Cycle World 10 Best Bikes 2017
CYCLE WORLD 10 Best Bikes 2017
Almost any motorcycle will make the angels sing when you go for a ride. Because two-wheelers are of course perfect transportation and entertainment. And therapy. And exercise. And sport. And a lot more. But the Ten Best Bikess of 2017 bring even more to the road-and to us-than all of that. They push the boundaries, they make riding more accessible and fun, land they advance the riding world in ways their predecessors did not. Some are expensive and low volume; others don’t cost much and sell in the thousands. All are the best you can get in 2017.
BEST SUPERBIKE
BMW HP4 RACE
In a world of super superbikes, the BMW HP4 Race takes it a step beyond. It is in many ways more exotic than those machines raced at the pinnacle of the sport in World Superbike. The 377-pound HP4 Race weighs, for example, only 7 pounds more than the World Superbike-class minimum weight limit, and that’s with a full tank of fuel. Such is the glory of the bike’s carbon-fiberframe, swingarm, and wheels. But the finest components complete this beautiful track-only machine: an Ohlins FCR 300 fork and TTX 36 GP shock, Brembo GP4 PR Monoblock brake calipers, and Forged Pankl rods in an engine that is claimed to make 215 hp. Some things are too fantastic to be common. The HP4 Race is one of those things.
BEST TOURING BIKE
HARLEY-DAVIDSON ROAD KING SPECIAL
We picked the Road King Special hereforbeingthe absolutely coolest bike with bags to ever roll down American highways. But also as the avatarforthe whole Harley-Davidson Milwaukee-Eight-powered touring lineup. From the top-of-the-line CVO Ultra with Twin-Cooled 114 Milwaukee-Eight all the way down to the stripped and stretched Road King pictured here, HarleyDavidson made smoother, more flexible, more powerful engines and coupled this with chassis updates that improved ride and handling. Not the fastest means for eating massive amounts of highway, but one of the most pleasurable and comfortablethese are motorcycles that make the journey as much spiritual as it is physical.
BEST STANDARD
APRILIA TUONO V4 1100 RR
One doesn't necessar ily expect the deep est inspiration in the Standard category. Utility, sure. Flexibility, definitely. Comfort, without doubt. And the Aprilia Tuono V4 RR has a surprisingly stfôhg expression of those qualities, but it is also one of the most inspiring all-around motorcycles ever to burn high octane. Start With the brilliant engine that makes sound and power to rank it among the best of all time. Add in a supernatural chassis and great electronics and no matter how you ride you will find two-wheeled joy. Every moment riding the Aprilia Tuono V4 RR is a peak moment. It's the not-standard standard.
BEST ADVENTURE BIKE
KTM 1090 ADVENTURE R
Leave it to KTM. As the company pushes ever farther with its adventurebike lineup, it also knows when to dial it back. As much as we have loved (and lauded) bikes like the 1290 Super Adventure, year it’s the lighter, friendNer 1090 Adventure R that takes the prize. Only KTM has succeeded in building an adventure bike that can burn up highway miles like a tourer yet in dirt works exactly how you’d expect a liter-class enduro bike to perform. Creat fuel range, excellent ergonomics, perfect power delivery, and excellent electronic rider aids work on a truly exceptional mechanical package. The 1090 Adventure R hits a sweet spot that somehow covers superslab and single-track trail.
BEST OPENCLASS STREETBIKE
YAMAHA YZF-R1
Keeping a Ten Best Bikes run going these days with any top-level sporting motorcycle is not easy. Yet the Yamaha YZF-R1 makes it to the listforthe third time. It has the best combination of outright performance and rideability in the liter sportbike class. It doesn’t hurt that its sublime crossplane four-cylinder engine makes some of the finest combustion-based music the world has ever heard.
About the only thing you might complain about is its racy riding position. But considering what this bike gives you in dynamic capability, you will lean in with a smile every time you ride on road ortrack.
BEST CRUISER
TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE BOBBER
Triumph will tell you that the Bonneville Bobber isn’t a cruiser. Purists will tell you it isn’t a Bobber. We’ll leave the semantic arguments to others. The Bonneville Bobber is a beautiful motorcycle. It sounds wonderful and its 1,200cc parallel twin makes the kind of elemental torque and lope-y music that never gets old. And despite its laid-back cruisy nature, it is a great-handling motorcycle that works surprisingly well on a winding road. We could call it the Best Good-Looking Fun-to-Ride Motorcycle With Minimalist Retro Styling Made for Cruising and Inspired by Bobbers, but we’ll just stick with Best Cruiser and let other people argue about it while we go riding.
BEST DUAL-SPORT/ ENDURO
KTM 500 EXC-F
Other manufacturers have built very good single-track-ready dual-sport bikes, but KTM just keeps on crushing it with the EXC-F line, particularly the 500. What brought the EXC-F back to the top? Was it the improved throttle response and power?
Or the more than 10-pound drop in dry weight? The improved suspension? The highquality components? Yes, it was all of this. Every pound dropped informs this bike’s every move. Why, it even makes it easier to pick up. The KTM 500 EXC-F isn’t just the best dual-sport bike ever made; it’s one of the finest enduro bikes in the world.
BEST MIDDLEWEIGHT STREETBIKE
TRIUMPH STREET TRIPLE R
When the “new” Triumph fi rst made it back to the US market in the 1990s, the British company’s fi rst step in life was to establish itself as a legitimate modern motorcycle manufacturer, not some retro-flogging nostalgia brand. Naked bikes like the Street Triple R came to perfectly embody the modern spirit of the brand. And while it’s true the larger Speed Triple defi ned modern Triumph, it is the light, agile, and accessible Street Triple with its newly enlarged 765cc inline three-cylinder that perfectly expresses the qualities of a modern middleweight streetbike in 2017.
BEST LIGHTWEIGHT STREETBIKE
HONDA REBEL 500
A person at a very large American motorcycle company once famously said back in the original Rebel’s heyday that it didn’t need to build an entrylevel cruiser because Honda was doing it for them. Well, in 2017, Honda is still building great entry-level cruisers. Witness the Honda Rebel 500, one of the most accessible, fun, and easy-to-ride lightweight motorcycles on the market. It also happens to be eminently affordable and perhaps the coolest Japanese cruiser you can buy. Make that the coolest 500 cruisers you can buy and a great way to get started riding.
BEST MOTOCROSSER
HONDA CRF450R
Balance has always been a fundamental tenet of Honda’s design philosophy. But the 2017 CRF450R takes it to a new level forthe company’s motocrossers. All-new forthe first time in five years, this complete redesign gave the bike the slim feel and excellent ergonomics. Suspension (and a great new spring fork) is compliant and controlled on jump landings and rough chop for expert riders while being easy forthe average person to dial in. The CRF is deceptively fast thanks to broad, tractable power, and the switchable ignition maps widen its adaptability. It works as a complete, well-rounded package with, yes, an incredible level of balance.
