Moto
While the outlook for riding during the winter period is typically grim in the UK, the turn of the new year is an exciting time as most motorcycle manufacturers choose to unveil and launch their newest motorcycles. The skinny steel tubes go a long way to isolating you from the small vibrations that can intrude into the ride quality, and, combined with the 30mm tyres, result in an ideal bike for making you feel at ease on many of the poorly maintained roads around the UK.
Who's to say riding a V-Strom on a smooth dirt road in the jungles of Guatemala is less adventurous than riding a DRZ in your hometown OHV park. To handle the load from these accessories, ADV bikes also generally come with larger stators, so feel free to plug in your heated gear and charge your electronics without having to worry about draining the battery.
Disc brakes, especially hydraulic discs, offer more power which provides more confidence when riding off-road and are useful in mixed conditions. They also sell quality Outdoor Equipment, and can provide travel logistics and custom tour iteneraries for your next adventure of a lifetime.
All very good adventure bikes. There's some really trick adventure or dual sport' riding clothing out there, full of armour, padding, breathable layers, vents, pockets etc. A DRZ250 was the first bike I setup for adventure riding, there was basically nothing available for this bike as upgrades to suit adventure riding so I had to customise a large tank, screen, pannier racks, panniers, etc.
We're seeing more tyre choice as well to go with the bikes, such as the Panaracer Gravel King, to name one example of the growing selection aimed at gravel and adventure riding. Adventure road bikes are simply light drop handlebar bikes designed with versatility in mind.
Last year the Multistrada 950 signalled Ducati's desire to open up its adventure range to a wider audience by offering its luxury dual sport machine in a slightly smaller capacity, and 2018 has seen that bike's big brother get a capacity increase from 1198cc to 1262cc.
The Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin never fails to stir up excitement amongst adventure riders, and when the manufacturer chose to revive the iconic Dakar inspired bike in 2016 it's safe to say that the adventure community was eager with anticipation to see how Honda could modernise the legendary Africa Twin.
With moto expedition-proven geometry and enough mounts to take all the amenities of home with you, the 2019 adventure bikes are ready when you are. But if your real focus is touring on tarmac, there are plenty of bikes with some adventure style and practicality without the off-road focus.
Travelled lots on klr 650 around australia, first bike 50 000ks of fun without any break downs. The more remote your planned adventure rides are going to be the more reliable you want the bike to be. Of course, the idea of riding a road bike across any sort of terrain, be it smoothly paved roads or rough and bumpy gravel tracks, woodland trails laced with roots or edge-of-field bridleways, is nothing new really.
Specifically, we like the 1290 Super Adventure R - it's a revised machine that comes with so many top-of-the-range bells, whistles and riding aids, it's hard to know who's riding who when you take it one for a spin. An Adventure Bike that is versatile enough to allow you to explore different types of riding, so you can discover what kind of Adventure Riding you enjoy the most.
After all, the most familiar machines in the category - BMW's top selling R1200GSA, Ducati's newly-enlarged enlarged Multistrada 1260, KTM's 1290 Super Adventure and even Britain's own 1200 Tiger - are exactly that: tall, heavy, imposing and, due to often being equipped with every electronic gizmo and accessory imaginable, pricey, too.