In your MCN this week: Middleweight adventure showdown

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Dear MCN reader,

More is, well, more – and we’ve become conditioned to always wanting it, and getting it. But what happens if you reject the trend and go back a few steps? This week, we grabbed the new BMW F900GS Adventure and Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro and pitched them against one another to see if less is actually more when it comes to adventure bikes that are just as capable in the dirt as they are tramping down a motorway to reach far-flung adventures. Can they really compete with the adventure elite, and which one is best?

But if you really want excess everything, Triumph’s Rocket has always been an exercise in tamed insanity. The recent generation of Rocket 3R took all that gargantuan excess and packaged it in a bike that confounds with its brilliance. And now there are two new versions taking all the established ingredients, and baking a better cake with them.

At the other end of the Hinckley spectrum is their new motocross offering, the Triumph TF 250-X, which we also tested this week. And take another step down in capacity and we also have the new KTM 125 Duke on test this week.

Once upon a time, the boss of KTM was emphatic about how their then nascent MotoGP project was definitely not going to lead to the development of future sportsbikes. It appears he may have changed his mind, with official confirmation finally coming that there WILL be a new KTM sportsbike arriving – and it looks stunning. Say hello to the new KTM 990RC R, which is dripping with MotoGP kudos and styling cues.

Automatic for the people

When Honda first brought their clever Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) to two wheels there was a lot of head shaking at the point of it all. But in an online MCN poll this week, 49% of respondents said they would consider buying their next bike with a semi-automatic gearbox. Of course, the current systems now benefit from whole generation of evolution, and they’re immeasurably better for it.

And while Honda have accelerated their development with impressive results, they’ve been playing in the gene pool without any significant evolutionary challenges. But that’s about to change as BMW have unveiled their take on going clutchless.

Enjoy the issue!

Richard Newland, MCN Editor

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1 – Hayabusa at 25

Suzuki’s GSX1300R Hayabusa blew the biking world apart when it landed on planet Earth in 1999. It looked insane, redefined what we thought of performance, and inspired a whole generation of 200mph-club bragging (almost exclusively by people who hadn’t actually done it!) An icon.

2 – Sorting your steering

Dive into the second part of our new Skills School series with Rapid Training, and find out how your steering inputs can be optimised to give you dramatically more control. You don’t need to have any tangible problems with cornering to feel the benefit of putting these drills into practise every ride.

3 – North West 200 preview

The NW200 is already upon us, and it promises to be a record-breaking year of high-octane action. Glenn Irwin will be looking to add to his tally, while NW200 legend Alastair Seeley will be missing from the grid after failing to find a suitable ride. Who will triumph, and which records will fall?

4 – Dicing with the Dempster

Most of North America’s greatest routes are littered with pilgrims looking to tick them off their biking bucket lists. But some routes are still pretty wild and by comparison. And Canada’s Dempster Highway is one of them. Follow in the wheel tracks of Kevin and Julia Sanders on this epic road.

5 – Save £££s on adventures

If you’ve got the adventure bug, it’s highly likely that you’ve also got a retail addiction to the extraordinary number of add-ons and accessories you can buy for the bikes, yourself, and to carry with you. So why not save a few quid on some of those buys with this week’s Bargain Hunter picks?

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