The MCN Test: Kings of the road

The current crop of big adventure bikes truly are some of the very best motorcycles on this planet, full stop.

Not only are they built to rack up serious motorway mileage with the comfort of an armchair, but they can tackle just about everything, from fast, flowing B-roads to the gnarliest offroading, anywhere in the world.

There truly is a machine for every taste too, with the likes of Ducati’s Multistrada V4 range offering a sporty flavour, or KTM’s Super Adventure R which sits squarely on the dirty side of the equation.

Yet, there’s one machine that has been at the very forefront of the sector in the shape of BMW’s legendary GS range and, most recently, the incredible R1250GS.

As one of the best-selling big bikes on the market, the big Beemer truly does everything to an extraordinary standard. And now?

Well, with the arrival of the all-new R1300GS, we’ve been itching to see how it stacks up against the competition.

As we discovered when pitching it against its predecessor a few weeks back, the 1300 has swung over to the sportier side of the spectrum, with a more road-focused dynamic and, dare we say, a slightly more single-minded ride.

So, how does it compare with two of its closest competitors, in the guise of the reasonably-priced and mighty Triumph Tiger 1200 GT Pro, and the more exotic, performancebred Multistrada V4S?