Asphalt Adventurers
Asphalt Adventurers
Ducati Multistrada S Touring vs. Moto Guzzi Stelvio 1200 NTX vs. Triumph Tiger Explorer vs. Yamaha Super Ténéré
CW COMPARISON
BLAKE CONNER
DO THESE MOTORCYCLES OFFER FALSE PROMISE? ARE THEY merely the SUVs of motorcycling with bold names and no balls? "Ténéré" is a remote part of the Sahara Desert, while "Explorer" implies nomadic intent, "Multistrada" says "I can do it all" and "Stelvio" is perhaps the greatest twisty road on Earth. Those are big statements from the respective marketing departments of each brand. Does reality live up to the hype?
Earlier this year, we set out to see which of three more-dirtcapable Open-class adventure bikes ruled the roost (“Ride There,” February). The new Yamaha Super Ténéré took top honors over the BMW R1200GS and KTM 990 Adventure after demonstrating that it offered the best balance between off-road riding and being a great all-around commuter and sport-tourer.
At the time, the brand-new Triumph Tiger Explorer was not yet available, and we didn’t feel that the Multistrada and Moto Guzzi fit into the branch-bashing, rock-crawling and whoophopping that test had in store. But since then, the question kept coming up: “How would the Yamaha stack up against these other players?” As we’ve pointed out in the past, a lot of people buy ADV bikes more for their versatility and comfort than for off-highway chops.
"For me, the electronics are excessively complicated and intrusive. One of the things I love most about motorcycles is simplicity, so while I understand the reasoning to include these tools, I resent that they are so difficult to set and disable."
So this time we change the rules: Which machine provides the best performance, versatility and comfort on the blacktop while still delivering a respectable measure of off-highway competence so you can at least keep your dreams alive?
Our testing route took us north of Los Angeles into the mountains adjacent to Sequoia National Forest. In addition to loads of highway riding, we traversed terrain ranging from pristine, freshly paved winding asphalt to completely neglected, pothole-strewn backroads to long sections of washboard dirt and sand.
Since adventure bikes stole their identity from the big-bore racing motorcycles that once ruled the deserts in the Paris-Dakar Rally, we thought it would be interesting to invite the top American finisher in last year’s South American Dakar event, Ned Suesse, for his take on this class. As a KTM 990 Adventure and 950 Super Enduro owner, he gets it. Also along for the ride was occasional guest-tester John Volkman, a 990 Adventure owner and former expert/ pro-level racer on dirt and asphalt who many moons ago worked as development rider for a major manufacturer.
All four of these machines displace around 1200cc, but the variety of engine configurations provides a unique mixture of power delivery characteristics. The Ducati is built around an 1198cc V-Twin, the Moto Guzzi has a longitudinally mounted, 115 lee V-Twin, Triumph is packing a torquey, 1215cc inlineTriple and Yamaha’s Super T relies on an 1199cc parallel-Twin.
Each machine also utilizes electronic systems including traction control and anti-lock brakes; the Ducati and Yamaha add multiple power-output maps. Our Multistrada came equipped with the Öhlins electronically adjustable suspension system, which you can’t appreciate until you spend multiple days hopping from road surface to no surface.
Electronics are here to stay, but turning them off sometimes is mandatory. For those folks who want to ride offhighway, all four bikes have TC systems that can be switched off, and three allow ABS to be easily shut down. The Ténéré earns a strike against it because its ABS has to be tricked to be defeated.
“For me, the electronics are excessively complicated and intrusive,” said Suesse. “One of the things 1 love most about motorcycles is simplicity, so while 1 understand the reasoning to include these tools, 1 resent that they are so difficult to set and disable.”
Once we broke through L.A.’s atmosphere and started orbiting California’s high-desert mountains, we began to get a greater sense of each bike’s strengths and weaknesses.
At one end of the spectrum, you have the Ducati Multistrada S Touring.
Despite having the highest price tag, the Ducati offers serious hardware and software for the investment. When it comes to outright street performance, the Ducati puts its stamp of authority on this quartet.
“Great suspension and an awesome motor make the Multistrada capable of a much greater pace than any of the other bikes here on a twisty paved road,” said Suesse.
Chart-topping peak output of 134.3 horsepower from the Testastretta 11-degree engine is intoxicating, but class-leading torque (peaking at 82.4 foot-pounds) gives it great off-corner grunt before building into that topend crescendo. Those peak figures are impressive, but it’s the electronics that manage the output and traction to make it useable. Four customizable drive modes—Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro—provide preset levels of TC intervention and available power.
But the engine is only part of the equation, as the chassis makes a big contribution to the Due’s overall performance. The Öhlins electronically adjustable suspension allows the rider to optimize preload and damping for each riding mode via a menu; overall, it is significantly more sporting than the competition. Rubber is a factor, too. The footprint from the (relatively) wide 190/55ZR17 rear and 120/70ZR17 front
Pirellis had a massive impact on handling compared to the skinny 150/70-17 rear and 110/80-19 front sets on the other three bikes. “At first glance, the Ducati looks like it will be the least fun when the pavement ends, but it is, in fact, the most exciting,” said Off-Road Editor Ryan Dudek. Combine all these performance at tributes with a fantastic upright seating position, a comfortable (albeit posi tionally restrictive) seat, decent wind protection and sleek luggage, and the Multistrada impresses.
But the real ace up the Ducati’s sleeve is that the S Touring fights in a completely different weight class, tipping the scale almost 70 pounds under the next-lightest bike, the 554-lb. Yamaha. That absence of weight makes a difference everywhere you ride the Multi, but really pays off in the dirt.
Ups A Comfy like a tourer, sharp like a sportbike A Riding modes provide quick and significant performance! comfort adjust ments A Light weight is the gift that keeps giving
Downs V Seat is comfort able but locks you into one position V Learning to navigate menus requires patience v Bags are sleek but your stuff falls on the ground when you open them
At the opposite end of the tech spectrum is the Moto Guzzi Stelvio 1200 NTX. In a group that chucked surprises at us with alarming frequency, the Stelvio held its own in ways that none of us would have predicted prior to our departure.
Giving up some 45 hp and spotting 113 pounds to the Ducati should have ended the Stelvio’s campaign before we left the Cycle World offices, but as the cliché goes, that’s why they play the game. For sure, the engine provides more charm than chase, but it’s effective and forgiving, with more than 60 ft.-lb. of torque present from just above idle to just shy of its 8000-rpm redline.
Ups A Tanker-like fuel capacity and the comfort to use it A Easy-to-disable ABS: just press the button A Torquey and smooth power delivery keeps left foot from tiring
Downs v Mirrors vibrate like an outof-tune Fiat V Doesn't like to be pushed out side of its comfort zone v Needs more oomph to hang with the big boys
A traction-control system on an 89-hp bike seems a bit silly until you get onto a loose or slick surface; when you need it, it’s there. The engine is most effective when the tach needle is kept hovering between 4000 and 6000 rpm; keep it in that happy zone and it chugs right along until the pace gets too hot. "For a casual ride, it was super," said Volkman. "But when you're on a spirited ride chasing good riders, it is not my first choice." As the heaviest bike in the test at 597 lb. dry, the Guzzi wasn't expected to be very competent off-road, but it again surprised us. "The Guzzi didn't do anything particu larly great off-road but didn't do anything particularly bad, either," said Dudek. "While it turned and tracked at an aver age level, its one big drawback was that its plush suspension
lacks the ability to take big hits that are inevitably encountered in the dirt." Where the Stelvio has the others beat by miles is in its long-distance capabilities.
With a massive, 8.5-gallon fuel tank and almost 300-mile range, the best seat of the bunch, the most wind protection and most-functional (though easily dented) saddlebags, it’s the top tourer of the group.
“If the sun were setting with 200 miles to go and I had to choose one of these bikes, it would be the Guzzi,” said Suesse. “It would place last in a race, but the bike is smooth, calm and fun to ride, and sometimes that’s the right recipe.”
As the newest member of the adventure-touring club, the Triumph Tiger Explorer enters an arena filled with established stars. But Triumph didn’t take this endeavor lightly and appears to have brought the right tools for the job.
Speaking of tools, our Explorer came with a few (!) extras: Beyond the requested saddlebags ($799.00) were a tall windshield ($154.99), handguards ($119.99), radiator guard ($109.99), sump guard ($199.99), headlight guard ($79.99), tire-pressure monitoring system ($159.99), crash bars ($219.99) and heated rider ($369.99) and passenger ($319.99) seats.
Despite Triumph’s best efforts to convince us that "Explorer" should be spoken in the same breath as the GSs and Adventures of the world, it isn't completely true.
On-road, the Tiger is second only to the Ducati in terms of engine performance with just shy of 80 ft.-lb. of mesa-like torque and a horsepower curve without a dip anywhere. “When GS owners try the Triumph’s motor, BMW is in trouble,” said Suesse.
Combine that power with excellent onroad handling and the Explorer can really be hustled along on twisty tarmac, although it doesn’t have as much cornering clearance as the Multistrada. Thanks in part to the Tiger having the steepest rake and least trail, turn-in is light and the chassis
responsive. But the front end is too softly sprung, which is exaggerated by the bike’s front-loaded weight distribution.
Ups A Outstanding, playful engine at any rpm A First-in-class standard cruise control A Comfortable ergonomics with a roomy seat
Downs vTotal poser when the road ends and the trail begins v Floating sidecases wouldn't last afull day in the dirt v Aesthetics appear lifted from BMW design center
Which machine provides the best performance, versatility and comfort on the blacktop while still delivering a respectable measure of off-highway competence so you can at least keep your dreams alive?
This turned out to be the Tiger’s undoing off-road. “With its motocross-style footpegs, skidplate and crash bars, the Triumph offers the illusion that it will romp off-road, but the bike feels like a tank,” said Dudek. “The mass over the front end dictates where it is going; you are just along for the ride, especially if the ground is soft.”
High marks were given to the Brit bike’s ergonomics. The seat provides the rider with room to move around when needed, and the legroom and reach to the bars were ranked right at the top for comfort. A feature unique to the Explorer among this quartet is its standard cruise control, which is easy to activate and functions perfectly. Perhaps this is a good indication of Triumph’s road-biased intent for the bike.
As our Open-class-adventure incumbent, the Yamaha Super Ténéré was pitted against these other machines to
see if the same broad, jack-of-all-trades performance that previously earned it a shootout win was the recipe for success among this company. In that February test, the Ténéré was near but never quite at the top in every performance category.
It was a repeat performance this go-around. Take the engine, for example. The big parallelTwin’s power curves are virtually identical to the Guzzi’s, which, in this test, isn’t exactly the company you want to be caught hanging out with.
“It was totally outgunned when compared to powermongers like the Ducati and Triumph,” said Dudek.
But once you hit the dirt, you realize that the Yamaha finds heaps of traction and forward drive. You hardly need to use the TC system because the 270degree-crank engine behaves like a big, tractable Single and makes the power very easy to control.
Ups A Super-predict able off-road manners A Great all-around motorcycle that can go almost anywhere A Very balanced on-road hand ling and braking
Downs `Lack of ABS off switch is maddening V Low-rpm fuel ing is poor V A diet would do wonders for this bike
On-road, there is no hiding the fact that the Yamaha is a bit heavy, with the most relaxed front-end geometry (28 degrees of rake and 5.0 in. of trail) and the second-longest wheelbase (60.5 in.). A bit more handlebar input is necessary to bend the bike into corners than on the Ducati or Triumph, and cornering clearance isn’t great.
But those stability-inducing numbers pay such big dividends off-road that the Ténéré’s 592-pound full-tank weight on the dirty side of the fence isn’t really an issue. The Yamaha’s poise, traction and good front-end feel allowed it to easily run the others down in the dirt, even on a desolate high-desert pass long after the sun had set.
In addition to loads of highway riding, we traversed terrain ranging from pristine, freshly paved winding asphalt to completely neglected, pothole-strewn backroads to long sections of washboard dirt and sand.
In this group, the Super T is the offhighway king, so it’s ridiculous that the ABS can’t be easily defeated without tricking the system into failure. Truly a major oversight.
As before, the Super Ténéré hugs the middle of the road. It has a good but not great engine, and its on-road handling is competent but falls short of that provided by the Ducati and Triumph. It is comfortable, but no one called this machine out as the best. Overall, it performs well in a wide range of environments while truly standing out in this comparison only by offering the best off-road ability.
Few classes of motorcycle demand more compromise than adventuretourers, and recognizing your own needs (and realities) as a rider is an important step in choosing the right bike. And although most of us don’t like to admit it, adventure bikes with the Dakar look never actually get ridden there.
Given that reality, which bike here best fits the typically street-heavy use of most buyers without completely crushing their dreams of riding to the ends of the Earth?
Anyone looking to hit the long (paved) road will love the comfort and range of the Stelvio; just leave the roll chart at home. The Explorer’s street manners were impressive and its pavement performance was only overshadowed by one bike here, but the Triumph turned out to be a total poser off-road, which was a pretty big surprise. For hitting roads less traveled, and in particular ones that aren’t paved, none of the others can match the Yamaha Super Ténéré. It doesn’t shine on the street; it’s solid and comfortable but never thrilling. But if you envision in your future a scenario that includes 600 yards of mud and ruts on an isolated mountain pass at nightfall, this is your bike.
Few classes of motorcycle demand more compromise than adventure-tourers, and recognizing your own needs (and realities) as a rider is an important step in choosing the right bike.
But most of us don’t actually end up in that scenario. Which is why the Multistrada was the number-one choice for all of our testers. It offers class-leading power, great suspension, awesome brakes, nimble handling and all-day comfort. Additionally, it’s packed with high-tech features that make the riding experience both safer and more exciting on every surface that we threw under its fat tires. It was truly dominant on the street and second only to the Yamaha off-road. In short, it lives up to its ambitious name and, more importantly, has the balls to prove it. O
DUCATI
MULTISTRADA 1200 S TOURING
$19,995
MOTO GUZZI
STELVIO 1200 NTX
$15,990
TRIUMPH
TIGER EXPLORER
$15,699
YAMAHA
SUPER TÉNÉRÉ
$14,500
