The 10-year Standouts
Roland Brown takes stock of the happenings, both the best and the worst, in the world of motorcycles in the decade gone by
We look back and forth at the bikes that stood out over the past 10 years
The beginning of a new decade is always a time to reflect on the old one as well as looking forward to the future. and while in broader terms the last 10 years will, perhaps, be remembered for economic austerity, fake news, and climate change, the two-wheeled world was a much more positive place.
in future decades, motorcycle enthusiasts will, perhaps, look fondly, even despairingly, back at the last one from a health-and-safety dominated world of permanently monitored, speedlimited, and tediously autonomous vehicles. old-timers will reminisce about the good old days when we could ride an incredible variety of powerful, exhilarating bikes pretty much whenever and wherever we liked.
and if this past decade does turn out to be the zenith of the performance/ freedom-to-use-it equation, it will at least have produced some amazing machines and memories. no doubt we’ll all have our own standouts; these are some of mine.
R 1250 GS descendent. That said, the bike that had me shaking my head in wonder after completing my first ride was its mighty KTM rival, the 1290 Super Adventure, during the V-twin’s launch in 2015.
Arguably the adventure bike that moved things on most was the Ducati Multistrada 1200 whose multi-mode versatility heralded the decade’s electronic innovation in 2010. The Bologna firm made a big impact in familiar sporting style, too, with a string of increasingly spectacular Panigale V-twins and especially the even more powerful and refined Panigale V4 that began a new era in 2018.
Despite the continued drop in sports bike sales, it’s another of their number that gets my vote as the decade’s biggest star. BMW’s S 1000 RR arrived from nowhere to top the class in 2010, with its awesome blend of 190-hp-plus performance and unprecedented electronic sophistication. Via numerous updates it has remained the yardstick ever since ― topping 200 hp, gaining countless improvements and spawning the futuristic, carbon-framed HP4 Race along the way.
The beginning of a new decade is always a time to reflect on the old one as well as looking forward to the future