I don't care if you can't ride a motorcycle in the dirt. We all started somewhere! Now, what is more important is the fact that you, and your team, put out what I believe are the very best motorcycle review videos on the Internet. Keep them coming! And thank you!
I've really enjoyed your review of motorcycles, and watched what I think is ALL of your bike reviews during the TWO YEARS I was researching my new bike purchase. For a long stretch, I was favoring the Stelvio NTX, then the KTM 1190 Adv R started to show up on my radar, and seemed to hit all the buttons. I bought a new one in August last year - man what a bike!! You really should ride one w/ Conti Trail Attack 2's for street riding. It's much more planted than with knobbies... and wheelies... 1st, 2nd, 3rd... With the knobbies, she does open up a lot of fire road, dirt road, and off road options than I had before, but no, she's cannot be ridden off road like a smaller lighter 'dirt' bike. With huge Givi Trekker Outback cases, she's a great grocery getter. Overall, a do-it-all, and push-all-my-buttons bike. If you have a chance to spend more time on an Adv R, make her sing... it's a siren song.
Nice sincere review. Not everybody is a Simon Pavey level rider. Nice to learn about the experience of riding the bike through the eyes of an "everyman". Well done!
G'day, great review, I stopped and had a chat to you on the Barry Way whilst you were testing this Beast, I was also on An 1190 R.....hope you eventually got to ride the super duke... Cheers Phil
boksaboy Hiya Phil, I remember you! Good to meet ya! I just finished the Superduke review today... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Zp4aIPHiYmQ.html
Cool review mate, I love it that you were totally candid about your ability and that gave the review some really good context. I read reviews where the bike is claimed to be awesome but the reviewer is a seasoned vet, which can make for a coloured experience. Nice work mate. I've never ridden adventure, but I'm keen on the 2016 triumph explorer. As suggested, it will spend most of its life on the black stuff. Cheers :)
+jayhunter100 these kinds of bikes make brilliant long range touring machines even if they never get dirty. In fact I think for the majority of owners that's what they get used for. I haven't ridden the Explorer but I do love that three cylinder engine!
+gizmag you're absolutely right. Some (most) of our Aussie roads are pretty rough, so these bikes seem an obvious choice to deal with all conditions. Hence my next bike being in this category. That's what the adventure category does. It drinks. And it knows things.
Awesome bike, and awesome review! With such a large bike and high seat height, would be really difficult to manoeuvre by people under 180cm I suppose. But really enjoyed your video as always, cheers!
LOL I would be pretty much exactly the same on the dirt, just can't find the confidence to go round corners at any level of speed. Good review and hope we see some of the rider aids on the future RC8 line
Inertial Control Units, which power the cornering ABS and the newer traction control systems, are starting to pop up on a heap of new bikes, from ADV bikes to supersports. There's a few listed here: www.gizmag.com/eicma-2014-motorcycle-roundup-highlights-photos/34608/
I'm sure the KTM 690 Enduro R would be up to the task. Maybe you'd be able to test one out next time on the back roads. That's 143Kg vs 217kg without fuel.
All of the big adventure-bikes take a lot of skills to ride properly, It,s a big difference throwing a 250 dirtbike way under 100kg in the corners, compared to this. KTM has really proven that they are back in the game again.
he didn't need to beat himself up that much. in fact, use the lack of skill to your advantage, tell us if it was even easy or not to learn on it, n if ud be willing to get serious in the adventure bike class one day because of it. I'm actually looking into one of these as my first adventure bike n more feedback with the learning process would've been great, instead of nagging on yourself for lack of experience let the bike MAKE you gain some experience...
I think unless you're a very good dirt bike rider already, you'll have more fun on something smaller and cheaper for your first ADV bike. Make this your second one!
+creaturescorporation So did you get one ? Iam the same looking at this as something I can tour on as well as do weekend back roads , it would be my first off road bike . it might be scary at first but how hard could it be ?
Hey, Thanks for the review... I'm currently riding a f800gs that I've modded a bit for a mostly offroad trip from the arctic circle to the darien gap. Worked well, but suspensions being the big flaw on those ''look at my nice beemer'' bike, I'm looking forward to upgrade to this big KTM guy... Looking at your video, I keep wondering what's about the rpm gauge stuck at red line... were you really redlining the girl or its a glitch ?
+Philip Lemieux Did you get the 1190 in the end?? I used to have the 800GS, great, fun bike. It got stolen a few years back and now I'm looking into upgrading to the 1190 too. Would love to hear any comparison. Thankx!
gizmag Thank you! By the way Gizmag does the best bike reviews that i know of! You should do one on the 2015 super bikes! Especially the 2015 Yamaha R1M!
Yet people love their ADV bikes and I've seen some really impressive ADV riders. If you want to go over really rough terrain then sure get an Enduro but off-road doesn't always mean extremely tough off trail riding some people just want to take a dirt trail somewhere cool.
Chris Fokjohn Looks are subjective, for instance I cannot think of a single Japanese bike that I think looks good. I also think the only god looking bike Ducati makes is the Multistrada, so there is no right or wrong way of my thinking.