Standing the Test of Time
I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that the mercurial growth of adventure bikes has come at the expense of the touring segment. While sales of Adventure Rs and Africa Twins have grown exponentially, the popularity of traditional touring bikes — everything from Honda’s iconic Gold Wing to the once-almost-as-ubiquitous ST1300 — have either languished or, in worst-case scenarios, completely vanished. Indeed, were it not for BMW’s equally-iconic R1250 RT — and the occasional sighting of a KTM Duke GT — sport-tourers would be all but dead. So much so that I think that the aforementioned RT’s most ardent competitor isn’t Yamaha’s long-in-the-tooth FJR1300 or Kawasaki’s outrageous Concours14, but BMW’s own R1250 GS. I’ll go even further: I suspect that the only bike that would-be RT owners seriously crossshop is its adventure-touring sibling.
It’s little wonder, considering that they really are dizygotic twins. Both, of
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days