2018 Adventure Bike Shootout Primer- Motorcycle News

Motorcycle News - 2018 Adventure Bike Shootout Primer

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This week you might notice Motorcycle.com being a little quieter than usual. The reason is because most of the MO staff are out riding in our Sorta Annual Big Adventure Bike Shootout. For 2018, we’ve gathered seven of the biggest and baddest adventure machines out there. The plan? To put them through their paces on both the pavement and the dirt. To prove we’re serious about the dirt part, each of the contenders here comes to us with wire wheels, except for one, which we’ll get to in a moment.

 2016 Wire-Wheel Adventure Shootout

So who are the contenders? In (mostly) alphabetical order, we’ve got the BMW R1200GS Adventure, Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports, KTM 1290 Super Adventure R, Suzuki V-Strom 1000 XT, Triumph Tiger 1200 XCa, and Yamaha Super Tenere ES. All of them are designed to explore both the beaten and unbeaten paths no matter where you are in the world. They’ve got big engines, bigger gas tanks, tall seats, loads of technology, and in this case, a lot of MOrons piloting them.

The outlier in the group (except for the MOron part) is the Ducati Multistrada 1260 S. Its cast wheels won’t do it any favors in the dirt portion of our test, but it was the only Multistrada Ducati had available – we had requested the smaller-engined but properly-wheeled Multistrada Enduro, but the previous borrower gave it a good whacking, leaving Ducati with the repair bill and MO high and dry. It was either Multi 1260 S or nothing, so we bent our self-imposed rule. Rest assured, once the Enduro gets fixed, it’ll get its proper shake against whoever wins this shootout.

For your bench racing pleasure we’ve included a spec chart below so you can see how our contenders stack up on paper. Keep in mind we asked the manufacturers to equip their machines with whatever off-road accessories they wanted from their own catalogs and this is reflected in the “as-tested” prices listed for each machine. You’ll see there’s a wide price variation between the bunch, with the $15,145.83 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 XT the least expensive, and the $24,090.00 BMW R1200GS Adventure almost 10 grand more.

All seven motorcycles are packed with technology, with tech like Hill Start Assist, Cornering-ABS, and electronic suspension sprinkled across the lot. In this regard, the tech we’re most intrigued by, especially in this adventure setting, is the Dual Clutch Transmission fitted to the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports. Can it really perform just as well – or better – than a traditional transmission off-road? Honda seems to think so, since we gave them the option to submit either traditional or DCT model for this test. Honda clearly stands behind the technology, and it appears riders feel the same way – Honda reps tell us that DCT sales are nearly 50% between models available in either DCT or regular variants.

Of course there’s a lot more one can glean by studying these specs, but we want to leave the rest of our words for the main story. In the meantime, Dennis and Burns will be manning the MO ship while the rest of the crew are out this week. If you have questions about any of the bikes, leave them in the comments and we’ll address them once we return to civilization.

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  	BMW R1200GS Adventure	Ducati Multistrada 1260 S	Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports	KTM 1290 Super Adventure R	Suzuki V-Strom 1000 XT	Triumph Tiger 1200 XCa	Yamaha Super Tenere ES
  Price (as-tested)	$24,090.00	$22,595.00	$16,703.80	$19,648.97	$15,145.83	$23,050.00	$18,133.95
  Engine Type	1170cc air/liquid-cooled flat Twin	1262cc liquid-cooled, 90º V-Twin	998cc liquid-cooled 22.5º parallel-Twin	1301cc liquid-cooled, 75º V-Twin	1037cc liquid-cooled V-Twin	1215cc, liquid-cooled inline Triple	1199cc liquid-cooled parallel-Twin
  Rear wheel horsepower	103.5 @ 8300 rpm	140.5 @ 9300 rpm	85.7 @ 8300 rpm (from 2016 test)	121.6 @ 9500 rpm	91.8 @ 8300 rpm	114.6 @ 8600 rpm	97.6 @ 7400 rpm
  Rear wheel torque	76.1 @ 6600 rpm	86.2 @ 7600 rpm	67.0 @ 5900 rpm (from 2016 test)	74.9 @ 7000 rpm	67.0 @ 4000 rpm	73.4 @ 8000 rpm	76.1 @ 6200 rpm
  Bore and Stroke	101 mm x 73 mm	106mm x 71.5mm	92mm x 75mm	108mm x 71mm	100.0mm x 66.0mm	85mm x 71.4mm	98.0mm x 79.5mm
  Fuel System	Electronic fuel injection with ride-by-wire throttle system	Bosch electronic fuel injection system, elliptical throttle bodies (equivalent diameter 56mm), ride-by-wire, dual spark	PGM-FI electronic fuel injection (Throttle By Wire)	Keihin EFI, 52mm throttle bodies	Fuel injection	Ride by wire, fuel injection	Fuel injection with YCC-T
  Compression Ratio	12.5:1	13.0:1	10.0:1	13.1:1	11.3:1	11.0:1	11.0:1
  Valve Train	DOHC, 8 valves	DOHC, 8 valves, with Desmodromic variable valve timing	SOHC, 8 valves	DOHC, 8 valves	DOHC, 8 valves	DOHC, 12 valves	DOHC, 8 valves
  Transmission	6-speed	6-speed, DQS (Ducati Quick Shift) up and down	6-speed Automatic DCT	6-speed, PASC slipper clutch	6-speed	6-speed w/torque assist	6-speed
  Final Drive	Shaft	Chain	Chain	Chain	Chain	Shaft	Shaft
  Front Suspension	37mm Telelever fork with central spring strut; 8.3 in travel	Sachs 48-mm inverted semi-active fork, adjustable for spring preload, compression and rebound; 6.7 in travel	45mm inverted telescopic fork; 9.9 in. travel	WP 48mm inverted fork, fully adjustable; 8.7 in travel	43mm inverted fork, adjustable for rebound and compression; 6.3 in travel	WP 48mm inverted fork, electronically adjustable damping; 7.48 in travel	43mm inverted fork; electronically adjustable compression and rebound damping; 7.5-in travel
  Rear Suspension	Monoshock, adjustable for spring preload and rebound damping; 8.7 in travel	Sachs monoshock, semi-active, adjustable for preload, rebound, and compression; 6.7 in travel	Pro-Link system w/ single shock; 9.4 in. travel	WP monoshock, fully adjustable; 8.7 in travel	Monoshock, adjustable for rebound and preload; 6.3 in travel	WP monoshock, electronically adjustable semi-active damping with automatic preload adjustment; 7.6 in travel	Monoshock; electronically adjustable preload and rebound damping; 7.5-in travel
  Front Brake	Dual 305mm floating discs, 4-piston calipers w/switchable ABS	Dual 330mm semi-floating discs, radial-mount Brembo M50 4-piston calipers w/cornering ABS	Dual 310mm discs, four-piston calipers, ABS	Dual 320mm discs, radial-mount, Brembo 4 piston cailpers, cornering ABS w/off-road mode, disengageable	Dual disc, radial-mount Tokico 4-piston calipers, with IMU for lean angle ABS	Dual 305mm floating discs, radial-mount Brembo 4-piston calipers, switchable ABS	Dual 310mm discs, Unified Brake System, ABS
  Rear Brake	Single 276mm disc, 2-piston caliper w/switchable ABS	Single 265mm disc, 2-piston caliper w/cornering ABS	Single 256mm disc, one-piston caliper, ABS	Single 267mm disc, Brembo two-piston caliper, cornering ABS w/off-road mode, disengageable	Single disc, Nissin 2-piston caliper, with IMU for lean angle ABS	Single 282mm disc, Nissin 2-piston sliding caliper, switchable ABS	Single 282mm disc, Unified Brake System, ABS
  Front Tire	120/70-19	Pirelli Scorpion Trail II 120/70-17	90/90-21	90/90-21	110/80-19	120/70-19	110/80-19
  Rear Tire	170/60-17	Pirelli Scorpion Trail II 190/55-17	150/70R-18	150/70-18	150/70-17	170/60-17	150/70-17
  Rake/Trail	24.5º / 95mm (3.7 in.)	25º / 111mm (4.37 in.)	27.3º / 111mm (4.37 in.)	26º / 123mm (4.84 in)	25º / 109mm (4.29 in)	23.2º / 99.9mm (3.93 in)	28.0º / n/a
  Wheelbase	58.9 in.	62.4 in.	62.2 in	62.2 in	61.2 in	59.84 in	60.6 in.
  Seat Height	34.3 in – 35 in	32.5 in – 33.3 in	35.4 in – 36.2 in	35.0 in	33.5 in	32.9 in – 33.7 in	33.3 or 34.3 in.
  Curb Weight	642 lbs	573 lbs	585 lbs	587 lbs	554 lbs	632 lbs	579 lbs
  Fuel Capacity	7.9 gal	5.3 gal.	6.4 gal	6.1 gal	5.3 gal	5.2 gal	6.1 gal
  Ground Clearance	12.9 in.	12.7 in.	10.7 in	n/a	6.5 in	n/a	n/a
  Available Colors			White/Blue/Red		Glass Sparkle Black & Champion Yellow		Team Yamaha Blue

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August 7, 2018 at 03:47PM