Top 10

I love camping. I’ve been doing it my entire life. My family would camp numerous times per year for most of my childhood and as soon as my friends and I had our licenses, we were out in the woods or at a lake in the Midwest enjoying the great outdoors more weekends than not. Once motorcycles took a stranglehold on my life, it was only natural that the two would be intertwined. From solo camping during long motorcycle trips to pitching a tent closer to home with friends, there really aren’t too many things in life I enjoy more than moto-camping.

There are way more than ten things to look out for when you’re riding your motorcycle – probably closer to 10,000 – but these are our top ten. Look out for them, because they’re not looking out for you. And even if they were, they wouldn’t see you because you’re invisible. Remember it.

Motorcycling and eye protection go hand in hand. Heck, even most states without helmet laws require eye protection. When riding off-road, good goggles are an absolute necessity. Everything from bugs and sticks, to roost and rocks are coming toward you at warp speed just hoping to put your eye out. Sure, goggles are first and foremost about protecting your eyes, but as technology has advanced, so have the features of modern day off-road motorcycle goggles. There are now options such as: the best tint for the terrain or time of day you’ll be riding, dozens of anti-fogging solutions, and flashy colors with equally flashy reflective lenses.

Picture it: you’re having the motorcycle adventure of a lifetime; you’re somewhere new, traveling down roads and paths you’ve never seen before, and just around every bend is a view more picturesque than the last. The scenery is gorgeous, the roads (or trails) are twisty, and you and your motorcycle are one. By all accounts, this ride qualifies as epic. There’s just one problem: you haven’t documented any of it. Once the ride is over, you’ll only have memories to refer back to, save for the few shots you took on your cell phone camera.

Picking out underrated Harleys is tough, sort of the moto equivalent of writing up the five least-attractive Playboy centerfold moles, the five least-cute puppy breeds, the five least-popular iced beverages at the Death Valley Golf Club in August. Even the most ignored Harleys have their own loyal and possibly violent contingents. But fearlessly tackling this type of project is why they pay me the big money. And thanks to the miracle of social media crowdsourcing, it actually winds up being kind of fun. I learned some stuff. Sadly, none of my FB friends are much older than I am, so we’re not going all the way back to 1903 to pick five. We are going back to 1974 to kick things off.

Has it really been 20 years since the world didn’t seize up at the stroke of midnight, as we feared it might? Yes. Every time I walk out into the garage, my 2000 R1 sitting dormant on its stand (the last year of the first-gen R1) reminds me of what a long time ago that was. Next to all the new bikes it sees come and go, the old girl is positively archaic. In a good, Ann-Margret way, but still. While we’re still quarantining seems like a good time to look back upon what bikes have moved the game forward the most since the millennium.

Updated February 2020

Triumph sprang a 3500-word manifesto re: its new Tiger 900 on us just before the press introduction of the new bike last Tuesday in St. Louis, which we ran in its entirety. Now that we’ve had a few days to digest all the newness of the thing (five things really: Tiger 900, Tiger 900 GT and GT Pro, Tiger 900 Rally and Rally Pro) here are our main take-aways.

What’s the sweet spot for small displacement motorcycles? Is it 250cc? Perhaps 400cc? Ask any internet forum and you’ll likely hear some BS like, 600cc sportbikes are the smallest I would EVER recommend for a beginner. Idiots. Darwinism at its finest. What do we think? We think there are a lot of variables to consider for this question, but the 300cc category is still filled with solid options of bitchin’ motorcycles. Many look at these small-displacement bikes as great options for beginners as well. Which motorcycle is best for a beginner? It all depends on what kind of riding you’d like to do. Any of the options on this list provide a great starting point for new riders. What’s even better is that there are plenty of great bikes in this category that spans multiple genres of motorcycling such as sportbikes, adventure motorcycles, and naked bikes. If you’re interested in entering the world of two wheels check out these great starting points.

With Honda being the first of the Japanese to bring a true performance dual-sport bike back to their line, we sincerely hope the trend continues from the Big Four. Times are good and getting better for the category. After taking a look at the current dual-sport offerings from each manufacturer making them, we as consumers have a pretty nice spread to choose from this year. Since we love writing and publishing Top 10 lists here at Motorcycle.com, I thought I would throw together a list of the top 10 dual-sport motorcycles of 2019, the way I see it.

Here at Motorcycle.com, we have a decidedly performance-focused approach to motorcycling. So, it should come as no surprise that we’re huge fans of track days. Yes, track riding is often seen as the gateway drug to becoming a club racer, and that does happen. However, the majority of riders stick with track days as their motorcycle fun time. There are so many measurable benefits to track riding that we can’t see why every sporting motorcyclist doesn’t go to them. So, in an effort to spread the track day religion, we’ve put together this list of reasons why you should sign up for a track day.

It’s been a stellar year for new motorcycles; our frequent flier miles are piling up like crazy as we span the globe to bring you the thrill of victory (Indian now) and the agony of defeat, from the 2019 bumper crop of everything from Nikens to Svartpilens. There’s more to it than new bikes, though. So, let’s take a look at what’s got us excited as we approach the mid-point of 2019.

On the last Sunday in June, the famed Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will commence its 97th running. Taking to the mountain for the first time will be an official entry from Zero Motorcycles (not to be confused with my attempt in 2013 with a dealer-run effort with support from the factory) with its much acclaimed SR/F – a bike which, judging by the 424 comments (and counting)  received on Evans’ Exclusive First Ride piece – is of interest to many people. Piloting the SR/F this year is Cory West, a very accomplished racer in his own right, and though he will be a Pikes Peak rookie, he’ll still be someone to look out for.

KTM made a really cool motorcycle in the 390 Duke, but it became even better in 2017 when the folks in Mattighofen gave it some much-needed upgrades. We’ve covered the 390 Duke extensively on the digital pages of MO, but if you’re new around here – or especially new to motorcycles in general – let this be a Cliff Notes guide to why the 390 Duke is a great little bike. The short reason why we like the bike so much is because it punches way above its weight. In the past if you presented us with a 373cc Single, yawns would follow. Not so with the 390 Duke. Fun is the name of the game with this little terror, and below are eight reasons why it should be on your radar if it isn’t already. Don’t get us wrong – it’s not a perfect motorcycle, and we’ve included a couple reasons why.

Austin, Texas, that is, where the annual Handbuilt show coincided with the US MotoGP at Circuit of the Americas. I didn’t make it out to the GP, but I did make it to the unveiling of an exciting new BMW, onto a tour of Revival Cycles and into their shop on Congress St. (above), into the Handbuilt show, and all over some delicious cuts of Texas cow at a couple of swanky restaurants. Austin is everything you’ve heard. If you live in California and are considering the move, I recommend you do it immediately.

In just a few days I’ll be the lucky bas—- who gets to unwind the new Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory around the legendary Mugello circuit as part of the bike’s international press launch. Stay tuned next week for my thoughts on it. However, in anticipation for that event, I thought I’d look back to see what makes the RSV4 such a darling in the eyes of the moto press. So rewind your minds back ten or so years to 2008/2009 and think about the literbike landscape back then. With the benefit of hindsight, we can say with confidence the space looked pretty bland, with the Big Four Japanese, Ducati, and KTM’s RC8 the only real players (sorry MV Agusta fanboys). The field then got a jolt in 2009 with the announcement of both the BMW S1000RR and Aprilia RSV4 – both models promising to shake up the status quo. If you’ve read any motorcycle magazine since then, you undoubtedly know each bike lives up to the claim. Personally, the Aprilia is one of my favorite liter-class bikes out there. Here are seven ways the RSV4 shook up the game.

Suzuki’s been doing business out of Hamamatsu for quite some time now. 1909, in fact, is the year Michio Suzuki officially began building looms to serve the Japanese weaving industry. Motorcycles and cars came along decades later; you can trace the whole history of Suzuki’s monozukuri culture in the three-story museum – designing and making things with a spirit of craftsmanship. Here are 10 things that jumped out at me.

We just picked our ten best Used Bikes Under $5k last month – a pretty impressive list and, for me personally, a fine financial cut-off point. You really can get a lot of reliable motorcycle for $5k, with plenty of life left.

It’s that time of year again – that time where it’s my turn to do this week’s Top 10, and I’ve got nothin’. Time to make some predictions about the future, then! Let us prepare a beverage and gaze once again into the crystal ball.

In case you missed it, Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali recently announced the company will be putting an electric motorcycle into production sooner rather than later. If you must know, his exact words were, “The future is electric and we’re not far from beginning production of the series.” He was speaking during the podium celebrations for a student-run racing series in which the Ducati-supported University of Bologna’s UniBo rookie team took third in the electric class.

Right, it’s that time of year again when all the new bikes are out, and we ask ourselves, which one must I have? Followed by a look at the price tag, and an immediate switching of the Train of Thought onto the Used Bike siding, particularly all the ones that have slipped below the $5,000 threshold ($5k is usually my cut-off point when it comes to buying automobiles – I have my eye on a 2004 Jaguar XJR right now – but in the spirit of the Trump Economic Miracle, let’s pretend like I’d spend that much on a motorcycle).

It’s that time of year again. Old Man Winter has settled in, and you’re faced with the uncomfortable reality of an extended period of not riding your motorcycle. For many of us – and you can ask our significant others for verification – we can get a little difficult to live with during our bike-less months.

Harley-Davidson smartly used the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 as its launch point for the 2020 LiveWire. No, the LiveWire isn’t much of a secret anymore, but at least we’re finally getting more details about the machine H-D is putting a lot of faith into – price and range being the major talking points people want to know about. Of course, no sooner did this information come out that critics and early adopters alike took to the internet to spew their love or hate.

I don’t think I’ve ever made a New Year’s Resolution, probably because I lead so nearly perfect a life. But since it’s my turn to do the “Top 10” list this week, I’ll make an exception. The experts say the best way to stick to resolutions is in small chunks. So bite off a few of these morsels and see if anything sticks, why not?

As we wrap up 2018, we wanted to let you, our favorite MOrons, have a say. So, let’s take a look down memory lane – courtesy of Google Analytics. Our approach is simple: We tabulate the most read articles of the year and then, in order to maintain an equal ranking across the line, we divide that total by the number of months the article has been online. This keeps the list from being overrun by articles from early in the year. 

Nothing excites motorcyclists – who are often in a forced staycation from riding this time of year – like new model season. The manufacturers have revealed their new mounts, but most are not yet in show rooms. So, all we’ve got is highly produced photos, minimal specifications, and our fantasies to go on. This is the time of year that we motojournalists live for. Not only do we get to pad our frequent flyer miles, but we also sample the latest and greatest that the manufacturers have produced so that we can come home to tell you all about what the upcoming model year has in store for all of us.

We’ve covered motorcyclist’s wishlists of all sort in previous years, but with the popularity of off-road and dual-sport riding growing, we felt we should throw together a list of what these special riders of ours might like more than the odd set of socks.

There’s an undeniable appeal to the Honda Grom and other little bikes like it – the Kawasaki Z125, Kymco K-Pipe 125, SSR Razkull, and Benelli TnT135 come to mind. All of these little tikes offer silly amounts of fun for a relatively small ding to your wallet. Of course, gearheads being gearheads, we can’t leave well enough alone, and it was only a matter of time before the aftermarket had gone crazy modifying these things. It’s madness to see this little 125cc, two-valve Single, meant for simple mass transit especially in the Asian market, get transformed to fire-breathing racers with five-speed transmissions and carbon fiber wheels costing more than the bike itself! We’ve even seen some making double their stock 10-ish horsepower! Imagine taking your bike and bolting on twice the power.

Guess what month it is at MO? It’s geeaar month, sergeant. The kind of motorcycle gear you wear, that is, that makes life on your bike much more pleasant no matter the climatic conditions. No doubt there will be amazing breakthroughs in the future of which our feeble 21st-century minds can’t even conceive: I’m picturing a shoulder-mounted rocket-propelled drone that deploys in 0.001-second to lift you above and away from an imminent left-turning Buick hovercraft. For now, we celebrate the 10 best pieces of gear the human race has come up with so far. Some you wear, some carries the gear you might want to wear later, some just makes the ride way more enjoyable.

Each time we post a story or video around a small-displacement motorcycle, inevitably we’ll see a comment along the lines of, “That bike sucks! It’s way too slow. 1,000cc or nothing, bro!” If you’re one of those people, you’re absolutely going to hate this list. Longtime readers already know this, but if you’re new to Motorcycle.com, you should know that, while we clearly enjoy riding big bikes, we absolutely love riding little bikes – minibikes, even! There are a variety of reasons why, and here we’ve gathered six of them for your consideration. If after reading all six you’re still not convinced, come out with us to give it a try. Really.

We’re back from AIMExpo 2018 and have had time to noodle over what we saw at the annual event. The good news is that, by having the show a few weeks later than 2017, more 2019 motorcycles were announced, and some that were previously unveiled at Intermot were on display in Las Vegas. The tone for the show was upbeat with the aftermarket on hand to display their new wares. Naturally, you may be curious to see what caught our eye as we wandered the show floor. So, without further ado, here are the Top 10 shiny objects sighted at AIMExpo 2018.

It was rough duty suffering the slings and arrows of trans-Atlantic air travel to bring back news of Indian’s exciting new FTR1200, but somebody had to do it. Aer Lingus, formerly the state airline of Ireland and consistently posting superior passenger BAC levels for decades, has gone the way of the world: Nary an empty seat on the Airbus A330, and barely a drop to drink all the way to Dublin. I pressed onward in spite of it all. We published all the press kit info here October 1, the day of the big coming-out party. Here we take a slightly deeper dive, with Indian’s Ben Lindaman, International Product Director, on the opening day of the Intermot show in Cologne (though a bunch of the photos are from the coming-out party the night before).

For many, the thought of going to school has never been very exciting – I know I spent a large chunk of my youth counting down the days until school was over. But really, the reason many of us couldn’t wait to get leave the classroom was because the subjects were pretty boring. While we were physically in the classroom, our minds kept wandering to the one thing we’d rather be doing – riding motorcycles!

I should probably have broken this down into “Riders Over 50 with a History of Failed Relationships and Bad Decisions Without a Pot to Piss In,” and “Riders Over 50 With Healthy Portfolios and Dazzling Smiles”… but I didn’t. Because motorcycles are still relatively inexpensive, and because all us old guys seem to be drawn to the same ones whatever they cost. Besides, even wealthy motorcycle people mostly seem to be inherently cheap; otherwise they’d be car people, no? Consider this my personal cross-section of the bikes people like me covet most, and/or actually would (theoretically in my case) own.

For most of us, once we bring a new bike home the first thing we start planning are upgrades. Swapping stock parts or just bolting new ones on, it’s time to start customizing your bike to make it your own.

Few other images of motorcycling have captured the psyche of riders and non-riders alike as much as that of a resolute motorcyclist hitting the open road for parts unknown. For Americans, it appeals to the lore of the rugged individuals that conquered the American West. Touring on a motorcycle is about as good as it gets – no matter what type of machinery you ride. Spending days out of the cities on remote rural highways is something every motorcyclist has dreamed about.

As long as there’ve been motorcycles, there’ve been lusty moto-savages setting out not just across the country but around the world, beginning at a time when paved roads were almost as rare as free Wifi hotspots, when cruise control consisted of knowing your shipping timetables, when Gore Tex was what charging cape buffalo did to your buddy from Dallas. When heated grips meant your exhaust was too close to your leather saddlebags, when… you get the picture. Here are ten such lusty brave adventurers (11 actually, and one mom), in no particular order and completely subjective, with apologies to guys like Helge Pedersen and Andy Goldfine (who are already household names), and even Louis and Temple Abernathy (lead image) because they preferred to travel by horse.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, we – err, at least I – really love the Kawasaki Ninja 400. Ryan came off the bike at its press intro and was happy as could be. He’s such a fan that he pointed out the 10 things he specifically likes about it. Then, once we stacked it up against the KTM RC390 and Honda CBR500R in our 2018 Lightweight Sportbike Shootout, the Ninja 400 came away a winner, yet again. As far as lightweight sportbikes go, this one is sweet. It’s a great entry-level motorcycle for the new or returning rider, but has plenty of performance for the experienced rider to exploit.

After my recent first-time motorcycle trip to Europe (Split, Croatia, to be exact), I figured I would share some of my tips on how I prepared (and also what I wish I had known). From goats in the road, to switchback after switchback, straight mountain drop offs, confident European drivers who like to cross the center line, and road signs I’ve never seen, I sure got my fair share of learning experiences. However, for as many times as I felt nervous or unsure, there were double the times I widened my eyes in awe at the amazing views I saw and smiled at the wonderful people I met. Croatia was a beautiful place to visit and ride, one that I will never forget. Check out these 10 tips on how to prepare for an international moto trip – and feel free to share some of the things that may have worked for you as well!

Alta’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Derek Dorresteyn, is a motorcycle racer, and in his prime during the early 2000s, he was trying anything he could to squeeze more power and performance out of his KTM 450, but any gains he got somewhere, he lost elsewhere. Derek and his riding buddy Jeff Sand, another eventual co-founder and current Chief Development Officer, would get together and talk shop all the time, and they loved the idea of a smooth and perfectly responsive torque curve but understood how difficult this was to achieve with a gas-powered bike.

So, you’re thinking about becoming a motorcyclist. Welcome! Naturally, with a name like Motorcycle.com, you’d expect us to be pro motorcycle, but even more than that, we’ve devoted our lives to motorcycling. You might say that we are motorcycling evangelicals. We understand that the decision to move from moto-curious into the ranks of riders has many obstacles. From the jargon to the alphabet soup of model names, it can sound to the uninitiated like we are speaking a foreign language. If you’ve got friends who already ride, they can help initiate you to the fold. Unfortunately, many prospective riders don’t have that resource to call upon, which is why we wrote this guide.

Kind of when it comes to love, money, work, international diplomacy – everybody has to learn the hard lessons on their own. Some other things, though, it’s good to learn from those more experienced, those who’ve slid around the block a few times on their head. Well, sister, that’s me. There’s a lot to take in and understand when learning how to ride a motorcycle. It all looks so easy and fluid from afar, but there’s a lot that’s all happening at the same time, and it can be somewhat overwhelming. Fortunately, just like anything new, starting will be the hardest part. Here’s our best advice for staying safe while you get your sea legs.

Just like anything else, motorcycles are continually evolving and getting lighter, faster and more powerful with each passing year. Despite improvements to how well bikes handle and perform, having an accident and crashing is always a looming threat that can never be eliminated, only mitigated – especially off-road. Fortunately for us riders, there are engineers working hard to keep our heads and bodies as safe as possible so we can continue to enjoy riding motorcycles – both on- and off-road – with confidence in knowing that we have the best chance in decreasing the amount of damage a potential crash can cause.

Round four of the American Flat Track series, the Calistoga Half-Mile, needs no introduction, this thing is 2444 words long already, and so without further adieu…

Camping with your motorcycle, whether it be on- or off-road, is one of our favorite pastimes. Depending on where you live, some have the luxury of doing it nearby or right in their backyard, while others have to travel a little further. Depending on where you’re going or what you’re doing and how long you’ll be gone, your setup will be different. Some prefer to travel light, while others bring everything they need including big-screen TVs and even the kitchen sink. This past weekend we hit the road with our dirtbikes to attend the fourth annual Babes in the Dirt, an all-girls off-road campout, which you can read all about by clicking the link just below.

By now you already know what happened at the snooze fest that was Austin MotoGP (and if you don’t, I highly suggest you read Mr. Allen’s always wonderful MotoGP recap). Marc Marquez stole the show for the sixth straight year, leaving some fans disappointed with the day’s racing. To be fair, Moto2 and MotoAmerica Superbike provided some good racing; the former with the interesting battle for the lead, and the latter with a tight fight for the podium.

Are you an American? Are you a motorcyclist? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then you absolutely owe it to yourself to go and visit the Harley-Davidson Museum. You could also be neither, and I would still encourage you to check it out. You will not be disappointed, I promise you that. By now, if you’ve read any of my articles, you already know I’m a big H-D fan. I grew up on and around Harleys and their chopper variants my whole life – it’s in my blood – so visiting the Harley-Davidson museum has been on my bucket list since forever, and I’m glad to have finally crossed it off.

Ducati just released the flagship to its hugely popular Scrambler lineage with this, the Scrambler 1100. Personally speaking, it’s the Scrambler I like most in Ducati’s line for reasons I mention in my First Ride Review. Time will tell if the Scrambler 1100 lineage is as much of a success for Ducati as the original, 803cc Scrambler Icon, but from where I’m sitting, the new 1100 has a lot of things going for it – as well as a few blemishes. Here then are six things I like about the new Scrambler 1100, as well as three things I don’t.

Tuesday we published our epic review of the amazing new supercharged wonderKawi, complete with bonus poetry reading video! Today, we milk that sucker yet again with this Top Ten List!, complete with a few tidbits that got left out before! All that’s left now is a comparo with the KTM Super Duke GT.

Started in 2013, Mama Tried is an indoor invitational motorcycle show that showcases some of the coolest, craziest, rarest and most unusual homebuilt bikes. Having only been able to drool over the event through Instagram from thousands of miles away in years past, I finally got the opportunity to check the show out in person, and holy smokes was I not disappointed.

News flash: most motorcycles have very little cargo-carrying capacity. That’s why tank bags were invented. You can easily carry the little essentials you may need on your ride in a form factor that’s easily removed from your motorcycle. Still, in all my years riding, I’ve never had a tank bag stolen or looted when sitting unattended on my bike. For riders who have hard bags on their bikes, I’ve seen folks use a nylon bag with organizer pockets to carry many of the items on this list, making it possible to compartmentalize the gear like in a tank bag.

When Kawasaki redesigned its smallest Ninja for 2018, the engineers went back to the drawing board and while the motorcycle on your screen may look like a revision in styling, the Ninja 400 has, quite literally, undergone changes from the ground up.

Riding a motorcycle is a challenging activity. For many of us, that is part of the attraction. However, the steepness of the learning curve can be daunting to new riders – or even returning riders who want to freshen-up their skills. While we’re always going to suggest that beginning and returning riders take a motorcycle safety course, there are many skills that riders can practice on their own to make their ride safer and more enjoyable.

Choppers ain’t everyone’s cup of tea – I get that. In a lot of ways they represent the rebellious, non-conformist or even outlaw side of motorcycling, as choppers were typically the ride of choice for many bikers and club members during the post-WWII era extending into the ‘60s and ‘70s when outlaw motorcycle clubs were most prevalent in the U.S. I like to think I was lucky to be raised around choppers and the culture that came with it while growing up as my dad and uncles all had choppers and ties to different MCs, but I’ll leave it at that…

Just over a week ago, I was fortunate enough to spend some time aboard Triumph’s new Bonneville Speedmaster during a day of riding near Carlsbad, CA. This was the first of Triumph’s revised Modern Classics that I had a chance to ride.

Ever since Yamaha took the wraps off its Transcontinental Touring line of motorcycles, the bagger fans here at MO have been chomping at the bit to throw a leg over the 2018 Yamaha Star Eluder. From the ever-popular V-Twin propulsion to the latest in motorcycle electronic technology, the Eluder appears to have just about everything a bagger should. Read on to find out why.

Motorcycles are unique conveyances defined largely by their engines – they are motorcycles, after all. The choice of engine in a bike dictates the chassis that must hold it, which has a direct input on the size and weight of the vehicle. The engine also – more than any other motor vehicle – provides a disproportionate amount of character to the riding experience.

Yes, $10,000 is still a lot of money, but it’s not 1973 anymore and you really do get a lot of motorcycle for that much now. No, buying new is not the most economical way to go, but a lot of people have no choice. Besides, interest rates are at historical lows, and the fact is that brand-new bikes are about as easy to take care of as a Toyota Camry. For every old guy who misses carburetors and “wrenching,” there are five or 10 young ones out riding around happily oblivious to what they’re missing. Listen, I’m wearing socks older than most of you, but when it comes to motorcycles, new is good. Here are are my personal top 10, from least to most expensive.

I can barely walk and chew gum at the same time, but one thing I’ve gotten a pretty good hang of is riding motorcycles. I’ve been doing it now for over 20 years (I’m 28 and three-quarter years old) and have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way that have not only helped me become a better rider, but a smarter rider as well.

This list could be much longer than only 10 reasons to start riding dual-sport, but we will stop it there. First off, let me be clear about what I mean when I say dual-sport: I am talking dirtbikes with turn signals. I am not talking about big, 1200cc adventure-touring motorcycles or scramblers with TKC80s and skidplates. I am referring to anything from the Kawasaki KLX250S end of the spectrum all the way to a KTM 500 EXC.