The MCN Test: Flagship adventurers go head-to-head on the road and in the dirt - featuring James Hillier

Competition to build the biggest, baddest adventure bike is at fever pitch.

Every year there are new offerings that keep raising the bar – with each manufacturer determined to sit at the top of the adventure bike food chain.

Not only does victory lend them major bragging rights, it’s also worth serious dough when it comes to sales. And if there is any doubt that it’s big business, the four bikes on this test will set you back anywhere between £18 and £27k.

We’re talking about a class where 150, 160 and even 170bhp is on offer, along with the level of electronics normally associated with classleading superbikes.

But while the will is there to create the perfect go-anywhere on and off-road weapon, the interesting thing is just how differently each brand approaches the challenge of achieving that goal.

From our four machines on test there’s a V-twin, a boxer, a triple and a V4! To understand what these bikes are all about, and more importantly how they behave in the real world away from glamorous sundrenched bike launches, we took them on a 1000-mile round trip to Wales (which also happened to be sun-drenched) for five days of serious on and off-road riding.

To ensure parity we fitted Dunlop’s all new 50/50 adventure tyre, the TrailMax Raid, to each bike and we also enlisted an eclectic group of testers including MCN’s Chief Road tester Michael Neeves for his invaluable road input and TT
winner and Dakar finisher James Hillier for his incredible skills both on road and off.

This is what we learned….