The thing is these tests are mostly bullshit, the fact is if you can afford an unreliable superbike dressed up as an Adventure bike that you cant trust then great, but as most of you know across the pond 150bhp isnt much use when its broke down in the middle of nowhere.. Most of the time you will be on road so as the tester says " you know where the front wheel is on the Tenere " i will take that over 150bhp any day.
They did finish the test with a dirt evaluation. ( http://www.motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/2018-big-bore-adventure-touring-shootout-part-2-dirt) Although I am not a fan of Scott Rousseau's reporting he is a dirt rider. I am not interested in having all of the "hi tech" stuff on the other bikes. It is interesting that the Tenere gets dinged for lack of hi tech and the V-Strom is refreshing as it doesn't have all the hi tech. There is also a 2016 test where the Tenere is the bike leaking oil from a hole in the sump after dragging over a rock. (http://www.motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/2016-wire-wheel-adventure-shootout). I bought my 2014 Tenere non ES for a 2 up touring bike but it's height caused problems for my wife getting on and off. It's top heaviness was even worse when riding double. I am not at all interested in riding a 600 pound motorcycle off road. My KLR was bad enough. But for me adventure bikes do make good touring bikes.What a joke. A bunch of sport bike guys take ADV bikes out and dump and break one on the first day, get a replacment bike and do a "pavement only" test, whine about exhaust note and Hp. Pretty much what you get from a group of people most riders would call poseurs.
No details on what broke on the AT, just that it was puking oil after hitting a root. IE, no crash protection and a weak point, but we're not going to say that because Honda gave us not just one bike, but two for our 'testing' and write ups.
I was thinking the same thing. This bike has more than enough features. Funny thing is I never realized how much I would enjoy the electronic suspension. Amazing comes to mind!
Things like TFT screens, more ride modes, lean angle TCS or ABS??? Things we would expect on a Gen 3. This model is 5 years old...
I test rode some of those feature loaded bikes and was not impressed in the least. The KTM 1190 had the horsepower and all those fancy do dads. Nice bike but could not see myself using half those features. The Ducati Enduro was a mass confusion of scrolling through a very complicated menu to get the riding mode you wanted. I'm very thankful I test rode it though. The ergonomics were so poor I could not ever modify it to fit me. My back was screaming after only 20 minutes in the saddle.
