#Standard

“Chock full of bland mediocrity” was the original subhead for my second ride review of the 2015 Suzuki GSX-S750. It was a subhead EiC, Kevin Duke, rightly removed. I was a little harsh on the new Gixxus, and now in a group of its peers, the naked bike from Suzuki has proven itself to be quite the contender. Out of the three testers involved in this shootout, John “run-on sentence” Burns and Troy “I’ve ridden the new R1 more than you” Siahaan, it is I who is championing the GSX-S.

Fresh spy photos of what’s purported to be an all-new liquid-cooled Triumph Bonneville for 2016 have just surfaced from across the pond. They reveal a new engine, new chassis and new styling that’s even more authentically retro than the current model.

Would I glance at this bike every single time I walk through my garage and smile?

Back in October, Evans Brasfield penned a preview of Suzuki’s then forthcoming GSX-S750. “The middleweight Naked class just got a lot more interesting,” read his kindly subheading. At the beginning of this month (March) Suzuki hosted a press ride of the GXS-S750 in some very non-optimal weather conditions in Austin, Texas. With the first-ride review a literal washout, we withheld reporting our typical evaluation of, and Scorecard for, the Gixxus until we could perform an honest shakedown. Well, that day has arrived, and we can honestly report that Suzuki’s new naked performs almost flawlessly in the most underwhelming way possible.

What’s a scrambler? In decades past, a scrambler was a street motorcycle stripped down and optimized for off-road use by way of swapping-in high-pipes, wider handlebars, semi-knobby tires, and differently styled fenders, seat and tank. Sometimes, it was an unmodified street model given a scrambler or street scrambler designation. In essence, it’s a cool name meant to convey agile sportability regardless of the bike’s dirt or street intentions.

There are numerous obstacles to streetbike ownership for young adults, including how fewer children are even riding bicycles these days, never mind motorcycles, as I discussed in my latest Duke’s Den editorial. So, for an entry-level bike to overcome the hurdle into motorcycling, it has to be cool enough to push the desirability scale past the point of trepidation.

In December we published spy photos of a Triumph “Street Tracker” prototype, which boasted a new liquid-cooled parallel-Twin engine that we theorized would form the basis of Triumph’s lineup of classically styled motorcycles.

A last-minute flight change, dense fog, a diversion to Abilene for refueling, an engine malfunction, a 3.5-hour rental car drive from Abilene to Austin – I arrive at Austin Land and Cattle restaurant 12 hours after having departed Los Angeles, halfway through the technical presentation for Suzuki’s 2015 GSX-S750. Suzuki’s Steve Bortolamedi kindly greets me with a scotch and rocks. Then, the wife calls to inform me someone sideswiped our van. Make that a double, Steve.

In the field of Standard motorcycles on the market today, there’s quite an impressive field to choose from. For our 2015 Reader’s Choice awards, we gave you six: the BMW R NineT, Triumph Street Triple R, BMW S1000R, Honda CB500F, and two Yamaha siblings – the FZ-09 and FZ-07. Stiff competition indeed, but with 24.4% of the votes, you, our readers, picked the Triumph Street Triple R the winner. It was a close fight, as MO’s pick for top Standard, the R NineT, was hot on the Triumph’s heels with 22.2% of the votes. The BMW S1000R came third, with 20.0% of the votes. Maybe more surprising was the last-place finisher. Despite earning runner-up status for Bike of the Year amongst the MO staff, the Yamaha FZ-07 was stuck in the single digits, with only 7.9% of you giving it the nod.

After years of manufacturers serving the high end of the motorcycle market, we’re happy to acknowledge the OEMs for finally devoting engineering resources to the entry-level sporty-bike crowd. Honda’s CBR250R upped the class ante a few years ago, forcing Kawasaki to upgrade its Ninja 250 into a Ninja 300, which then begat the CBR300R and its CB300F naked/standard stablemate.

The first products of BMW‘s collaboration with India’s TVS Motors are well into development, with spy photographers capturing images of a new small-displacement motorcycle undergoing testing.

Whether we admit it or not, most of us crave the familiar. SYM? Never heard of it. How could it be any good? In fact, Sanyang Industries has been cranking out vehicles since the ’50s in Taiwan. After inking a deal with Honda in 1962 to begin assembling motorcycles, it started stamping out Civics in 1977. In 2002, it split from Honda and partnered up with Hyundai, who also makes pretty nice automobiles these days. Sanyang also has a deal with King Long, which builds Chinese buses (and whose name can’t be beat), as well as a deal with Mahindra in India.

Motorcycle.com has acquired these spy images of two new Triumph prototypes undergoing testing in Spain, and they reveal a new liquid-cooled powerplant that will surely underpin all future Bonnevilles, Thruxtons, Scramblers, etc.

Standing in “The Land of Joy,” a makeshift beach party Ducati set up inside the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, California, to serve as its central command post for the 2015 Scrambler launch (the first time a new Ducati model has been introduced Stateside), it was quickly apparent this wouldn’t be like any prior Ducati launch.

Last but not least in BMW’s new line of liquid-cooled Boxers (and not even quite last since the RS variant will be here next year), is the lovely new thoroughly redesigned R1200R you see here. Where the GS and GS Adventure want you to dig out your Boy Scout neckerchief and head off into the boonies, and the RT wants you to abandon your life and make them all three-day weekends, the basic R is the bike for all reasons: This one’s designed to be great everyday urban transport but comfortable and capable enough for long distances with a passenger and luggage as well, and a reasonable dirt road wouldn’t be a problem either. It’s your basic Roadster, the most direct descendant of the first Boxer BMW built nigh-on 100 years ago.