RiDE December 2021

RiDE helps you get more from your motorcycle. Put together by a team of enthusiastic experts, with help from thousands of committed readers, every issue of RiDE is full of recommendations on bikes, kit, routes, destinations and technique. We speak directly to our readers about their biking lives & use our expertise to steer them towards the good-value option in bikes, trips and kits. We’re famed for our regular Product Tests and eery month provide a comprehensive used-bike buying guide, helping potential owners find the right bike at the right price. Finally... every issue features touring guides and riding advice to help readers explore the world on their bike.

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in this issue

In This Issue

‘RiDE readers tell us which is their best bike of 2021’

Welcome to the December issue of RiDE. It’s been a funny old year for bike sales and they’ve never been in as much demand for years. We all know that the value of used bikes has been going through the roof as punters are desperate to buy, but new bike sales are well up, too. But what’s the best bike to buy? Hopefully this mag will give you some indication. We assembled six of the most outstanding bikes of 2021 then gave them to a panel of RiDE readers to help find the best new bike of 2021. RiDE’s People’s Bike of The Year is the only feature of its kind where the best bike is 100% chosen by normal bikers rather than the usual biking press. From hundreds of applicants, we…

1 min

FRONT END

STAR PICTURE

Braga, Portugal This is my partner Sue on our KTM 1290 Super Adventure S in Braga, Portugal, to the north-east of the wine-capital of Oporto. Touring abroad is a bit of a faff in these current crazy times. However, it’s absolutely worth a little bit of extra hassle. We covered about 2200 wonderful miles in a loop around Spain and Portugal together. Our trip had fantastic and very-nearly empty roads, great scenery and lovely people wherever we stopped. We are already planning the next trip. Portugal is highly recommended – as is the KTM Super Adventure S. John Guest Get your bike in RIDE & win a BikeTrac system Each month the Star Picture will win a BikeTrac security tracker with a year’s BikeTrac subscription. As well as helping recover your bike if it is…

1 min

FRONT END

YOUR RIDES

Loch Assynt, Sutherland This is my Kawasaki Z1000SX at Loch Assynt on the A837 in Sutherland on part of the NC500. We based ourselves in Balintore and covered just under 1600 miles. The weather and roads were perfect all week — which has to be a first. Steven Smith Brecon Beacons This is my wife Lynn in the Brecon Beacons on our BMW K1600GT. We downloaded the RiDE route and did a two-day tour, including the recommended visit to Dan-yr-ogof Caves and Brecon Mountain Railway. We also added cheese tasting and warm rain. What’s not to like? Steve Pettitt Picos de Europa With Covid restrictions easing, it was off to the Picos for an adventure. This was taken on the CA184; I rode out from Potes that morning and got above the cloud cover; it…

3 min

FRONT END

‘It flows, rises and falls, and there’s rarely much traffic’

THE FACTS Roads A19, B1228, B1253, B1248, A64, A166. Distance 72 miles. Best suited to Anything quick and comfy. Nearest big city York. Famous for Yorkies, Terriers and Grand Old Dukes. JUST AFTER WE meet up at Strawberry Fields café (decent coffee, very good bacon buttie), a genial chap on a lovely BSA Bantam trials special rolls up. Come far, mate? “What, on that? Are you mad ?” He has a point but we’re a bit more suitably equipped for some quick mile-munching — Ian’s on his work-day K1600GT (“I love it but I’m test-riding a Kawasaki Versys tomorrow.”) and I’m on editor Matt’s KTM 1290 Super Adventure S. Apart from that, the parking is empty, which is a surprise. “Normally it’s pretty crowded here, but today’s forecast is a bit grim so maybe that’s put…

6 min

FRONT END

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Best time of day to ride “I like weekdays between 9am and 4pm as there’s less traffic. You’ll still see a lot of bikes out though, even midweek — it’s a surprise as you’d think everyone would be at work, but they take their helmets off and there’s no-one under 40 so presumably they’re all semi-retired...” Best bit “The section from Pocklington to the A166 near Fridaythorpe is fab. It flows, it rises and falls, and there’s rarely much traffic on it. Trouble is, it needs to be ridden faster than the posted limit to be proper fun, so you need to be sensible.” Be careful... “It’s very rural, so there is a lot of farm machinery on the roads — and mud in places. The quarry on the A166 leaves chalky dust all over…

1 min

FRONT END

WILL YOUR BIKE REALLY KILL YOUR SMARTPHONE?

‘A vibration-dampening mount is recommended’APPLE STATEMENT, SEPTEMBER 2021 THE SMARTPHONE HAS become the centre of our digital world and it’s hardly surprising that many of us fit them to the handlebars of our bikes to use as sat navs. However, many have also found that this can cause problems, particularly on Apple iPhones and specifically, with cameras. One user is editor, Matt. “I killed the camera on my iPhone 11 in 2020, after a year’s use,” he said. “Over that time, it had been used in a variety of mounts, on a range of bikes for big road trips and green-laning. Finally, the vibrations of my enduro bike finished it off, despite being in a mount that was supposed to guard against it. It stopped being able to focus in poor light…

5 min