The MCN Test: Middleweight adventure sports bikes

Updated: 20 September 2023

Without getting too Darwin on you, evolution isn’t confined to the animal kingdom – motorcycles have to evolve to survive.

Traditionally, sports-tourers were sporty bikes that could cover serious miles. Having had their existence threatened by adventure bikes, the more traditional take on a sports-tourer has seen a resurgence with the likes of the Suzuki GT and
Kawasaki Ninja SX.

But the influence of adventure bikes hasn’t gone away and the two genres have merged, resulting in our three tall-bar sports-tourers. Featuring 17in wheels from sports-tourers to bring agile handling, tall suspension and an upright adventure bike riding stance, they blend the best of both worlds.

That’s the theory anyway. Or they could be freaks that natural selection (or a lack of sales) will see banished.

Which are they? Time to discover…

By Jon Urry

MCN contributor, original 916 & R1-owner, human Labrador, thoroughly nice bloke. Working for over 20 years in the motorcycle industry, Jon not only has an encyclopaedic knowledge of bikes, but has also interviewed many key players in the motorcycle industry, including designers, factory bosses and legendary racers. Still a passionate motorcyclist with child-like enthusiasm for two-wheels, Jon has a collection of both modern and classic bikes that he maintains himself and he writes a weekly column in MCN (newspaper) about used bikes and the state of the motorcycle market.