#EvansBrasfield

In the aftermath of Evans' passing, his family has had to make a lot of hard decisions. One of which was deciding what to do with Evans' beloved motorcycles – his KTM 790 Duke and Kawasaki KLX300. And when I say beloved, I mean it. Evans had reached a renaissance in his riding career. With his children older and more independent, he was able to rediscover his love for motorcycling. The 790 Duke gave him a lot of joy, and upgrading it to meet his definition of a 790 Duke R was a source of pride for him.

by Evans Brasfield

In this time of loss, we (his friends, family, colleagues, and the motorcycle industry as a whole) have created a support fund to help with any pressing financial needs, as well as those unforeseen needs coming out of such a tragic situation. In addition, Karin has a dream of using any surplus funds to develop a more formal motorcycling initiative - in keeping with Evans’ lifelong passion of motorcycling and motorcycle safety, and honor his undeniable legacy.

Normally our Church features are about bikes from the past. But today we're making an exception to the rule to bring you the first post Evans Brasfield contributed to MO. To keep his spirit alive, today we're looking back at a timeless topic of motorcycling, written in a way that only Evans can deliver. The information is as relevant now as it ever was, too.

We test the CFMOTO 700 CL-X, Honda CB500F, Kawasaki Z400, and Royal Enfield Continental GT to see what seven grand can buy

I love a simple-but-good idea. In today’s ever-increasing climate of distracted drivers, we need something to attract attention to motorcyclists. Like many riders, I’ve relied on bright-colored and/or reflective gear to increase my conspicuity. However, they all depend on light striking them, particularly retro-reflective materials. Additionally, riding gear says nothing about the current dynamic state of the motorcycle and its rider. That’s why the Brake Free Helmet Brake Light initially caught my attention. Further inspection made me want to give the product a try.

New motorcycle model introductions follow a well-worn path: travel to the event location, eat nice meals, get briefed on the bike of the moment, ride a route designed to highlight the bike’s strengths, take photos/video, eat more good food, return home, and write up a review. After 27 years in this industry, I still get a cheap thrill about throwing a leg over a new motorcycle before it is available to the general public. However, what really gets me going is when I have a chance to log more than just the couple of hundred miles typically covered in an intro and spend some real time on the road with said bike.

When I find riding gear that I like, I tend to wear it quite a bit. With the exception of the discontinued waterproof Dainese boots, the items I wore at the 2023 Harley-Davidson Road Glide CVO and Street Glide CVO introduction are the current uniform I wear on almost all of my rides. It is comfortable, practical, and if I weren’t in the business of reviewing riding gear, it would keep me happy for years to come.

Some readers have asked us what we were thinking when we put the little KTM 390 Adventure in our South Dakota shoout with the Aprilia Tuareg 660, the Ducati DesertX, and the BMW 1250 GS. We were saying that Adventure bikes don’t need to be big to have fun on all terrains. Significantly lighter than the other bikes in the shootout, the 390 has a lot of things going for it. The 390 Adventure has been a good seller for KTM, and we’ve really enjoyed it every time we have one in our hands. So, what makes the KTM 390 Adventure so special?

Harley-Davidson’s CVO line has always been for the company’s biggest fans, the riders who want the best that is available for any given model year and are willing to pay a premium to get it. Typically, the CVO line comes with exclusive paint and accessories along with other choice upgrades like a premium sound system. For the powertrain, Harley historically graces the CVO with the largest production units available, which will typically start to become standard a model year or two on. Of course, that means that the next CVO needs an even bigger engine. Lather, rinse, repeat. Well, this year, besides bumping the displacement up to 121 cu. in. from the now paltry 117 cu. in. of the previous year, other huge changes were mixed in, giving an advanced look at what we predict the bulk of the Milwaukee-Eights will be like in the not-to-distant future. If the fact that the 2023 Harley-Davidson Road Glide CVO and Street Glide CVO models both feature this new mill weren’t enough, there are a plethora of other changes to the bikes. So, let’s get started.

I might as well just come out and say it: In my years as a motojournalist, I’ve had the pleasure of testing dozens of track leathers, from ill-fitting, inexpensive off-the-rack items to full-on custom-sized suits, and the Alpinestars Fusion Race Suit is the most comfortable and best breathing one I’ve ever had the pleasure of donning. Since that’s my opinion, I figured I shouldn’t string you readers out. However, if you want to find out why I feel this way, I’d be happy to tell you. 

While in Spain on the 2024 Triumph Street Triple R/RS intro, I crashed during the street portion of the ride. As much as I’d like to let this mishap go down the memory hole, it gave me the opportunity to abrasion and impact test some gear. Let’s set the stage, shall we: By making a series of small mistakes in an S-bend that combined to tuck the front end and put me on the ground at about 60 mph, I landed on my left knee and hip, followed by my torso and the underside of the left arm – all fairly typical of this type of crash. In those few seconds of sliding, the Alpinestars Caliber Jacket did its job of protecting my hide by sacrificing its hide. I won’t get into the specifics of the Alpinestars Caliber Jacket’s construction in this review. You can read about it here. What I want to focus on is how it performed in the crash, how much damage it sustained, the repair process, and why I decided to have it repaired.

My love for the KTM 790 Duke has been well documented on MO, but the reality is that had KTM been a little less tight-lipped when I was laying down my hard-earned cash for the bike, I might never have owned it. Instead, an 890 Duke R would probably be parked in my garage. That doesn’t lessen my attachment to the 790, but it helps to explain my desire to squeeze as much power out of the parallel-Twin as I can, while maintaining its social acceptability on exhaust sound. (OK, maybe being mocked in the comments when the Akrapovic slip-on resulted in slightly lower peak power has a little to do with my search for power, too.) Regardless, my unspoken goal for my performance modifications has been to get as close as possible to a stock 890’s mid-range power. From the moment Rottweiler Performance released its Rally Edition Full Intake System for the 790/890 Adventure, I’ve been salivating at the prospect of installing an adapted version on my Duke. Well, with the release of the Rottweiler Performance Intake System for the KTM 790/890 Duke, that wait is over, and man, does it kick some butt. 

For the previous week, I’d anxiously checked the weather reports for updates. Sandwiched in between swaths of little sun icons were two little black clouds spewing raindrops. Naturally, those were the scheduled dates for the US press to ride the 2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R and RS on the Andalusian backroads and the famed Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto in southern Spain.