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.
The long wait is nearly over, as the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 will finally get its production debut on Monday, February 22nd, 2021 – the Bar & Shield brand tells us (they will “preview” the bike, yet again, on January 19th).
Accordingly, this date will end what will be an almost three-year tease and wait process from the American motorcycle company, as the first Pan America concept broke cover in July 2018.
Since that time, Harley-Davidson has “let go” of CEO Matthew Levatich, and swapped its “More Roads” plan for the current “Rewire” scheme that has seemingly killed many of the diverse models once announced by Harley-Davidson.
The ADV project remains though, if for no other reason than it was the furthest along in Harley-Davidson’s portfolio by the time that current CEO Jochen Zeitz came onboard.
Our friends across the pond got a surprise today, as the Honda CRF300L Rally broke cover for the European market.
Rumors of the bike coming for the 2021 model year have been pretty rife the past few months, so perhaps “surprise” is the wrong word to use here, and of course the Euro5 regulations have pushed for a number of “new” bikes to debut in Europe.
Still, the bump from the 250cc machine to the 2021 Honda CRF300L Rally is a welcomed sight for this small-displacement machine.
It was just a handful of days ago that we got to see the Triumph Trident 660 motorcycle make its world debut – with the value-focused three-cylinder roadster looking like a very strong candidate for the middleweight category.
Now, news out of India sees the British brand is set to follow-up the Trident 660 with two adventure-styled models. One is a more off-road focused, while the other fits better in the adventure-sport category.
After much anticipation, the next-generation of the Ducati Multistrada motorcycle has debuted, and as was expected, the machine features a V4 engine. Accordingly, say hello to the 2021 Ducati Multistrada V4.
As is Ducati’s custom, the Ducati Multistrada V4 will really only come in two trim levels, with the Ducati Multistrada V4 S featuring more up-spec components over the base model bike.
Both bikes though have a new monocoque chassis, a double-sided swingarm, and a 19″ front wheel (with a 17″ wheel in the rear), and a robust electronics package.
With these choices, the Italian’s are clearly pitching the Ducati Multistrada V4 as the bike to have, if you can only have one motorcycle in your garage.