#ChurchOfMo

Eight years ago we were the first to get a ride on a Zero electric motorcycle, the 2008 Zero X. Back then Zero was a very different company than it is today – Neal Saiki is gone, the machines are immensely more evolved, and they now look like motorcycles rather than converted mountain bikes – but reading Mark Gardiner’s and Micky Dymond’s positive thoughts about the 2008 Zero X confirms the impressive performance of electrics. Even crude ones. By today’s electric motorcycle standards the X is hardly worth mentioning, but for historical value – and as a measuring stick for progress – the X is hugely important. In only eight years Zero Motorcycles has greatly increased power and range, while lowering prices at the same time (government incentives also help). Zero’s make reasonable commuters or trail bikes for some people, and it started with the Zero X. Read about it below, and be sure to check out the photo gallery for more shots. 

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.  

Who crams a V-Twin into a dirtbike frame, anyway?! Aprilia, that’s who, and in 2005 it just happened to cram a highly oversquare 77-degree V-Twin into not one, but two(!) different models: the SXV supermoto, and the RXV enduro model. As if that wasn’t audacious enough, Aprilia even made each bike in two engine sizes: 450 and 550. Personally, I remember lusting after the SXV when it launched, dreams of sliding back tires happily floating through my mind. As the years wore on that lust slowly faded as I learned that the bike needed constant attention and upkeep wasn’t cheap. Still, I’d love to flog one around for a day… and then give it back to someone else. Here, let’s jump back in time and let then Senior Editor and current MO contributor Gabe Ets-Hokin, and MO’s beloved former staff photog, Alfonse Palaima, tell you how both bikes perform. Of course, there are tons more pics. Visit the photo gallery to see them.  

If you ask me, there’s no faster way to get your license revoked than to get a supermoto. Why? Because riding one instantly makes you turn into the hooligan you never thought you could be. Take Yossef Schvetz, for instance. The good-mannered moto-journalist he is (was?), even he couldn’t resist acting like a fool once he threw a leg over a SuMo. Of course, when that motard happens to be a 2004 Husqvarna SM450R, it’s easy to see how Yossef would let his inner teenager loose. So let’s turn back the clock to late 2003 to get Schvetz’ take on the SuMo scene of the day and where the Husqvarna stacks up. And for more pics of the SM450R, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

Twenty four hours on a motorcycle is a true test of both man and machine, and doing it on a dirtbike around Glen Helen is one way to separate the men from the boys. Here, our own J. Burns gets his friend Jim Hatch and his cousin Craig a ride aboard Yamaha’s finest off-road machine for the fabled Dirt Rider 24-hour at Glen Helen. The year was 2003, the bike was the YZ-450F, and the trio’s tale of mixing it up with some of the biggest names in motorsports is below. For more pictures of this adventure, be sure to visit the photo gallery.  

Last week’s Church feature of the 2001 Yamaha Vino was just a tease for this week’s Church edition. Because the MO staff is quite good at taking a perfectly good motorcycle and defiling it, leave it to us to find some hidden speed out of the 2001 Yamaha Vino. Check it out below. Oh, and isn’t that basket cute?  

This week MO has published a comparison test between two $17K superbikes, Honda’s middleweight sportbike, and a retro-cool Triumph cafe racer. So for this week’s Church feature, let’s slow things down a bit and reflect on the 2001 Yamaha Vino scooter. A far cry from the four machines mentioned earlier, in cities like San Francisco you’re bound to see as many Vinos floating around as you are anything else. Why? Because it’s a perfect little errand runner. See what the 2001 MO staff had to say about it below.

Yossef Schvetz is right in his review of the 2006 Ducati Sport Classic Paul Smart 1000LE – evaluating this bike on purely subjective criteria really isn’t the point. At a time when both the automotive and motorcycle industries were looking towards their pasts to create vehicles for the future, Ducati arguably was the most successful in its execution. At least in my eyes. No, the Sport Classic line didn’t sell in high numbers, but as far as rolling works of art are concerned, Ducati definitely succeeded. Of course, a review needs at least a little subjective judgement, and Schvetz provides that too. Through the lens of his rose-tinted glasses, anyway. Read on to see what he thinks of the Paul Smart tribute bike, and be sure to read to the end to catch his interview with the bike’s namesake. And if you want to see more pictures, be sure to visit the photo gallery.

The different takes on cruiserdom was in full effect in the early 2000s, with the custom chopper scene getting most of the attention. However, the muscle cruiser crowd was also well represented with seemingly every cruiser manufacturer getting on board the bandwagon, stuffing big V-Twins into whatever they could. Honda’s big Twin was a 1,795cc, liquid-cooled stump puller first found in the VTX 1800 for model year 2000. Five years later we had this, the Honda VTX1800F. Same 1800cc V-Twin, this time wrapped in more muscular gym clothes capped with tribal graphics. You know, to really intimidate those other posers at the coffee shop. Despite its brawny appearance, however, the VTX1800F was actually a softy at heart. Sort of. As Gabe Ets-Hokin describes in his review below, it does all the things you expect from a big cruiser, but it definitely isn’t for the novice rider. For more pics of the 2005 Honda VTX1800F, be sure to click on the photo gallery.

Kymco may be best known for its scooter lineup, but the Taiwanese company has had a small displacement motorcycles come and go from its model choices through the years. One example is this, the 2005 Kymco Venox, as reviewed by former staffer and current MO columnist, Gabe Ets-Hokin. In a beginner motorcycle field littered with sporty bikes, cruisers for the newbie set were hard to come by. Honda’s Rebel, Yamaha’s Virago 250 and Suzuki’s GZ250 were your main options. Then there was Venox. Unlike the Japanese bikes, the Taiwanese beginner cruiser was a better fit for larger riders, or those simply desiring a motorcycle with a bit more heft. As for its actual riding dynamics, here’s Gabe to fill you in. As always, for more pics of the Venox, be sure to visit the photo gallery. 

When the hyperbike wars were taking off at the start of the new millennium, Kawasaki was caught with its pants down, so to speak, as Suzuki had lit the field on fire with its Hayabusa. Team Green’s response? No, not the ZX-14R we know today, but the ZX-12R. A fast bike by most measures, when placed against the ‘Busa it simply couldn’t keep up. For this week’s Church feature we have our first ride review of the 2002 Kawasaki ZX-12R, the result of Kawi reimagining the 12R (slightly) for hyperspeed touring duty since it wouldn’t win any drag strip wars. 

If you read my piece about getting Behind the Scenes at KTM, you might recall how the Austrian manufacturer has really exploded in recent years. So much so that it’s goal is to capture the on-road market like it has the off-road scene. Well, by 2001, KTM was well established in the off-road world, and Mark Kariya’s piece about the 2001 KTM Roll Out highlights everything from the 125SX at the bottom of the range, up to the 520 SX at the top. As impressive as KTM’s lineup was, it would be another 14 years until Team Orange would capture it’s most elusive prize, the 2015 AMA Supercross championship – the crowning jewel on the company trophy shelf. 

Let’s be honest – it doesn’t really matter what the words in this week’s Church feature are all about. You came here to look at the pictures. Understandable, considering the Ducati 916 body style is one of the most iconic shapes in motorcycling history. Unfortunately, this review of the 2002 Ducati 998 was filed back when MO was under different ownership and stored under different servers. The original pics have been lost to the internet gods who feast upon early digital photos, hence the small pics we’ve got here. We’re sorry about that, but there’s nothing we can do about it. 

In 2009, when it came to burning away mile after mile in long-distance, big displacement touring comfort, certain motorcycles came to mind. Motorcycles like the Honda Gold Wing and Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic were obvious choices, but another motorcycle deserving inclusion in the conversation was the 2009 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager/Nomad, the topic of this week’s Church of MO feature. Here, MO’s Editor-in-Chief Kevin Duke takes one for a spin, wherein he discovers you really can take this Kawasaki from coast to coast in absolute comfort. The fact it is still in Kawasaki’s product lineup, seven years on, speaks to its capabilities. Read on to get Kevin’s complete thoughts on the bike, and to see more pictures of the Vulcan 1700 Voyager, be sure to check out the photo gallery.

For this week’s Church feature, we’re continuing the Suzuki two-stroke dirtbike theme. Last week we featured the 2001 Suzuki RM250. This week, it’s Mark Kariya’s review of the 250’s little brother, the 2001 Suzuki RM125. Incorporating many of the improvements seen on the RM250, here, Kariya tries his best to impersonate Travis Pastrana. In case you’re of the generation who only knows Pastrana for his backflips and four-wheel rally exploits, Travis also has a 125cc championship to his name as well. And he did it aboard a Suzuki RM125. Read on to see Kariya’s impressions of the bike.