Rumors of a proper mid-sized adventure bike from Honda have been percolating for some time now – as far back as eight years ago.
The news gained traction again last year, with rumors from Japan suggesting that an 850cc model was in the works, which be offered alongside the now 1,084cc Africa Twin 1100.
An updated KTM 1290 Super Adventure R debuted yesterday, but unfortunately we had only low-resolution photos to share with you, and that is simply just not how we do things here at Asphalt & Rubber.
With no pixel left behind, we bring you a fresh set of “Ready to Race” photos of the 2021 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R, to sustain you as we wait for this capable adventure bike to his US soil – it’s going to take a while.
That long wait is a shame, because the 2021 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R looks like a ripper for ADV riders that are looking for a machine with a 21″ front wheel.
The Austrian have changed a number of key items on this bike for the 2021 model year, most notably the fairing design.
The chassis has been modified too though, and the engine is now Euro5 compliant. The 7″ TFT dash is sure to impress as well, as KTM has revised the user interface on it, while also modernizing the bike’s handlebar switchgear.
When we saw the debut of the revised KTM 1290 Super Adventure S for the 2021 model year, we knew that there had to be a revision coming to the bike’s more off-road capable sibling, the KTM 1290 Super Adventure R. And, we were right.
Updated for the new model year, today we get our first glimpse of the 2021 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R motorcycle.
Buell Motorcycles is back, in case you missed the news. The American brand is in new hands new, merging back with its offshoot of Erik Buell Racing, under the leadership of Bill Melvin from Liquid Asset Partners.
For their resurgence, Buell aims to have 10 motorcycles on the market by 2024 – a grand ambition by any standard.
To help them reach that goal though, Buell will leverage three of the known models from the EBR days: the 1190RX superbike, the 1190SX streetfighter, and the less-known-about 1190AX.
After much, much talk and teasing, the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 has finally debuted for the adventure-touring market. Much has been said and speculated about this ADV machine, but now it is finally all out in the open.
And what do we see? The bike holds its own on the spec-sheet, but the motorcycle shines the most on its pricing.
One of the most anticipated motorcycles of the 2021 model year is finally here for us to test, and in case the title to this review didn’t give it away, I am talking about the Ducati Multistrada V4 adventure bike.
Ducati has teased us long enough on this new ADV machine, including giving us an early look at its new Granturismo V4 motor, which is most notable for its lack of desmodromic valves. *Gasp* goes the Ducatisti collective.
With 168hp (125 kW) on tap, and 92 lbs•ft of peak torque coming from the compact V4 engine, it is hard to imagine why anyone would complain about what is beneath the fairings on this new Multistrada model, but then again…Ducati did leave a few sacred cows on the slaughterhouse floor when designing this motorcycle.
A pillar to Ducati’s two-wheeled lineup, the Multistrada V4 is a critical bike for Ducati to get right, as it accounts for roughly 20% of the company’s unit sales.
And for all of its changes and upgrades, the Multistrada V4 continues Ducati’s core principle for the Multistrada lineup – of having a model that is four motorcycles in one.
To see if Ducati got this recipe correct, the Italian brand invited us down to Borrego Springs, California, to ride the 2021 Ducati Multistrada V4 S in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Our ride involved equal parts of curvy mountain roads and sandy desert tracks, giving us a good glimpse of what the Multistrada V4 S was capable of on the street and in the dirt.
The verdict? It’s a big one. If there was only one motorcycle we could buy with our hard-earned blogging dollars, this would be it. The Ducati Multistrada V4 S is the new standard in the premium ADV space. Let me explain.
Later this year, we will see the Aprilia Tuareg 660 officially unveiled, but that hasn’t stopped the excitement of seeing this twin-cylinder adventure bike ahead of its proper debut.
Spotted on the road by spy photographers, we get out first real glimpse of the details onboard the Aprilia Tuareg 660, including a good look at the bike’s face – you can see all the shots on the British site Visordown.
When the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S for the 2021 model year debuted yesterday, the Austrian brand gave us some pitifully small photos. I spit on the ground when I saw them, they were so woefully small and soured my senses.
Knowing how much our readers enjoy obnoxiously large photos of motorcycles, we aimed to do better. So, here we are today, with 44 high-resolution photos of the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S, for your viewing pleasure.
The Austrians continue to trickle out their new models for 2021, despite the fact that we are almost into February of new model year.
Regardless of that small detail, today we see the 2021 KTM 1290 Super Adventure S – a bike we have been expecting, but yet have also been excited to see.
KTM calls this their third iteration of the 1290 platform in the ADV space, and while many components on the “S” bike look familiar, we can also see that some key updates have come to this popular adventure-bike model.
When we didn’t hear anything from KTM during the typical new model year blitz at the end of the last year, we worried that the Austrian brand had decided to pack it in, after the tumultuous ride of 2020.
Don’t worry though, KTM hasn’t forgotten about its 2021 obligations, and zie Austrians have more than a few plucky machines to debut for the current model year.
Two of the biggies are a new KTM 1290 Super Duke GT and an updated KTM 1290 Super Adventure lineup, as both bikes are being teased on its social media channels right now with a January 26th release date.
As we get closer to the debut of the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 for the 2021 model year, information about this adventure bike is making its way into Harley-Davidson’s various channels, which means it’s making its way into the ears of our Bothan spies.
First reported on the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast, our initial news is that the Pan America will debut at a fairly affordable price for the category, starting around the $17,000 mark.
With all the bells and whistles installed, the bike is still expected to be a sub-$20,000 machine, which makes it one of the more affordable luxury ADV bikes on the market.