Bikes in the Hood

If motorcycles were like people and they lived in neighborhood’s somewhere in the City of Motopia, they would be just like us, the same species but different from one another.  On the largest side of the bikes would be the Harley’s Goldwings and any other huge luxo-liner eager to travel thousands of miles in comfort. The Suzuki GSXR 1000’s and Yamaha R1’s would be the athlete’s and borderline bullies. Most of the smaller lighter 600 class of bikes would be the younger athlete’s fast and agile but with manners.

The smaller displacement bikes would be the little workers transporting there humans willing, able and reliable.  That leaves a few more species that do things a little different. Most manufacturers produce a vast array of motorcycles that perform a variety of duties. That brings us to the Dual Sport.

There duties  involve traveling legally on the road to get to the dirt  where they work wonders on both terrains. Some of these bikes would be the KLR’s, BMW’s or KTM’s with a large range of displacements and sizes.  There are so many choices of motorcycles nowadays and you would have a hard time buying a bad one.

Another bike evolved through the years in the form of Adventure tourer’s. These bikes are a blend of Dual Sport and road touring.  They can be ridden on gravel roads and have long travel suspension for soaking up all the rough stuff our ageing roads have to offer. The beast’s will eat miles of road in comfort and most will do those duties fast!

One Bike in particular is the Triumph Tiger 1050.  The Tiger leans more toward the duties of road travel but will handle the occasional gravel road. I chose the Tiger for my bike because of its sporting  prowess with longer legs for comfort.  All of  the Adventure Tourer’s  are very accepting of doo-dad’s such as GPS’s, extra luggage and lights. The sky’s the limit with the aftermarket.

This is just a quick summary of motorcycles in general and totally my opinion.

This was a trip to Utah with a group of friends last year.

Ron, with his BMW R1200GS Adventure.

I must say that at this point in the day, Ron was spent. He had just navigated a road that would have given a dedicated dirt bike a hard time. Impressive to say the least!