review

Review of Triumph Thruxton RS 2021: a factory cafe racer

General Posts / By

by Kyle Hyatt from https://www.cnet.com Everyday café: Triumph’s factory cafe racer offers an engaging ride and killer looks, but is it worth the sky-high asking price? The Thruxton RS is arguably the crown jewel of Triumph’s Modern Classic lineup of motorcycles. It’s an interesting mashup of modern, high-end components and technology, with a decidedly old-school powertrain. It’s a bike that shouldn’t make sense, but after spending time with it, it’s a bike I can’t get out of my head. The 2021 Triumph Thruxton RS is powered by a 1,200-cc liquid-cooled 270-degree parallel-twin engine, which produces 103 horsepower at 7,500 rpm and 83 pound-feet of torque at just 4,250 rpm. It’s an engine that, thanks to its large displacement and firing order, makes a noise that will get your heart pumping, even if its performance pales in comparison to more conventional naked and sport bikes. The engine delivers its power smoothly, thanks to Triumph’s excellent fueling. The bike routes its power through a smooth six-speed sequential transmission and out a chain final drive. The gearbox offers light, crisp shifts and an easy-to-find neutral. The age of the engine’s design shows, but that’s a good thing, given Triumph’s continued development. The formerly-range-topping RS is now the only Thruxton model you can get, and so Triumph seems to have spared no expense in kitting it out with the best-possible chassis components. While the Thruxton’s frame is a conventional and old-timey tubular steel affair, the suspension is modern and well considered. The front fork comes from Showa and uses that company’s “Big Piston” design as found on high-end sport bikes. It’s fully adjustable and makes for a controlled and plush ride, even over bumpy pavement. The rear shocks (that’s right, two — this is a heritage bike, after all) come from Ohlins and are […]

Review of Triumph Thruxton RS 2021: a factory cafe racer Read More »

Ducati Monster 2021 First Ride Review

General Posts / By

by Dustin Wheelen from https://www.rideapart.com Take the edge off. In 1992, Ducati designer Miguel Galluzzi shoehorned a 900SS engine into an 888 superbike frame. He then bolted on a 750 Supersport fork and the Ducati Monster was born. Galluzzi’s Frankenstein experiment was well-loved though, driving sales at the Bologna brand for years. The parts bin special saved Ducati, in fact, and the Monster has remained in Ducati’s stable ever since. That hasn’t stopped the Monster from evolving through the years, though. Ducati frequently tweaked the ingredients, but the recipe remained the same: one part air-cooled L-twin, one part trellis frame. However, technology and design move on, and the model has changed with the times. By 2015, all Monster engines switched to liquid-cooling, and the latest iteration finally sheds its trellis frame—and the weight that comes with it. That prompted traditionalists and ardent Ducatisi to click their tongues, lamenting over Ducati’s heresy. To many fans, the trellis frame was the Monster’s pièce de résistance. The quality that separated the muscular streetfighter from its “soulless” competitors. The trellis frame was the Monster’s greatest strength, but it was also its greatest weakness, imprisoning the naked bike to a bygone era as its counterparts forged ahead. That’s no longer the case in 2021. Sure, the Monster is still “borrowing” from its counterparts by plucking the 937cc L-twin from the Supersport 950 and wedging it into a Panigale V4-inspried monocoque aluminum frame. Even the model’s 4.3-inch TFT dash sports a Panigale V4-derived interface. Despite those old habits, the question remains: is it still a Monster without the trellis frame? Did it trade in its panache for pastiche? Did it lose its character, its “soul”? These questions loomed large when Ducati invited us to San Francisco, California, to ride the 2021 Monster. After spending a full

Ducati Monster 2021 First Ride Review Read More »

Ride Review of BMW R18

General Posts / By

by Anthony Conroy from https://www.post-gazette.com BMW’s R18 First Edition is powerful, simple and sophisticated Size isn’t everything, the old saying goes, but when you take a ride aboard BMW Motorrad’s R18 First Edition, its size is impossible to ignore. Put a leg over the seat, settle in and take in those two massive, chromed cylinder covers sitting in front of you, each one its own 901cc power-making factory. It’s like sitting on the neck of a shiny hammerhead shark. The engine — a twin-cylinder configuration known as a Boxer — has been BMW’s signature since 1923. But the Boxer on the R18 is the largest the German manufacturer has ever produced, with a claimed output of 91 horsepower and 116 pounds-foot of torque. Other manufacturers will claim to have bigger and better numbers, but the R18 isn’t designed for life on the rowdy edge. It’s a power cruiser, but with the soul of something vintage and simple. A modern throwback, if you will. In fact, despite the $20,000 price tag, there aren’t many frills. Some adjustability in the rear, none in the front. Heated grips. A reverse gear. BMW’s automatic stability control, which is essentially traction control. And three power modes: Rock, Roll and Rain. For our purposes, those might as well have been called Road Rage, Easy Jaunt and Tip-Toeing Through the Puddles. In other words, let’s Rock. The R18 has a keyless ignition and once the starter is pushed, the bike thunders and shudders to life. At stops, there’s quite a bit of vibration, but that’s exactly what you’d expect with two giant metal buckets rotating and internally combusting between your legs. The vibrations don’t exactly fade away once on the go — you’ll see a lot of blurring in the rear view mirrors, but I never felt

Ride Review of BMW R18 Read More »

Harley-Davidson Pan America Riding Review

General Posts / By

by Basem Wasef from https://www.rideapart.com Running trails and getting dirty with Pan America. Harley-Davidson has been about as relevant in the big bore adventure segment as a skateboard at the Dakar. Having loafed on the ADV genre for decades, The Motor Company is finally taking a swing at the segment with the 2021 Pan America, a purpose-built adventure bike to battle stalwarts like the BMW R 1250 GS/GS Adventure, KTM 1290 Super Adventure, and Triumph Tiger 1200. The Pan Am boasts familiar H-D visual elements wrapped around some impressively future-forward technology. This new tech is benchmarked against a field that’s seen numerous iterations and refinements over the years. First (and perhaps foremost) in this image-conscious category, the clean-sheet Pan America strikes a look that stands apart from its rugged competitors. Harley says its styling aligned with the brand’s design language. There’s also a prevailing visual sentiment that departs from the familiar with an unapologetically brutalist look: blocky shapes, menacing headlamps with a secondary strip of lean angle-sensitive adaptive drew headlamp inspo from the Fat Bob and fairing cues from Road Glide, keeping the bike’s LEDs positioned above, and an imposing chunkiness that disregards any attempt at being pretty. Of course, the highest-stake component isn’t its looks, but rather the all-new Revolution Max powerplant. The liquid-cooled, 1,252cc, 60-degree V-twin shares the same bore and stroke as the late, great V-Rod, but has next to nothing in common with any existing Harley engine apart from its dimensions. Equipped with dual overhead cams, variable valve timing, and a lofty 13.1:1 compression ratio, the fully counterbalanced engine requires premium fuel but returns a stout 150 horsepower at 9,000 rpm and 94 lb-ft at 6,750 rpm. That’s more horsepower but less twist than BMW’s R 1250 GS’ 136 hp/105 lb-ft, but well below the hot-rodded

Harley-Davidson Pan America Riding Review Read More »

Triumph Tiger 850 Sport review

General Posts / By

by Kyle Hyatt from https://www.cnet.com 2021 Triumph Tiger 850 Sport review: The Brits take on entry-level adventure Can Triumph’s cheaper, leaner Tiger stand out in a crowded motorcycle class? Middleweight adventure bikes are among my favorite motorcycles. They’re good at everything — comfortable, fun to ride, capable off-road and surprisingly competent on a canyon road. The middleweight Triumph Tiger is a bike I know and love, having owned a 2015 800 XCX. Now there’s a new, lower-cost Tiger 850 Sport. Is the middleweight magic still there? The heart of the bike is its three-cylinder engine. This engine offers the torque of a twin but the increased top end of a four-cylinder, and makes its own unique set of noises. The Tiger 850 Sport’s triple is an 888-cc unit that produces 84 horsepower at 8,500 rpm and 60 pound-feet of torque at 6,500 rpm. The engine is basically the same unit you’ll find in the more expensive Tiger 900. In the 850 Sport, the triple is detuned to make it a little more new-rider-friendly and help differentiate it from its sibling. The engine is paired with a six-speed gearbox with a chain final drive and a cable-actuated clutch. The transmission is accurate and direct, but not as slick as I’ve come to expect from other modern Triumphs. The clutch is light, though, and easy to modulate. Off-the-line performance is reasonable if not thrilling, and I doubt that most people will notice the 9-hp deficit between the 850 Sport and the more expensive 900. The transmission’s gearing is well-suited to the triple engine’s power band. While it no longer sounds like the whistly, warbly Triumph triples of old, I still consider it and its derivatives some of the best engines in the business thanks to their smoothness, tractability and overall personality. The

Triumph Tiger 850 Sport review Read More »

Bikernet Book of the Week Club Review

General Posts / By

Review of Hunter Biden’s autobiography “Beautiful Things” By J.J. Solari Editor’s Note: All information in this article has come from trusted sources who wish to remain anonymous who have spoken to people who have read reports regarding speculations deemed to be actual and factual speculations regarding reported likelihoods that are considered well within the parameters of probability as determined by science with a plus or minus accuracy that is deemed acceptable over and above the charts and models traditionally used in the determination of determinants under conditions of anonymity. Click Here to read the Wild Book Review on Bikernet. Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today. https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

Bikernet Book of the Week Club Review Read More »

Motorcycle Cooling Vests Product Review

General Posts / By

A Cooling Vest Can Be a Godsend in Triple Digit Heat! Photos and text by Gary Mraz It gets hot there in the South West this time of year and a cooling vest can be a godsend in triple digit heat. There are a lot of options for us motorcyclists, and evaporative cooling vests are common. You pull them out when needed, soak them in water and become a human swamp cooler. Ice-chilled cooling vests require ice packs or cooling packs that can freeze at a moderate temperature of 58° Fahrenheit. There are even thermoelectric cooling vests utilizing water pushed through tubes with motors and batteries. Click Here to read this exclusive Product Review on Bikernet. Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today. https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

Motorcycle Cooling Vests Product Review Read More »

Honda CMX500 Rebel reviewed

General Posts / By

by Geoff Hill from https://www.mirror.co.uk The original looked a bit wimpish, but a macho makeover has made this cruiser version of the hugely popular CBR500 a nice alternative for bikers clutching their brand new A2 licences in their gloves A Honda Rebel is a bit of an oxymoron, like Boris Johnson’s hair stylist or Vladimir Putin’s sense of humour. You see, Hondas aren’t really bikes for rebels. They’re bikes for chaps and chapesses who want to get from A to B efficiently and safely on machines which never break down and have fewer vices than Audrey Hepburn in A Nun’s Story. Even their Fireblade superbike has always been a pussycat to ride, although in the hands of 23-times TT winner John McGuinness, a pussycat with very sharp claws. Their cars are the same, as I found doing a lap of Silverstone in a Civic R with British Touring Car champion Gordon Shedden. I thought it was going to be terrifying, but he and the car were so fast and flawless that it was a hoot going around corners sideways at 100mph while he chatted about the weather. The one time Honda took a walk on the wild side was with the 1300cc Fury chopper in 2010. It looked fabulous, but when MCN compared it to the Harley Rocker C, they said the Harley shook and rattled, and engaging first gear was like dropping a hammer in a bucket, but the Fury was too perfect, so they preferred the character of the Rocker. You could just see the row of heartbroken designers at Honda HQ trudging out to the car park to commit seppuku. So I rolled up at Belfast Honda on the Africa Twin with some doubts; particularly since when the Rebel came out in 2017 as a bobber cruiser

Honda CMX500 Rebel reviewed Read More »

HOG Heaven 2020 CVO Road Test

General Posts / By

Road Glide CVO on the road with Koz Mraz Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations has always set the gold standard of style and luxury. Because they are manufactured in a limited quantity, they always sell out. 2020 CVO ROAD GLIDE Sand Dune monotone with pearl topcoat Starting at $40,999 Click Here to see this Bike Review on Bikernet Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx  

HOG Heaven 2020 CVO Road Test Read More »

BMW S1000XR review: Genuine all-rounder with sportsbike-like performance

General Posts / By

by Fraser Addecott from https://www.mirror.co.uk German firm’s adventure bike ticks all the right boxes in all the right categories. BMW Motorrad positions the S1000XR in its range of “adventure” models, but, in truth, it should be in the “all-rounder” category – if there was one. In fact, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what sort of bike this is – but only in a good way. That’s because it offers sportsbike performance, adventure-bike styling and road presence, and tourer comfort and technical features. It’s a great-looking bike, with sleek lines and a wave-like curve to the silhouette. There’s a choice of three colourways and the paint quality is excellent. On board, the seat is nicely cupped and not too wide, nor too high, which means you can confidently plant both boots on the tarmac. Nevertheless, the ride position feels high and commanding, but extremely comfortable at the same time, with wide, upswept bars. It fitted me perfectly and I felt I could ride all day. The large TFT dash is clear and easy to use, and indicates which of the four ride modes you have selected – Rain, Rode, Dynamic or Dynamic Pro. Each of these adjusts the throttle response and the amount of torque in the lower gears. There’s also cornering ABS and traction control. Start up and the engine let’s you know it’s credentials with a sound that’s more sportsbike than adventure. On the road, the adjustable screen and fairing do a fine job of protecting you from the wind, and the mirrors offer a clear view past your elbows. This engine is a real beauty. It has all the power and torque of the superb S1000RR, but delivered in a more refined and manageable way. The upper gears are long and the torque is smooth and power-delivery linear.

BMW S1000XR review: Genuine all-rounder with sportsbike-like performance Read More »

Scroll to Top