#adventure

It was a hard choice between winner and runner-up in the Adventure category which means we’re the real winners. There are so many great options not only in the middleweight category, but also the genre as a whole. The Ducati and Aprilia are two of the latest entrants into the segment and the Tuareg managed to eke out the win for precisely the reason we’ve seen it twice now in our MOBO selection – its exceptional value proposition.

Yamaha Motor Europe announced updates to the Ténéré 700, giving the middleweight ADV bike a TFT display, smartphone connectivity, a new ABS mode and other small updates. As of this writing, the 2023 Ténéré 700 has not been announced for the U.S., though we expect to receive official news soon. The Ténéré 700 Rally Edition variant offered in Europe (pictured below with the Heritage White livery) also received the same updates, but we don’t expect that it will be offered on these shores.

Suzuki announced updates for the V-Strom 1050, as well as a new off-road oriented version for 2023. The new 2023 Suzuki V-Strom 1050DE replaces the 1050XT model, and adds new features to make it a more capable off-road machine such as a 21-inch front wheel, longer-stroke suspension, and a larger aluminum bash plate.

Spy photographers have snapped images of two new Suzuki prototypes powered by a new Parallel-Twin engine. The two motorcycles, an adventure bike and a naked model, appear to be the eventual successors to the V-Strom 650 and SV650, and the culmination of a long development path for Suzuki’s new middleweight twin-cylinder engine.

If there’s one thing KTM knows how to do, it’s how to get dirty. The company obviously has its long history of off-road competition, and victories, to its name, and that success has transferred nicely into the adventure bike market. You can even argue KTM’s adventure bikes (along with the BMW GS family) are responsible for this boom in the ADV market.

When the DesertX prototype hit the scene at EICMA in 2019, it was portrayed as a Dakar-inspired Scrambler variant – that was the initial idea anyway. As you’re likely already aware, the production DesertX is anything but. Powered by the proven 937cc Testastretta 11° Desmo engine, the 2023 Ducati Desert X has been designed from the ground up as a purpose-built adventure machine.

After teasing us in March, Bombardier Recreational Products officially revealed its first two Can-Am electric motorcycles, the Pulse roadster and the Origin dual-sport. Both models were presented as prototypes, meaning they are very close to what will eventually be the final product, which will enter production in the summer of 2024.

Lightning Motorcycles has filed designs for an electric adventure bike. The designs, filed with China’s intellectual property office, reveal a motorcycle with the typical ADV accoutrements, and an electric motor and swingarm design that look similar to those of Lightning’s Strike sportbike.

Kawasaki surprised us all a year ago when it brought back the KLR650, resurrecting the venerable adventure bike with fuel injection, updated styling, and a new one-piece frame.

What a beast, I thought to myself as I put my first few miles on the 2022 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R. In retrospect, that thought kind of made sense given the fact that the mill tucked beneath the 1290’s new tank design is an iteration of the Super Duke’s 1301cc V-Twin – the naked bike dubbed by KTM marketing folks as “the beast.” And beastly it is. Even in larger ADV garb coming in at 542 pounds dripping wet, the SA-R is still an absolute ripper of a motorcycle that is fully capable of serially killing rear tires.

Looking out over the Pacific Ocean, six months into a ride across the Americas, I found myself attending The Cold Start, an off-road riding clinic in Ensenada, Mexico. This may seem like an odd way to spend finite travel funds, but the rewards for this type of investment are surprisingly numerous.

We’ve been waiting for news of a model from Zero called the DSR/X for nearly two years now. Despite trademark filings and vehicle identification filings, however, there’s been no indication from the Santa Cruz electric motorcycle brand about the mysterious model.

Last week, we wrote about trademark filings that suggest Honda was working on a CL500 scrambler and an NX500 dual sport/adventure bike. We’ve now uncovered design filings that may offer a hint at what the NX500 may look like.

Honda has filed new trademark applications for the names “CL500” and “NX500“, suggesting it may be preparing to expand its 500 range with new scrambler and dual sport models.

An hour into the ride, we were already in trouble. We’d lost the main road and were stuck in deep sand and didn’t know the way out.