What if Royal Enfield had Built a Big Twin Paris-Dakar Rally Bike? While we love to watch the 450 singles of today’s Dakar Rally, we can’t help but harbor a heavy nostalgia for the big […]
Tag: Adventure Bikes
Yankee 500Z: 488cc Two-Stroke Twin Enduro
The 488cc Dick Mann-Developed Two-Stroke Twin Desert Racer and Enduro… In the late 1960s, before “adventure bike” was even a phrase, a small company in Schenectady, New York set out to build something radically different: […]
Gravel Express: Suzuki XF650 Freewind Adventure Rally
Hessler Motorsport’s Suzuki Freewind ADV Rally… Available from 1997 to 2002, the Suzuki XF650 Freewind was a European-style all-rounder built around the proven air-cooled lump from the DR650 dual-sport. Though a single cylinder, the Freewind […]
Desert Boxer: BMW R900RR Dakar Rally Bike
Dakar Legends: Last Roar of the Desert Bombers… In the late 1990s and early 2000s, BMW found itself at a turning point in rally-raid racing. The boxer twin had already written one of the most […]
A Lighter T7: Custom Yamaha Ténéré 700
From Superslab to Singletrack: A Lightweight Yamaha T7 from SPKS Lab… The Yamaha Ténéré 700 (T7) represents something of an answered prayer for ADV riders who’d been wishing for a modern, affordable, streamlined middleweight adventure […]
Xuxu’s Team Sandraiders: Honda NX650 Dominator Rally Bikes
Two Classic Rally-Raid Bikes from a Father-Son Rally Racing Team… Today the Dakar Rally takes place each year in Saudi Arabia. While the landscapes and competition remain as epic as ever, there are those of […]
Dakar Legends: BMW F650RR Rally Bike
BMW F650RR: Grandfather of the Modern Rally Bikes… In the late 1990s, BMW quietly executed one of the most important strategic pivots in rally history. They developed and unleashed the BMW F650RR — a lean, […]
The Rambler: Touratech’s Lightweight BMW R1200GS
Radical Lightness: Touratech Trims the GS for Enduro-Travel… For years, the BMW R1200GS (officially R 1200 GS) was the world’s premier adventure touring platform, a globe-trotting behemoth that Cycle World would deem “the most successful […]
The Four-Cylinder Dakar Bike: Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré
The Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré (0U26): Yamaha’s Radical Dakar Experiment… Before Super Ténéré, before big twins ruled the desert, before Dakar logic fully settled in, there was the sportbike-powered FZ750T. The 1986 Yamaha FZ750 Ténéré (0U26) […]
Lucky Explorer: Cagiva Elefant Paris-Dakar Rally Bike
The Italian Powerhouse That Conquered Dakar… The Cagiva Elefant occupies a unique place in Paris-Dakar history. Where other manufacturers leaned on clinical efficiency or engineering conservatism, Cagiva brought Italian audacity to the table: massive V-twin […]
