#EvansBrasfield

It’s not every year a motorcycle hits the scene and redefines the boundaries of its category. The KTM 790 Adventure R has done just that. KTM has taken its decades of off-road championship-winning pedigree and infused it into what we believe is the most capable adventure bike to hit the market in some time. The 790 Adventure R utilizes KTM’s fully-adjustable WP XPLOR suspension front and rear, componentry previously only found on the company’s XC-W, EXC-F, and Enduro R models. The compact 799cc Parallel Twin and low slung gas tank only adds to the maneuverability of the bike, giving it a nice low center of gravity. Whether tiptoeing through a rock garden or blasting through sand washes, the 790 Adventure R handles in a way no other adventure bike does, mostly thanks to keeping its CG as low as possible.

Well, the new-for ’19 RT has put on 20 pounds compared to the R1200 RT that preceded it, but one good thing about that weight gain is it makes it that much easier for us to justify calling it Best Touring Bike – an award that’s traditionally gone to your Gold Wings and your Harley-Davidson FLs.

Triumph knows a thing or two about winning Best Standard MOBOs. Last year, the Street Triple RS took home the honors, and two years before that, the Street Twin landed a MOBO. Impressive. And that’s the word that we would use to describe the 2019 Triumph Speed Twin.

The last 10 years have taken us through the childhood of electric motorcycles, and now we find ourselves firmly in the technology’s adolescence. Through it all, only one manufacturer has been producing electric bikes that entire time, Zero. This year, the company finally advanced to the Zero SR/F, a no-excuses motorcycle, competent in its ability to take a blast down a winding mountain road as it is in the daily grind of commuter duty. Yes, battery technology still has a ways to go to achieve the convenience that we’ve enjoyed with internal combustion engines (ICE), but the SR/F is the first bike from Zero to truly incorporate industrial design to feel like a full-grown motorcycle; one that bears only a passing resemblance to its older, less capable siblings. Electric bikes have finally come of age.

If there’s one thing that motorcyclists look forward to almost as much as the beginning of riding season, it has to be new model season – when all of next year’s updates are announced. It’s a bench-racer’s heaven. However, in a longstanding MO tradition, we like to pause before the rush of the new to look back at what the previous year offered the world of motorcycling.

I first learned about Evotech-Performance products when I was searching for a radiator guard in my first installment of KTM 790 Duke upgrades. I was so impressed with the quality, fit, and finish of the radiator guard that I started scoping out other Evotech-Performance pieces – particularly some that either offer crash protection or clean up the back of the bike’s lines.

As I’ve progressed my way through this 790 Duke project, I’ve mostly concentrated on parts that improve the KTM’s function or provide some sort of protection. Since I’m typically a function over form kinda guy, this is to be expected. However, there are some features of the Duke that, despite their utility, I thought needed replacing. For example, the stock mirrors, while performing their intended job quite well, broke up the angular lines of the bike and looked like rubber flippers mounted on the handlebar. And don’t get me started on the stock turn signals! 

Usually when we have a shootout here at Motorcycle.com, the participants are somewhat defined for us. First, we choose a class of motorcycle, and then, we put the latest versions of those bikes in a head-to-head-competition. This time we’re doing something a little different. Each MO editor chose whatever bike they wanted to ride to Monterey, CA, for the U.S. round of World Superbike. The only caveat would be that the bike had to be capable of participating in the annual Pirelli Track Day that takes place the day after the races finish at Laguna Seca. Okay, there was one other rule that I tried to enforce, but the one editor just couldn’t bring himself to choose a bike that had OEM bags available for it.

If I was happy with how EBC brake pads improved the KTM 790 Duke’s binders, why would I install the PowerParts Wave Discs? First, I was curious if the discs really would deliver KTM’s claimed 25% increase in braking power, and after our recent trip to Laguna Seca, where I found myself coming into the corners at increasingly higher speeds and requiring more and more from my brakes throughout the day, I realized that perhaps more power at the lever would be a good thing. So, I decided to check out the waves, front and rear. 

During the dark of night, these photos appeared in the MO inbox, and we’re trying to make sense of them. From the number of wires, cables, and data equipment visible, the shots appear to be of a Triumph Tiger in the very early stages of development, and from the details we can make out, we think it lies somewhere between the Tiger 800 and the Tiger 1200. Since Triumph appears to be targeting the Honda Africa Twin, we predict a displacement between 900cc and 1000cc, with the lower end being a bit more likely.

Ah, long-term test bikes. Oh, how we love them. And then we have to give them back, creating a void in our stable. Well, that time has come for the 2019 Niken GT that Yamaha has so kindly let us hold onto for lo these many months. What have we learned, boys and girls? The Niken GT works great in any job you’d ask of a sport-tourer or a commuter motorcycle. In fact, if you ignore the funny looks from passersby and don’t look down at the wide fairing in front of you, you really can’t tell that the Niken is a leaning multi-wheeled vehicle instead of your standard two-wheeled fare. Just ignore the Doubting Thomases and embrace the Niken as a motorcycle because in every meaningful way – save one, and that’s to its advantage – it behaves exactly like a motorcycle.

I’ll just begin with this: I haven’t had this much fun with a motorcycle in years. Seriously. When I’m around the 790 Duke, I’m as giddy as I was when I first started riding. Even my wife, who usually rolls her eyes when I start talking about motorcycles, has told me that she hasn’t seen me this excited about a bike in as long as she can remember. The other staff MOrons also tease me about the 790. If I weren’t so dang happy, I’d be embarrassed. 

Here at Motorcycle.com, we have a decidedly performance-focused approach to motorcycling. So, it should come as no surprise that we’re huge fans of track days. Yes, track riding is often seen as the gateway drug to becoming a club racer, and that does happen. However, the majority of riders stick with track days as their motorcycle fun time. There are so many measurable benefits to track riding that we can’t see why every sporting motorcyclist doesn’t go to them. So, in an effort to spread the track day religion, we’ve put together this list of reasons why you should sign up for a track day.

While they may be called helmet communicators, I bet that most riders spend the majority of their time listening to music rather than talking with other riders. Because of that, the most common complaint we hear about these Bluetooth systems is that the speakers have tinny sound and lack the volume to be heard clearly at speed – particularly when wearing earplugs. Well, Cardo has heard you and responded with the recently released 45mm Audio Set, which consists of a pair of 45mm JBL-developed helmet speakers and the firmware to allow select Cardo units to get the most out of them. 

The rain stopped just minutes before I entered the corner at a healthy clip – only to find that it had a decreasing radius. Then it went slightly off-camber. Not an ideal situation by any means. Still, the good folks at Yamaha insisted that less than ideal traction situations were where the Niken GT’s two-wheeled front suspension would shine. The assertion being that if one contact patch momentarily lost traction, the other one would make up for it. So, I grit my teeth and dialed in more lean…