The Adv.Tourer Comparo: 6 bikes, 6 guys, on a magazine trip

[Deano955]

Oct. 30, 2005

Last week I was fortunate to be invited to participate in a 6 bike comparison test for Motorcycle USA.com. We sampled 6 Adventure Tourers. All of the bikes were big, mean and nasty twins: BMW 1200GS, KTM 950 Adv. S, Vstrom, Ducati Multistrada, Buell Ulysses, and the Aprillia Caponord.

If you have not heard of MotorcycleUSA.com take a look. They are a great bunch of guys and have tested and written stories about most of the bikes out there.

http://motorcycleusa.com

I hope this report can give some information and depict what a fansastic trip I had.

I flew the Friendly Skies from Denver to Orange County California where I met my friend, Kevin Duke (writer for MCUSA) and surveyed the bikes. I kind of felt like I had won the lottery. 5 days and an expense paid trip to the Grand Canyon aboard all of the big bikes we drool over.

We left O.C. on Saturday morning. The temp was a bit chilly, the sky was socked in with fog. Our route was Interstates so I did not pay attention to the signs, I knew we were headed for Big Bear. The road up to Big Bear was a twisty canyon road not unlike Colorado canyons (except for all the damn cars).


Our first stop was high above the clouds that were blanketing southern California. This was the location for the glamour shot for the magazine. At this point, all of the bikes were shiny and new.


The set up


4 of the 6 bikes were equipped with factory/ aftermarket panniers. The Buell had a top case as well (very nice luggage on the Buell). The Vstrom and Capo were without. I mounted my borrowed Wolfman Alfa bag to the Capo, Strom, and GS on this trip. It fit all 3 bikes very well.

After the shoot we swapped bikes (I got the Strom) and continued to Big Bear. We averaged about 80 miles on each bike on the first day.


After a decent lunch in Big Bear we headed for the dirt. I was on the Uly...


I was having a tough time with the bike at this point. I really wanted to like it but just did not. The twisties down the mountain were prime motorcycle riding action but I felt completely uncomfortable. This was only magnified when we hit the dirt. I believe the road was called Camp Rock. It was a loose, sand/gravel road that sent all of us for a few wobbles. The photographer, Tom L., was a dirt nooby- as in virgin. He thought of leaving the group. Despite the difficulties of riding this road he hung in on the Vstrom.


The others










We stopped again to swap bikes and to determine how many moto-journalists it takes to repair a Ducati mirror.

MotorcycleUsa guys, Kevin Duke, Ken Hutchison, and Brian Chamberlain.


I finally got the GS for the next segment. It was immediately apperant to me that this was a better bike for the road. The 19" front wheel and silky smooth power made quick and easy work of this road. Until this...


I picked up a nail.


Now to BMW's credit, there was a tire plug kit in the tool kit. Unfortunately for us the plug tool was a cheap piece of crap that broke while inserting the plug.


We could not get the plug in. I must say that the GS is well engineered because it took about 2 minutes to get the rear wheel off. Little did I know that I would play mechanic several more times on this adventure.

It was 4pm, in the middle of nowhere and we needed a tire. The Motorcycle shop in Dagget CA was the closest. The only tire they had that would fit the GS was a Metzler race compound tire. We took it. 1 hour and $160 later we were on the road to Las Vegas.


A fuel stop in Primm


Then rolling into Vegas at about 9pm.

[Deano955]

We were pretty tired by the time we reached Vegas. Too tired to have to hunt for rooms.

We had no idea that the mother of all dog shows was in town. That event sold out the first 3 hotels we stopped at. By the time we got to this beauty we also learned that NASCAR was in town.


We were screwed. No rooms in Las Vegas? We ended up driving another hour in the blackness to Mesquite. We lucked out and got rooms in the motel outside of town that has not seen a vaccum cleaner in at least a year. Sorry, no pics.
Next up, day 2.

[Hayduke]

[Deano955]

Sunday morning I was up and ready waaayyy before the others. With little to do in Mesquite Nevada I decided to give the bikes a look see. We had the broken Duc mirror and a flat GS tire thus far.

My inspection revealed a GS low on oil and a KTM with a coolant leak.


It seemed to be leaking from the water pump. A few of the bolts were a tad loose, I tightened them. I was unable to access the bolts that snug the tube into the housing. The rad was full, the oil was full, lets hit the road.

Somewhere near the Arizona border B.C. pulled over smelling a overheating KTM.


She was dripping and hot but the fluids were still up so we kept on going. We were heading to our next over night destination, the Bar Ten Ranch in northern Arizona. www.bar10.com
We weren't sure if the ranch would have the necessary provisions for a bunch of seasoned motorcycle riders so we stocked up in Mesquite. The KTM was fitted with Hepco Becker bags and they worked perfectly.


We slabbed it to St. George where we turned off for a 60 mile dirt ride to the Bar 10. This was another opportunity to test the bikes off pavement and take some photos and video for the magazine. The guys were loaded with hand held cameras and helmet cam video. I can't wait to see the article next month.


The testers from MCUSA really liked the Uly and the Duc on this road. I must say that I felt these 2 bikes were out of place running with this crowd. They proved me wrong and the bikes worthy of handling everything just fine.

This one was completely comfortable here


After the shoot, we did some 80mph and more on the road to historic Mt. Trumball schoolhouse. Ahhh the KTM was such a riot on this road. We were fighting over it.

One of the many rest/wait for the others to catch up stops.


Out here the KTM takes all the other bikes to school...


Our star pupil


After a shoot at the schoolhouse, Tom Levine, the photographer/dirt noob got the GS. Right about that time he had a dirt riding epiphany.


Tom personally owns a GS 12 and will likely be riding it off pavement near his home town of Medford Oregon.

[Wayne Weber]

Yo Deano that looks like a fun trip! riding all those bikes must have been a treat.

[Deano955]

Originally Posted by Wayne Weber

Yo Deano that looks like a fun trip! riding all those bikes must have been a treat.

Yes it was a treat! Like with a cherry on top.

Congrats on the Cylcleworld write up of the Rally Twin!

[Deano955]

Man this server SUCKS tonight. I just lost a huge post.

[Greyhound]

Sounds cool, when will it be up on the motorcycle-usa website?

[priller]

finally full comparison with capo included. and i don't care either capo was rated high or low. at least it got noticed. cannot wait till publishing on the web.

thanks for letting us know!

[d0gWateR]

Originally Posted by Deano955

Man this server SUCKS tonight. I just lost a huge post.

Ya it just farted or something half hour ago, I don't post much but it has happened to me before. Very aggravating. You're never as witty second time through!

Here's a tip, before you post or preview, CTRL-A (select all), then CTRL-C (copy). This puts a copy of your writeup on the "clipboard", and if there is a terminal brain-fart on the server you can CTRL-V (paste) your entire post from the clipboard and try posting again. Don't be insulted if you knew all this already, some others may learn from it.

You are a lucky bastard!!! Riding all those bikes for a JOB!! Sah-weet!

[Deano955]

discouraged, I continue...


The Folks at the Bar Ten warned us the road gets rough from the school house. It really wasn't altough Levine was stopped at the top of this hill waiting to be rescued.


You see, the KTm made everybody feel like a superhero on this road. So we put Tom on it from this point.


All present and accounted for at the Bar Ten


The Bar Ten Ranch is located just off the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We arrived at sunset as the colors exploded on the rock walls.


The ranch offers fly-in atv tours to the canyon. We parked the bikes on the helipad for some more glamour shots.


The weapon of choice thus far


The nard was the last player picked for the team


The sunset and cool MGD's made for an excellent evening photo shoot





It turned out that we did not have to worry about having enough provisions at


The last group left plenty to go around.


Our ranch hand Joe whipped up a great chuck wagon dinner complete with fresh baked cookies and a campfire.


A mighty fine fire


Joe even hung around to listen to the bullshitting




Tom Roderick from DealerNews

[ghostryder]

.

[Deano955]

In my opinion, the best thing about the Bar Ten was the covered wagons to sleep in. The chilly night and abundant stars were spectacular. Although,I doubt that B.C. liked his wake up call.



After a hearty breakfast we geared up and headed for the north rim of the Grand Canyon.


I only wish the pictures could begin to do justice to this place.




Every time I rode this bike I heard voices in my head. "Go faster! Faster, you will love it!"

I did love it.

As part of the comparison, the staff does performance testing (drag racing). Kevin did the riding while hooked up to a device called a V-Box. The V-Box uses satellite technology to record speed and time. 60' times, 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile times. And as fate would have it, the Bar Ten has a 1/2 mile paved airstrip that they kindly allowed us to do the testing on. First up, the Duck.


All 6 bikes were put through 3 1/4 mile runs. I won't know the winner until the article comes out next month but my money is on this one


The Buell proved very difficult to launch due to the wheelie factor


It was impossible to keep the front wheel on the ground with that bike. Here's a couple of stunts for the cameras.




This fella was NOT impressed

[Griff]

Deano,

Keep it coming. Great read, and great pics.

[Yellow Pig]

If I remember correctly you were recently bitching about being too busy to get enough riding in and here you go doing Moab and this sweet treat all in a couple of weeks. I'm gonna keep a closer eye on you from now on!



What a great opportunity, keep it comming!