#roadster

If you’re of the opinion the Vanderhall Venice is not a motorcycle and shouldn’t be reviewed by a magazine with the URL Motorcycle.com, don’t read this story and spare us the snide remarks in the comments section. If, on the other hand, you’re open-minded and accepting of the fact the Vanderhall is a reverse trike with bucket seats and a steering wheel, and, by default, a motorcycle as far as the California DMV is concerned, keep reading. Feel free to then leave a comment, snide or otherwise. It’s like voting, if you don’t participate, you have no right to complain.

I was a little surprised my kid liked the new Honda Rebel 500 as much as he did last week, but then all of us are surprised by our offspring, aren’t we? His daily driver lately is my old Yamaha R1. He finally got around to getting his motorcycle endorsement last month – on our borrowed KTM Super Duke GT… so he does have quite a varied motorcycle background for a kid who’s only 23 years old. In an effort to understand the younger moto-mentality, and as a service to all the manufacturers trying to figure out what the hell millennial motorcyclists want, anyway, I drilled further into my child’s mind to get down to the Top 10 of things.

Dear MOby,

As the event’s name implies, this show, first launched in 1949, focuses on four-wheeled vehicles albeit not all technically qualifying as “roadsters” which back in the day meant an open two-seater minus doors and even windshields. Tracing the nomenclature further, “roadster” initially was the label attached to a horse well-equipped for traveling, and later applied to bicycles and tricycles of the late 1800s.

Triumph has released a video teasing what looks to be a new Street Triple. The video, titled “The Street Will Never Be The Same Again,” offers a few tantalizing glimpses of the new bike along with this description: “Once in a generation, a motorcycle comes along that changes everything, that sets a new benchmark in power, weight, handling, looks and completely tears up the rule book.”

Maybe it’s human nature, but motorcycle publications are constantly trying to determine which bike can lap the fastest, jump the highest, or travel the farthest. Competition is what feeds the beast. Motorcycle.com’s as guilty of it as anyone, and it’s easy to see why: motorcycling has become so segmented these days, with machines designed to satisfy one particular niche. They do it very well, too; sportbikes are insanely advanced, adventure bikes are capable of traversing nearly any terrain, and both cruisers and sport-tourers can pound out miles in two very different, yet also very satisfying, ways. And we haven’t even mentioned streetfighters, nakeds, and standards…

Oh, this is cool. To be sold alongside the standard Honda CB1100 in Europe, the new CB1100 RS is:

How do we love the Triumph Speed Triple? Let us count the ways… one, two, three… ever since the original naked Triple showed up in, well not the original one, but the first aluminum-framed one that arrived on scene in 1997. That first real Speed Triple had various teething problems you can read all about in MO’s test here, but nigh on 20 years later all the bugs seem to be worked out, including the chrome bug-eye headlights of the original, which we still miss.

A Roadster, Scout, Bobber and Octane roll into a bar…

What happens when Harley-Davidson upgrades the suspension and beefs up the brakes of its iconic and much-customized 1200 Sportster? You get the 2016 Roadster. While the powerplant remains the same 1202cc air-cooled 45° V-Twin Evolution engine, the character of the Sportster gets an attitude adjustment for people who like to go around corners. By increasing the rear suspension travel and altering the angle of the frame relative to the road, H-D has created a Sportster that doesn’t shy away from winding roads. The addition of a second 300mm front disc adds braking power to the Roadster’s street cred – all wrapped in a minimalist styling package inspired by home garage customizers.

A freight train of 20 motorcycles works its way through the rolling hills of southern France on a roller-coaster of silky smooth but undulating pavement, cresting hills, strafing banked turns, and dancing side-to-side through endless esses. Entering the mostly second-gear corners, bikes largely nose-to-tail, the riders take a variety of lines, occasionally scrubbing off a little speed mid-corner – or sometimes more than a little in the case of a sneaky decreasing-radius – with a judicious application of brakes while leaned over, peg feelers just skimming the pavement. Other times, if the situation requires, they adjust their lines, sometimes slightly overlapping wheels as people who are comfortable on the track often do (even if it doesn’t really allow enough margin for error on the street). Then the corner ends, and the throttles twist, widening the gaps slightly, only to accordion back together in the next braking zone.

Until today, Harley-Davidson’s Dark Custom line contained eight models. However, Dark Customs are more than just a selection of motorcycles. At the introduction of the Dark Custom Iron 883 and Forty-Eight, Marketing Manager Jen Hoyer positioned the line, thusly: “The Dark Custom, for us, it’s not just about the motorcycle. It’s about growing the sport of motorcycling.” With the unveiling of the 2016 Harley-Davidson Roadster the Dark Custom line gains a new member to tempt riders and potential riders, alike, into becoming members of the H-D fold.

Laaadeeeeez and Gennntlemennnn, standing before you are the three of the newest middleweight roadsters of the 2016 model year. All have family names steeped in motorcycling history, though only one can be said to use a truly historic design. The second is a ground-up remake with the classic lines of its family heritage, which is, in fact, almost visually identical but in a thoroughly modern package. The third, a sophomore model-year tweak to a new category of bikes begun just last year, seeking to indoctrinate a new generation of riders into its world-dominating marque. These three motorcycles share two other similarities: all are Twins – though all different – and all feature hipster-compatible fork gaiters.

The first products of BMW‘s collaboration with India’s TVS Motors are well into development, with spy photographers capturing images of a new small-displacement motorcycle undergoing testing.

Last but not least in BMW’s new line of liquid-cooled Boxers (and not even quite last since the RS variant will be here next year), is the lovely new thoroughly redesigned R1200R you see here. Where the GS and GS Adventure want you to dig out your Boy Scout neckerchief and head off into the boonies, and the RT wants you to abandon your life and make them all three-day weekends, the basic R is the bike for all reasons: This one’s designed to be great everyday urban transport but comfortable and capable enough for long distances with a passenger and luggage as well, and a reasonable dirt road wouldn’t be a problem either. It’s your basic Roadster, the most direct descendant of the first Boxer BMW built nigh-on 100 years ago.