Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2025 i Motorcycle Mojo Magazine

You just don’t leave an item on your bucket list when you have a chance to cross it off, do you? The majestic Monument Valley was on mine, and Las Vegas was on Aidan’s. So my partner in crime and I conceded to make a detour from our southward journey along the Pan American Highway and turned inland toward Yosemite National Park. Warm sunshine lit up the yellow aspen dispersed between evergreen pines as the road wound in gentle curves through the mountains. Giant grey rocks silently towered over Yosemite Valley and the crystal-clear lakes beckoned for a swim. But we weren’t fooled. It was mid-October and the water was icy cold. Winter was hot on our heels, and we were hoping the weather would hold just a little longer.…

Maybe you’ve heard of Nick Sanders, who rode his sport bike (a Yamaha R1) around the world, or Ed March who did the same (albeit more slowly) on a Honda C90. Or, even more entertaining, perhaps you’ve seen the YouTube clips of the Goldwing being ridden on dirt fit only for motocross. All this to say, where there’s a will — and maybe a buddy to hold your beer — someone will find a way to stretch the limits and to innovate, often in surprising ways. Perhaps it was over beers that someone on the Suzuki design team said, “What if we crossed the GSX-S1000 GT with the V-Strom 1050? What if it combined all the features of a luxury adventure-sport-touring model? It could be the ’supreme sport crossover.’” And…

Motorcycle boots essentially have to fulfill two needs: They need to protect the rider’s foot and lower shin area, and be as comfortable as possible while doing so. If you’re racing, the former is more important (and best served by Daytona’s Security EVO and its hinged Kevlar inner liner). If it’s the latter, well, there really isn’t anything better than Dainese’s latest Fulcrum 3 GTX. Forget the suspense of a big build up — and, for once, I’ll not bother with over-large multi-syllable words in my search for the best possible descriptor — the latest Fulcrums are, by some margin, the most comfortable riding boots these feet have ever worn. Credit the supple leather, the concertinaed stretch sections in upper foot, lower shin area and the spine, but every time I…

KAWASAKI NINJA 7 HYBRID Kawasaki is once again finding new innovations to try to reduce the carbon footprint of its motorcycles. Kawasaki recently introduced the midsized production hybrid, the first of its kind from a major motorcycle manufacturer, which combines its 451-cc parallel-twin from the Eliminator cruiser and a seven-kilowatt electric motor. Does it have what it takes to be a viable street motorcycle? BMW R1300GS ADVENTURE Last year, BMW introduced the completely redesigned and improved R1300GS. However, if you wanted the Adventure variation of BMW’s biggest adventure bike, you had to settle for the R1250GSA, which was based on the previous platform. That changes with the 2025 R1300GS Adventure, which gets all the upgrades of the R1300GS — and then some.…

Some things are designed correctly pretty much from the start. A hammer, for instance, was designed to do a certain job, and it does it well enough that it has needed very little improvement. The Suzuki DR-Z400 is another example of such a thing, hitting the sweet spot when it was launched in 2000. It was a well-balanced, reliable and affordable dual-sport motorcycle, and despite being somewhat dated by today’s standards, it was almost on point from the get-go. Aside from a couple of minor mechanical updates in the first few years of production (the most significant being a revised cam chain tensioner in 2003), it has received very few changes. Back when it was introduced, there were three available models: the kick-start DR-Z400 enduro, the electric-start 400E off-roader, and…

THE BREAKFAST BEACON The Breakfast Beacon is a family-friendly diner serving all-day breakfast and daily lunch specials. Just steps from the shore of Lake Erie at 404 Ridgeway Rd, Crystal Beach, ON., this gem opened in 2017 and consistently gets top reviews. The Eggs Benedict and Philly Steak and Bacon Poutine in particular are standouts from their huge menu. It’s the perfect place to begin your ride.…

Grey. I waited and waited but all I saw was grey. We descended into Keflavík Airport, floating through a thick blanket of clouds; there was no sun, just a glow of grey wash that offered the ambient light of day. I met up with Glenn at the airport and got a transfer to Reykjavík, the capital and main hub of Iceland with around 60 per cent of the country’s residents living there. Once in town I realized how creative the locals are with their colour choices: I had never seen so many shades of grey, as if to mimic their surroundings, every shade, to match every mood of the sky. Some buildings were occasionally accented with uninspiring pastels to breathe some life into the seemingly monotone city. It was good…

Some trips are memorable than others. Some trips you’d rather forget, and there’s that other category of trips that end before they begin. This is that trip. My plan was to ride the southern half of the Continental Divide on my new-to-me 2018 KLR 650 that I purchased used early in the pandemic. Because of Covid-19, my travel plans got delayed one year after another until September 2023 when everything lined up for me to be able to finally venture more than three hours past my house with my new 2020 trailer. My buddy Dom joined in on his son’s CRF as well. DRIVING LOGISTICS The plan was simple: we were going to install knobby tires on our bikes and trailer them in my cargo trailer from the Ottawa area…

19 The number of victories Ducati has gained throughout the 20 races in the 2024 MotoGP series. It has also claimed the MotoGP world title for the third consecutive year. Ducati now has 106 wins in MotoGP, making them the first European manufacturer to surpass the 100-win milestone. 70 The number of sensors the 2025 Ducati Multistrada V4S has with its Ducati Vehicle Observer (DVO) to fine-tune ABS cornering, suspension settings, wheelie control and traction control. The system was created by the Ducati Corse race team division through MotoGP. 1 Mary McGee was the first solo person to finish the incredibly tough Baja 500 off-road race in 1975. She claimed many other firsts, including being the first woman to road race and hold an FIM licence in the U.S. McGee…

Ducati recently launched the latest Multistrada in the town of Gubbio, Italy. The mountains surrounding this ancient city provided the ideal backdrop to ride the 2025 Multistrada V4S, Ducati’s most tech-laden adventure tourer since its introduction. Italians do off-road adventuring a bit differently. Although a Lamborghini Urus is technically a 4WD SUV, you’re not likely to see one rock crawling in the Rockies. Likewise, the chances of finding a Ferrari Purosangue slinging mud off its four wheels on a hunting trip are next to nil. They are Italian; they have to be designed with flair and with a heavy dose of high performance. They are the supercar equivalents of SUVs. Ducati has the Multistrada. It’s an adventure bike, but in typical Italian fashion, it’s the superbike of the genre. It’s…

In the flickering blue light of a darkened room in a rustic cabin on the slopes of White-face Mountain, our group of four tired old motorcyclists huddled around a small TV, enthralled once again by the Last of the Mohicans. This wonderful 1992 movie starring Daniel Day Lewis depicts the siege, surrender and massacre of 1,757 at Fort William Henry during the French and Indian Wars in the Adirondacks. The Adirondacks and area would be our riding country for five days. That first day our intrepid band of adventurers had ridden the slow meandering roads from Kingston along the historic and scenic north St. Lawrence River heritage route to the Mohawk Akwesasne reserve border crossing at Cornwall on the way to our destination just north of Lake Placid. “WE THEN…