Question of the Day: Who Wore It Better?
The Can-Am Canyon or the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure?
Earlier this week, Bombardier Recreational Products revealed its new adventure-touring three-wheeler, the Can-Am Canyon. Loaded with long-travel suspension, a bit more ground clearance, and the ability to carry a lot of luggage, the Canyon looks like a more capable adventure vehicle than Can-Am’s previous, most off-road competent three-wheeler, the Ryker Rally.
The moment we laid our eyes on it, however, only one thought came to mind: it looks a lot like the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure. I mean, sure, there are two front wheels, and they’re 16-inch cast wheels and not a wire-spoked 19-incher, but one glance at the large side panels and the horizontal lines of the Canyon’s silhouette, and it’s hard not to see a bit of the GS Adventure in there.
This isn’t to accuse BRP of copying BMW, of course. The GS Adventure was revealed in early July, weeks before the Canyon’s debut, but both vehicles were likely in development over a very similar time frame. It’s just odd that two different vehicles, which are quite different in many profound ways, come out at around the same time with quite a few similarities.
The similarities go beyond the superficial too. Sure, there’s a bit of a styling resemblance, but listening to the launch presentations for both vehicles, it sounds like both BMW and BRP were trying to achieve the same goals with their latest ADV machines.
For one thing, both brands made a big deal about offering a plentitude of mounting points for various accessories. BMW designed attachment points on the tail, subframe side panels, tank, and radiator covers to support a number of farkles on the R 1300 GS Adventure. The Canyon is loaded with several mounting points for Can-Am’s clever LinQ toolless attachment system.
Both brands also seemed oddly proud of their accessory tank bags, which are designed to quickly attach, and easily flip up, out of the way when you need to access the fuel filler.
Maybe what we’re looking at here isn’t so much a similarity in style, as it is two different machines following a parallel evolutionary path, with form flowing out of function.
Style still matters, however, and judging from the initial reactions to the GS Adventure, the BMW’s styling has been rather polarizing. But take those same design elements and transfer to them to a three-wheeler like the Can-Am Canyon, and maybe the same blocky panels and horizontal lines are a better fit.
So, for our Question of the Day, we’re playing fashion blogger and asking: Who wore it better, the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure, or the Can-Am Canyon?
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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Yes, if you want to carry everything including the kitchen sink on an adventure, either the uber $$$ King Tiger Panzer-cycle or the 3 wheel Maple flavored Canyon contraption are good, but not great.
But Can-Am missed a big opportunity to jump into off road with both feet. They stretched a street machine into 'meh' off road performance.
Make the contraption's front wheels POWERED. 3 POWERRD wheels will best any single wheel power. They could make all 3 wheels the same size and interchangeable.
Many SUVs today have small virtually undetectable all wheel drive but are seldom taken off road. The technology is very do-able.
Contemplate this on the triple tree of woe.
If actual dirt is on the riding menu, the venerable DR 650 is looking more relevant these days given the bloated in every way state of ADV bikes, along with the state of most potential buyer's wallets. In the event actual camping is involved, simply think and minimally pack like a back country hiker does - ya really don't need to bring all that crap 😄
No whining comments by the mr.knowitall mechanic?