#AdventureBike

The air had a brisk freshness about it. Pure mountain air with a hint of fall from the turning leaves. The kind of unsullied atmosphere that can only be found far from the pollution of civilization. The sun had begun its slow descent behind the surrounding red rock mesas, and the cottonwoods and aspens appeared to glow in the late daylight, contrasting beautifully with the red rock, blue skies and well-manicured grass of the Gateway Canyons Resort. The resort sits at 4,500 feet, in the juncture of five canyons, some of which had been carved out more than a billion years ago. This would be the proving ground for our evaluation of BMW’s latest mid-size GS offerings – the 2019 F 750 GS and F 850 GS.

For this four-part series, we take a look at five easy bolt-on parts that will transform your ADV bike from a Starbucks-destined road queen, to a Dakar-ready desert blasting rally winner. Or something like that. This series is designed to show how much of a difference a few well-thought-out adventure bike upgrades can make to the off-road prowess of your big ADV bike.

Once again, we’re here to announce that the Yamaha Ténéré 700 is still not available. Surprise. What is available though, are some rad photos and video of rally racing legend, Stéphane Peterhansel ripping the T7 prototype through the Moroccan desert which once hosted the famous Dakar rally up until 2007. Next stop for the 2018 Ténéré 700 World Raid: Morocco. 

As is the rest of the world, we at MO are excited to be one prototype closer to the U.S. release of the 2019 KTM 790 Adventure R. KTM chose the Sardinia, Italy stop of the KTM Adventure Rally June 20-22 to release a prototype version of the 790 Adventure R, piloted by none other than extreme enduro guru, Chris Birch. Chris rode the prototype for the duration of the rally and his quote is what we are all hoping for:

If EICMA is the barometer of where the moto-industry is headed, it appears as if 2017 will be the year of the small-displacement adventure bike. In addition to the CRF250L Rally on this page, Suzuki unveiled a V-Strom 250, Kawasaki debuted its Versys-X 300, and BMW revealed its G310GS.

Earlier we reported about the new G310GS shown at EICMA, and now here it is in video format brought to you by the highly caffeinated Evans Brasfield. This new GS is essentially the G310R dressed up in GS garb, with a 19-inch front wheel, a beak nose and angular side fairings.

We’ve been giddy about small-displacement-sized adventure bikes since testing the CSC Cyclone a couple years ago. Enter 2016 EICMA and not only does Honda announce the 2017 CRF250L Rally, but so does Suzuki bring forth a mini-ADV bike with its V-Strom 250/ABS.

Off-road worthy motorcycles from MO’s past seem to be pretty popular Church items lately, so we’ll continue the theme again this week with a dirtbike from BMW. No, not the R1200GS, but a real dirtbike, the 2009 BMW G450X. In a time when BMW was trying to reinvent itself to attract new riders, the G450X presented something radically different than the comfy touring bikes many younger riders pictured their parents – or even grandparents – riding. Ultimately, the G450X had a short shelf life, but the guts to continually reinvent itself and enter new motorcycling categories has resulted in products like the RnineT and the S1000 lineup. For that we partially have the G450X to thank. Here’s contributor Jeff Buchanan with his take on BMW’s dirtbike.  

Two weeks ago we had fun with Rad Brad Banister’s Rally Raid KTM 690. Last week we lathered up a lovely little bone-stock Honda CRF250L – to which alert MO reader sgray44444 posted this thing in the Comments: a Rally Raid-modded Honda CB500X.

AJP released this teaser video today of its latest model, the PR7, a 600cc Adventure model slated to be released in September 2016 as a 2017 model. For those unfamiliar with AJP, the company was founded circa 1987 in Portugal by Antonio J. Pinto, a seven-time Portuguese National Enduro champion. The company has had extensive off-road racing success, having won the Portuguese National Enduro championship from 1996-2000 and the Portuguese National Off-Road series in 1996, 1997, and 2000.