Adventure Tourers Becoming More Popular

I took my Aprilia Caponord out for a spin this morning as the Arizona mornings are the weather of God’s country right now – 70F. I ended up meeting with a buddy of mine who has a HD Heritage Soft-tail. This was not a sporting ride, but more of just cruising around and locating a good place for breakfast. Both needs were met.

In case you don’t know what an Aprilia Caponord is or the Adventure Tourer segment, here you go (me outside of Gila Bend, AZ):

Its the same segment as the BMW R1100/1150/1200 GS. They look like bikes that can be taken off road, but in my opinion shouldn’t with the OE tires. I did this once and struggled greatly.

Anyway, I couldn’t help but notice the extremely high percentage of Adventure Tourers that I saw. The bulk of them of course were the original – the BMW GS’s – followed by a couple Suzuki V-Stroms. Mine was the only Caponord (of course). I know of only five or so in the state of AZ.

I think these bikes are becoming more popular because of thier versatility. You can take them down dirt roads (not off-roading) without questioning your sanity. You can take them through the twisties and do pretty well…my ground down saddle bags and footpegs are proof of that. And you can also ride two-up pretty comfortably.

It will be interesting to see the growth of this segment. In the past, it was only those wacky long-haulin’ BMW guys that bought them. Now, it seems to be more mainstream based on my non-scientific eye-o-meter from today.