#Bmw

Soon we’ll be assembling the combatants for our third naked bike shootout this year. Why another one? Because Yamaha’s new FZ-10 is forcing our hand. Our First Ride Review of the FZ-10 was published at the end of July, a mere week before our Naked Sports Six-Way Shootout hit the digital newsstand in early August. Prior to that, our 2016 Ultimate Streetfighter Shootout between the two reigning kings of the naked bike world – Aprilia and KTM – was published all the way back in April. Leaving the FZ-10 as ridden but not juxtaposed.

For many, Autumn is the beginning of the end of another riding season. But for any motorcycle enthusiast, Autumn is also the time of the year when we see the fruits of R&D departments being unveiled, enticing us with fresh motorbikes that we’ll be anxious to ride in the year ahead.

The fall motorcycle show season kicks off next week in Cologne, Germany, at the semi-annual Intermot exposition. Although manufacturers try to keep secret the news of upcoming bikes that are nearing production, we already know of several that are due to be revealed this autumn. Here’s a list of some of what we’re expecting to see this year:

The one overriding edict in choosing this year’s consortium of adventure bike players is obvious from the story’s title – spoked-hoops, which essentially demonstrates a manufacturer’s commitment to the off-road worthiness of its bike. The introduction of Honda’s new Africa Twin has the potential of re-racking the pecking order in motorcycling’s hottest category, so we gathered five of its likely competitors that are either top-rated or recently updated. The Honda bridges engine displacements, ranging from Triumph’s 800cc Tiger XCx to Yamaha’s 1199cc Super Ténéré ES, and we also included ADV icons like KTM’s 1190 R Adventure and BMW’s what-will-they-think-of-next R1200GS Adventure, plus Ducati’s radical A-T entrant, the new Multistrada Enduro.

Photos of a pre-production 2017 BMW S1000R have hit the interwebz, showing new bodywork, a revised frame and updates to make the bike Euro-4 compliant. The photographs were snapped at the Oschersleben racetrack in Germany by members of the S1000RR.de community.

Only a few days earlier, I had started my journey at BMW’s Off-Road Academy, run by RawHyde Adventures at its ranch in Southern California for the “Intro to Adventure” course. I learned the basics: riding tight lines through trees, traversing hills, and going through sand.

BMW announced an updated version of its C Evolution electric scooter, claiming a 60% increase in range. And more notably for American consumers, BMW confirmed the C Evolution scooter will finally be available in the U.S.A.

BMW‘s R NineT will be joined by three variants next year including the R NineT Scrambler that debuted last fall at EICMA. BMW had previously confirmed the Scrambler will join the R NineT in dealerships in the third quarter but a new executive order published by the California Air Resources Board, BMW has received certification for two more variants: the R NineT Pure and the R NineT Racer.

Twenty fifteen was a big year for sportbikes, with the new Yamaha R1 and a heavily revised BMW S1000RR and Aprilia RSV4 RF making their debuts – the two European weapons motoring their way to the Best Sportbike and runner-up awards, respectively, in last year’s Sportbike MOBOs. With the proverbial load being blown that year, there wasn’t much excitement in store for 2016, save for the new, heavily revised Kawasaki ZX-10R. The Green Machine is a good literbike, no doubt, but it still wasn’t a match for the year-old Aprilia RR (the “base” model RSV4) when we put the two $17,000 machines against each other.

The touring segment is slow to change. Honda’s Gold Wing is always a contender and could easily take the win or the runner-up, and so too could numerous full-dressers from cruiser manufacturers. But in our opinion, nothing matches BMW’s K1600GT/GTL when it comes to combining all the comfort and amenities expected of modern mileage gobblers, with the performance and handling capabilities of more nimble sport-tourers. We even included the GT model in our 2014 Heavyweight Sport-Touring Shootout and the Beemer crushed ’em.

Okay, this makes it three years in a row for BMW’s venerable RT, which actually isn’t all that venerable since it got the 1170cc oilhead Boxer just two years ago. Venerable, though, in that BMW just continues to build amazing motorcycles atop the shoulders of all the great ones that came before.

For the well-heeled motorcyclist, this past weekend was the time to reach down into the couch cushions, gather up all that spare change, and head to Chicago for the 2016 Mecum Motorcycle Auction. With a claimed 350 motorcycles hitting the auction block and projected prices of some lots reaching up into the six figure range, perhaps one would need to check the couch cushions at the main house, the beach house, and the ski lodge to gather the necessary funds. Still, for those who love rare motorcycles and have the means to support them in the lifestyle to which they are accustomed, the Mecum Motorcycle Auction provides a great opportunity to own a bit of two-wheeled history.

If California is the land of motorcycles and Detroit’s the automotive capital, then Quebec must be Mecca for three-wheelers. Maybe there’s an inherent character trait in Quebec, a province that has carved out a French-speaking culture in a predominantly English-speaking continent, that leads some to want a similar niche for three-wheeled vehicles where four is the norm.

We’ll forgive you if you’ve never heard of SWM, as neither had we. And figuring out how the story gets from Italy in 1971 back to Italy today is a convoluted and fascinating international journey.

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.