Best of the Rest

Best of the Rest

UP FRONT

David Edwards

IT’S NOT EASY PICKING THE TEN BEST Bikes of the Year, culling from the hundreds of eligible machines just 10 that receive accolades, a trophy and the accompanying sales blip. Some years I wish that we could hand out another 10 awards. Which is what I’ve done here. Some of these bikes ran a close second in the balloting, some are too good not to get some recognition and some just fell between cracks in the categories, so I’ve invented my own. Sorry, bike companies, no trophies for being in these “Ten Rest Bikes,” but turn to page 72 to see if you made Cycle World's Top Ten of 2006.

Best Cross-Dresser: Buell Ulysses

Maybe the most unlikely machine of the year, a new-age adventure-bike powered by an air-cooled V-Twin with roots that run back to 1957. Is it a standard, a dual-sport, a sport-tourer, a super-supermoto? Yes, and then some. One of us called it the best American motorcycle ever. That’ll do.

Best $40K Sportbike You Didn’t Buy: JJP Yamaha YZF-R1

Mention tuner bikes around here and watch us shudder. We’ve seen turbos that tubed, repli-racers that wrapped themselves into a ball, dragbikes that self-destructed, all kinds of customs that crapped out. Then former AMA Superbike champ Jamie James showed up with the most sorted, best dialed-in piece of sporting hardware we’ve ever had the privilege to ride. Jamie James Productions only sells a handful of complete bikes each year. Too bad. The rest of you don’t know what you’re missing.

Best Reason to Start Smoking: Triumph 900 Scrambler

Steve McQueen, king o’ cool and a crumpet catcher of historic proportions, rode a Triumph scrambler. You could, too, if it weren’t for that pesky rightside shifting, the need to tickle your Amals every morning (yuck!) and an electrical system that Thomas Edison would have sued for slander. Well, now you can get in touch with your inner Marlboro Man by way of the kinder, gentler 900 Scrambler, one of the year’s most fun rides, and another reason why Triumph posted a 58 percent sales gain, March 2005 to March 2006. Better lay off the smokes, though. Didn’t work out so well for McQueen.

Best Two-Stroke of Genius: Yamaha YZ250

I’m old enough that when I raced motocross, bikes had twin shocks, DeCoster was DaMan and four-strokes were the dinosaurs that serious riders wouldn’t even consider. Thirty years later, it’s twostrokes that appear on the edge of extinction. Or maybe not. The ring-dingers are still pretty potent pieces, exemplified by the YZ250, which Yamaha continues to refine despite the sport’s headlong rush toward valves and cams. Proof that premixing is not a dead science just yet.

Best Luxo Corner-Carver: BMW K1200LT

Hey, I know the Honda Gold Wing is a dynasty, but one of my fondest touring memories is chasing down and catching a gaggle of sportbikes on Austria’s famous Grossglockner Alpine Pass while in the heated saddle of a 1200LT, CD player blaring and windscreen adjusted just-so. Besides, the push-button autocenterstand is the coolest gizmo on two wheels. A belated apology for those blued brake discs, BMW.

Best Superbike Starter Kit for non-Australians: Kawasaki ZX-10R

Yeah, Mat Mladin and Troy Corser are

tough to beat on full-race Gixxer 1000s, but Kawi’s ZX-1 OR has won CWs Literbike Shootout now three years running. For ’06 the Tenner got, paradoxically, a softer chassis tune with relaxed geometry and (many thanks) a steering damper, while the motor was demon-tweaked to spit out an amazing 160 rear-wheel horsepower as measured on our dyno. If Disneyland still had E-ticket rides, the 10R would be an F-plus.

Best Banned V-Twin: Aprilia RXV 450

For “cost reasons” the AMA decided that Twins shouldn’t be allowed in Pro motocross. No biggie, Aprilia still doesn’t have enough bank to snag a Ricky Carmichael or James Stewart. What the RXV does, though, is prove that Aprilia (and sibling Moto Guzzi) is back from the financial brink and ready once again to be a player. Look for 450 and 550cc versions in various guises later this summer.

Best Bike for the Buck: Suzuki DR650SE

Here’s what you get for your $5K: A full-size motorcycle capable of exploring the Baja peninsula, of solo sporttouring in the Rockies, of tearing up a zigzagging Sunday-morning backroad, of grinding out the daily commute, of running probably forever as long as you toss in a quart of oil now and then. Every time I ride a DR, I wonder why I don’t have one.

Best Petrol Pincher: Kawasaki Ninja 250R

We’d almost forgotten how good this ankle-biter buzz-bomb really is. In the K company’s lineup for 20 years, it costs just $3000, spins to 14,000 rpm and gets 75 mpg (more if, unlike us, you can resist zingin’ it to 14,000 rpm). Saving overpriced fossil fuel was never so much fun.

Best King Kong Dirtbike: BMW HP2

The wackiest bike of 2006, a $20,000, 1200cc dual-sporter with cylinders sticking out 14 inches on each side. How this one got the green light, Buddha only knows, but there are more than a couple of other bike-makers that could use a few hits of whatever whimsy’s in the water-cooler back at BMW.