The Other Ten Best
The Other Ten Best
UP FRONT
David Edwards
HAVING YOUR NAME SITUATED AT THE TOP of the Cycle World masthead has certain privileges, but multiple votes in our annual Ten Best Bikes balloting ain’t one of them. Sadly, it’s therefore possible that my innate good taste and unerring sense of style in all things two-wheeled can be cancelled out by the wayward vote of one capricious staff member or another. Democracy, sometimes, is an ugly process.
In the interest of righting grievous electoral wrongs, then, what follows are the Editor’s Unabridged Ten Best:
Best Beemer You’re Never Going To Buy: BMW F650
Look, when it comes to all-around goodness and general competence, there may be no better bike than this Rotaxmotored, Aprilia-built BMW Single. It’s a runaway hit in Europe among young outdoorsy types, who park it next to their rappeling gear and ocean kayaks. It also may be the best single-occupant commuting vehicle known to man. But most Americans see it only as an overpriced oddity. Pity. The good news for F650 devotees is that BMW’s upcoming R 1200C cruiser, the apparent result of a midnight meeting between a Boxer Twin and a ’58 Buick, may soon take over undisputed possession of this title.
Best Dual-Purpose Bike That Isn’t a KTM R/XC or Suzuki DR650: Honda XR650L
True facts: The Katoom is better in the dirt, the ’Zuki is better on the road, but the Honda splits the difference and is my pick as best D-P bike, anchored by what may be the most unburstable Thumper motor to ever suck-squeezebang-blow. Slap on a set of DOT knobbies and powerslide ’til ya puke.
Best Bike In Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Triumph Trident 900
The invisible Britbike-have you ever seen one on the road? At $7995, this true, do-everything neo-standard is the most affordable Triumph by a cool $ 1K. Plus, it’s powered by the full-rip, 98horsepower version of the company’s rorty inline-Triple, not the dumbed-down motor fitted to the retro-styled Thunderbird and dubious Adventurer quasi-chopper. Order the Quicksilver and Cobalt Blue version, replete with red pinstriping, for the full Union Jack effect.
Best Harley-Davidson Road King: Yamaha Royal Star Tour Deluxe
Think of this as Electra Glide Improved. Better brakes, better suspension, better handling and-forgive me Willie G., I know not what I do-better styling. Now, if we can just convince the schoolmarm in charge of doling out horsepower to inject a little V-Max charisma into the Royal Star’s combustion chambers, we’d really have something here.
Best Ironically Named Bike With Sidecar: Ural Deco Classic
In fact, this Russian hack is about as artistic as an oil derrick, and about as classic as your average Chevette. But ya gotta love the sheer unbridled chutzpah of a company that takes what is basically a captured 1943 BMW Wehrmacht combo, unbolts the machine gun and jerry cans, slaps on a coat of snazzy green-and-cream paint, then sells it to decadent Western capitalists like you and me. Ol’ Vladimir Ilyich must be spinning in his glass coffin.
Best Hall of Fame Touring Bike: Honda GL1500 Gold Wing
Suzuki 1400 Cavalcade? Dead as a dodo. Yamaha Venture Royale? Equally extinct. Kawasaki’s Voyager XII is on the endangered-species list and the Harley-Davidson FLH soldiers on as an amiable relic from bygone days. Fact is, when it comes to modern luxury touring, the class belongs to Honda’s Gold Wing-and has ever since the boys at Big Red hung a fairing and saddlebags on the GL1100 pancake-Four way back in 1982. Today, in six-cylinder form, nothing comes close.
Best Overpriced Sportbike: Ducati 916
As we proved in our “Great 916 Challenge,” nothing shoulders into a set of esses like a 916 Duc. Sure, it’s uncomfortable, uncompromising and, for most of us, unobtainable. So what? When it comes to nasty, sweaty sex on wheels, the 916 is also unabashed, unadulterated and unmatched.
Best Formerly Overpriced Sportbike: Yamaha YZF750
To borrow from Tricky Dick-may he rest in peace-let me make one thing perfectly clear: From its inception in 1994, Yamaha’s YZF750 has always been a way-wonderful motorcycle, able to cut the heart out of a corner and serve it up on a silver platter. It’s just that some dim bulb at Yamaha thought Americans would gladly pay 10 grand plus for the privilege of slotting one into the garage. Did not happen. Now comes 1997 and Yamaha slashes the price to $8799, a good $400 less than the Suzuki 750 Gixxer. A fiscally astute move that makes the YZF one of the sportbike bargains of the year. We just won’t talk about what owners of ’94-96 YZF750s think about the price cut in regards to their resale values.
Best Ring-Ding Revival: Bimota Vdue
It’s enough to bring tears of joy to the eyes of still-limping Kawasaki H1 pilots everywhere. Bimota, The Little Italian Sportbike Company That Could, is about to let loose with a street-legal 500cc two-stroke Twin, the closest thing yet to a GP bike for the open road. Sweetness. Almost makes up for that goofy-looking Mantra abomination they’ve been trying to foist on us for the past two years. Check out next month’s issue for the world’s first Vdue (that’s Italian for “V-Twin”) riding impression.
Keen-eyed readers will note that this brings us to a grand total of nine alternate Ten Best motorcycles. Well, last year’s “The Ten Rest” column actually contained 11 bikes, so we’re going for the two-year average here...hey, nobody said you had to be a mathematician to be Editor-in-Chief.
