Popular Mechanics has a buyer's guide for plug-in bikes. I've blogged about the Quantya, Brammo and Zero, but there are a few others here that I haven't heard of. Like the Ultra Motor A2B Metro below, which is cool but clearly not offroad capable ... well, not in my hands, anyway!
When it comes to electric propulsion, motorcycle companies are way ahead of carmakers. While electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf are still in the development phase, there are around a dozen credible e-bikes on sale today that offer a lot more than just green credentials: near-silent operation, running costs that amount to pennies per week, low insurance rates, little maintenance and uniquely fun performance.
Over at Faster and Faster there's this image. The graphic indicates it came from somewhere over here. (Use Google Chrome if you want to quickly translate the site from Dutch.)
Is this an 850? A friend of mine had one in college, and I rode it occasionally. But it looked nothing like this. The owner put Kenda 761 dualsport tires on it and says they work great.
According to CycleWorld, the 990 Adventure R is the best dual sport of 2010. Thanks, guys. I caught flak for the admission that I was in love with the KTM 950 Super Enduro R, and now an even bigger bike is the best of the year. Hopefully I won't catch any grief from my WIFE over my new affair.
Something is going on here. For the third year in a row, our choice for Best Dual-Sport offers greater displacement than the bike that preceded it. In 2007, it was KTM's 525 EXC, then the 690 Enduro in 2008. In 2009, it was BMW's F800GS, and now we have KTM's 990 Adventure R taking the prize. What makes the R such a worthy recipient is how much it feels like a "real" enduro, despite its 490-pound dry weight. Key is the suspension—which offers 10.5 inches of travel at both ends—and a chassis that somehow allows this machine to turn and handle like a real dirtbike should. But it's equally adept on the road, with its controllable 96.2-hp V-Twin ripping up the asphalt as well as it does a rocky trail.
Roost: Motorcycle Misadventures.
I love using the word "zero". It enables me to say something about nothing, and I'm pretty good at that. I learned the skill back in college, in the English classes which required me to write very long answers to very complicated questions about characters and plot and structure, etc.
Unfortunately, acquiring that skill made me a worse creative writer and it has taken me many years to recover. Oh, well. Now, about the Zero. Back in March, which must have been during my hiatus:
Zero Motorcycles, the global leader in the electric motorcycle industry, announced today the debut of its 2010 Zero DS electric motorcycle. This highly versatile dual sport now has more power, increased acceleration, and enhanced power pack technology. Continuing the innovation that they are known for, Zero has integrated its newly developed Z-Force Air Induction System into the Zero DS to enable greater performance both on and off-road.
Unfortunately, the range of the bike is still just 50 miles. With the addition of nanotube electrodes, as explained over at Gizmag, the lithium batteries would last a lot longer. Just as unfortunate is the fact that such batteries don't really exist yet.
Roost: Ultimate Motorcycling, which used the above photo and put their own watermark on it. At first, I thought, gee, those UM guys take great photos! Then I found the exact same picture on the Zero web site with no watermark which is the one I used here.
Results aren't available, but Motorcycle USA says they're testing four bikes. No update since June 25.
So we’ve collected four reasonably priced dual-sports from the Big Four Japanese companies. Honda has provided its $4999 CRF230L (learn more about it in the 2008 Honda CRF230L First Ride). Kawasaki is represented by its identically priced KLX250S (read about it in the 2009 Kawasaki KLX250S First Ride). Suzuki has its $4199 DR200SE. Lastly representing the upscale market is Yamaha’s $6390 WR250R.
Another example of motorcycle spam, or is it Web 2.0 advertising? The Zongshen showed up on one of my regular Google blog searches, so I looked a bit deeper. I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you! There was only one example of an actual Zongshen rider that I could find -- at Thumpertalk, of course. The rest of the results were for classified ads.
No matter. Motorcycle porn is motorcycle porn, so here's a pic. Just don't blame me if you get an STD.
Update: I should have said "DSTD" -- Dual Sport Transmitted Disease. If you get this, I give you permission to blame me. But I doubt you'd get that disease from this bike.
Motorcycle USA has an article on the Triumph TR5. Oh, to ride one of these! As a rider, I need all the flattering I can get, and the Triumph sounds like a dream.
The Trophy fed a near insatiable demand from the critical American market for off-road sports bikes. In modern terms, these were dual sport machines which could be used for serious off-road racing, trail riding or road use. With the TR5 Trophy, Triumph quite simply had the best bike in the world - and by a huge margin too.
... The power is completely linear and this made the TR5 the best machine of its day for dual sport use. On the road, and in the woods, the TR5 is a sweet, reliable, willing motorcycle which flatters the rider’s ability.
Webmaster and novelist in Northern California.
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