It’s What We Do

This entry is part 1 of 16 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #19

wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Main-series-img-7.png

It’s the time when most bike magazines and websites will be announcing their Bike Of The Year.

I always grimace a bit when I see these pronouncements. I’m a cynic, for sure, but still, I struggle to understand how a single bike can be anointed as better than every other bike. How can that be? If my riding is mostly long-distance grinding west of the Great Dividing Range, how can the latest, multi-cylindered, mega-horsepower, crotch rocket possibly be the best bike I was offered this year? Or if most of my riding is done on the Great Ocean Road and the Oxley Highway, how could a tough, light-weight bike with a single-cylinder motor and long-travel suspension possibly get a look in? In their element both of those bikes could easily be exceptional. Even within just the adventure market we have bikes as diverse as Yamaha’s WR250R through to the big guns like BMW’s R1200GS and Triumph’s Explorer. Putting them head-to-head is plainly not sensible.

Adventure Rider Magazine won’t be making any pronouncements about a single best bike of the year. We’re happy if you’ve found a bike you enjoy and are out there riding it.

Still, I’ve been gifted with a job that allows me to try more bikes in a single year than “Adventure Rider Magazine won’t be making any pronouncements about a single best bike of the year.”

many riders will get to sample in a lifetime.

Not only that, I get to ride a lot of new models with very high-powered technical people looking over my shoulder and making sure I’m getting the best the bike has to offer. So, probably with a little flash of self-importance, I’m going stick my neck out and name one bike that’s impressed me as really outstanding from the great bikes I’ve ridden in 2016.

In the best traditions of adventure riding, I’m not going to hedge my bets with honourable mentions or nominees.

I’m going to make a stand-or-fall commitment and just name one.

Be careful. I’m not about to name the best adventure bike of 2016. I said at the start I just don’t think that’s possible. I’m going to single out one bike from those I’ve ridden this year that I think is really remarkable.

There’s lots of bikes I haven’t ridden. Don’t bother sending me hate mail if I haven’t chosen your favourite. There aren’t any ‘bad’ bikes on the adventure market that I know of – another good reason for not awarding an Adventure Bike Of The Year.

The single bike that’s impressed and excited me most in 2016?

Congratulations, Ducati. The 2016 Multistrada 1200 Enduro was a really excellent adventure motorcycle that, in my opinion, offered new levels of performance matched with excellent comfort and an impressive, relevant list of OEM accessories that made it a real standout in the fast-growing adventure market. I felt privileged to have experienced the joy of riding that bike.

I can’t wait to see what will be on offer in 2017.

Series NavigationKashmir: mystic adventure – Over the top…literally >>