Adventure bikes, Italian style

In the United States the only adventure bikes you see are usually BMW GS's, Kawasaki KLRs, or Suzuki V stroms. Not many American riders are familar, however, with bikes like the Moto Guzzi NTX or Cagiva Elephant. There are quite a few adventure machines from Italy and its unfortunate there aren't many around. Although their rarety might be part of their appeal. 

The smaller TT came in 350 and 650cc versions. Moto Guzzi also had a handful of factory racers, including the V65 TT Baja for the Dakar rally.

The Moto Guzzi NXT was available in 650 and 750cc versions.

The Quota came along in the 1990's. It applied the adventure look to Guzzi's updated platform. The Quota, and Quota ES used the 1100cc V twin.

In 2007 Moto Guzzi introduced their latest adventure bike the Stelvio 1200.

Cagiva made its name when it bought Ducati in the mid 1980's. One of the first things the company did was put a Ducati twin into an off road chassis and call the beast the Elephant. Some Elephants were branded as Ducati's, but it was Cagiva that continued the line. Elephants were available in different sizes. Including 650, 750, and 900cc's.

Cagiva continued producing adventure bikes. The began selling the Canyon model and the Grand Canyon models.

Aprilia introduced the Pegaso in the mid 1990's. The bike shared a lot with BMW's G650 including the Rotax 650 single. 

Aprilia then tired to venture into the big bore adventure market with the Caponord. The Caponord used the RSV 1000cc V twin. The Caponord didn't sell well and only lasted a few years.

Moto Morini was responsible for a few dual sports. Below is a Moto Morini Camel, it has a 500cc V twin, which makes it an unusual dual sport. The company produced another model called the Kanguro (and/or Conguro).

With the resurgence of Moto Morini comes the new Granpasso 1200.

Benelli recently introduced their Trek. Like some of these other bike the "adventurousness" of the bike may be debateable, but it certainly is neat to look at.

And then there's the Ducati Multistrada. It's not really an adventure bike, but it carries on the Italian adventure spirit.