Table of contents for November 2015 in Cycle World

The story of this 2016 electric motorcycle isn’t really about 2016, and it’s really not that much about the actual motorcycle. It’s about longterm positioning for 2020 and beyond—and Victory’s parent company Polaris being prepared to place strong bets on transportation segments it believes will pay off. Electric motorcycles will have a place in many mass markets, and this bike says, “We will be there. We are there.” The bike is the 2016 Victory Empulse TT, and if it looks familiar, that’s because it’s a lightly modified Brammo. Cosmetics are polished, a new instrument unit is used, paint and bodywork are redone, and battery capacity is boosted 10 percent with new “pouch” cells and more efficient packaging. It’s even initially being manufactured by Brammo in Oregon before production is later…

If you’re an adventure-touring rider, you almost certainly have saddlebags on your machine. Bags come in a few flavors: OEM hard cases, aftermarket hard cases, and aftermarket soft bags. If there is one thing we’ve learned over the past couple of years piling up miles on our long-term ADV bikes, it’s that Mother Earth likes to eat OEM hard bags for lunch. As a matter of fact, we’ve destroyed a ridiculous number of accessory bags in recent years, so we were looking for an alternative solution. After receiving a set of AltRider’s Hemisphere Soft Panniers for our long-term KTM 1190 Adventure R last year, we were impressed. So when BMW didn’t have hard cases for our S1000XR testbike (see page 36), we mounted the Hemisphere bags. The XR's luggage racks…

THE IDEA IS TO RIDE YOUR ADV BIKE THE WAY IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE RIDDEN, IN SOME OF THE BEST ADVENTURE-RIDING TERRAIN YOU CAN FIND WITHOUT A PASSPORT. The BMW F800GS was on its side and sliding in one direction, its rider in another, and I was hard on the brakes, sliding in a third, trying to remember what I’d learned in trigonometry class about converging angles and rates of speed before I too ended up in the ditch. Welcome to Colorado. Snarkmeisters smugly observe that many contemporary adventure bikes see nothing more challenging than an oil spot in the driveway of the local Starbucks. Then you’ve got riders like the 70 or so like-minded folks out here for the 2015 Adventure Rally–Rockies Edition. The idea is to ride…

SHOULD I RETROFIT LEDS? Q:Are LED headlight bulbs a worthwhile upgrade? Which ones are best? Are they compatible with headlight modulators? I want more light for desert riding at night and would greatly appreciate some advice about the current crop of LED bulbs! STEVE TATREAU ENCINITAS, CA A: It is the Wild West out there in the world of retrofit LED lighting: lots of claims being made but not much proof to back them up. The technology is evolving quickly. LEDs produce a narrow swath of light, so the lens and focal length are critical for good results. They also heat up in operation and require an effective heat sink to survive. You get what you pay for. At the present, I would still keep your incandescent headlight bulb. Just…

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Three laps on a track you just met isn’t much time to explore the performance of an Isle of Man TT electric superbike, but I have to say Lee Johnston’s third-place machine— run by Victory and the Brammo crew at the Island this past June— made it exceptionally easy to go as fast as I could, so to speak. Such is the glory of a well-set-up racing motorcycle. Well, that and the fact that there is no gearshifting or clutching required on this single-speed electric machine. Like the best new gasoline superbikes that offer auto-blip, noclutch downshifts, this electric TT racer allows the rider to fully concentrate on braking and steering during corner entry, freeing up loads of brain power normally lost on trying to clutch and blip the throttle…

MOTO2 IS VERY COMPETITIVE. Everyone has the same engine, same tires, same weight. The difference is the way the rider works with the team. You must have a good team that prepares the bike well. You have to know the team, and they have to know you. THIS CLASS IS A GOOD SCHOOL TO LEARN how to manage the tire. If you ride harder—brake later and slide at the exit—you damage the tire. You have to learn to pick up the bike and brake a little more smoothly. THIS YEAR, EXCEPT FOR ONE RACE, Jerez, the tires have shown good performance from the first lap to the last lap. That is better than last year and the year before. The quality for race distance is better. THE MOTO2 RIDING STYLE…

Adventure bikes are to touring as SuperSTOLs or floatplanes are to aviation—they open up a whole new world, letting you explore where Gold Wings and Road Kings cannot. But riding big ADV bikes safely off the beaten track is a voodoo science, marrying the terrain reading of an off-road rider with the balance of a tightrope walker. Simply put, the über-weight, high center of mass, and bulkiness of adventure bikes are the opposite of what you’d want off road. As such, off-roading a big ADV requires a thoughtful approach, some specific skills, and planning for trouble when you’re far from help. Particularly, learn to pick up a heavy bike by yourself (position your back against the seat, grasp the lower handgrip and seat, and lift with your legs). Then think…

BMW S1000XR DUCATI MULTISTRADA 1200S KAWASAKI VERSYS 1000LT KTM 1290 SUPER ADVENTURE When the BMW R1200GS was introduced in 2004, a key designer observed that as motorcycles were getting better and faster, roads were getting worse. It’s no secret that race-bred superbikes have outpaced their usefulness on public roads, not just because of their otherworldly performance but because the pavement beneath them is literally crumbling. That’s a big part of why adventure bikes like the GS have become so popular. Add in all-day comfort, a dash of practicality, and some unparalleled versatility, and you have a bike that can do anything: “The Swiss army knife of motorcycles.” Naturally where BMW was so successful, the competition was compelled to follow, which led to the inevitable arms race. In spite of a…

Turning the front wheel of the new-for-2015 Triumph Tiger 800 XCx toward the black sand and volcanic rocks of our favorite cinder mines near old Route 66 in the California desert was both thrilling and scary. As a lighter-than-liter-class ADV bike with a manageable middleweight-size engine, off-road-oriented wire-spoked wheels, and a suite of rider aids, the Tiger XCx had a lot of new tools to carry those big pannier boxes into this challenging territory. But 115-degree ambient temperatures and street-oriented Bridgestone Battle Wing tires on this giant black, sandy, solar-panel-like piece of earth made our future seem so uncertain, so unstable, almost light-headed. Turns out I didn’t need to worry so much. The Tiger’s many upgrades and much-improved electronics made it fully manageable in these tough middle-of-nowhere desert conditions. New…

A 250 is not everyone’s idea of an adventure bike, but the simplicity, lightness, and agility of a small bike will get you to more places with less work than any of the big guns. You must commit to the 60- to 65-mph cruise and “lack” of luxury. What you get back is going places no BMW R1200GS dares to tread and ability to right your fallen motorcycle with much lower hernia risk. The $6,690 Yamaha WR250R is a great platform, with a capable chassis and lots of snap from its revvy motor. But it needs mods for high-performance distance travel. Our goal was to build a bike that could, for example, be ridden from LA to Moab and then be stripped and re-geared at a campsite for real enduro-style…

1 JOINT CARE If you’ve ever had knee issues, or surgery to repair a knee, you don’t ever want to go through that again. Knee braces such as EVS Sports’ Web Pro ($425) could provide peace of mind when riding off -road, MX, and ADV bikes. The braces feature twin-wall c-f frames, Tru-motion 3.0 anatomically correct hinges, and adjustable hyperextension lockouts. (310) 637-5000 evs-sports.com 2 SEE THE DIRT Adventure-touring riders who hit the dirt depend on goggles in the dust. The Italian-made Ariete Riding Crows Pro Top goggles ($68.36– $72.86) feature antiscratch, UV-protection lenses in multiple tints; roll-off and tear-off lenses are also available. The double-buckle adjustment strap has a silicone bead to prevent slippage on helmet. (888) 691-9378 mx1west.com 3 LUXURY DUDS Ever been caught in torrential rain with…

Electronic rider aids have come a long way. Back in 1988, I attended the press introduction for the very first motorcycle equipped with antilock brakes, the BMW K100RS-ABS. Attendees flew all the way to Berlin, Germany, to ride the bikes down airport taxiways that were alternately dry, wet, and covered in gravel. That system seemed high-tech at the time, but it was actually quite primitive. Drawing from automotive technology and developed with FAG Kugelfischer, it added nearly 30 pounds to the weight of the motorcycle and cycled just seven times per second. Fast-forward to 2015 and the latest Bosch ABS 9.1ME hydraulic unit is dramatically smaller, lighter, and faster. It also has greatly enhanced capabilities, electronically linking the front and rear brakes, and coordinating with a lean-angle sensor, called an…

Dreams of yearlong adventure rides from Alaska to the southern tip of South America have gone unrealized, but I have had some pretty amazing adventures on ADV Lite. My favorite so far was a 500-mile couple of days in December last year exploring Panamint Valley and Death Valley with my friend Bill Getty, a very knowledgeable guide. Some days I carried the luggage fully loaded; others I removed the saddlebags but kept tire-repair and other tools in the tank bag. We did some of the classic DV adventures like Rhyolite, Titus Canyon, and Racetrack (the dry lakebed where the rocks seem to move by themselves), the Ubehebe Crater, Tea Kettle Junction, and a fun piece of trail called Lippincott Mine Road from Racetrack Road to Saline Valley Road. And we…