Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1456806
For riders that typically have to have new bike suspension lowered, this will be a most welcome feature. Second Demo Ride was the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally. This bike is the grandchild of a Tiger 800 XC I rode for many years and it felt familiar. Triumph has pre y near perfected the triple and this bike is the newest of them. It loves to pull with smooth, linear power. It feels and sounds like a steroidal sewing machine mo- tor. Also, I am a fan of the Tiger's styling and ergos. The demo loop did not include any off road and I can't blame the organizers for that. These are not cheap rigs, and you never know what meathead will sign up for demo. Third demo ride on a Tenere 700, was a person- al tour with one of the Yamaha guides. I was the only one to sign up at that hour, so the guide and I got to explore some backroads and even hit some gravel. This definitely felt lighter than the previous two demos and it definitely had the Japanese pre- cise engineering with no extra noise, no ra ling, just smooth predictable performance. It's hard to get more than first impressions in a demo ride but I could see why the T7s are so popular. I have a number of KTMs and when star ng/warming them up it o en sounds like something is wrong. But it's not. But it sounds that way. When screaming at red- line they sound just fine but it takes a while to get accustomed to their idiosyncra c acous cs. Yamahas, and Japanese bikes in general, do not do that. In my experience, anyway. The last, and arguably the most fun, demo ride was on a Ural Sidecar. I always wanted one in order to take my dog for moto rides. These rigs are powered by what appears to be a Soviet copy of a 1980s BMW Boxer engine. It felt clunky but I suspect much of the clunky comes from having a sidecar. But, hey, that's the deal with a Ural. They have a sidecar. And they are FUN. Most of the demo ride was off road through fields, up and over embankments, and through drain- age canals. I was grinning like an idiot the whole me. These would be frightening on an interstate high- way, but I could see hi ng the TAT with one. I live in a great part of the world for one of these. Miles of backroads and woods roads between brewpubs to haul around a non-riding friend. Take Aunt Tilly for a ride an see how long it takes her to hoot and holler. Kenda Tire Demo – Kenda got ahold of a fleet of 2021 Jeeps, fi ed them with their latest off-road res, and built an obstacle course for us to demo the res. What a blast. I am not used to teeter to ering on le front and right rear res whilst the other two wheels are dangling like misplaced par ciples. They gave the driver (me) a radio and a spo er outside would pro- vide radio guidance as the more gnarly sec ons were nego ated.