Paved roads aren’t the only places motorcycles can go—or race. Events like the Mint 400 and the Paris-Dakar see competitors jumping dunes, scrambling over rocks, and flying down gravel paths. As a result, off-road bikes have jumped in popularity in recent years. And included in that are flat tracker motorcycles. What is a flat tracker …
Italian bikes, especially classic ones, haven’t really had a reputation for reliability. And Ducati is no exception. The motorcycle company has been dinged in the past by Consumer Reports for its rather high rate of customer problems. Which, if you’re interested in buying a used one, isn’t reassuring. However, just as it’s possible to find …
Quite a few so-called scrambler motorcycles have the style, but not a lot of off-road substance. The Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled, though, isn’t one of them. And just like Triumph did with its Scrambler, the Italian company has shown that through racing. In fact, in this year’s Mint 400, a Ducati Scrambler won its inaugural …
James Bond’s usually seen behind the wheel of an Aston Martin. However, motorcycles have also featured in the fictional British spy’s adventures. Though the bad guys are usually the riders, Bond himself has taken to 2 wheels on occasion. Most recently, in the upcoming film No Time to Die, aka ‘Bond 25.’ To commemorate it, …
Although not quite as good off-road as dual sports, scramblers’ lighter weight and smaller size make them nimbler than adventure bikes. And some, particularly the Triumph Scrambler, can genuinely venture beyond the pavement. For Triumph, the Scrambler is part of neo-classic bike lineup which includes the Thruxton café racer and Bonneville standard. However, there’s another …
There’s a whole host of neo-classic motorcycles available today. Customers can choose from scramblers, bobbers, cruisers, a modern Honda Cub, and hand-built carbureted models based on 50s British bikes. Arguably, though, what kick-started this trend was the rise in café racers, previewed by the Ducati Sport 1000. Even Harley-Davidson is working on such a bike. …
Although some scrambler motorcycles combine classic looks with genuine off-road capability, they can be rather expensive. They’re also somewhat heavy and can be unwieldy, especially for newer or smaller riders. Ditto the old-school, sidecar-equipped Ural. Dual sports and dirt bikes are more at home off-road but at the expense of some on-road comfort. And the …
Going off-road doesn’t mean you always need a specialized machine, especially when it comes to motorcycles. In addition to dirt and dual sport bikes, people have taken Indian cruisers and Vespa scooters off the beaten path. This type of off-road modification was started decades ago with the first scrambler motorcycles. And today, as with other …
Jeep’s Easter Safari to Moab is a pilgrimage of the true off-road faithful. To reward and celebrate this devotion, Jeep often makes special concepts that crawl rocks with the best of them. Some of these are true one-offs, whereas others show off Jeep and Mopar performance parts. This past year, the new Jeep Gladiator was …
