Adventure Bikes

America's most iconic motorcycle company has taken a brave step forward today, launching a brand-new bike with a brand-new motor into a weather-beaten adventure segment full of tough competitors. But the 150-hp Pan America has some tricks up its sleeve.

In its sixth year, the streetwise version of KTM's all-terrain superbike gets another decent update. A touch lower, with sharper handling, adaptive cruise control and every electronic toy in the book, it's a hugely versatile weapon for serious riders.

The third application of Ducati’s V4 platform gears up for adventure touring duties in the new 170-hp Multistrada V4, which is loaded with cutting-edge electronics while, surprisingly enough, ditching the desmodromic valve system.

The middleweight adventure motorcycle segment is already showing signs of capacity creep. Two years after introducing its 790cc adventure machines, KTM has announced 890cc versions offering extra power and grunt. But will there be a weight penalty?

The original intercontinental overlander of the motorcycle world, BMW's R/GS series, has received a bunch of high-tech electronic upgrades for its 40th anniversary, giving an already well-appointed bike even more appointments for its hoard.

There wouldn't be many motorcycling reprobates who haven't dreamed of testing their mettle in the storied Dakar Rally, piles of navigation instruments teetering atop their dash. Well, KTM's got the bike for you, if your pockets are deep enough.

Triumph has split its adventure bike lineup even further with the addition of two new special editions to its big, bad Tiger 1200. The new Desert Edition takes aim at sandy off-roading, while the Alpine Edition is more of a mountain road tourer.

KTM brought a bumper crop of new goodies out for EICMA 2019, including a capable-looking new 390 Adventure bike, a faster, firmer Duke 890 R to go alongside the "scalpel" Duke 790, and a fresh chassis overhaul for its 1290 Super Duke R flagship.

Harley-Davidson is not messing around. It's on a moon-shot mission to save itself by morphing into a modern motorcycle company. Step one: the electric Livewire. Here's steps two and three, the Pan American adventure bike and the Bronx streetfighter.

Four years after the Africa Twin came back to life, Honda ushers its legendary adventure bike into the Euro-5 age in two versions.

Adventure motorcycles appeal to the spark of the swashbuckling cross-continental wanderer in all of us, and nothing stokes that fantasy quite like watching an enduro god like Chris Birch spank the daylights out of one in heart-rendingly gorgeous surroundings.

KTM's 790 Adventure bikes already appeared to have the wood over Yamaha's Ténéré 700 in the suspension department, with longer-travel boingers at both ends, but a new limited edition Rally version ups the ante even further when the going gets really tough.