Spring is here in Canada, and although the roads are cold and there’s still plenty of snow in much of the country, it doesn’t stop us thinking about motorcycles. All the manufacturers have new bikes for 2017 – here are some of the most significant, and the reasons why?
The Rebel is an all-new machine intended to introduce people to motorcycling: easy to ride, easy on fuel, easy on the wallet. It will be sold as either a 300-cc single or a 500-cc twin like the one in this picture, for $4,799 or $6,699.
Honda has designed the Rebel to be simple to customize, too, so owners can personalize the bike in almost unlimited styles. It’s bound to be a big seller, and will bring in new riders, too.
Also a forgiving ride, Kawasaki’s all-new small dual-purpose bike should appeal to riders of all abilities. It’s officially an “adventure” motorcycle that can ride on rough roads as easily as pavement, but bikes like this are also very popular as city commuters.
Kawasaki has long been known for its KLR650 dual-purpose bike, which has been produced in some form for three decades and has a huge legion of fans, but the Versys-X is a more manageable and more affordable ($6,399) twin-cylinder bike that will go almost anywhere.
A much more powerful and sophisticated adventure bike is KTM’s 1290 Super Adventure. It replaces last year’s 1190 Adventure by adding 100 cc to the V-Twin engine (which is actually 1,301 cc now) and an extra 10 hp. There is also an R version and a T version, more oriented to either off-road or asphalt respectively.
The extra power makes for 158 hp in total, which is far too much for most riders to handle on dirt roads but quick and rewarding on asphalt. The big KTM has a 21-inch front tire, which makes it easier to control in gravel, and enough electronic software to dial in the kind of ride you want
It looks a bit like a dirt bike, but it’s a Scrambler, which is 2017’s new popular style with wide bars and upswept exhaust pipes. Yamaha, Ducati and Triumph have all recently introduced Scramblers, modelled after the original Honda desert bikes of the 1960s and ’70s.
The BMW Scrambler uses a 1,170-cc version of the classic boxer-twin engine, shared with several other designs of the base R Nine T bike (retro, racer, pure and Urban GS). Handlebars are high and wide and the suspension is a little longer, making this a popular choice for both dirt road and urban riders.
Not to be left behind with the race for retro, Triumph’s new café racer is a more comfortable version of its 900 cc Thruxton, which is now bored out to 1200 cc and considerably more powerful. The Street Cup is no slouch, but it’s a more forgiving bike: you don’t need to go fast to appreciate the ride.
It looks like an old-style British bike, but the Street Cup is thoroughly up to date, with traction control, a ride-by-wire throttle and ABS. It makes 55 hp compared to the previous Thruxton’s 69 hp and up to 96 hp for the new Thruxton 1200 R, but it leans just as far through the corners.
Perhaps the ultimate corner-carver is Honda’s new litre-class sport bike. Bikes like this are wasted on public roads, but on a racetrack they’re very close to the exotic machines the professionals ride. Honda’s new racer is not just more sophisticated than before, but a little more comfortable to ride. Not much, but a little.
The Honda can’t be mentioned without including the Suzuki, which also sports more sophisticated software for 2017. Traction and slide control, braking control and even wheelie control – not allowing the front wheel to lift more than you want under acceleration – are all now expected at this level.
Sure, Ducati makes a race bike that costs $100,000, but you’re not actually going to buy it. You might buy the all-new SuperSport, however – it will cost $13,995 when it comes on sale this spring, which is astonishingly affordable for a Ducati sportbike.
The SuperSport is more of a sport-touring bike than a sportbike, but it’s no less graceful. It’s intended to introduce riders to the brand and give them the feel of riding a Ducati V-Twin without the cost of the sheer performance available with the $30,000-plus Panigale models.
It’s not really all that relevant, but since you were thinking of it, this is the $100,000 Ducati: 156 kg dry weight and 220 hp. Only 500 will be built, and they’re all works of mechanical art.
Perhaps the most important new Harley-Davidson in several years, the Street Rod is a 749-cc V-Twin sport bike – albeit one with centre foot pegs and more of a cruiser riding position.
It’s relatively affordable, at $10,399, and it should handle well – it will lean over at more than 40 degrees, compared to the 28 degrees of the Street 750 on which it’s based. It makes a healthy 68 hp, up 18% from the Street 750. Just as the Ducati SuperSport is for sport bikes, the Street Rod is the kind of motorcycle that Harley hopes will attract new, younger riders to the brand.
And just to bring everything back down to earth again, Suzuki is finally importing its funky Van Van to Canada, after years of sales in other countries.
The Van Van is a monkey bike, like a small Scrambler, with a 199 cc engine from the DR200 and fuel injection and an oil cooler. It only makes 16 hp, but it’s road legal and can be yours for $4,599. Easy for tooling around the city, or the Back 40!
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