The MCN Test: Middleweight adventure sports bikes

Without getting too Darwin on you, evolution isn’t confined to the animal kingdom – motorcycles have to evolve to survive.

Traditionally, sports-tourers were sporty bikes that could cover serious miles. Having had their existence threatened by adventure bikes, the more traditional take on a sports-tourer has seen a resurgence with the likes of the Suzuki GT and
Kawasaki Ninja SX.

But the influence of adventure bikes hasn’t gone away and the two genres have merged, resulting in our three tall-bar sports-tourers. Featuring 17in wheels from sports-tourers to bring agile handling, tall suspension and an upright adventure bike riding stance, they blend the best of both worlds.

That’s the theory anyway. Or they could be freaks that natural selection (or a lack of sales) will see banished.

Which are they? Time to discover…