BEST DUAL-SPORT BIKE - KTM 690 Enduro
“Freedom” is the word most often associated with riding a motorcycle. And there is arguably no type of two-wheeler more freeing than a dual-sport motorcycle. These days, these machines run the gamut from street-oriented with only a vestige of real off-road capability to full-on enduro bikes made barely legal for use on Main Street. KTM’s 690 Enduro topped the field in ‘08 because it offers incredible capabilities in both realms. The powerful, fuel-injected Single features a three-position ignition/fuel map system that allows the rider to choose just the kind of power appropriate for the situation. But KTM, being at its heart an off-road motorcycle company, couldn’t help but make a machine that could attack trails in a way that belies it size and yet still have civil on-road manners.
CONTENDERS: We’ve heard rumors of dual-sport bikes in the 450cc class that might come from the Japanese manufacturers, but no luck yet. Meantime, BMW’s G450X is billed as a street-legal racing dirtbike, but even more of a wild-card could be the F800GS, an amazing adventure-tourer. Its big, flat-Twin brother has won before in this class, meaning that the lighter, smaller 800 can’t be counted out.