The Ten Rest
THE TEN REST
UP FRONT
EDITOR'S LETTER
SOME VERY COOL BIKES JUST DON’T FIT INTO OUR NORMAL CATEGORIES
Ten categories aren't nearly enough to recognize all the notable machines on the market. Some don't fit our semi-arbitrary selection of greatness; others are just too weird but still deserve a nod. So, with no further ado, the Ten Rest Bikes of 2014.
Best Way to Go Shopping for Tight Pants: Star Bolt
Lazy minds bust “hipster” like a slur, but stereotyping ignores the fact that these young people are looking for their way in life. And those kids in tight pants are doing it on motorcycles, thanks to cool, inexpensive bikes like the Bolt. Icon, cue up armored Kevlar skinny jeans and cash in.
Best Way to Generate Gigantic Hype: Harley-Davidson LiveWire
Big fat kudos to H-D for blowing up media with its electric prototype and blowing us away by being the first major company to take a big step here. Now, make it viable and make history.
Best Way to Add Water: Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electric dream machines aside, HarleyDavidson is generally a conservative beast. So it was, ahem, cool for The Motor Company to throw water cooling at a few of its 45-degree V-twins. The 110-incher in the Ultra Classic delivers that much Big Twin boom. But keep pushing. You’ve got serious competition. Best Way to (Almost) Do the Ton: Royal Enfield Café Racer The unit-construction Enfields have been close to our hearts since their 2008 debut. The new 535CC Café Racer takes it up a notch, though we think one development goal should have been a 100-mph top speed. But maybe it’s just to make you work for it like the old days: Shave the head, get a pipe, feel like a real tuner!
Best Way to Be Disappointed:
Norton Commando 961 Contributor Gary Inman rode a new Norton in England (Oct. To) and gave it a good review. Plenty of US deposits have been taken, but very few bikes have been delivered. I’m a ’74 Commando owner and rode almost every version of the Kenny Dreer prototypes on which the 961 is based. I’m tired of waiting, and I didn’t even make a deposit!
Best Retro Standard: BMW R nineT We admit to not actually having ridden this BMW, but that’s because the Germans so successfully sold them to customers that none has made it to the test fleet as of this writing. It’s too cool not to include here.
Best Easiest Way to Expand the Model Line: EBR 1190SX Had to happen, right? EBR stripped the RX superbike, left the awesome, torque-rich engine alone, and threw on a tubular handlebar. Should be awesome fun, and we’ll be riding one soon.
Best Bike to Use as a Seat to Play Video Games in Your Basement: Honda NM4
If you haven’t seen this $nK NC700meets-scooter-meets-anime cartoon, well, that’s all I can do to describe it. Kevin Cameron said it best on cycleworld.com: “Industry observers often say that Honda builds models for customers it wishes it had.”
Best Way to Bring Back a Classic: Yamaha SR400
Not just retro-inspired, actually retro, the SR400 comes back to the USA with kickstart only and tidy lines from the 1970s. The irony? The ’78 SR500 had cast wheels, and the 2015 gets spokes!
Best Traditional Superbilce:
Suzuki GSX-R750
I list this classic inline-four here again because it is really one of the best expressions of “superbike” on the market. Suzuki should update it, yet this nonTC inline-four still took the gold in our "Upper-Middle Class Clout" shootout versus the MV Agusta F3 800 and Ducati 899 Panigale (April ’14).
MARK HOYER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
THIS MONTH'S STATS
ZERO
39 YEARS OFTEN BEST BIKES
STAFF MOVING VIOLATIONS THIS YEAR (AS FAR AS THE BOSS KNOWS)
O NUMBER OF RACES FREDDIE SPENCER LOSTON HIS HONDA INTERCEPTOR SUPERBIKE IN THE ’80s
