Ten Rest, 2008
Ten Rest, 2008
UP FRONT
HEY, IT'S A DIRTY, THANKLESS JOB BUT IT has to be done. By our own loose count, something like 450 models of motorcycle were offered for sale in the U.S. this year. The Cycle World staff sampled maybe 100 of the newest and most interesting. From that number, we've selected the Ten Best Bikes of 2008, which you can read about on page 64. As always, though, we have a few more editorial attaboys to hand out.
Best Good Ol' Bike: Suzuki GSX650F
The GSX-F was intended as a replacement for the Katana, but4 this is a much better bike than the one it supersedes. It's deadsimple to ride, with wonderful balance, responsive but not too quick steering, a mile-wide powerband, spirited acceleration and standardbike comfort, all in a bike with GSXR fully faired looks and a reasonable $6999 price tag. A sensible, affordable, adaptable sportbike, something we could use a lot more of.
Best Parental Aid: Yamaha TT-R110E
iai.ia.ia J%i L~JIL~ -Modern minibikes have little in common with the pipe-framed, lawnmower-engined, centrif ugally clutched monstrosities of old, but they remain an amazing device when it comes to maintaining a B+ average or keeping a bedroom tidy. The TT-R1 1OE is perhaps best of the bunch, with electric start, a low seat height and eminently us able power. Buy one for yourself while you're at it.
Best Superbike Starter Kit: Ducati 1098R
While Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise bitch-slapped each oth er to see who would get the first $72,000 Desmosedici RR MotoGP replica in the c0unft~Ducati rather quietly announced the 1098R, its 1200cc World Superbike homolgation spe cial. It's got all manner of trick hardware and sportbiking's first true traction-con trol system. Let the Celebrity Death Match go on as planned, but this may be the lim ited-edition Ducati worth fighting over.
Best Makeover: Triumph Rocket III Touring
JIuIIIIJII 111 IUUIIIIj Previously, the Rocket III was all engine and not much more, proof that man does not live by 2300cc inline-Three alone. Not one of our favorite rides. Now comes the Touring version-retuned, re styled and ready for the road. Good to see that lovable lump of a Brit Triple in a good home at last.
Best Corporate Statement: Honda CBR1000RR
1-lonna CIiKIUUUKK No offense to the powers-that-be over at the Big Red Machine, but dis cerning the logic behind Honda's U.S. model lineup is a baffling exercise. Where are the middle weight roadsters, the big standards, the new cruisers? In short, where's the excite ment? Coming, coming.. .we're told. Well, if the new CBR1000RR is down payment on that promise, Red's rockets will glare once more! Take a big motor, put it in a tiny chassis, throw in a lively powerband and you've got one of 2008's most entertaining machines. More, please, Honda.
Best Reason To Keep Playing the Lottery: Bimota Tesi 3D
Bimota had had more up and downs than Britney Spears' bio-rhythms, but the boutique bike-maker looks like it's on firm(ish) financial footing these days, and the Tesi 3D should keep it there, even if the asking price is a cool $35,900 per. and better ergos make this an all-around better bike than the 2D it replaces. The practical exotic?
Best Forties Throwback: Harley-Davidson Cross Bones
1~LI I~3~7II -1 When Harley wants to do retro, look out! Just about to celebrate its 105th birthday, The MoCo has lots of history for inspiration. Where others sometimes lapse into caricature, H-D always seems to ring true, and the Cross Bones (okay, a slightly silly name) is the latest example, an homage to the style-setting bob-jobs of the 1940s. Came close to being our Best Cruiser of `08, too.
Best Poor Man's Globetrotter: Kawasaki KLR650
Ever feel like cashingin the 401 K, swearing off suburbia, saddling up and heading for Points Unknown? Okay, Ewan McGregor you ain't, but with a KLR65O in the garage you can always dream-or at least rebel against creeping convention one week end at a time. Maybe the most motorcy cle you can buy for $5349.
Best Green Weenie: Vectrix
With gasoline on its way to $5 a gallon-oh, yes, it'll happen-the Vectrix allelectric scooter doesn't look so nerdy now, does it? Sure, at $1 1K, the buy-in is still too ex pensive and its real-world range of 40 miles is limiting, but give the little Rhode Island start-up company some credit. Major bike-makers have been showing alternate-fuel concept vehicles for years, but Vectrix beat `em all to market with a freeway-legal electric two-wheeler. Plug `n' play, baby!
Best Italian Oddball: Moto Guzzi Griso 1100
Italy's oldest motorcycle factory, now buoyed by Piag gio's money, is having quite a renaissance. Gotta love a new-age "techno cruiser" named after an unsa vory thug-The Gray One-from 1 820s Italian literature. We called the Gnso the "unexpected Guzzi" but suspect that Mandello del Lario isn't through surpris ing us just yet.
David Edwards
