#ChurchOfMo

I’ll be honest: I’d never heard of the Suzuki XF650 Freewind before. But as I was digging through the archives, looking for this week’s post, when I came across this beauty I knew it was the one. A Suzuki V-Strom before there ever was one, the 1997 Suzuki XF650 Freewind could easily make the case as being the V-Strom’s predecessor. Off-road-ish styling, psuedo knobby tires, street and dirt intentions – all of those are traits the V-Strom carries. Heck, both even have 650(ish)cc engines! How is it like to ride? Here’s our man Yossef Schvetz with the answer.

Our most recent Sport-Touring test between the BMW S1000XR, KTM Super Duke GT, and MV Agusta Turismo Veloce was a fun one, as Sport-Touring rides usually are. Whenever you combine great roads with great friends and great motorcycles, the story usually writes itself. Sport-Touring is nothing new, of course, and our most recent test got us wondering what the old MO staff thought were great tourers back in the day. A look back through the archives dug up this, the Lightweight Tourers Comparison of 1996 between the Kawasaki Concours, BMW R1100RT, and Honda ST1100. Enjoy this look back at three great motorcycles, made to burn up miles. 

When you think of Italian sportbikes, Moto Guzzi isn’t the marque that comes to mind first. Heck, it’s probably not the marque that comes to mind third or fourth, either. But every now and then, Moto Guzzi decides to break from its mold and produce a sport (well, sporty, anyway) bike. Such was the case in 1996 with the Moto Guzzi 1100 Sport. A combination of MV quirkiness and performance parts, the 1100 Sport wasn’t your typical Moto Guzzi. How did it work? Here’s Spanish correspondent Antonio Regidor Rao to tell you.

This week on Church of MO, we turn the clock back to 1998 and the Yamaha TDM 850. Long before Yamaha’s FZ-07 had the marketing department abuzz with the words “crossplane concept” in regards to its 270º firing order, the TDM 850 was already doing the same thing. In fact, it was doing it with more valves, too – five valves per cylinder instead of the four on the FZ-07. As for how it and the rest of the bike works, here’s Colin MacKellar from MO’s Dutch Desk (I didn’t know we had a Dutch Desk).   

Reading about Tom’s ride aboard the new KTM 1090 Adventure R, and Scott Rousseau’s Taste of Dakar adventure has got us on a big dirtbike kick. This got us looking through the MO archives for old adventure bike stories, and this piece on the 1997 BMW F650 was among the oldest reviews on the subject we could find. Until the F650 came on the scene, BMW had nothing to cater to the newer rider. With its 652cc Single (from Rotax), BMW was hoping to fill that void. How did the bike perform? Here’s Gourd Mounce with his first impressions from the 1997 launch. For a few more pictures of the F650, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

Recently, our own John Burns traveled to Daytona to hitch a ride aboard the alphabet soup that is the 2017 Harley-Davidson Road King Special FLHRXS. In his story, JB noted the Road King made it’s debut in 1994 – the same year the very site you’re reading right now was born. With that in mind, this week’s Church feature goes back in the vault to 1996 and the earliest story we could find about the Harley Road King in the MO archives. In reading Tom Fortune’s review of the Road King, the bike sounds antiquated even when it was brand new. Though some might scoff that today’s Harley’s haven’t changed, if Tom Fortune could ride the 2017 Road King, he’d be blown away by its fit and finish. It’s definitely interesting to see where we’ve come in the last two decades. Read on to take yourself back in time. 

Next week (Wednesday, to be exact) I’ll be riding the new, 2017 Yamaha YZF-R6 (look for my review Friday). Now, because we’ve already featured the 1999 R6 in a past Church feature, this week we fast forward to the second-generation R6, which our own John Burns got the chance to ride in late 2002. A sharper tool than the original R6 as far as racetrack chops go, after reading this piece stay tuned to my review of the 2017 model to compare and contrast. Something tells me the two models will be very similar in many ways…

As we jump in the vault for this week’s Church feature, we travel back to 1997, a time of change and consternation amongst off-road enthusiasts. Why? Because this was the year California really cracked down on two-stroke off-road motorcycles. A look at showroom floors today reveals (thankfully) that two-strokes haven’t exactly died off, but are far from prominent. Instead, the four-stroke era kicked in, and here we have a test of some modest trail bikes – the 1997 Honda XR400R and Kawasaki KLX300R. Far from speed demons, both bikes are fun on the trials. How fun? Let Len Nelson tell you…

For this week’s Church feature we’re turning the clock back to 2003, and a shootout between five classic tourers: The Yamaha Roadstar Silverado, Victory V92TC, Kawasaki Nomad 1500, Harley-Davidson Road King, and BMW’s R1200CL – the clear oddball of the group. Speaking of oddballs, get a load of the MO crew from 14 years ago – off-the-cuff, irreverent, and funny (and maybe a bit chauvinistic at times), the writing of this shootout is good for a few laughs. As for the results? Read on to find out. 

The BMW GS line basically owned the Adventure-Touring category before such a term even existed. But that doesn’t mean competition didn’t exist. Such a competitor came from Aprilia, as it tried its hand at something resembling a GS competitor. The year was 2001 and the bike was the 2002 Aprilia ETV 1000 Caponord; the precursor, of course, to the Caponords that would come more than a decade later. History clearly doesn’t look too fondly at the old Capo being any bit of a threat to BMW, but what did the MO gang of 2001 think of the bike? Read on to find out.

In a few days I’ll be bringing you my first impressions of Ducati’s new Supersport and Supersport S models – the everyman’s Panigale, comfortable enough to ride to a trackday, and sporty enough to rip some quick laps – from its launch in Spain. Meanwhile, we bring you MO’s first impressions of another Supersport – the 1999 Ducati Supersport 900. Combining impressions from both a street ride and a few track sessions, my review of the 2017 version will encompass the same. After reading this, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for my First Ride review of the 2017 Ducati Supersport, coming soon.

You know what’s funny? Calvin Kim posits, in his 2003 First Ride review of the BMW R1200CL, that people would end up buying this bike. Nevermind the, uh, ugly aesthetics, the R1200 backbone of BMW’s cruiser would be sure to persuade unorthodox cruiser riders that it was the way forward. Well, as history has taught us, there aren’t as many unorthodox cruiser riders as BMW hoped, and the R1200CL is remembered as a flop. Ugliness aside, read on to find out Kim’s overall positive view of the CL. And if you’re looking for a few more pictures, you can check out the photo gallery. 

In a few day’s time you’ll get to read all about the brand new 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000, Suzuki’s most advanced GSX-R to date. Penning the story will be none other than MO‘s E-i-C Kevin Duke, who did his best to tame the beast around one of the most loved racetracks in the world: Phillip Island in Australia. But before we talk about the new bike, let’s go back to the GSX-R1000’s roots; 2000 in this case. For this week’s Church feature we’re bringing you the First Ride review of the 2001 Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Suzuki’s answer to the liter-class sportbike wars started by Yamaha’s YZF-R1 a couple years prior.   

Sheesh, two motorcycle manufacturers shutting their doors in less than a month. First it was Victory, and now it’s Buel… errr, EBR. Coincidentally, Buell got his time in the spotlight in last week’s Church feature, and while we don’t normally post consecutive Church features from the same manufacturer, with the unfortunate news of Erik Buell winding down yet again we feel it’s the right thing to do. So to celebrate Buell, this week’s we’re going all the way back to 1998 and the test between the Buell S3T Thunderbolt and Ducati ST2 Sport Turismo. As a special treat, joining the old MO staff of Mark Hammond and Billy Bartels is none other than Chuck Graves – yeah, that Chuck Graves. What do they think of this Italian/American mashup? Read on to find out. And for more pictures of the duet, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

Whenever he gets a chance, John Burns likes to ramble on about how much he likes Buell motorcycles. The old ones, the new ones, it doesn’t matter. He’s a fan of Erik Buell’s vision and its execution. Case in point? JB’s review below of the 2004 Buell XB12S. A self-proclaimed lover of the XB9S, riding a bigger, better version of the XB-S around Road America left a big smile on his face. Hell, he still speaks fondly of it today. Check out what he has to say about it below, and for more pictures of the bike be sure to click on the photo gallery.