If the old motorsports adage of "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" holds true, motorcycle enthusiasts are about to swamp dealer showrooms looking for the 450-cc motorcycles that dominated the annual Dakar rally, which finished Sunday.
The legendary off-road rally punishes riders and machines for 15 days and more than 9,500 kilometres of sand, rocks and mud. More people stand atop Mount Everest each year than make it to the end of the rally, allowing those who do finish to claim a rare adventuring milestone.
Past Dakar contenders have ridden off-road monsters of 900-cc of more, and the race has served as successful launch pads for bikes such as KTM's 640 and 990 Adventures and BMW's GS models, but rule changes this year meant that for the first time most riders mounted nothing bigger than a 450-cc machine, and next year it will be only 450s or smaller.
Austrian manufacturer KTM, which specializes in off-road race bikes, still commanded the race, taking first, second and seven of the top 10 positions. But the move to 450s brought other bike makers back to challenge their supremacy, with factory entries from Honda, Yamaha, and Aprilia taking the three remaining top 10 spots and BMW returning to the rally in the top 20.
Those looking for a road-ready 450 are out of luck, however, as the bikes of the 2011 Dakar have become too specialized to make viable consumer models. Instead, come three new models inspired by the Dakar, but built for more real-world conditions. Rather than eating up sand dunes at speeds of 180 km/h like the rally bikes, these new adventure models are better suited for an around-the-world trip or a week of back roading.
The adventure market was invented by BMW, and the new offerings are aimed squarely at the Bavarian behemoth. Yamaha's Super Ténéré and Honda's Crosstourer concept are heavyweights to take on the segment-defining BMW G1200GS. From Triumph, a totally redesigned Tiger is clawing at BMW's midweight F800GS.
Yamaha
In the Dakar: Yamaha has won nine Dakar rallies, including the first in 1979, and was the first to run competitive 450s, starting in 2004 with a bike based on the WR450F enduro off-roader. This year saw two factory-supported teams and a number of amateurs racing modified YZ450F motocrossers as well as the WR450F, with Helder Rodrigues placing third on his WR for the company's best finish in years.
On the road: The Super Ténéré, a 1,200-cc twin-cylinder luxury touring bike dressed for the dirt, is an early release 2012 model that will see its debut in Canadian showrooms in June. "They've dubbed it the intelligent adventure tourer," says John Bayliss of Yamaha Canada.
With unified ABS brakes a standard feature, the rider can grab a fistful of front brake and let the computer regulate power to the front and rear to stop the bike quicker than humanly possible. Experienced dirt riders will appreciate that activating the rear brake alone won't call on the computer for an assist, but will miss that this bike doesn't have the ability to disengage the ABS system. Traction control, also standard, can be switched off, and has modes for pavement and dirt.
The throttle and fuel injection system also has two modes for either full-power or a more subtle response. That power hits the road via a six-speed gearbox, and a shaft drive. Those are the intelligent parts. For adventure, it comes equipped with engine and body-work guards, and spoked wheels that absorb a rock hit better than mag-style rims, a 23-litre gas tank, standard 12V power outlet and optional hard cases. At $16,499, it's $1,151 less than the base model BMW R1200GS - before the Germans add the ABS and traction control.
Triumph
In the Dakar: It's been decades since Triumph made a Dakar-worthy bike. There are reports that two 750-cc Tiger Trails entered the race in the early 1980s, but no report of them finishing. Journalists at the time compared the Tiger Trail favourably to the first BMW adventure bike, the R80GS that dominated the Dakar in the early 1980s, but that Tiger never caught on with consumers and production stopped after less than two years.
On the road: Triumph is once again going after a popular BMW adventure bike, this time taking on the F800GS with the all-new, three-cylinder Tiger 800XC. The British company has spent the three years since the F800GS was launched listening to what riders said about the BMW. "We've been doing our homework," Triumph Canada's Christopher Ellis says.
The result is a narrower bike, with 10 more horsepower, three more litres of fuel capacity, a lower seat height without losing suspension travel, and generally the same features as the BMW for about $300 less. The optional ABS switches off. The spoked front wheel is off-road-standard 21-inches, to better roll over obstacles. Hard bags are an option. And, realizing that adventure lovers like to bolt things to their bikes as much as cruiser riders, there are more than 40 other accessories, if the $12,199 base model isn't enough.
Honda
In the Dakar: Honda has four Dakar wins, but hasn't been on the podium since 1989 and hasn't had a bike upon which to build a viable winner until the switch this year to 450s. Four-time Baja 1,000 champion Quinn Cody earned the marque's best result this year with a ninth-place finish in his first Dakar. But the real success was in reliability, with all six bikes based on the CRF450X enduro and built by the factory-supported Honda Europe team finishing the race.
On the road: Officially it's a concept bike, but it looks so production-ready that speculation is high it will be in showrooms soon. Even Honda's press release for the bike makes it seem like a fait accompli. "The V4 Crosstourer Concept will deliver all the fun and excitement of a road sports bike; but with the comfortable upright riding position and manoeuvrability of an adventure machine," it says. Honda Canada's motorcycle boss, Warren Milner, certainly isn't good at keeping the secret. "I would say it's inevitable they will build it," he says.
Few specifications have been released, but it is based on the VFR1200F, which means it will be the first four-cylinder adventure bike, and the first without a clutch lever and foot-operated gear selector. Instead, it will have Honda's new dual-clutch transmission, which is supposed to provide manual response with automatic shifting. The three settings include one with early up-shifts for fuel economy and gentler response, one that shifts more like a Dakar racer, and a third for traditionalists, with manual gear changes, albeit via thumb and finger controls. It will also have a shaft-drive, but the rest must be gleaned from the photos, which show it sporting engine guards and hard luggage.
With the exception of the Varadero, Honda's vast adventure bike lineup in Europe and Asia has been kept from Canadians. Whether the Crosstourer comes to Canada depends on whether American Honda will import it to North America, Milner says. And that depends on how well the Yamaha Super Ténéré does.