TK4
Well-known member
Tubeless spoked rims - welcome to the 21st century.
2026 Harley
- Thread starter TK4
- Start date
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
That's the point. Every time they try to modernize anything, their core freaks out. It seems like the only path for HD is following the old white guys to their grave.
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
That`s for sure a `26 Heritage paint job. They have a sh*t ton of modern tech on them but retain the classic style, the average buyers age must be around 50+. I don`t know how they get away from the jam they`re in, I thought the Pan-Am series might have turned things somewhat but dealers have lots of them in inventory, new and used. The Street series flopped, never got a chance to develop and the V-Rod never caught on and even now parts supply is dodgy and they seem to sit forever on the used market. New bikes, 25`s and 24`s are discounted and have extended warranty and reasonable-ish finance and lifetime oil changes. Looks like Trump has severely soured global purchases outside America not to mention the big initial buy in. I hope they find a way.
The flagship/heavyweight ADV bike market demographic is very much a "buy-whatever's-on-this-month's-magazine-cover".
I have friends who trade in their bikes every few months and their buying decision is pretty much based on whatever the moto press/YouTube videos are currently hyping up. One buddy who did pick up the Pan America when it first debuted, he traded in his brand new 1290 Super Adventure R for it. He later traded the PA in for a R1300GS when that hit the market (and the magazine covers). The PA had less than 1000 kms on it. Wasn't even broken in. He currently rides a R1300GS Adventure...
At the price point these bikes are selling at, they are primarily a status symbol. What makes a model successful over the long run is if you can garner repeat business from owners trading in their older models for the next version. Happens with GS owners. Happens with traditional HD owners. Didn't happen for Pan America owners...
No knock against the Pan America. I think my bike, the DesertX, is also a flavour-of-the-month kind of bike. I just happened to buy it when it was well "out of flavour" and will probably keep it longer than most DDX owners will.
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
I`ve always liked the looks of the DesertX, elemental and basic purpose, Maybe `cause it reminds me of the great ole DT250 or XL250. How`s your owner experience with yours? BTW...see any articles and pics of the just out BMW F450 GS ? I think they`ve got a hit.
Dirty Frank
Well-known member
But they grew wings...
I keep spouting off about it, but I do lots of research about bikes before I buy.
The DesertX is top-heavy. I read about it. I test-rode one. Twice. Felt the top-heaviness myself. Still bought it.
I've got about 25K on it this season. My verdict is:
The bike is top-heavy...
Besides that, I'm super-happy with it.
Before I bought the bike, I thought cramming in a sportbike engine into an off-road bike was a mistake, but it has its use cases - namely WOT. OMG, if you love spinning up the rear and having it break loose in the dirt, the DDX does it soooo easily... but power-slides are still predictable and very controllable because of its longer wheelbase. My real dirtbike is an EXC500 and what I love about that bike is the insane rear-wheel-spinning torque. The DX has that same characteristic.
However, it's not a tight, single-track bike. Having the wheels so far apart makes it very stable in a straight line, it's not twitchy at all and won't lose tracking even in deep gravel, but it's slower to turn than other ADVs. My wife has the 890 (Husqvarna 901 Norden), and that bike is very good in the tight, twisty stuff. Mostly because of the low centre-of-mass under-slung gas tank, but also because of the shorter wheelbase.
But the DX engine kicks the 890's parallel twin, all day, every day.
The primary reason why I bought the Rally version of the DX is because of the suspension and I am not disappointed in the least. I don't weigh that much, but I haven't bottomed out the suspension once, even on the hardest hits. My R1250GS let me down miserably in that department. Also, I've already dented my front wheel (I've done that to all my bikes), but because its tubed, it held air and I didn't need to do a trail-side repair - exactly the reason why I went for the Rally.
So glad I did my homework and waited for the Rally!
Also it looks amazing, which is the real reason I bought it, if I'm bring truthful.
From a pure off-riding standpoint (not reliability-wise though), I am willing to admit the KTM 890 Adventure R is the best bike in this middle-weight ADV segment. By far. Anyone who doesn't think so is lying to themselves.
Agreed!
Pricing still needs to be confirmed. It currently slots in between the $7K G310GS and the $17K F900GS, so I think it will be a ~$10-$12K bike.
I'm happy they're fleshing out this true middleweight adventure bike segment. A 500lb dirtbike is not a middleweight. That's purely a marketing term ever since they began porking out 650lb ADV bikes with no intention of anyone ever off-roading them. To me, 250-300 lbs is lightweight, 350-450 lbs is middleweight and 500 lbs is heavyweight.
The middleweight (by my definition) space seems to be dominated by thumpers and they desperately needed more multi-cylinder bikes in this space for smoothness, power and relative long-term reliability. Adding an additional cylinder automatically comes with a weight penalty and the Tenere 700 was a good first stab at it, but at 450lbs it's still a bit porky. The F450GS being a twin *and* hitting the sub-400 lb mark is a great sign that they're taking the true off-roaders market seriously. Kawasaki also saw this and their new KLE500 twin also has similar numbers wrt weight and power. At $9K they will undercut BMW so ze Churmans will have to play the prestige card if they price it much higher than the Kawi.
If the F450GS does well, I'm certain they will come out with a more extreme off-road variant equipped with a 21" front wheel instead of the current 19" and longer-travel suspension. Kawi is banking on this with their first swing, as it already comes with tubed 21" front. They are heading BMW off at the pass.
Good things are underway for those who take their ADV bikes off-road!
So dumb.
If it's a homologation special, then yeah, put wings on it. But if downforce is only significant above 300 km/h, they those outboard serving trays are just asking for someone to brush by the bike and break them off.
Seriously dumb.
