Sports Cycle

Why We Choose Dual Sport Motorcycles ?

Many riders want to travel off the beaten path, but at the same time they need a motorcycle they can legally drive on public roads to get to that nonbeaten path. Motorcycle manufacturers have long recognized this need; that’s why they make dual sport motorcycles. During the 1960s and 1970s, every maker, from Yamaha to Ducati, offered dual-purpose motorcycles - bikes that went by names like Enduro or Suzuki’s more imaginative Bearcat.

These bikes were primarily road bikes with some offroad capabilities thrown in. They were a blast to ride down logging roads, and they made great commuter bikes. As the baby boomers aged, they lost interest in these versatile and fun machines, and their popularity declined. But now the breed seems to be gaining in popularity once again. Each of the big four Japanese companies, as well as several European firms, manufactures some form of dual sport motorcycles, as they are now called.

- Honda makes the CRF250L ($4,499) & XR650L ($6,690), probably the most off-road-worthy and also the favourite of the dual sport coming out of Japan.

- Kawasaki builds its KLR650 ($6,499), an excellent light-weight street bike that will get you down some trails, provided the going doesn’t get too hairy.

- Splitting the difference is Suzuki’s DR650SE ($6,399), a better streetbike than the Honda and a better dirtbike than the Kawasaki.

- Yamaha’s U.S. entry into the dual-sport market is the WR250R ($6,690). The most expensive 250cc dual sport entries from the other Japanese manufacturers. But, It's also the best performer and best option for learner.

- KTM, an Austrian manufacturer, makes the 690 Enduro R ($10,299), a worthy (but pricey) entry into this category.

Any of these bikes makes an ideal first motorcycle. In addition to having varying degrees of dirt-worthiness, each makes a nimble, forgiving streetbike. They’re all fantastic city bikes. Their light weight and easy handling make them excellent bikes for a learner, but their all-around capability means a rider won’t outgrow them after learning to ride.

The only drawback these dual sport bikes have is that they’re tall machines. Part of the reason they work so well both on and off the road is because they have long-travel suspensions, which place the seat high off the pavement. While this lets riders see traffic, it also presents some challenges for those with shorter inseams.


In the last decade or so, another type of dual sport has appeared: the leviathans. These are large-displacement machines based on streetbikes. In a way, they’re throwbacks to earlier times, when a single machine was used for all purposes. BMW introduced the first of the leviathans in 1980, when it brought out the R80GS, an 800cc, twin-cylinder bike with high fenders and exhaust pipes. This versatile bike proved popular, especially in Europe, but it might have remained an anomaly, one of a kind, had it not been for one event - the Paris Dakar Rally.

The term leviathan originally referred to a Biblical sea monster, but has come to mean something of immense size and power, a good description of these big, multi-cylinder dual sport motorcycles, which can weigh almost twice as much as the largest single-cylinder dual sports.

The Paris Dakar Rally is an off-road race across thousands of miles of desert along the west coast of Africa, and it is here that the leviathans really shine. The event’s popularity generated the production of Dakar-style replicas from most of the major motorcycle manufacturers.

These were bikes like the original R80GS, basically streetbikes with a bit of off-road equipment, but with bodywork resembling the Dakar racers - bikes like the Ducati/Cagiva Elefant and Triumph Tiger. Honda made something called the Africa Twin, and Yamaha produced its own Dakar-style bike, the Super Tenere, but at the moment - these were never imported into the United States.

Most single-cylinder dual sports have modest off-road capabilities, but these leviathans are best suited to graded dirt roads; they are just too heavy for off-road work. You probably don’t want to take them up a mountain trail. But these big buggers make very good streetbikes, in part because of their long-travel suspensions, relatively light weight (at least when compared to, say, a Harley-Davidson), and nimble handling. You could do worse than to buy one.