#Touring

Touring connotes long days in the saddle, and that means long days with your head inside your helmet. Fit, then, is going to be of utmost importance when it comes to selecting a touring helmet. A helmet that gives you a hot spot might not be a huge deal when you’re only wearing it for 45 minutes. Over the course of days, though, like an annoying travel companion, an ill-fitting helmet will grow to be a thing you loathe.

If you wanted a Harley-Davidson Road Glide that wasn’t a Harley, Indian’s been offering that for a while now in the form of its Roadmaster line of full-dress V-Twin touring bikes. If you want an American V-Twin full dresser that looks the part, but goes like stink, now Indian also offers the Pursuit. The traditional American V-Twin buyer has always been highly skittish prey, easily frightened off by overhead cams and lack of cooling fins. But with its Challenger of two years ago, Indian decided it was time to take the high-performance plunge, developing a revver instead of a chuffer, an oversquare engine instead of an undersquare one. Along with that new engine comes the increased horsepower those changes have brought to the internal combustion engine since, well, for a very long time.

An hour into the ride, we were already in trouble. We’d lost the main road and were stuck in deep sand and didn’t know the way out.

Harley-Davidson has the fortunate position to stand atop the perch that is its popularity and loyal following to see where its customers take their motorcycles. Yes, the folks at Harley hear all the time about the different places their motorcycles have taken them. But Harley designers and engineers also have the advantage of reading the pulse of their customer base by seeing what these people decide to do to customize and modify their bikes. Need I remind anyone of the unfortunate custom chopper craze of not too long ago…?

Last week, Harley-Davidson announced its first batch of 2022 models, listing several models that are returning mostly unchanged, except for new paint and graphic options. A few models were conspicuously absent from the announcement; most of them, like the Iron 1200, were discontinued. The lone exception was the Low Rider S, which we reported would be announced on Jan. 26 with some updates.

Today, Harley-Davidson announced its first batch of 2022 motorcycles, with models already arriving at dealerships across the U.S. These models return mostly unchanged from 2021, save for updated colors and, for some, new wheel designs. If you’re looking for any new models, CVO models, or motorcycles getting more significant changes, you’ll have to wait until Jan. 26, for Harley-Davidson’s “Further, Faster” world premiere event.

Indian announced new colors and other updates to the cruiser, bagger and touring models returning for 2022.

As we previously reported, BMW has updated its K1600 models for 2022, revising the six-cylinder engine to meet the Euro 5 emissions standard and adding a number of small but notable upgrades.

Honda Europe revealed the new 2022 NT1100, a street-focused tourer based on the CRF1100L adventure bike. As of this writing, the NT1100 has only been announced for Europe, but we hope to see it come to North America eventually.

Indian Motorcycle is preparing to launch a new touring model for 2022 powered by the same liquid-cooled PowerPlus engine introduced on the Challenger. The new model will be called the Pursuit and will be offered in Limited and Dark Horse variants, with an optional Premium Package.

The R18 Transcontinental and R18 Bagger have been getting a lot of attention lately, as BMW‘s foray into large-displacement cruiser touring segment. Getting somewhat lost, however, are BMW’s existing  K1600 range, which used to be the company’s representatives in the touring category. While still part of BMW’s lineup, the six-cylinder models have not been updated since the 2017 model year, not even receiving any changes to meet Euro 5 standards that came into effect last year.

Despite the best efforts of the Coronavirus Delta Variant, things are slowly starting to return to normal. Naturally, for those of us in the moto-biz, that means the manufacturers are starting to invite us to ride their newest machinery, rather than settling for a videoconference unveiling. Receiving the invitation from BMW to the R18B and R18 Transcontinental launch was enough to get my juices flowing because it’s been more than a decade since the last time I enjoyed Colorado on two wheels. When BMW sent a second email asking if I’d like to ride a bike home, I was stoked to have the opportunity to more fully test the BMW’s long-haul capability. No more work got done that day as I began to construct my route. If everything goes as planned, I’ve got 1,300 miles to build a close relationship with my borrowed steed.

BMW added two new models to its “Big Boxer” heritage line with the 2022 R18 B bagger and R18 Transcontinental touring model. They join the R18 and R18 Classic in BMW’s lineup of models powered by the 1802cc Boxer engine. Pricing starts at $21,945 for the R18 B and $24,995 for the R18 Transcontinental

BMW announced a new partnership with renowned audio company Marshall Amplification, and in doing so, teased the impending launch of two new R18 variants: the R18B bagger and R18 Transcontinental tourer.

Adventure riders know that choosing a jacket and pant that will offer versatility in a wide variety of scenarios is paramount to enjoying the ride. Fortunately for us, most manufacturers now make matching jacket and pant combos to offer suits that integrate seamlessly from a fit and function standpoint. It’s always a good idea to be realistic of your intentions when considering new gear, but thankfully with adventure gear, like adventure bikes, most are designed to do a little bit of everything. Below is our list of the best adventure suits on the market today.