Adventure Bikes part 3: Heavyweights

If there's one bike that embodies the adventure bike theme it is the BMW GS (meaning Gelände/Straße or off road/on road). This bike is the original purpose built world traveler. BMW built the first GS model in 1980 off the "air head" R80 motorcycle. Like all BMW's of that era the bike had an air cooled horizontally opposed twin. The GS model evolved with the rest of the BMW twin line; from the air head to the oil head to today's modern "hex head". Along the way there have been special GS's too. Early air head had the "Paris-Dakar" models, named after the famous off road rally. For the 1150 and 1200cc models there is the "Adventure" model which is even more suited for global travel. Today the BMW

BMW R1200GS







If there's one bike that could challenge the GS for it's adventure touring crown it would be the KTM LC8 Adventure. The Adventure was launched in 2003 as a road going version of KTM's Paris-Dakar racer. Powering the Adventure is the LC8 a liquid cooled V twin. The Adventure is gained a lot of popularity the world over for it's mix of off capabilities and road road handling capabilities.


KTM 990 Adventure








There a handful of other large adventure bike as well. Most of them didn't sell well and aren't available today. Bikes like these include the Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom, the Triumph Tiger 955i, and the Aprilia CapoNord. The Suzuki V-Strom 1000 is still available but is often over looked but it's smaller brother the V-Strom 650. The Triumph Tiger was a popular adventure bike but with the redesign in 2007 the bike has become more of a standard, than an adventure tourer. Aprilia no longer offers the CapoNord. The Ducati Multistrada may also be considered, though it is not intended for any off roading. Moto Guzzi has also introduced a new adventure model.

Triumph Tiger 955i








Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom







Aprilia ETV CapoNord