#KTM1190Adventure

Listen, if you think it’s easy to arrange borrowing nine Sports-Adventure-Touring motorcycles from seven manufacturers and clearing a week in nine guys’ schedules, you should apply for work as some kind of General at the Pentagon or someplace. We’re keeping our jobs. We’re not complaining, but it’s not all a bed of roses. Ducati made us wait a long time to get our hands on its new 2015 Multistrada S, and our only slight disappointment is that Yamaha couldn’t come through with a Super Ténéré. It’s doubtful the Yamaha would’ve won in this company, but we could’ve come up with some great headlines if we’d had a nice even 10 bikes.

Recently, we compiled a list of the Top 10 Cruisers for tall people. The premise was simple: you’re a tall fellow (or lady), and the majority of motorcycles out there just don’t feel comfortable to you. Your knees rub against your elbows, and the bars can be too low for your liking, placing unwanted weight on your wrists. Cruisers provide a great solution for those gifted (cursed?) with extra inseam, as the foot forward position helps spread the body out some. But cruisers also place more weight on a rider’s tailbone, which can cause comfort issues.

Okay, I admit it. I’m a wheelie-holic. I’d practice wheelies on my bicycle, but I’ve been absolutely addicted to them since discovering an engine’s anti-gravity effects on a dirt bike’s front tire when I was 12 and abusing my amazingly durable Suzuki DS80 on the Canadian prairie.

After riding BMW’s all-new R1200GS early this year, I figured it would sit gracefully at the top of its adventure-touring class for awhile. But KTM’s new 1190 Adventure R is set to shove the king off his throne. It’s more powerful, marginally lighter, has a larger fuel capacity and is equipped with a sophisticated electronics suite. And if the GS is equipped with its many desirable options, the KTM’s $16,799 MSRP is less expensive.