Last month I canceled a trip to Las Vegas to attend the 2022 AimExpo motorcycle show, due to travel advisories and the rising wave of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.  It was crushing and beyond disappointing to miss that show, but I didn’t get to feel sad about that for very long. Viva Las Vegas! My …

Adding lights and other electrical devices to your bike can give you a lot of additional capabilities, but it can also be a headache—not to mention, a liability—to mess with the wiring loom on your bike. Fortunately, certain devices can allow you to add these accessories without ever going near those complex systems. The Denali Cansmart …

Quin-tessential? Not Quite Yet The Quest is Dallas, TX-based Quintessential Designs first attempt at building and selling an adventure helmet. They aimed ambitiously high by choosing to build it as a carbon fiber, modular helmet equipped with an automatic SOS distress beacon and integrated Bluetooth electronics. It seems to me they bit off more than …

Photo via Bridgestone. Here For a Good Time, Not a Long Time: Bridgestone Battlax AdventureCross AX41 Tires I’m bravely wading into hot water with another wBW tire review. After previously testing the Michelin Road 5 and Motoz Tractionator Adventure tires for the site, this time it’s Bridgestone’s Battlax AdventureCross AX41 tires on the sacrificial block …

Ruroc Must Mean Relentless In 2019, Ruroc expanded their business into the motorcycle helmet scene, their confidence buoyed by their success previously in designing and selling snowsports headgear. Over the last two years, this ambitious company has already revamped that original Atlas helmet design twice in their quest to become the top name in the …

It’s So Pure This GS Makes Me Swoon “Would you like to review a newly-released BMW adventure helmet, Jim?” Simon Armstrong, the BMW brand champion at Blackfoot Motosports (my local dealership in Calgary, Alberta) surprised me with an opportunity to get my hands on an alluring new helmet a few months back. A couple of …

The Winner of the $200,000 Fantasy Garage Contest Is… Firstly, THANK YOU all for participating in this fun contest! The spirit was one of fun and fantasy to be enjoyed by all. I think we accomplished that with help from you, the readers! Read all the submissions at the bottom of the original article. I …

I’m always ready to be first in line to try new things, especially if it involves motorcycles. An invitation to attend the FIRST Adventure Motorcycle Rally (that I’m aware of) in Sturgis, South Dakota came from our friend Anthony Silvotti at Revzilla about a month and a half ago. It teased a raft of alluring …

A brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Touring will cost you about $200,000 US (~$250,000 Canadian dollars) out the door.  That is a lot of cheddar even for this beautiful piece of German automotive engineering. I certainly appreciate the marvelous collection of performance, power, and luxury this fine automobile offers… but there ain’t NO WAY I’d …

One That Got Away in 2020 In 2020, the new Spartan GT sport helmet was presented to us, the motorcycling masses by French manufacturer Shark Helmets proclaiming it would better protect our heads than the previous Spartan model did. The differences between the older and newer models of Spartan when it comes to protection consist …

Jim Has A New Favorite Adventure Jacket Before I dive into why I’m so satisfied with the Mosko Moto Basilisk jacket, let me first talk about another excellent jacket to put things into perspective. For the past three years whenever I’ve undertaken a multi-day adventure motorcycle trip I’ve always turned to the most comfortable, trusted, …

Table of Contents Introduction KTM 790 Adventure Spec Sheet I Put My Money Down The KTM 790 Adventure S and R Model KTM 790 Adventure Add-Ons Break-In Period Out On The Road KTM 790 Button and Functions Modifications KTM My Ride App Final Thoughts Introduction In 2018, I did a long-term review of the exciting …

No, you’re not seeing the theoretical offspring from a union of Honda and Energizer battery logos in the photo above. The Enginehawk Hawkeye UV jacket. $499 US It’s the flashy new emblem we’ll soon see adorning the jackets of motorcycle riders all over the world. Enginehawk is the name given to a brand new line …

The 2021 Ducati Multistrada V4S has magically appeared at my local Ducati dealership: Blackfoot Motosports in Calgary. The dealership’s Ducati brand champion invited me to come and get an intimate, first-hand look at what Ducati is calling “the best motorcycle they’ve ever built.” Have a look at our Model Overview piece written by Joe Appleton …

Warning! This editorial is actually about the imminent arrival of the Pan America adventure motorcycle, but it takes a while to get there. Skip ahead for some spy shots and predictions if you like at any time. Harley Davidson unveiled their 2021 lineup of motorcycles in a COVID19-friendly, online event on January 12th. You can …

The Holy Grail of Adventure Riding Boots? I’ve tried and failed to adequately answer one tough question we’ve received in emails to the wBW editor. “Can you recommend riding boots that are comfortable to walk in but also provide a solid level of protection?” I haven’t yet found any I would say satisfactorily meet that …

Introduction Photo from Mosko Moto Two Reviewers, One Product This is a longer-term multi-motorcycle, multi-role, multi-use, joint review that hopefully covers a lot of ground, literally and figuratively, regarding the Reckless 80L v3.0 Revolver luggage system, a mainstay of the Mosko Moto luggage and packing lineup and now in its third iteration. Bruce Cole and …

Video Review The New Shoei RF-1400 = A Shoei RF-1200 + ‘Kaizen’ I love being among the first people to try something new and then telling everyone I know all about it! Shoei has morphed its already popular RF-1200 helmet into this even more refined RF-1400 incarnation. They are pumped about the updates and touting …

I Hate The Cold and Now I’m Converted I live in Alberta, Canada. It’s what I like to call “Northernmost Texas” because we have ranchers, oil fields, country music, and a ton of lifted pickup trucks. I’m told some areas of Texas experience some chilly weather in the winter (even snow in parts), but up …

The Whistler Adventure Boots Are Here I’ve been wearing a pair of SIDI Adventure 2 Gore-Tex Boots for three years and appreciate them for all the reasons outlined in the review we did of them years ago. They set the footwear protection and comfort benchmark for me at this point and rank among the best …

A Three Helmet Showdown Is About To Go Down Search the internet today using the words “Best (insert topic here)” and you’ll get plenty of opinionated claims popping up from a myriad of sources touting their impartiality and honesty. But who can you really trust? It’s getting harder and harder to know whether the source …

In 2010 I rented a Heritage Classic from Calgary Harley Davidson Rentals. It was the first Harley I’d ever ridden and marked the beginning of my appreciation for the brand and their bikes. The funny thing is that I didn’t like it at first, but it grew on me over the 24 hours I had …

The Enigmatic Touratech Aventuro Traveller Carbon Jay Leno has a magnificent chin on him. I’ve often wondered if it puts any strain on his neck muscles or affects his posture. Just for the record, I’m a big fan of Jay and don’t mean anything derogatory with this observation. I only mention it because after wearing …

Co-Written by Jim Pruner and Greg Phillips The First Electric Harley Davidson Was Born in 2019 If you can name a more controversial motorcycle than the Harley Davidson LiveWire I would be shocked. Mention it on any social media platform and prepare to read dozens of strong opinions with most of them being on the …

Redemption? Or More Pain? Last year I reviewed the Klim K1R Raw Karbon helmet and although I liked many things about it, the fatal flaw was how loud it was to wear on the highway. Brutally loud, in fact. After touring the Klim HQ in Rigby, Idaho last September while I was down there enjoying …

I’ve been involved with some inexpensive helmet reviews before and came away mostly underwhelmed. Past reviews of helmets like the Gmax MD01 were  “just ok” as one such example.  Even more notably there’s the Nenki NK856, a helmet I would never personally wear and generally love to hate. Sorry Nenki, but you need to do …

Dobermann Slip-On Exhaust Has A Beautiful Bark Why do we do it? Take off perfectly good, engine-specific built, tuned mufflers, and replace them with more expensive aftermarket ones?   If we’re completely honest about it there are four reasons why; Lighter weight aftermarket materials Smaller and better-looking products Slight performance improvements Louder and throatier sound …

Engine Ice Coolant is used in racing cars, bikes, and any other vehicle that is liquid-cooled. Some argue it’s overpriced snake oil while many insist it’s magic in a bottle. This review looks at that question and answers based on performance in a 2019 KTM 790 Adventure. The accompanying video shows a step by step …

Is Version 3.0 The Charm For Mosko Moto’s Reckless Revolver Luggage? Last month Mosko Moto (a White Salmon, Washington based company) announced the immediate availability of a new Reckless 80 Liter, V3.0 Revolver Luggage system.  This is the third iteration of their popular flagship rack-less luggage systems, and the V3.0 Revolver is touted as the …

A little while ago I got an email from Twisted Throttle saying they were accepting applications for 2020 brand ambassadors. Needless to say, I applied almost immediately because who wouldn’t want to have access to the awesome collection of aftermarket accessories sold by Twisted Throttle?! In case you’ve never heard of TT, have a click …

WARNING This product is subject to much controversy and consumer uproar due to the manufacturer’s poor communication and failure to reliabley deliver the product Many people claim to have paid for the Domio but not receive it We have asked Domio to connect with us to present their side of the story, but after an …

Challis, Idaho…  Have you heard of it? Maybe it’s just me who hasn’t, I’m not sure.  What I know now is that I can’t wait to go back to visit in 2020 so I can enjoy virtually unlimited, prototypical adventure motorcycle riding trails in the area. At the same time, I’ll participate in another Cow …

Thank You! Our friend Justin Silverman at Gerbing Heated Clothing supplied me with this vest, battery harness and temperature controller at no charge for this review.  First Impressions In the Spring of 2019, I reviewed the Exotogg thermal vest and experienced first hand how electric dependant heated gear can fail at the most inopportune time. …

The helmet in the photo above was run over by another motorcycle at high speed during a race. The wearer walked away without sustaining a head injury. Take a moment to let that soak in. I’m often asked by people who know I test riding gear which helmet to buy or which is the best. …

The dust has settled and the 2019 story of the annual motorcycle extravaganza known as EICMA has arrived. Home Sweet Home I find myself back in snow-covered Alberta, Canada after enduring 12 hours of travel time on the journey home. I’m plopped down in front of my keyboard now, pouring over the vast collection of …

Mean-Looking, Ground-Shredding, & Long-Lasting Tires: The Great Debate If you want to lose friends and start arguments on social media the quickest way to do it is to ask: “What tires should I run on my motorcycle?” A close second would be asking about engine oil. The verbal bloodbath that inevitably will follow can cause …

I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear one of my favorite things to do is to see and test new motorcycle products.  I want to give honest and open feedback to the manufacturer and consumer based on my observations and experience. I really love writing for wBW for that reason. Whenever someone tells me they …

Video Review Introduction If that video from Royal Enfield isn’t enough to make you want to ride these bikes, I’m afraid the motorcycle rider part of your soul must be dead. The only way to resurrect it is to take one of these retro-styled bikes from India out for a few hours of unbridled two-wheeled …

First Impressions I’ve been trying to find a way to reliably shoot sharp videos with clear sound while out testing motorcycles since I started writing for wBW a couple of years ago. I haven’t been able to decide which equipment I needed to do it. Last year I gambled on a GoPro Hero 6 thinking …

First Impressions A Niche Filled Getting stuck without suitable riding gear when encountering challenging riding conditions can be uncomfortable, even painful or dangerous. Anyone who’s spent any serious time in the saddle can relate and share an experience or two illustrating this. Many manufacturers will tell you they can build convertible gear to meet a …