Go-anywhere fast adventurers: BMW S1000XR vs Multistrada V4S vs 1290 Super Adventure S
Dual-purpose or sports – what’s the best 160bhp+ adventure bike for the road?
The adventure bike market started to fracture and throw out its own little niches almost from the moment it came to define the biking zeitgeist. Suddenly we had bikes that looked like adventurers but boasted 17in wheels front and rear, glitzy firm suspension and electronics packages aimed at sportiness rather than extricating you from a muddy field at the country fair faster than the Smith-Joneses could tear the soil asunder in their 4x4 gin palace. BMW’s R1250GS may rule the big cc adventure bike roost with the dominance the dinosaurs
once exerted on planet Earth with its premium blend of impressive handling, gadgets, and superb on and off-road performance, but while it’s proving stubbornly unbeatable as the go-to go-anywhere adventurer, the satellites that orbit in its gravitational pull offer other ways to get your adventure kicks. Both Ducati and KTM have introduced new alternatives for 2021 with the aim of knocking some of the stuffing out of BMW’s sales dominance. Both are genuine goanywhere adventure bikes – but each have more overtly dirt-focused siblings in the range, so have these posh cast-wheel (albeit 19in) ‘S’ versions really strayed into BMW S1000XR territory instead? Updated last year, the S1000XR is similar on paper, with a 163bhp on offer from its superbikederived four-cylinder engine, tall suspension, and oodles of tech. However, it also sports a 17in front wheel like Multistradas of old, clipping its adventure wings. So where best to spend your money? The BMW is where I start my day and once out of the restrictive urban speed limits of Stamford, the XR slips on a pair of dainty ballet shoes to behave like a superbike on stilts. Changing direction like a bike half its size, it’s capable of carrying more corner speed than any UK limit would allow and compared to the other bikes with 19in fronts it feels more involving and nimble. Metzeler Roadtec 01 sports touring rubber only sweetens the deal.
For a performance bike fan like me, it’s a real hoot - except for the rear shock occasionally catapulting me out of the seat at speed when put in its firmest setting. It’s much forgiving when softened off.
And then there’s the acceleration. Flip me! Being a revvy four-pot motor (without BMW’s ShiftCam valve timing) there isn’t a great deal of shove at the bottom end, but wind
‘Hunker down and watch the miles go by’