#EvansBrasfield

We can hardly believe it. The long…no, interminably long wait is over. The 2021 Yamaha Ténéré 700 is finally on American soil. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The motorcycle that fans of middleweight adventure touring motorcycles have been waiting for since 2016 is here. In case you doubt the sincerity of our excitement, we’ve written about the Ténéré 700 no less than 8 times here on MO. Back in May 2019, Ryan penned a thorough piece on his experiences riding the European model. Because of that, we’re not going to reinvent the wheel here. So, for the deep dive into the specifications and what it is that makes up the Ténéré, go to that story. Instead, the focus here will be on riding impressions and information not available at the time of the previous first ride.

Let us sing a song of praise to our motorcycle helmets! Their primary purpose is to sacrifice themselves to protect our noggins. When you bang your head, their outer shell crushes to spread out and lessen the force of the impact before the soft EPS liner compresses to mitigate G-forces before they reach your delicate brain. But that’s not all helmets do. They protect you from abrasion in a slide, keeping your face pretty, and they absorb all manner of small impacts from juicy or stinging bugs to pebbles that your riding buddy’s sticky rear tire kicks up to face level. On the inside, their padding helps keep you comfortable by wicking away sweat while doing its best to limit noise and protect your hearing. 

I’ve ridden touring bikes all across the American continent. From a transcontinental dash on a touring cruiser to multi-day jaunts on Gold Wings to a gravel road to the Arctic Ocean in Prudhoe Bay, AK, I’ve done my time and racked up the miles, but none of the touring motorcycles I’ve ridden appeal to me as much as the sport adventure touring class of motorcycles. They appeal to me and the type of riding that I like to do. With that said, the 2020 Ducati Multistrada 1260 S Grand Tour is a great example of the species.

Many of us are products of MSF rider education courses and are quite familiar with the admonition to use all four fingers on the front brake for maximum control. While I support that rule for beginning riders, it is one that we quickly outgrow once we start logging miles out in the real world. I first began to notice the shortcomings of this rule when I anticipated in traffic that I might need to use the brakes. Covering the brake lever with four fingers makes it quite difficult to control the throttle. Then there were the magazine photos of all my heroes blatantly using two fingers on the front brake. Two-fingered braking appeared to address the problems I was encountering as an urban rider. (It was only later that I learned that it opened up a new world of braking techniques.)

Back in the era of my misspent youth, things used to be so much simpler. You’d take your new motorcycle home, bolt-on a “Closed Course Only” aftermarket exhaust, and (if you were smart) install a jet kit in the carburetors. The result was significant power gains and weight loss. Today, things are a little more complicated. Carburetor jet kits are illegal in some states, and the OEMs are making it tougher for EFI piggyback systems to alter what the EPA dictates your air/fuel tuning should be. Additionally, it is much more difficult to get aftermarket exhausts in some places.

Since May of last year, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the official reveal of the BMW R18. We’ve had hints from BMW. We’ve had spy photos. But we haven’t had anything for sure. Well, that time is at hand. Today, BMW officially unveiled the 2021BMW R18. What does it have other than the “Big Boxer” engine? Read on and find out.

Since its introduction in 2015, the Sportec M7 RR tire has been a popular seller for Metzeler and continues to sell well to this day. So, why fix it? Well, while we may think that the advent of motorcycle electronics has been growing quickly, the arena of tire performance has also been undergoing seemingly exponential change, and a five-year-old tire runs the risk of being left behind in the marketplace. Enter the Metzeler Sportec M9 RR, a tire designed to capitalize on all the M7 RR’s strengths and then exceed them. Does Metzeler, the only tire manufacturer to exclusively produce motorcycle tires, have another hit on its hands? Let’s take a look.

A couple of weeks ago, you had the opportunity to read the book. Now, thanks to the tubes of the internet, you can see what the introduction of the 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R looked like in all its HD glory. See the day start in pea soup fog before moving to scenic coastal highways. Later, watch the SDR handle the challenges of the Portimao circuit. Finally, watch Evans tie it all together in the end-of-day briefing in front of a picturesque backdrop. There’s even some talk about this being the film to beat in next year’s Oscar race.

Updated February 2020

Updated February 2020

When one thinks about Las Vegas, thoughts naturally tend towards gambling, bright lights, overpriced restaurants (or buffet food), and desert heat – not standing beside the road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the temperature on the wrong side of 40° while a 200-hp beast idles its way to operating temperature. This is the type of scenario where having track rubber with tire warmers would be significantly less desirable than the Pirelli Diablo Rosso III street tires the 2020 Kawasaki Z H2 I was about to mount was sporting. The first lap would suck the heat out of those toasty warm sticky track compounds rendering them useless. Street tires, however, have a much broader operational temperature envelope.

The KTM 1290 Super Duke R has always been a sledgehammer of a motorcycle. While the blunt instrument approach to producing power has its fans, there is something to be said about using a little finesse when dishing out a gut punch. With the development of the 2020 model, which KTM has dubbed “The Beast 3.0,” the focus was on refining the techniques the Super Duke R uses as it brutalizes the laws of physics. And I think that it will produce even bigger smiles on the hearty souls who choose this mount to beat their local tarmac into submission.

Triumph has brought out another modern classic motorcycle and, once again, hasn’t skimped on the performance. We liked this trend in the Speed Twin, and we applaud its continuance with the Thruxton RS. You get your vintage style, your upright riding position, and your smile-inducing handling. Then add to that the slight bump in horsepower, but more importantly, internal upgrades and weight savings that results in a claimed 20% reduction in rotational inertia. These updates allow the RS to spin more freely throughout the entire rpm range. Oh, and you get a 500-rpm higher redline. Woohoo!

News flash: OEM suspensions are designed to a price point. So, unless you’re riding a flagship literbike, those suspenders are full of compromises. The stock suspension on the vast majority of bikes out there is designed for an average rider, going an average pace, over an average road. Get outside of those parameters, and the suspension’s performance is compromised.

How about giving incremental updates a little love? So many riders seem to immediately dismiss mid-cycle revisions of motorcycles as being BNG (bold, new graphics) or, as with one comment this week, BNH (bold, new headlights). In the case of the 2020 Triumph Street Triple 765 RS, the comment completely misses the point. Sure it would be great if every model year was a complete makeover year after year, but there’s something to be said for incremental refinement. Model year 2020 is one of those fine-tuning times, and Triumph has delivered a Street Triple that is better in two very practical ways. Additionally, there have been some appearance changes that are bound to appeal to many riders. And all this comes at no increase in cost to the buyer. Sounds like pretty good news to me.