Weekend Awesome - Chris Birch Shows How It's Done on the KTM 1190 Adventure R
Adventure bikes are one of the trendiest motorcycle segments today, but for every ADV review or unveiling we publish, it’s become de rigueur for commenters to ask “…but how often are people actually going to ride these off-road anyways?” It’s a fair question, as a lot of so-called adventure-tourers will rarely stray off the tarmac.
But many do take their bikes off-road, and not just on the odd fire road. If you’re interested in starting, why not take some inspiration from Red Bull-sponsored racer and off-road riding coach Chris Birch showing his skills on the KTM 1190 Adventure R in his native New Zealand:
A Red Bull Romaniacs and Roof of Africa winner, Birch has also been teaching off-road riding since 2005. While most of his programs are in New Zealand and Australia, Birch also runs courses at various locales around the world. For m0re information, visit http://chrisbirch.co.nz.
Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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Any rider with his skills could probably do that on a Harley. However, it seems to me that where he was riding would have been more fun and less work on a 250cc or 450cc dirt bike. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
“…but how often are people actually going to ride these off-road anyways?”
Answer is, "It doesn't matter!". Companies sell the fantasy. No one actually needs a bike like this one. I tried one and it's pretty awesome though so why the hell not? :)