies and CZs. Range simply meant carrying
more fuelat the risk of becoming a mobile Molo-
tov cocktail. Navigation was simplehead north

and stick close to the Nile, except for 500 miles
of the Nubian Desert. If Stanley and Livingston
gured out the source of the worlds longest river,
then I could reverse the concept and seek out the
Mediterranean 3,000 miles to the north.
I sold the Elsinore and bought the largest
motorcycle imported into Kenya at the time, a
1977 Yamaha XT500 four-stroke single. Job one: I
needed to go 500 miles without refueling. Since the
Yamaha only held 2.4 gallons of fuel, I went to work
building a replacement tank from scratch. There
was no English wheel in town, so using cardboard

from Weetabix cereal boxes I templated up a highvolume tank, cut, bent, and tack-welded the tanks
sheet metal, and headed over to the local mufer
shop to have the nal beads run. No leaks! he
guaranteed. Not a pretty sight but functional.
Aluminum travel boxes are todays luggage of
choice but not in 1978. In Nairobi, the local leather
tannery made wallets and purses, so I asked them
to make me a pair of saddlebags. A few bent mufer
pipes attened at the ends made up my rear fender
rack and pannier guards. I was getting closer.
I arranged something called a Carnet de Passage

for the bike through a deposit in a British (Barclays)
bank equal to the value of the motorcycle. This allimportant document or ticket for passage allowed
each country to remove an incoming ticket when I
enteredand a corresponding outgoing ticket once
I departed, a measure designed to prevent me from
importing such an exotic machine and then selling
it to a wealthy individual in-country for a prot.
The Sudanese and Egyptian border ofcials really,
really liked my motorcycle. In the end, though, they
settled for the Playboy magazine handily pulled from
Top: Old-school adventure-bike clothing meets

even older-school adventure transport. Above: The
fellow with the huge spear
and I had an accuracy
competition (I used my
Wrist Rocket slingshot).
Since I won, I had to make
the tea. Playing chess
was almost as much fun
as making the chess set
out of the old Land Rover
shock bushings and bolts.
Ships of the desert. In

this case, the Yamaha
proved the more reliable
of the two.
Above: Looks like goat
is on the menu tonight,
courtesy of these Danish
missionaries carrying mattresses to Juba. The Valley
of the Kings as photographed from my sleeping
bag. My poker buddies
on the diesel-powered
paddle wheeler.
42 CYCLE WORLD
my panniers. It may have been cultural Russian

roulette, but it worked, and it was a lot cheaper than
an outright bribe or surrendering my ride.
My kit was pretty basic: camping gear, a
Michelin map of North Africa, a compass, WWII
surplus are gun, rainsuit, spare knobby, and way
too much other heavy crap. As travelers have always
done, I jettisoned extra gear along the way, learning
to keep things light and organized. I changed to my
spare tireso I could dump the old one. I carried
only enough fuel to get me to the next village. The
farther I rode through the Sahara, three essentials
became more and more obvious: fuel, water, toilet

paper. Food would pop up whenever I seemed to
need it, so I carried little. Camel trains, a paddleboat
crew, or overlanders always seemed willing to share.
And if not, I could always nd a goat in some villageno problem so long as I made sure to give the
hooves and head back to the chief as a gift.
There is always room for one. I had originally
planned on riding back with another American
Peace Corps motorcycling friend, but of course his
plans changed at the last minute as the best-laid
plans are wont to do. While on one hand it might
not be smart to travel alone, on the other anyone

and everyone seemed to be more welcoming to a
young guy on an odd-looking motorbike traveling solo. Missionaries invited me to stay in their
homes. Brit, Danish, and German overlanders
shared coffee and campres. Even the normally shy
Toposa and Masai tribesmen would approach my
solitary roadside lunch stops to share a cup of tea
from my gasoline-fueled Primus stove. The universal language? A smile and laughter.
Of course there were a few mechanical issues
along the way. The spring on the Yamahas shift
drum let loose about 100 miles south of Khartoum,
Sudan. Luckily, the bike was stuck in third, so I
could maintain 30 to 40 mph across the sandy track
all the way into town, but I didnt want to stop until
I found a cross on top of a churchthe likely home
to American missionaries. It was a week before
Christmas, and I knew I would never be able to
order the needed part, so I hacked three coils off a
screen-door closing spring. With some hammering
and ling that spring got me all the way home and
lasted another two years until it let go in a Huntington Beach, California, intersection.
I wore leather motocross pants, a white Bell Star
helmet, and a well-used Bates leather at-track
jacket. My kidney belt proved a fascination to the
villagers whenever I stopped. Velcro was unknown
The boat used a chain to connect the helmsmans

wheel to the rudder, and this chain had broken. It
looked suspiciously like a 520 nal drive, and with
my chain tool it only took me a few minutes to
punch out a pin, rejoin the ends, and make things
right. Applause erupted, and I spent the rest of the
night drinking whiskey and playing poker with the
crew, Radio Mecca blaring on a shortwave.
Reaching Giza and seeing

the pyramids and Sphinx
was the highlight of the
trip, even though I was
only halfway home. Three
years in Africa leave you a
changed person.
to these people. Theyd stick it together and tear it

apart over and over, fascinated by the elegant simplicity of it all. Magic.
My tool roll also was a point of fascination. I had
it made by a tannery back in Kenya. One late night
while sleeping on the deck of a steam-powered paddlewheel boat crossing the Nile at its widest point,
everything stopped. The boat had crashed into the
papyrus plants lining the shore. Two deckhands
rousted me out of my sleeping bag, pointing to the
pannier whered they seen me put the tools after
doing some bike maintenance earlier in the day.
I learned a lot about myself and about travel from

my time in Africa. It was a great adventure and a
great mystery then. Forty years later, its still fun
to not know whats around the next corner. I think
the more you ride and the farther you go, the less it
becomes about the machineat least that was the
case for me. Thats not a judgment, only an observation. Working on and accessorizing my bike is still
a very pleasant kind of mechanical therapy. Riding
that machineor any machine, reallyaround that
unknown corner is another kind of therapy.
I dont know about you, but I need both.
Above: The angular facets

of the pyramids, mirrored
in the angular facets of
my homemade Yamaha
gas tank. This Toposa
tribesman approached
us while having tea in the
bush. After I let him look
through the zoom-lensed
camera at me, I turned it
around and pointed it at
him. Luckily he felt comfortable after I took my
own soul away first.
44 CYCLE WORLD
VLADIMIRS LUCK
N O T YO U R T Y P I C A L F O U R -Y E A R - O L D S S U M M E R VA C AT I O N
Stor y & Photography By Mihai B a rb u
Mihai Barbu is a Romanian motorcyclist with an inspirational story. In 2015 he packed his girlfriend Oana
and their four-year-old son Vladimir into a Ural sidecar, pointed the rig west, and pushed the start button.
Forty-one countries and 17,000 miles later he returned, girlfriend, son, and Ural all intact and happier than
ever. A day-by-day account would ll a book, but we can still give you a taste of this amazing journey
something to whet your own appetite for travel and adventure. Enjoy. And good luck. ML
I want Vladimir to want to see the world. I want him to see it

this way, as it is, not as a tourist guide paints it. I want him to be curious. I dont know what and
how much he will remember from this holiday 14 years from now. But I want to know that we
gave him this foundation. Romania has a problem when it comes to travel, though problem
may not be the word. We grew up under a regime that taught us leaving the country wasnt done,
and we took that to heart. We learned it so well that we pass it on to our children without realizing
it. Sure, were slowly sneaking a peek: a little skiing in Austria, a little beach in Greece, but that is
not the travel I am talking about. That is, if youll excuse me, a holiday, not traveling. I am talking
about the kind of experience no travel agency can provide. The smell and taste of food cooked
near a tent, nights spent beneath the stars, different vistas each day.

Im 36 now. I was born in 1980 in a small mining
town called Petrila, in Transylvania. I worked for 11
years for various national newspapers and international news agencies as a press photographer. Now
Im a freelance photographer doing mostly commercial work, though press photography remains my one
true love. Oana was working in a pub when I met her,
and I guess she poured me the love potion. Vladimir
is attending kindergarten, and hes a cool kid.
I started riding motorcycles in 2004, right after I

saw a 1995 Yamaha Virago 250 displayed in a window shop while I was out for a night walk. I called
my mother while standing in front of the window
and told her I need her help on borrowing some
money. Two years later (2006) I bought a used 2000
BMW F650GS Dakar, a bike I rode solo to Mongolia
and back in 2009, through 13 countries and 16,000
miles. I still have it too. I never sell my bikes. I simply cant. Im too much in love with them, and they
all have something special of their own. Motorcycling is the best thing that ever happened to me.
I got the Ural in summer 2014, just before our son

Vladimir turned four. It was the rst time I bought
a new motorcycle. Now it has 22,000 miles on the
clock, a sufcient amount that allows me to say that
were good friends. I wanted it new because when
traveling with a kid, a bike breakdown feels more
painful than when riding alone. And, at least theoretically, a new bike is supposed to break less than
a used one. Plus, I got charmed by its classic look. I
bought all my bikes because they were, and still are,
beautiful. Im a photographer and I trust my eyes.
46 CYCLE WORLD
ing bags, stove. Oh, and also Vladimirs zombie

slasher, a sword that we kept tied to the sidecar nose.
He said we should put it there just in case we bump
into any zombies along the way, so we can blast
through. We met none, so the sword is untouched.
When it comes to scenery, Norway gets the rst

place, followed closely by Ireland. The Lofoten
Islands (Norway) are one of the most beautiful
places Ive ever been. If theres a Paradise on Earth,
its there. The country wed love to live in? Spain.
The Latin blood, the people, amenco music, everything. The place we loved the most? Moroccooo! We
loved everything there. Everything except for the
driving skills of the locals.
We left on the 25th of May and came back on the

29th of September, 2015. Romania is part of Europe,
so traveling across Europe is easy. The only stress I
had was the regulations on children and sidecars.
I couldnt nd any place I could read the laws concerning this, for the countries of Europe, so we left
and hoped we wouldnt get stopped by the police.
All the policemen we passed by along the way were
busy waving and smiling at us, so we were okay.
From my point of view, the Ural was way beyond

my expectations. Lets face it: Ural motorcycles still
have a bad reputation, at least here, in the ex-communist area. Before the fall of communism, there
were few motorcyclists and they all had Russian
bikes that all kept breaking. The general perception here is that buying a new Ural is stupid. Well,
its not. Sure, there are some things that still need
improvement but nothing that Im uncomfortable
with. Personally, I like its personality.
We carried some tools and spares. And then all

the camping gear: tent, sleeping mattresses, sleepTRAVEL & ADVENTURE 47

People wonder about traveling as a family. I
always compare the two trips that I did. The one
back in 2009, alone, to Mongolia and back and now
this, the three of us, in a sidecar, all over Europe.
The gures are quite the same16,000 miles versus
17,000 miles, both around four months. But everything else is very different. In 2009, on my way
back, I was so devastated with missing home that I
practically ew for the last 1,200 miles. I was done
with that adventure and just wanted to go home. It
may be hard to believe, but last summer none of us
wanted it to end. We entered Romania, we were 125
miles away from Bucharest, and we went around

it, just to ride another 1,200 miles inside Romania
before we nally went home. There was one strange
thing that happened along the way. Vladimir, being
four months on the road, asked all the questions
you could think of, except for one. He never asked,
When do we go home? I guess all this time he was
next to the ones he loves the most, the only ones a
child needs, his parents. So I guess he was always
home. I guess all of us were.
Theres one thing you cannot control, no matter

how hard you try, and thats luck. But thats what
preparations are all aboutto leave as little as you
can in the hands of luck. Vladimir has an age at
which kids are often ill. We had a bag full of medicine that we never opened. We never had a headache in four months, we never caught a cold, and we
had days in a row riding in the rain at 37 degrees.
There were some frightening moments, and all of
them were while we were riding in Morocco. I was
so puzzled by the Moroccan driving style that at
one point I was seriously considering taking the
highways, but there werent any on our route.
We averaged about 185 miles per day. The Ural is

anything but a fast bike. Dont buy one if youre in a
hurry. I love that, especially when it comes to trav48 CYCLE WORLD
eling with a kid. So we rode with a cruising speed

of around 50 mph.
We woke up at around 8 to 9 a.m. each morning,
ate something, and then started the daily nightmare called packing. We were never able to leave
before 10 a.m., though I wished for that every day.
We enjoyed long stops every hour or so. Our stops
were always conditioned by Vladimirs afternoon
nap. We also stopped to buy fresh food to cook
every day. Then we looked for a place to camp.
We rode every day, most of the time. The times

we stayed for two or three days were the times we
stopped to visit friends.
The rst half of our trip, riding through the
northern part of Europe, Scandinavia, and UK, was
a bit colder and much more wet than I expected. As
a matter of fact, we were chased by cold weather all
over Europe. I remember talking to the locals in UK
and saying, I love everything about your country
except for the weather. And they all answered,
If you wanted hot weather, you should have gone
to Spain. And a month later, we were in sunny
Spain, ghting temperatures of 60 degrees.
I speak English and a bit of French. English was

by far the most useful, and French was helpful in
Morocco (and in France!). We carried some tour
guides with us, but we never took them out of our
luggage. Funny thing, we were somehow relieved
when the bag containing them got stolen in France
while we stopped for a coffee. We didnt miss them.
For me, motorcycles are the only means to travel.

Many said it before me, but I say it again. Traveling
any other way reduces the traveling experience. I like
to feel warm when its warm, to feel cold when its
cold. I like to smell the road, to have a 360-degree view.
Riding a motorcycle makes the journey complete.
When you buy a Ural you have to have some luck.
Thats why I never say, Urals are great, but,My
Ural is great. It really is; its a trusty sidecar. My
dealer told me that the potential problems develop
in the rst 9,000 miles. If you get beyond that, youll
be okay. And yes, theres the UDF (Ural Delay Factor).
The situations when you stop to ll up and leave a
half an hour later, busy answering all the questions
from people admiring your bike. Put a four-year-old
child on top of that and the UDF doubles. Strangely,
ever since I started riding three-wheeled vehicles, its
getting harder and harder to get back on two wheels.
I would like it a lot if motorcycles were a part

of Vladimirs life. I would like him to say, as I do,
that they are the best thing that happened to him.
I would like him to enjoy them sooner than I did.
I would also like him to have a good head on his
shoulders while his ass is in the saddle. There is a
saying I like: When you leave on two wheels for
the rst time, you have a bag full of luck and a bag
empty of experience. The idea is to ll the one with
experience before you empty the one with luck.
The bad news is that the experience bag never lls
up. Also bad news is that luck is not something one
makes himself. It is, however, the only reason a journey succeeds. Thats my opinion. And that is part of
the reason why I believe in Vladimirs luck.
50 CYCLE WORLD
Indian
Reservations
WHEREIN OUR MODERN TR AVELER CONTEMPL ATES CHAI STOP S,
HIM A L AYA N ROA D S , A ND HIS P L ACE ON T HE LOC A L F OOD CH A IN
Stor y By G ar y Inm an
Photos By Vi r Na ka i & G a r y I n m a n
ince leaving Manali, in the Himachal Pradesh

region of India, it seemed like our Royal
Enelds cheap tires hadnt felt the familiar
caress of tarmac for more than a few minutes.
The reality was different: Wed logged plenty of
regular road miles, but the off-pavement sections
were so intense everything else was forgotten.
We were 16 riders and one fearless pillion, three
riding guides, and two back-up trucks.
The trip, run by the local-owned tour company
Helmet Stories, promised high mountain passes
and ball-breaking roads carved out of the valley
cliff faces, following rivers that were sometimes
white rapids, other times opal green and still as a
tepid tortoise. Over this constantly varying surface
of rock, mud, dusty gravel, gravelly dust, huge boulders, and sharp, shoebox-sized blocks, I was being
bounced around like a ea on a Dobermans danglers. At 14,000 feet the most powerful component
on a Royal Eneld is the horn, and at these heights,
the motorcycle is more a pellet than a Bullet.
Our guide would ride ahead and wait next to
a chai stop. Wed be free to ride at our own pace,
alone or in similarly paced groups, and stop for
photographs knowing we werent holding anyone
up. Wed stop for three or four chais during the day
as well as lunch, while the truck carrying our tents
and bags crawled on toward the camp. At rst these
regular stops bugged me. I just wanted to keep
riding, but then I began to understand the logic. If
we just rode, wed arrive hours before the truck and
have had to just sit in a eld somewhere. Plus the
less condent riders quietly appreciated the stops,
arriving with the dinner-plate eyes of survivors.
And then, near the end of the trip, the real
epiphany: These chai stops were immersing us in
the local community. With other organized trips
Ive been on, the riders leave a luxury hotel, ride
through the scenery, arrive at a predetermined
lunch, and then ride to the next self-contained
overnight stop. There isnt an opportunity to really
witness how the locals live and go about their daily
business because you traverse every community at
40 mph and view them through the isolating lens
of your motocross goggles. These Himalayan chai
stops gave us those chances to sit in a heap and
observe, while being observed, four times a day.
This group, strangers two days before, had been
forced to pass trucks through blinding clouds of
dust for a couple of days already. All these old-fashTRAVEL & ADVENTURE 51
52 CYCLE WORLD
ioned, caramel-colored, triple-axle lorries looked

almost identical. All Indias thousands of Goods
Carriers belch waves of Hades heat that slaps a
rider right in the face as they draw level with them.
Vir Nakai, a long-haired, hard-drinking 6-foot-4
Sikh, had squeezed the superiority complex out of
me like toothpaste from a tube. In India, when you
are on a motorcycle, you are always wrong, no matter what happens. Virs stern warning caused me to
reassess my position in the motorized food chain.
There wasnt much trafc on the Pangi Valley
road, but there was enough to make a high-altitude,
high-stakes stalemate between overloaded lorries
inevitable. On the morning of day three we rounded
a blind bend and up ahead were a bus, a taxi behind
it. Coming in the other direction were our 19 motorcycles and another taxi. We were the lling of a
heavy-metal sandwich. The road was only just wide
enough for the bus, and even then many a Western
traveler would be having kittens. Then, to complicate matters, our own 10-ton back-up truck arrived,
further jamming the road.
The river was 500 feet below, the cliff-face as good
as vertical. There was just enough room to paddle
down the side of the bus toward the rear where the
gap halved in width. A gush of giddy satisfaction
made my nerve endings jangle. This was so out of the
ordinary. The unfamiliarity of everything this trip
was throwing at all of us was what I had hoped for.
Experiences like this (along with an evening
cocktail) were the recipe for some surreal campre
parties. I cant remember when I have laughed so
much or so hard. I laughed til I wheezed every
night without fail and at most chai stops too.
For many the trip was their rst-ever taste of an
organized, y/ride tour. By the end, many feared
it was so special they might have ruined all future
trips they might consider taking. Theres no doubt it
will take some beating. I highly recommend it.
The solution to rudimentary roads?

A rudimentary motorcycle, of course.
A fish out of water on the autobahn or a
California freeway, the Royal Enfield
Bullet 500 is perfectly at home here.
When in Rome, you probably ride a Vespa.
When in India, an Enfield is the only
motorcycle that makes sense.
Think
Globally,
Ride
Locally
IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK,
ADVENTURE BEGINS IN YOUR
OWN BACKYARD
St o r y By B r i a n Ca t t e r s o n
Photography By B r i a n Ca t t e r s o n & Je ff A l l e n
54 CYCLE WORLD
dventure bikes are full of promise, tempting

us to set our eyes on far-off galaxies or at
least other continents. But most of us cant
get away from work and family obligations
long enough to travel to the next state, let alone
someplace where we need a passport. Cant we nd
adventure just a little closer to home? Yes, we can, as
a ride I took one recent Sunday conrmed
Southern California motorcyclists are familiar
with Ortega Highway, a.k.a. state Route 74, as a
twisty mountain road that runs between Orange
and Riverside counties. For decades sport riders
have enjoyed strang its many apexes en route to
breakfast at the famed Lookout Roadhouse in the
mountains above Lake Elsinore. Sadly, in recent
years the Inland Empire has grown to the point
where Ortega has been reduced to a popular weekday commuter route.
Ive had plenty of time to ponder this sorry state
of affairs, most of it sitting in an endless line of
four-wheelers as one of those very commuters, making my way from my home in Temecula, California,
to the Cycle World ofces in Irvine, California. Even
though Im on a bike, legal passing opportunities
are few and far between, and since you just run
into the back of the next line of cars anyway, its
basically pointless. The Double Fine Zone signs
discourage passing over the double yellow. And
speeding? As if that were even possible.
Whats a rider to do? Rather than get depressed
by the situation, Ive started daydreaming about
what lies down the various roads and trails that
cleave off Ortega and run into the surrounding
Cleveland National Forest.
And thus was born the concept of the local adventure. All I needed was the right bike, and then a new
Triumph Tiger 800 XCx showed up. Time to top off
the Tigers tank and see what Ive been missing.
It was drizzling when I left, and the weatherman
was calling for heavier rain later. Who cares? My
riding gear was water-resistant, if not waterproof,
and so what if I got wet? I could be home, showered,
and back in dry clothes within the hour. Plus a little
rain would help keep the dust down on the dirt
roads I was hoping to explore.
Figuring that the Riverside portion was less built
up, I decided to ride to the Orange County line,
make a U-turn, and start my adventure there. My
rst stop was a place Id passed countless times but

had never visited: the Ortega Sweet Shop. At $3.50,
a chocolate brownie there was more expensive than
Starbucks. It was delicious, though, and the scenery
was lovelier than any strip mall.
Pulling out of the parking lot I noticed a sign for
Ortega Oaks and pulled right back in. This turned
out to be an RV park and campground in a lush,
tree-covered setting. Note to self: Pack a lunch one
day and enjoy it at one of the picnic tables under
the trees. The gravel road looped back around on
itself but not before I discovered a trail that was
too narrow and steep for a big adventure bike with
saddlebags. This clearly explained the dual-sports
parked in front of the cabins.
Back on Ortega, heading east. I passed a number of
gated ranches, each with a foreboding No Trespassing sign. But heres a road without a gate. Even
better, theres a realtors sign with the obligatory ier
($995,000 for a 5,000-square-foot estate on ve acres,
if youre wondering). Plausible deniability, baby!
Another sign identied the property as El
Potrero, which a little post-ride research revealed
is a Girl Scout campground. The graded dirt road
climbed upward for a few miles, and I would have
kept going had it not been for a sudden downpour.
Knowing how ash oods start, watching the torrent of water grow, and looking at the Tigers street
How many times has

this happened: Someone
comes to visit from out of
state, and while acting as
a tour guide you see places
in your own town you
never knew existed? Its
the same for those little
back roads and trails. With
the right bike and an open
mind, you can find adventure in your backyard.
tires, I beat a hasty retreat.

Right about here would be a good place to admit
I was concerned about riding by myself. Its always
better to have a partner in case you encounter trouble. But even this rural area of Southern California
is so densely populated that youre never truly
alone. That point was driven home when I stopped
on a dirt road to take a photo of some alpacas and
Triumphs Tiger XCx is just

about perfect for exploring dirt roads connected
by stretches of blacktop.
The three-cylinder engine
makes the highway
sections more pleasant.
Just make sure you have
the right tires.
56 CYCLE WORLD
was nearly rear-ended by a Jeep!

Continuing east on Ortega I spied a tiny street
sign high atop a highway sign: Decker Cyn. Rd.
A row of mailboxes suggested it might go through.
Paved initially, and promising with a series of
sweeping turns and a steep descent, it dead-ended
into a ranch. Even so, I spent a half-hour here
exploring various trails, each of which either didnt
go anywhere or went somewhere my big ADV bike
and I were not prepared to go. So again I retreated
to the relative safety of Ortega Highwayironic
in that it is rated one of the deadliest roads in the
Golden State.
A little ways farther down Ortega, I turned left at
a sign that read El Cariso Hot Shots, the nickname of the reghters headquartered here. Long
Canyon Road swoops every which way as it runs
uphill, the tightest turns bearing 15-mph speed cautions. The road crew apparently ran out of asphalt
at the top, however, because the surface looked like
it had been carpet-bombed. Dodging the potholes
was fun though!
This was the back way into Blue Jay campground,
and once past the hikers and mountain bikers the
roads name changed to Forest Route 3S04. I soon
came across a familiar gravel road that led to a
forest gate along with a sign reading, Closed to
all motor vehicles to prevent road damage. Damn
rain! This was the North Main Divide, which leads
to Silverado Canyon. Head over to the other side of
Saddleback Mountain and you come out in Corona,
right where the late, great dirt-track steel shoemaker Ken Maely used to have his ranch. Moment
of silence, please
Continuing down 3S04, I explored a few dirt
tracks that presumably once served as driveways
to now-abandoned residences. The riding wasnt
particularly challenging, but the views of the
mountains and the lake were truly spectacular.
The Forest Road eventually returned me to Ortega,
where I turned right and headed west through El
Cariso Village and decided to stop at Hells Kitchen,
a popular bikers bar/restaurant right across the
road from The Country Store (try the

jerky). It must have been a colder day
than I thought because Hell was closed,
odd because Sunday has to be its biggest
day of the week. Was it the rain? Damn
fair-weather bikers!
By now I was cold and wet and jonesing for something warm, so I turned left
and headed east to the Lookout Roadhouse. At $2.85 for a cup of coffee (and
$1 rells) were again talking Starbucks
prices, but the view of a colorful rainbow
over Lake Elsinore made it worth it.
Whats that the realtors say? Location,
location, location.
It gets dark early in the shadow of
the mountains, and I still had one road
left to explore. I doubled back on Ortega
for a mile or so and turned left at South
Main Divide. This road, while paved,
was rougher than Unadilla after the
second moto and appropriately led to the Wildomar
Off-Highway Vehicle Park before emerging on the
scenic Santa Rosa Plateau in Murrieta. From there
it was just a hop, skip, and a jump to home.
The Tiger 800 XCx proved the perfect bike for
this outing. Smaller and lighter than its bigger
brother, the 1,215cc Tiger Explorer, the 800 is notably easier to handle both on and off road. While
its much bigger and heavier than a single-cylinder
dual-sport, its well balanced, has ample suspension
travel for the rough stuff, and its three-cylinder
conguration makes it innitely nicer getting to
the trailhead. Its variable ride modes let you switch
from Road to Off Road (which changes engine
response, antilock brakes, and traction control settings) on the y. It doesnt have the electronically
adjustable suspension that the top-of-the-line ADV
bikes do, but at $13,700, it costs many thousands
less. With a pair of more dirt-worthy tires, it has
great potential.
A backyard adventure might not give you any
big bragging rights. I didnt mail postcards from
exotic locales or regale my coworkers with tall tales
around the water cooler when I returned. But it did
prove my point: With a cooperative motorcycle, you
truly can nd adventure close to home. You just
have to look for it.
58 CYCLE WORLD
Sport
PUTTING THE
IN SPORT-TOURING
LIKE THE LEGENDARY

R100RS, THE R1200RS
LIKES EVERY ROAD
BUT LOVES THE BENT ONES
By Paul Dean Photos By Je ff Alle n
hen you try to pinpoint where, when, or

how sport-touring became an ofcial
category, you end up painting a rather
fuzzy picture. But no matter how you
tell the story, BMW seems to be at the heart of it. As
far back as the early 1950s, before construction of
the interstate highway system, the Bavarian boxer
twins were known for their long-ride competence
and composed handling on Americas diverse
roadways. The idea of a bike that could both knife
through corners with ease and cover long distances
in relative comfort began to grow legs in 1974 with
BMWs R90S, an upgraded, bikini-faired boxer
styled by acclaimed designer Hans Muth (see Peter
Egans story in last years Travel and Adventure). Just
three years later, the concept was really off and
running with the introduction of the R100RS, a
self-evident sport-and-touring machine tted with
one of the most effective full fairings ever to grace
a motorcycle.
Ever since, BMW has been churning out more
sport-tourers than any other manufacturer. The
companys current lineup lists six such models
some aimed a little more toward touring, others
shaded more toward sport, but all surprisingly
competent throughout the broad spectrum of performance demanded by sport-touring.
Although the RS boxer still lives today in the
R1200RS, the bloodline has endured some ts and
starts along the way. The R100RS remained in the
lineup until deposed by the four-cylinder K100RS in
1984, but those K-bikes proved not to be the answer.
So in 1988, the R-series RS returned and was a
BMWs RS models
codified the definition of
sport-touring when they
first appeared in the mid1970s, with the original
fully faired R100RS.
60 CYCLE WORLD
player for the next 16 seasons, gaining 105cc of

displacement in 1993 (R1100RS) and 45 more cubes
in 2001 (R1150RS). Then, from 2005 to 2014, the RS
boxer went AWOL as BMW focused on its new Kseries four- and six-cylinder sport-tourers.
You cant keep a great concept down, though,
and the arrival of the more-powerful, water-cooled
1,170cc twin has given the RS boxer a new lease on
life. The R1200RS, the most sporting version of the
R1200 platform, can rie its way along a twisty
road almost as skillfully as a full-blown race-replica

sportbike yet inhale mile after mile of open road
without the need to take a chiropractor along for
the ride.
Essentially, the RS is built around the same
engine and chassis as the R1200R naked roadster,
including use of an upside-down telescopic fork
instead of the Telelever front on the more touringfocused R1200RT. The RS wears a smaller and
simpler half-fairing, the protruding cylinders of the
boxer motor offering considerable weather protection themselves, and the fuel tank holds 4.7 gallons
as opposed to 6.6 on the RT. These and other weightand cost-saving measures mean an RS is a claimed
84 pounds lighter than an RT, has nal gearing
2.5 percent lower (higher numerically), and a base
MSRP ($14,995) some $3,100 more affordable.
On the road, the combination of less weight and
lower gearing allows the RS to accelerate more
aggressively than the RT. And because quite a bit of
the weight loss was up high (the RT fairing is much
taller, wider, and packed with mechanical gear and
electronics), the RS is noticeably more agile, whether
performing a cut-and-thrust through urban trafc
or snaking along curvy mountain roads.
So, as far as the sport part of this bikes mission
is concerned, the results are impressive. Thanks
in no small part to the low CG and longitudinal
crankshaft (which, unlike an across-the-frame
crank, offers no gyroscopic resistance to leaning) of
the boxer layout, the RS seems almost eager to slice
through corners, doing so far more easily than its
520-pound curb weight would suggest. Its obviously not as ickable as, say, BMWs own S1000RR
or any other repli-racer sportbike, but it nonetheless
is remarkably easy to toss into and out of hard, fast
corners.
Our testbike was equipped with the optional
Dynamic ESA electronically adjustable suspension, which keeps the RS as stable as a parked bus,
even when cornering on the far edges of the tires
and with the footpeg feelers autographing the
pavement. Plus, the telescopic fork communicates
just enough added feedback compared to the RTs
Telelever unit to instill in the rider those last few
percentage points of condence when charging
through corners.
Everything about the engine further enhances
the RS sport-riding abilities. The awesome torque
of the DOHC, eight-valve, 1,170cc twin is neverending; the bike lunges forward in any gear at any
rpm. Youll make good time on back roads without
wearing out your left boot on the shift lever. Most
of the time, you can go 80 or 90 percent as fast
through the twisties while changing gears only 20
or 25 percent as often. You wouldnt outrun a good
rider on a true-blue sportbike on such roads, but
hed probably go home wondering how in the hell
you stayed so close behind.
When touring pops up on the menu, the RS nicely
handles that duty as well, especially when tted
with the optional quick-detach hard saddlebags.
Since the RS is sport-oriented, its footpegs are
3-1/2 inches farther rearward than those on the RT,
the handlebar sits 1.5 inches lower, and the twoposition, manually adjustable windscreen is signicantly smaller. Those ergonomics put more weight
on the wrists and forearms, more bend in the knees,
and more wind on the upper torso.
Consequently, spending long days in the saddle
is more demanding than on the RT but comparable
toand in some cases, better thanwhat you would
experience on a few other sport-tourers. The sole
exception is the footpeg location, which, in keeping
with BMW practice, is more sportbike-like than is

typical for the genre. The windscreen, meanwhile, in
its up position, keeps windblast off much of the torso,
So what does RS
chin, and neck for most riders; the down position
stand for in BMW speak?
is akin to what you nd on most sportbikes, with
Reisesportliterally
considerable air hitting the head and upper torso but touring sport in German.
Those Bavarians are
allowing an unobstructed view of the corners ahead.
nothing if not literal
So, after all is said and done, the RS emerges as a
and logical.
perfect complement to the R1200RT. Both of these
versatile boxerbikes tackle the wide, wild world of
sport-touring head on and handle it all magnicently. Butas their RS (road sport) and RT (road
tour) designations implyone rolls down the open
road more luxuriously while the other is the champ
when it comes to unraveling severely crooked roads.
Yes, you can easily nd countless other
2016 BMW R1200RS
motorcycles that are faster than the RS
Price
$14,995
along a winding back road. You can nd
lots of others that are more accommodatDOHC
Engine:
opposed twin
ing on long rides. And you can nd plenty
Displacement: 1170cc
that are less expensive. But youll have to
look long and hard to nd one that makes Seat Height: 32.3 in.
blasting around corners as easy, as forgiv- Fuel Capacity: 4.7 gal.
ing, and as much pure fun as the R1200RS. Claimed
520 lb.
Weight:
Even if you dont get there rst.
WAYPOINTS HAPPY TRAVELER
THE SAVVY TRAVELER

Booking a tour? Heres what to do and what to avoid. By Markus Hellrigl
In his 20 years of leading motorcyclists to every nook and cranny of the globe with
Edelweiss Bike Travel, Markus Hellrigl has seen it all. We asked what riders can do to
make sure they have the best trip possible when they sign up with a tour company. ML
DECISIONS AND
PLANNING
Anybody can participate on
a motorcycle tour regardless
of skill level or experience.
The secrets of a successful
trip are your own approach to
traveling and your choosing the right tour with the
right operator. Are you after
an intense alpine-pass sport
ride? Relaxed sightseeing?
All dirt, all paved, or a mix of
both? Some operators specialize in one kind of tour. The
company I work for, Edelweiss, offers everything from
tours on Harleys to tours on
scooters, with 12 different categories in all. Make sure you
nd one that works for you.
GETTING THERE
Nobody enjoys jet lag. I suggest you arrive a day or two
early. At Edelweiss, you can
even take part in a one-day
training session before the
tour starts, so you can get
used to your bike and European trafc. At the very least,
take a walking tour of the
city where youre staying to
absorb a little culture and get
used to the time change.
PICK THE RIGHT BIKE

Riding a bike is like a marriagewith the right partner
its great, but with the wrong
one If youve signed up to
ride a bike thats signicantly
different from whats in your
62 CYCLE WORLD
garage, I highly recommend

visiting a motorcycle dealership at home and arranging
a test ride. At the very least,
sit on one there and gure
out if it suits you.
IS IT BETTER TO
BOOK A TOUR OR
TRAVEL ON YOUR OWN?
Most riders dont have time
to do all the planning and
booking for a tour, and they
dont know the best roads
or best places to stay. And if
theres a problem on the road,
the guide is there to solve it.
Plus theres arranging the
bike itself. If somebody is
looking for a unique destination, we can provide a
customized tour. Just show
up, and youre ready to go.
PRE-TRIP PREPARATION
I nd that the people who
enjoy their tours the most
are those whove done their
homework. Before your tour,
read about the area where
youll be riding. Our guides
start a blog on every tour,
so you can check out some
earlier trips online. And make
sure you do some riding at
home too. You dont have to
be in Olympic-athlete shape,
but itll help you enjoy your
trip more.
Also check your equipment
and your travel papers. If you
couldnt say no to that extra
helping of Christmas turkey,
make sure your riding gear

still ts! Check to see that
your passport is valid for
your trip, plus an extra six
months. Do you need or have
a travel health insurance? Do
you need a visa for the countries youre traveling in?
DONT BITE OFF MORE

THAN YOU CAN CHEW
If this is your rst time riding in Europe, dont attempt
an epic. Especially if youre
riding in the Alps, consider a
shorter trip and maybe some
less challenging roads. Once
you try them, were sure
youll nd a way to return in
a couple of years.
WHAT TO BRING
OR LEAVE BEHIND
First, bring an open mind!
This is really the most
important thing you can do.
When in doubt, try to enjoy
the situation rather than
complaining about it. As for
gear: Consult your touring
company for any specialized
equipment you might need.

Helmet, riding gear, and
a good rainsuit are musts.
Dont over pack, and dont
overthink it!
WHAT IF MY
LUGGAGE GETS LOST?
Always, always take your helmet as a hand luggage. If you
lose everything else, you can
start your ride without your
other stuff and maybe it will
catch up with you, but with-
out a helmet youre busted,

especially if its a Sunday and
all shops are closed.
OTHER RIDERS TOO

FAST? TOO SLOW?
Your tour leader should ask a
bit about what kind of motorcycle you ride back home,
how long youve been riding,
and if youve ever been on an
organized tour before. Plus
hell keep an eye on everyone for the rst day or two.
Let the guide take care of

youhes seen it all. If youve
picked the right company, its
guides will help slower riders
gain condence and let faster
riders challenge themselves.
HEALTH ISSUES/
PROBLEMS WITH FOOD/
SPECIAL NEEDS?
Dont keep anything from
your guidehes a pro and
will keep everything in
condence. Europe offers a
huge variety of food, so if we
know ahead of time, we can
help you nd whats right for
you. Even for vegetarians the
selection is better than ever,
and if we know before the
tour begins, we can arrange
those meals in advance. Food
is part of the adventure, and
your guide is often familiar
with the local cuisine.
PERSONALITY ISSUES
The stories I could tell. Part of
travel means being exposed
to different cultures, education levels, and personal
habits, both in the land youre
visiting and with your traveling companions. Try to keep
an open mindat least it
will make for an interesting
story after. Be an ambassador
for your country. If there is
a huge problem, ask your
guide to help resolve it. Your

guide should set out some
clear riding guidelines at the
startits important that you
do follow those.
Finally, I can add one
more thing: After having a
great time on tour, you can
be sure you will have new
friends. And out of experience, I can tell you some of
them might become friends
for a lifetime.
WAYPOINTS KNIFE FIGHT
THE CUTTING EDGE

Upgrade your first-aid kit with these Kevlar can openers
odern motorcycle
clothing just keeps
getting better and
betterthats the
good news. But it also creates
a problem: If youre responding at an accident scene, it
becomes tougher and tougher
to cut that clothing off when
rendering aid.
This point was driven
home last October when
one of the Cycle World staff
was involved in a group-ride
incident. The good news:
Hell be ne, in no small part
due to the excellent gear he
was wearing. More good
news: Several of the group
had EMT training. In order to
ascertain the degree of injury
and move the casualty, we
64 CYCLE WORLD
needed to open up his riding

pants from cuff to above the
knee. Ever prepared, EditorIn-Chief Hoyer produced a
pair of trauma shears. Nicely
doneexcept they proved incapable of cutting a Victorias
Secret runway model out of
her lingerie, much less defeating a pair of armored riding
pants. A large folding Buck
knife ultimately did the deed.
There had to be a better way.
We rounded up four shears
to test, all small enough
to carry in a rst-aid kit or
daypack. Aerostichs Andy
Goldne, a supporter of all
things motorcycling, donated
a riding suit and a stout
leather jacket for us to carve
up. Heres what we observed.
By Mark Lindemann
G ENERIC TR AU M A SH E A RS: $3. 6 8 $6 . 99

We used this authors 35-year-old Feather (brand) shears in our
testing, and they did a ne job chopping through the leather,
nylon, Cordura, zippers, and padding. Heres the problem: All
these generic EMT shears look alike, and theres a huge difference in quality. EMTs often get these shears for free and throw
them away if theyve been exposed to a patients blood. If you
can nd a good pair, theyre an incredible bargain. Caveat emptor,
howeverthe shears that performed so poorly in the eld looked
just like these.
12-FUNCTION MULTI SCISSORS: $24

Aerostich sent us these to evaluate. They felt like the imsiest of
the bunch, and we were initially skeptical. Actually they performed
well, out-cutting the Fiskars. Includes a bottle opener, can opener,
wire-stripper, and eight other functions. Blades take apart to clean or
facilitate individual tool use. Comes with a nylon sheath.
F I S K A R S 7- I N C H TA K E -APART S H E A R S : $10$14
A favorite in the shop, we hoped these scissors would perform better on riding
gear. While they did ultimately cut through all the test material, and they offered
comfortable handles, it was more difficult to initiate and maintain cuts through
heavy cuff materials with these, mostly due to the bone notch in the blade.
Disappointing. Keep these in your toolbox, not your rst-aid kit.
LE ATH ERM A N R A P TOR : $69.85

In a class by themselves, in terms of features, performance, and
price. These easily out-cut every other shear we tried. Made from
420HC stainless steel, at 0.125-inch, the blades are twice as thick
as the generic trauma shears. But the most innovative feature is
how the Raptor folds, reducing its length by half and making it
truly pocket-size. The Raptors also include a host of other features:
a ring cutter, an oxygen-tank wrench, a seat-belt/strap cutter,
a ruler, and a carbide glass breaker. Comes with an innovative
quick-draw hard plastic holster, or use the pocket clip when folded.
The most expensive of the bunch, but if youre looking for the best,
this is what youre after.
PHOTOGR APHY BY Jeff Allen

WAYPOINTS ERGONOMICS
TAILOR MADE
In real estate, its location, location, location. On long rides its fit, fit, fit.
By Mark Lindemann
iders who spend long hours in the saddle know that ne-tuning their bikes t can
make a huge difference in both comfort and control. The good news? You can do much
of it yourself, and its easy to experiment. Heres what you should concentrate on.
LEVERS
When youre sitting on the bike you want a perfectly straight
line from your elbow through your wrist, continuing through
your outstretched ngers when those ngers are just resting
on the brake and clutch levers. Loosen your levers pinch
bolts and rotate the perch until theyre in the right spot.
Perches pinned in place? Grind or snap off those little pins!
Aftermarket levers may let you adjust reach or provide a different curvature.
PEGS
GRIPS
HANDLEBAR
On most ADV bikes, you want

the pegs positioned where
you can comfortably ride the
bike while standing. Think
about how a horseman posts
while standing in the stirrups. Its difcult to alter peg
position, but wider aftermarket pegs make standing more
comfortable. Aggressive teeth
on the pegs improves grip,
and an open grid design
gives mud a place to go.
Grips wear out, and even

if they havent yet, genuine
MX grips can be a big improvement if you ride off road
much. Blisters? Try using
half wafe grips, with
wafe-ridged surfaces on
only half their circumference.
Which way do you mount
them? With the smooth
part under your palm and
the wafe section under
your ngers.
With your stock bar, loosen the clamp bolts and experiment
with rotating the bar forward and back to open or close up the
cockpit. The two things you want to pay attention to are the
bars rise (height) and sweepback (the angle of the grips). Still
not right? Dont try to bend your barnd a replacement with
the rise and sweepback you want.
Another solution is a set of bar risersthese use longer pinch
bolts and a spacer between the bar and the triple clamp. Theyll
usually lift the bar between 20 and 30mm. With either option,
be aware that you may need longer control cables and/or hoses.
SEAT
Some high-end ADV bikes offer adjustable seats, typically in
two or three xed positions. If yours doesnt, you have two
choices: either nd an aftermarket seat that suits you better,
or start adding and removing foam underneath your stock
seats cover. Thinner foam can work if its rmer. To test for a
taller sear, simply unbolt your stocker and add material (folded
towels work well) underneath the stock seat pan to determine
how much higher you want to go.
66 CYCLE WORLD
ILLUSTR ATIONS BY Tim Barker
WAYPOINTS TOURING
SIGN ME UP
Finding the right tour company for your adventure
By Blake Conner
he dream: Lets go riding at some far-away destination

like the Alps, Alaska, South America, or Europe. The
nightmare: What about the logistics? How do you get
a motorcycle and insurance, where will you stay, and
where do you go? Plenty of folks like the challenge of planning, but plenty of others would rather have a touring company work out the details for them, transport their luggage
from point to point, and book accommodations and meals so
they can just get straight to the part they like best: riding.
There are countless motorcycle touring companies worldwide, and we cant vouch for most of them, but here are a few
suggestionscompanies with solid reputations that operate
in wide variety of countries and terrain. Enjoy!
EDELWEISS BIKE TRAVEL

edelweissbike.com
If youre looking for a company that
goes just about everywhere and
has a great reputation, you have to
consider Edelweiss. With almost 40
years of motorcycle-tour experience,
this Austrian company has long been
the benchmark in the industry.
Destinations: Europe, North
and South America, Asia, Africa,
the Pacific
Available motorcycles: BMW, Ducati,
Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki,
Suzuki, Triumph, Vespa
Tour duration: One week to one year
(Discover our Earth Tour!)
LEOD MOTORCYCLE
ESCAPES
CHRIS HAINES MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES
leodescapes.com
chrishaines.com
A newer player in the motorcycletouring field, this San Franciscobased company specializes in
destinations that include sportbike
trackdays at world-famous racetracks. How about a week in the
Italian Alps followed by two days
on track at the Sachsenring?
If you want to explore the Baja

California, Mexico, peninsula on an
off-road machine, let Chris Haines
and his crew lead the way. Trips originate in San Diego, California, and
the longest seven-day tour heads all
the way down to Cabo San Lucas.
Destinations: Europe, Australia,

North America, Thailand
Available motorcycles: Varies by
tour; Sachsenring trackday bikes
are BMW S1000RRs
Tour duration: Seven to 10 days
Accommodations: Depends on tour,

usually three-star
Accommodations: Three- and

four-star rooms
Price range: Varies, but typically

$4,990 (five-day solo American
Southwest) to $9,090 (15 days in
Europe on BMW GT)
Price range: Varies, but typically

$2,300 (California Redwoods) to
$6,200 (10 days Alps/Sachsenring)
68 CYCLE WORLD
Destinations: Baja California, Mexico

Available motorcycles: Honda
motorcycles and ATVs
Tour duration: Four to seven days
MOTOQUEST TOURS
motoquest.com
Variety and range are the key words
here: MotoQuest is another wellestablished company, offering a
large variety of destinations, with
everything from Alaska to Argentina,
India, South Africa, New Zealand,
and Japan. It also offers a wide range
of ADV and touring motorcycles, as
well as accommodations, depending
on destination.
Destinations: Alaska, Peru, Isle
of Man, Japan, Romania, India,
Colombia, and Southeast Asia
Accommodations: Expect rustic to

mid-level Mexican hotels and lodges
Available motorcycles: Multiple

models of BMW, Kawasaki, Suzuki,
Harley-Davidson, and other brands
Price range: All-inclusive except for

airfare and alcohol $2,200 (four
days) to $4,650 (seven days)
Tour duration: Seven to 15 days

Accommodations: Rustic to excellent
Price range: All-inclusive including
motorcycle: $5,400 to $12,000,
depending on destination
PHOTOGR APHY BY Jamie Elvidge, Bruno dePrato & Jeff Allen
MEDICAL EMERGENCY WAYPOINTS
WORLD OF HURT
Motorcyclists are no strangers to risk. So what happens if you get injured abroad?
By Mark Lindemann
f theres one thing that

sucks more mightily than
getting hurt on your motorcycle, its getting hurt on
your motorcycle while visiting
a foreign country. Or maybe
you dont crashmaybe you
just feel something wiggle a
bit too vigorously on the way
down as you swallow that
last bite of sweet casu marzu
keep it current.
Whenever I travel, I stick another
self-made page in
my passport with
local contact information of anyone
I know in the
country, especially
if theyre a native
speaker.
BRING A FRIEND
delicacy). Hope you like the view from

the local toilet because youll be spending the next few days there!
The contrarians point of view:
Consider the growing medical tourism industry, where folks from the US
travel to a foreign country (Costa Rica,
India, Mexico, Thailand) specically in
order to have their surgeries, guring
they can get superior care and/or get it
cheaper. Maybe crashing there is actually better than stepping off at home?
When youre at on your back, you

need someone who can act as your
medical/legal representativeor who
can at least make sure someone comes
by with a fresh bedpan once in a while.
Either that or face learning how to say,
Please adjust my catheter, or, IV
needle hurts, in an obscure Pashto
dialect. In some countries, its normal
to hire a professional bedside advocate.
PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
INSURANCE
While your present insurance
may cover emergency treatment
abroad, some policies exclude
high risk activities (like riding off road). Make sure youre
carrying both your insurance
policy identity card and a claim
form. When in doubt, contact
your insurance beforehand.
Also nd out if they require
pre-authorization prior to
treatment.
You may want to purchase
a separate short-term policy
specically for your trip. These policies
can be written for as short as a couple of
days or up to six months.
EVACUATION
In the US, few standard policies cover
medical evacuation back to the States, so
always consider adding this as a supplemental policy. When a friend was hurt
in Mexico just a couple months ago, it
Bring a letter from your doctor,

describing the condition and the
medications you need. Have him
be specic about the generic drug
names. Keep all of your medications
in their original packaging. The only
thing worse than a foreign hospital is a
foreign jail cell.
GETTING CARE
was more expedient to just hire a private ambulance to

drive him to the border then pick him
up and drive him to a US hospital. Thats
not always an option.
PASSPORT, PLEASE
In the front of your passport, theres
room for emergency contact and insurance/medical information. Fill it out and
PHOTOGR APHY BY Jeff Allen, Steve Soto & Shut terstock
For minor injuries, you may be better off going to a clinic rather than a
full-blown hospital. The International
Association for Medical Assistance to
Travelers (iamat.org) can provide you
with western-trained English-speaking
doctors in 90 countries. You can also ask
the local US embassy.
DIAL 911
Not so fast: In most of Europe its 112 for
an ambulance. In Sierra Leone its 999.
In South Africa its 10177. The list goes
on. Find the local equivalent and write it
on your gas tank before you need it.
WAYPOINTS EVALUATION
CW E VA L U AT I O N
BIG HILL? NO WORRIES!
KTMs Hill Hold Control and BMWs Hill Start Control illustrate two clever solutions to a growing concern
By Blake Conner
otorcycle technology is currently

experiencing a
growth spurt.
While the four-wheeled sector has embraced advanced
electronic controls and rider
aids for quite a while, the
motorcycle industry has been
much slower on the uptake.
Now, especially in the past
ve years, weve seen an
explosion of new features
on our favorite motorcycles,
whether theyre sportbikes,
ADV bikes, touring models,
or cruisers.
While most marques got
their feet wet with traction
control, ride modes, and
advanced ABS, in the last
70 CYCLE WORLD
few model years weve seen a

whole host of new features we
didnt even know we needed.
Among the most innovative
is what KTM calls Hill Hold
Control (HHC) on its 1290
Super Adventure and BMW
calls Hill Start Control, the
latter standard on the K1600
GTL Exclusive and optional
on the K1600 GTL, K1600 GT,
and the R1200RT with BMWs
Ride Modes Pro package.
Essentially both designs
work like this: If youre
stopped on a steep incline
think San Franciscoyou can
release the brake levers and
the system will continue to
apply just enough line pressure to keep the motorcycle
from rolling backward.

This allows you to get both
feet rmly on the ground as
well as easily manage the
throttle for a clean, hasslefree getaway.
Experienced riders might
think a feature like this unnecessary. But consider the aforementioned bikes: a 500-pluspound Super Adventure or
BMWs 604-pound R1200RT.
Loaded with a passenger, a
full tank of fuel, and saddlebags stuffed with camping
gear for two, we can be talking
about 800 to 1,000 pounds of
mass easily. And now come to
a stop on a rocky, uphill dirt
road with a big drop-off on
one side. All of a sudden this
looks a lot more attractive.

The KTM and BMW systems work a bit differently.
The BMW waits for the rider
to start releasing the clutch
before letting off the brakes.
With the KTM, releasing the
brakes starts a ve-second
timer; at the end of that time
the brakes begin to slowly
release. If you reapply the
brakes and release again, the
timer restarts.
While only a handful of
motorcycles currently offer
features like this, we expect
to see more heavy touring
and ADV models to adopt
similar systems in the near
future. And for many riders,
its a good choice.
CLEARWATER LIGHTS
Auxiliary illumination for BMWs R1200GS
By Blake Conner
DARLA
LIGHT
KIT
$649
ERICA
LIGHT
KIT
$989
SP ECIF IC AT IONS
ERICA
Six LED bulbs per lamp
6,000 lumens each
60-watt draw each on high
CNC-machined aluminum
3.7 x 2.8 in.
DARLA
Three LED bulbs per lamp
2,000 lumens each
24-watt draw each on high
CNC-machined aluminum
2.2 x 2.4 in.
odern motorcycles
like our long-term
BMW R1200GS
Adventure have
excellent LED headlights that
punch a nice hole into the
abyss. But what if you want
to absolutely obliterate all of
the darkness on that lonesome highway?
Clearwater Lights has just
released two high-quality
kits for the R1200GS/A that
do just that. Better yet, they
integrate with BMWs CANbus system via Clearwaters
CANopener, allowing an
wide range of functionality
via the GSs flash-to-pass
(FTP)/high-beam, wonderwheel, horn, and turn-signal
cancel switches.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Jeff Allen
We mounted a pair of Erica

lights to our GSAs crashbars
(utilizing the accessory foglight mounting locations) and
a pair of Darla units to the
lower fork legs pointed outward at a 30-degree angle for
lighting up corner entries.
The lights can be synced to
the high-beam/FTP switch,
so you can quickly turn them
off for oncoming traffic.
You can also preset daytime,
nighttime, and high-beam
intensity thanks to the
BMWs photocell light sensor. Both pairs of Clearwaters
can be dimmed in 10 steps
(100 to 10 percent), the least
powerful of which is more
like a running light. Another
great safety feature: Hitting
the horn button can additionally strobe the lights.

During the day, we typically used the Darlas (and
occasionally the Ericas) as
marker lights for better
conspicuity. Then, at night,
we would unleash their full
wrath via the high-beam
switch. Both pairs feature
a flood pattern, the Ericas
providing a reflective range
of up to 2 miles, while also
illuminating the edges of the
road quite well. As responsible riders, we only used the
high-beam/full-power setting
when we were sure oncoming
traffic was well out of range
or nonexistent.
Lighting up the night
like this isnt cheap, but if
you want some of the most

powerful and best-integrated
illumination solutions available, Clearwaters kits cant
be beat.
CLEARWATER LIGHTS
ERICA AND DARLA LIGHT KITS
clearwaterlights.com
PRICE: ERICA $989; DARLA $649
UPS
+ Unparalleled controllability
+ Amazing output
+ High-quality construction
DOWNS
Having to learn a new set of key
strokes to control
Vulnerable in a tip-over
Highly effective, yes, but a lot of
money for accessory lighting
WAYPOINTS EVALUATION
ALTRIDER HEMISPHERE
SOFT PANNIERS
An alternative to expensive (and destructible) OEM hard saddlebags By Blake Conner
ALTRIDER
HEMISPHERE
SOFT PANNIERS
altrider.com
(206) 922-3618
PRICE: $569.97
UPS
+ Very lightweight
and slim
+ Weather- and
dust-proof
+ Functional and
well designed
DOWNS
Cant lock them
Accessing contents
takes a bit longer
No way to lock them
to the bike
f youre an adventure-touring
rider, you almost certainly have
saddlebags on your machine.
Bags come in a few flavors: OEM
hard cases, aftermarket hard cases,
and aftermarket soft bags. If there
is one thing weve learned over the
past couple of years piling up miles
on our long-term ADV bikes, its that
Mother Earth likes to eat OEM hard
bags for lunch.
As a matter of fact, weve destroyed
a ridiculous number of accessory
bags in recent years, so we were
looking for an alternative solution.
After receiving a set of AltRiders
Hemisphere Soft Panniers for our
long-term KTM 1190 Adventure R last
year, we were impressed. So when
BMW didnt have hard cases for our
S1000XR testbike prior to a road
trip, we mounted the Hemisphere
72 CYCLE WORLD
bags. The XRs luggage racks meant

installing the bags just took minutes,
and they fit perfectly using five
mounting straps.
Constructed from ballistic nylon,
each side bag has two compartments:
an open holster-like top section that
accommodates a 34-liter water- and
dust-proof dry bag that clips in and
is then further secured by a strap
over the top. Below is a smaller cubby
in which another 15-liter dry bag
resides. An additional 28-liter dry
bag can also be attached up top via
metal cam-lock buckles (converts to
a backpack), giving the entire system
126 liters of storage.
The beauty of the panniers is that
they are very light and narrow. Even
when loaded, the bags are barely
noticeable to the rider, offering
very little aerodynamic drag and
not upsetting the chassis balance

with too much rear-biased weight.
The tape-sealed seams of the dry
bags work as advertised and kept
the contents totally dry during a
torrential desert thunderstorm.
Of course, this style of bag comes
with a few compromises. First, you
cant lock them. And when you need
to grab something out of one on the
road, it takes an extra step or two to
access the contents. That said, pulling
out the liner at your destination takes
no more time than with any other
bag on the market.
They might not be the best solution
for everyone, but in our opinion
the Hemispheres affordable price
tag, rugged construction, superb
functionality, and slim and light
design make them an excellent
choice for ADV exploring.
VENTURE HEAT GRAND TOURING

COLLECTION ELECTRIC CLOTHING
Get warmly wired from head to toe By Nick Ienatsch
hen I left Abilene, Texas,

the thermometer hadnt
broken 40 degrees, and
the windchill from the
35-mph breeze put temps slightly
below freezing. I was headed north
from the COTA MotoGP race,
directly into the wind, and had
a long ride ahead of me. It would
prove to be one of the toughest days
Ive had on a motorcycle, and theres
only one reason I rolled into my
Colorado driveway 12 hours later:
Venture Heats electric clothing.
The new Grand Touring Collection includes a vest (heated sleeves
are an option) and pant liners, to
which I added heated insoles and
Carbon Street gloves. The gear
is all outstandingly comfortable.
Bulky coils of yesteryear have been
replaced with hair-thin microbers for instant heat and all-day
comfort. Vest and pant liners are
extremely soft, exible, and have
the same bulk as a good workout
suit. All items interconnect quickly,
and a fused power cord attaches to the motorcycle battery. Combined
draw for all pieces is about 170 watts.
Vest, pant liners, and gloves have separate, three-level power buttons; insoles are controlled by the pant liner. Heat hits immediately,
and I challenge you not to giggle when it comes on. The only downside is that reaching the vent/pant control aps at your left hip isnt
as easy as accessing a power-cord switch or thermostat.
Ive never been a big fan of cold-weather gloves due to the added
bulk, reduced control feel, and typically lower crash protection, but
the leather and nylon Carbon Street gloves go a long way toward
alleviating those concerns. Fit and feel (even with 3M Thinsulate
and waterproof membrane) improved substantially during the ride
as the gloves broke in. They are the best compromise Ive found for
cold-weather riding.
Bottom line: In dire conditions, this gear was up to the task.
PHOTOGR APHY BY Drew Ruiz
VENTURE HEAT
GRAND TOURING COLLECTION
ventureheat.com
PRICE:
VEST $219.99
PANT LINERS $209.99
CARBON STREET GLOVES $199.99
BOOT INSOLES (trim to t) $69.99
UPS
+ All-day comfort
+ Right-now heat
+ Packs small and light
DOWNS
Insole wire runs up past
riders heel (walking might
get uncomfortable)
Power aps are tough to
reach in a one-piece suit
(get the wireless remote)
When we grow up, the only thing that changes is the size of the sandbox we play in.
74 CYCLE WORLD
PHOTOGR APH BY Ciro Meggiolaro
Ducati North America 2016
ducatiusa.com
New Multistrada 1200 Enduro
The Wild Side of Ducati

Wherever the adventure takes you, now you can follow it all the way. With over 60 new or
completely redesigned components, the Multistrada 1200 Enduro is developed to take you
anywhere without sacrificing comfort or total control in any situation.
New Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro. It has everything, except boundaries.
160 hp Ducati Testastretta DVT | 7.9 Gallon Fuel Tank | 7.9 Wheel Travel | 19 Spoked Front Wheel | ABS 9.1 ME | Ducati Traction
Control | Ducati Wheelie Control | Cruise Control | Ducati Cornering Lights | Full-LED Headlights | Vehicle Hold Control | Ducati
Multimedia System | Keyless Ignition | Ducati Skyhook Suspension

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BMW R1200RS

EXPLORING THE PL ANET ONE ROAD AT A TIME

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38: Out Of Africa

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50: Indian Reservations

54: Think Globally, Ride Locally

58: BMW R1200RS

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TRAVEL & ADVENTURE 3

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Giro dePrato: Our European editors Euro bucket list

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PHOTOGR APHY COURTES Y OF KTM

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TRAVEL & ADVENTURE 11

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