The Chelsea Chariots of Motorcycling
When I was at school there was a certain breed of parent that wanted to drop their kids off every morning in the biggest, flashiest, most expensive 4×4 their finance company could stretch to. They didn?t live on a farm, or at the end of a long, unpaved track full of deep potholes and river crossings. More often than not, they lived on pretentious new-build estates, full of middle-managers and credit card fiends, where every other drive had a Range Rover or an Audi parked on it; or both. They didn?t need 4x4s. In fact an inch of snow under tyre would be considered quite treacherous and have them battening down the hatches. It used to bother me. I used to think it was quite unnecessary to cut around in your ?Chelsea chariots? without dreaming of going off-road. But motorbikes have helped me change my mind. And this is why?
Thanks to the growing popularity of larger adventure bikes, in the motorcycle world, I have found myself spending more and more time thinking about them, writing about them, and of course, riding them. Growing up, I was never really interested in the adventure scene. I?ve always loved off-road bikes, but I never really saw ?adventure bikes? as ?off-road? bikes.
As it happens, I?ve been lucky enough to sample quite a few adventure bikes off-road and a lot of them are very capable. Even the big ones. I?m not saying I?d fancy entering a Dakar Rally on an Africa Twin, or a GS Adventure. And they?re too big and heavy for Supercross. But I?m often ...
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2024 Honda NX500, CBR500R, CB500F UpdatesÂ
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