Every spring I get an itch to get something new—whether it's a new bike, new seat, new luggage, new gear... well you get the idea. With that in mind, here are some things we thought were pretty interesting heading into the riding season.
Mosko Moto
Mosko Moto is a small company with visionary ideas to revolutionize the motorcycle luggage market. OK, maybe that is putting too much pressure on the guys, but they do have a very nice take on soft bags and how to mount them. The mounting plate uses a beveled edge that locks the bag plate into it, and there's a quick release latch to tighten it down—and that's it. These are machined to fit almost every side rack on the market and even fit the oddly shaped SW Motech racks.
What's really great is there's no need for an over-the-seat strap that pretty much everyone else uses. This translates to better passenger comfort and it's easier to install and remove bags. It also has an optional security strap; however, they aren't theft proof. But they sure are a lot more secure than most soft bags in my opinion. Watch for a full review soon.
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Triumph Tiger 800
The Tiger 800 is one of the best selling ADV bikes on the market. It has that combination of lighter weight, three cylinder grunt, and superb handling that the larger bikes can't match (it's also a hoot to ride.) ICON thought the same thing as you can see in their Raiden video. So technically the Tiger 800 isn't new this year, but it is upgraded heavily. Better fuel efficiency, cruise control, more rider options for ABS, traction control, and a fully programmable setting that allows you to choose parameters for each function is top notch. Better weather protection, improved ergos, and a host of other options make this possibly the best ADV bike for the money.
AltRider
AltRider is an American company who is passionate about protecting your motorcycle. Using quality materials, excellent craftsmanship, and made in the USA they continually add to their line up of off-road and on-road protection. One of their latest items are some ridiculous fork guards—if anything gets past these, then you probably broke the forks. Crafted from 1.5 MM aluminum, they are bike specific and are going to take the beating your fork tubes normally would, which helps save money and down time. Ride more, wrench less.
TomTom Rider GPS
TomTom has a new version of the Rider GPS getting ready to hit this year. The previous Rider is undergoing testing right now and it packs a lot of rider-specific options. It will have more selectable routes—simply tap the map and start selecting places to go. They are also improving the winding roads feature, which tells the GPS to find the long way around. It avoids main roads, and tries to find those twisty and windy roads for you to enjoy automatically. It also has built in sharing, so if you and a group are riding together you can send the route to their Rider as well. They also designed a new mount, new form factor that works better on a motorcycle, and improved the weather protection.
This is certainly not an all encompassing list, but some of these items may have slipped past you in the midst of all the supercharged motorcycle announcements. Tell us what you think and what we might have missed!
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