RiDE June 2018

ADVENTURE BIKES GET more popular every year and they’re getting more sophisticated with it… generally. In this issue we have the latest hi-tech trailies tackling snowy Snowdonia (p14). They’re a sharp contrast to the low-cost, low-tech Royal Enfield Himalayan — a bike that really was built to ride in the world’s highest mountains (p48). Which would give the kind of adventure that’s right for you? It’s not all adventure bikes — there are plenty of other great machines in this issue. We have good-value used naked bikes (p82), sports tourers (p76), sportsbikes (p81) and even a potentially game-changing Chinese bike (p70) — not to mention all the latest naked roadsters (P58). But never mind the metal, it’s the riding that counts. The Great British Ride Out continues on p32. Enjoy the issue…

Martin Fitz-Gibbons Deputy editor Last October I woke up to a space where I’d parked a BMW R1200GS. After the disbelief and denial I felt sick, angry, guilty and violated. Bike theft happens to other people, until it happens to you. Don’t let it — follow our security special. PAGE 92 Kev Raymond Features writer The grapevine suggests he’s done it — Bruce has got the project F650 through its MOT and back on the road. I’m waiting to see what then went wrong with it — my experience is something always does. Too cynical? Let’s find out… PAGE 108 Caroline Barrett Editorial assistant Normally I’m not carried away with the hype about new bikes, but there are a couple being launched this month that really have got me interested. Particularly the compact, lightweight KTM 790 Duke —…

A HUSKY VOICE Vitpilen gets Husky on the road IN THE PAST 11 years Husqvarna has gone from being owned by MV Agusta which sold it to BMW and then passed on to KTM. There it’s been reunited with Husaberg, the company formed by staff who didn’t want to move to Italy when it was sold to MV back in 1987. At long last, the brand seems to have stability, a new direction and a fresh focus. The new Vitpilen 701 spearheads KTM-owned Husqvarna’s attack on the streetbike market, initially with a family of über-cool looking singles. The Vitpilen 701 (which translates as ‘White Arrow’) shares the 690 Duke’s format of a powerful single-cylinder engine in a tubular-steel frame with WP suspension, but differs from the Duke by its café-racer styling, incorporating clip-on…

FAST AT (NEARLY) 40 Valentino Rossi has signed a contract extension with Yamaha, ensuring that he’ll be on the MotoGP grid until the end of 2020, by which time he’ll be 41. Already the oldest winner of a modern MotoGP race, the reassurance that the most popular rider in MotoGP doesn’t plan on retiring any time soon led to simultaneous sighs of relief from MotoGP race organisers, Yamaha dealers, the Italian motorcycle industry and manufacturers of fluorescent yellow paint. LEARNERS IN SWINDON If you want to pass your bike test, move to Swindon. Finance company Moneybarn has crunched the most recent Module 2 test results data and revealed how dramatically different success rates are across the country. Top of the table was Swindon, where 86.8% of riders passed their test, while the lowest…

BURNED SAUSAGES The Hartside Top Café — at 1904ft, the highest café in England — has been devastated by a fire. Hartside Top is a long-running biker meeting point and one of the 186 checkpoints that form our Great British Ride Out (p32). Nobody was hurt, but the blaze gutted the building and caused the roof to collapse. Local supporters are raising funds for its repair. RIDE QUALITY More than 24,000 miles of roads across England and Wales could fail if they don’t receive essential maintenance in the next 12 months, according to a survey by the Asphalt Industry Alliance. The AIA also noted that even with adequate resources — local authorities currently face a £556 million shortfall — the work required to fix the road network would take 14 years. Adventure bike,…

Lakes, Norway Mark’s Yamaha Fazer 600 and my BMW GS Adventure by a frozen lake in Norway, on our nine-day, 2555-mile trip from Northern Ireland. John McKeefry Norfolk, England My Triumph Trophy SE at Holkham Hall, with a few deer for company. Andrew Leeming Inverness, Scotland A large group of us on a 1200-mile, three-day trip around the Highlands. Here we all are by the A9 in the Cairngorms National Park. Martin Thompson Austria My Ducati Multistrada and my Son’s Yamaha Fazer on our trip to Austria. Steve Davison Wester Ross, Scotland Getting ready for the hairpins of the Bealach na Ba on the North Coast 500. Nobody said you had to have an adventure bike for an adventure. My Suzuki VanVan 125 is on L-plates. Charlie Orr STAR PICTURE Middlesex, England Left Belfast and covered 1500 miles on a museum…