BMW was actively trying to move beyond the flat-twin boxer engines, affectionately known as airheads, that had defined the brand for decades. Instead, the company was betting on the long-awaited K platform, with three- and four-cylinder liquid-cooled engines. Airhead production carried on, but the company was clearly investing in the future, building and refining the K platform as a new foundation to compete with the Japanese sport bikes while meeting the newly proposed European emissions standards. The K model that most pushed the boundaries was the K1.

With fewer than 7,000 ever built and just over 600 imported to the United States, seeing a K1 on the road is rare for most enthusiasts. The bike debuted with its distinctive, iconic, and divisive full-coverage fairing. The K1 didn’t arrive quietly; it made a spectacle of its entrance with daring color schemes such as the Brilliant Red and Yellow or Lapis Blue and Yellow. These were not the only color schemes, but the two that would be seen and sought after the most.

Beneath the bodywork lies a 580-pound sport-touring bike. The liquid-cooled 987 cc engine provided the rider with a five-speed transmission, 74 foot-pounds of torque, and a top speed of 143 mph. With a claimed 100 horsepower at the rider’s disposal, it felt like an improvement from the 75 to 90 horsepower on the earlier K bikes. However, it was lacking compared to the Japanese competition that was pushing bikes into the U.S. market with over 100 horsepower. The analog dash and the fairing-mounted switches may look dated today to some, but they are perfectly charming and period-correct.

The K1 lacked the outright speed to best the Japanese competition in spec-sheet wars. But its sophistication and greater comfort made it a gentleman’s sport bike, not the street racer some expected it to be.

While some vehicles don’t stand the test of time, the K1 ended up being influential beyond its small numbers.

Getting a chance to ride the BMW K1

It was that mix of myth and history that set the stage for my own encounter. After seeing and drooling over the iconic Brilliant Red bikes for years, I finally had a chance to spend the day on a 1990 model that had just over 100,000 well loved miles on it. My trip took me through the city streets of Albany and Troy, New York, to the scenic byways of the Catskill Mountains to meet up with an amazing group of riders who braved a 40-degree overcast fall day to attend the last MotoSocial event in the Hudson Valley for the season.

I spent much of the year riding old BMW airheads, so any chance I get to taste the glassy smoothness of a 1990s K bike is always welcomed. Fully faired machines of this vintage ask you to learn them, how your legs slip past the fairing and how your body tucks in and becomes part of the shape. After a few moments of quiet familiarization, my six-foot frame folded effortlessly behind the fairing and knew I was in for a treat.

After fully acquainting myself with the bike on rural farm roads, I hopped on the highway for a quick 20-minute ride along the Hudson River to meet with a group of friends who would lead the way through the foothills and into the elevation. The power delivery on the K1 was smooth and plentiful. Even though it did not have the same torque as my flat twins, the machine knew what to do and when to do it anytime I asked. Acceleration in and out of the twisties kept a smile firmly planted behind a slightly foggy face screen as we made our way through the lower elevations of the Catskills. Heavy on the spec sheet, the K1’s mass disappeared while in motion. Whether I was planning my lines or easing off the throttle to breathe in and enjoy the mountain air, the K1 moved beneath me as if I were a centaur. It was my animal half.

A relative rarity you can ride

Yes, this bike lives up to its reputation and, in my opinion, should probably be worth twice what they go for and someday will be more sought-after. The K1 took the feeling of the early K100 and refined it into something more meaningful and long-lasting because of its uniqueness, but it also performs well. The K1 might leave you wanting a little more in some categories, such as lighter weight if you lean sport or true storage capacity if you lean touring, but it always satisfies the rider’s core desires. And once you get past the looks and the jokes, something deeper reveals itself. The soul-searching, long-way-taking, always-riding-but-often-alone rider should make it a point to commandeer a K1 at least once. Letting go of your TFT screens and the digital world connecting you to everything is more important than ever. When you do this on vintage motorcycles, you can be more in tune with your mind, body, and soul. The K1 has all three of its own and wants to share them with you.

Just as BMW was going through changes in 1988, I recently I went through a professional and personal rebranding. After years of chasing greenbacks, titles, and navigating the toxic corporate world that is American capitalism at its finest, I realized that I had become a rat in a race I no longer wanted to run. I finally had my chance at an exit, and doing something that many of us long for but don’t get the chance to do, working with motorcycles — more importantly, BMWs. This could be the reason I feel so connected to these machines; a second chance at life is freeing and inspiring.

Some 35 years after it was built, the K1 remains iconic enough to remember and practical enough to ride.

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For decades, India’s role in the global motorcycle industry was simple: build bikes cheaply, in huge numbers, for its own domestic market. The machines were small, basic, and designed for short commutes, overflowing traffic, brutal heat, bad roads, and relentless daily use. Whatever survived India was considered durable. Whatever failed was quietly forgotten.

What’s changed is how much the rest of the global motorcycle industry now depends on India. Today, India is no longer just a manufacturing center for domestic consumption. As the world’s largest motorcycle market and home to multiple manufacturers, it has the lower labor costs, manufacturing capacity, and supply chains needed to make building motorcycles less expensive than in Europe or the United States. That combination has also made India not only a motorcycle manufacturing center, but also an important proving ground for the next generation of lightweight motorcycles sold globally. New sub-500 cc machines flowing into American showrooms may wear European badges, but many of their core platforms were validated, stress-tested, refined, and built at scale thousands of miles away on Indian pavement and in Indian factories.

Motorcycles in India experience a combination of punishment few other markets can match. Heat regularly exceeds 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Traffic is constant. Fuel economy is important. Roads range from modern expressways to broken tarmac, dirt, gravel, and construction dust, sometimes all within the same mile. Riders carry passengers, cargo, and families. Maintenance intervals are stretched. Everything is a stress test.

A motorcycle built for India must tolerate prolonged idling in extreme heat, exposure to dust and to water during monsoon seasons, frequent starts and short trips in stop-and-go traffic, heavy loads, and inconsistent fuel quality. Everyone knows more manufacturers are building motorcycles in India to reduce expenses, but also, as a result, these engineering concepts are being tested in India’s harsh, real-world conditions.

It’s all part of India’s growing role in the global motorcycle industry.

Case study 1: Royal Enfield and the global 450 platform

Royal Enfield’s transformation from a niche heritage brand into a global middleweight force is one of the cleanest examples of India-led platform thinking and the new Himalayan illustrates the shift.

The old Himalayan 411 was charming and capable, but it was slow, heavy, and underpowered for highway use in places like the United States and Europe. Instead of simply revising that engine, Royal Enfield built an entirely new liquid-cooled 450 platform from the ground up. The Himalayan 450 that emerged is not just an Indian adventure bike. It is clearly designed with global markets in mind.

Power output rose significantly. Electronics arrived with traction control and ride-by-wire throttle. Chassis rigidity improved. Thermal management became sophisticated enough for sustained highway operation. Suspension travel is now competitive by global standards.

What’s critical is where this platform was developed: India. Royal Enfield’s engineers designed the Himalayan 450 to be a global motorcycle, one that had to meet Western expectations for performance while surviving daily use in far harsher conditions. Indian riding environments provided a relentless proving ground for cooling, durability, and drivability before peak horsepower became the primary focus. The result is a bike that can handle American highways and meet Western performance expectations as well as withstand Indian riding realities because it was designed for both, rather than being built for the domestic market and adapted for export after the fact.

And the Sherpa 450 engine in the Himalayan is not a one-off. It is now the foundation for multiple future global models — scramblers, roadsters, and touring machines, many aimed directly at Western buyers.

Case study 2: KTM and Bajaj’s global small-displacement network

If Royal Enfield represents India’s motorcycle industry both expanding abroad and moving into more premium categories, KTM represents industrial-scale global integration. Bajaj Auto builds nearly the entire global lineup of KTM’s small-displacement motorcycles in India, including the 125, 200, 250, and 390 Duke and RC families. The advantage of this strategy lies in scale. India’s domestic demand provides a ready market and India’s manufacturing capacity and established supply chains allow companies like KTM to build motorcycles in greater volumes and with greater efficiency.

For riders in the United States, Europe, and other developed markets, the biggest benefit has been affordability. Bikes such as the KTM 390 R Adventure deliver modern features, such as a liquid-cooled engine, electronic rider aids, and quality suspension while significantly undercutting competitors on price. None of those features are new, but they haven’t always been available at an entry-level price. Indian production volume made it economically viable.

Now, with Bajaj in control of KTM after the Austrian company’s financial problems, a new chapter will be written. While the details aren’t yet certain, it will definitely mean an even bigger role for Indian companies in the global motorcycle industry.

Case study 3: BMW and TVS Germany taps India to produce its entry-level line

Perhaps the most symbolic shift came when BMW Motorrad chose to partner with Indian manufacturer TVS to develop its smallest global platform instead of manufacturing in Germany, as it traditionally did. The G 310 R and G 310 GS were developed through a close collaboration between BMW Motorrad and TVS Motor Company, with engineering oversight led from Germany and production handled in India.

While BMW maintains that the core design and development were completed in Germany, the decision to manufacture the platform in India marked a strategic shift. It allowed BMW to leverage India’s manufacturing scale and cost efficiency to create a smaller, more affordable entry point into its global lineup. The result was BMW’s first truly global lightweight platform, sold in Europe, the United States, and emerging markets alike. For U.S. riders, the result was access to a genuinely usable BMW-badged motorcycle at price points previously unthinkable.

What it means for riders in the United States

Although these platforms are global, the demands of riders in India are different from what riders expect in the United States. In India, top-speed bragging rights matter far less than heat management, fuel efficiency, tractability in heavy traffic, and affordable maintenance. In the United States, the ability to sustain highway speeds, comfort over longer distances, premium suspension behavior, braking feel, and electronics integration carry much more weight. Vehicle weight, fit and finish, and component quality are also scrutinized differently. As a result, even though these are global platforms, details change from one market to another.

For riders in the United States, the growing involvement of Indian manufacturing has delivered something rare in the modern motorcycle market: better motorcycles at lower prices, without many of the compromises that once defined entry-level bikes. Not that long ago, buying an entry-level bike usually meant getting a carbureted, air-cooled engine and bargain suspension and brakes. Today’s 300-to-450 cc motorcycles are liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, electronically managed, emissions-compliant, and capable of real touring duty. This is possible because costs are spread across multiple continents and massive global volume and India’s lower manufacturing costs allow manufacturers to refine platforms and remain profitable.

For U.S. riders, the end result is simple: accessible motorcycles that no longer feel like compromises.

In my opinion, the most significant shift is philosophical. India is no longer merely a place where motorcycles are built cheaply. It has become a place where lightweight motorcycle platforms are validated, refined, and made viable at global scale.

Engineering and manufacturing centers in Chennai and Pune now play a critical role developing lightweight motorcycles sold from Los Angeles to London and beyond. What survives continuous usage in India thrives everywhere else.

As emissions regulations tighten, cities densify, and new riders enter the sport through smaller machines, the center of gravity has shifted. The global motorcycle industry still designs big bikes for open roads, but it increasingly perfects small ones in India first. And quietly, without much fanfare, the world now rides on what survives here.

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10 tips for winter motorcycle riding

You don’t have to live in Miami or Phoenix to be able to ride through the winter instead of storing your motorcycle. But at the same time, you don’t have to be exploring the ice roads of northern Canada to encounter challenges if you keep riding when cold weather hits.

Riding in cold weather makes some demands on us, if we want to stay as safe and comfortable as possible. Now maybe you’re the type who’s about to say, “That’s why I have a $50,000 pickup truck with a nice roof and heated seats, because riding in the winter is no fun.” That’s fine. I won’t think you any less of a motorcyclist but recognize that some of us actually enjoy taking on the challenge of winter riding and don’t want a multi-month layoff from riding. Let’s just respect each other’s risk tolerances and preferences. I don’t ride as far or as often in the winter, but even short rides as part of my everyday transportation improve my mood and I also like not being totally rusty when the first nice spring ride comes around.

If you’re like me, and you’d rather winter ride than winterize, you have to deal with the challenges of cold-weather motorcycle riding that require extra thought and vigilance. Those fall into three categories: the environment, your body, and your equipment. Here are 10 things to consider.

Winter riding: The harsh environment

It’s a cold cruel world out there, so consider these dangers.

1. Expected loss of traction: snow and ice. Get the obvious out of the way first. I’ve been caught out in snow on a motorcycle two times, about 25 years apart, both while commuting and, fortunately, both times I was less than two miles from my destination. I survived, but I’ll never do it intentionally. Riding a dirt bike in a snowy field or riding a motorcycle set up with studded tires on a frozen lake can be a lot of fun, as I personally learned last winter, but riding on the street in snowy or icy conditions puts you at the mercy of traffic situations you may not be able to deal with. As I mentioned above, we all have to determine our own risk tolerance, but ice or snow is where I personally draw the line. You make your choices and live with the consequences. If you do decide to ride in the snow intentionally, you’ll want studded tires and laws on those vary widely, so check locally.
2. Unexpected loss of traction: hidden ice. Even if you never intentionally go out in icy conditions, you still have to increase your vigilance. Say it’s sunny and dry with temperatures in the 40s at midday. You can still encounter leftover frost or ice in shaded or low-lying areas, so be alert to those situations. It’s never a good idea to ride a motorcycle on the street in a carefree fashion with your mind wandering, but in winter weather, you have to be even more engaged, constantly scanning and analyzing potential hazards.
3. Unexpected loss of traction: salt, cinders, patches, damage. We love to complain about the corrosion damage road salt does to our motorcycles and for many people that’s reason enough not to ride. (If you’re one of those, see suggestion number one in the equipment section below.) But salt can also rob you of traction. It’s similar to gravel when freshly strewn on the pavement and similar to dust when it’s been ground up by a thousand passing vehicles. Yes, even that fine dusting of salt reduces your tires’ grip. Other jurisdictions spread cinders, and that creates a winter hazard that lasts into spring. Another thing motorcyclists love to complain about on hot summer days, tar snakes, are also a cold-weather hazard. Just as they get gooey and slippery in the heat, those asphalt patches turn hard and slick in the cold. Finally, we all know the freeze-thaw cycle causes potholes and snowplows can gouge them up even worse, so be alert for new hazards even on your regular route.
4. Expected loss of traction: cold tires. I’ve had two minor, low-speed crashes on the street that both occurred on especially cold April mornings and both within a mile of my house.

Winter riding: Care and feeding of the operator

In his Common Tread article and video, Brandon has already provided some tips about gear and accessories that will help you stay comfortable (and therefore safer) while riding in cold weather. Beyond having the right gear, you also have to keep yourself in proper operating condition.

1. The cold makes you tired. The longest cold-weather ride I ever did was a trip from central Ohio to ZLA HQ in Philadelphia in February. It was sunny with temperatures in the 40s, so I didn’t have to worry about ice or snow. A 500-mile day is tiring under any conditions, but in the cold your body is working harder, generating heat. Extra rest stops and eating right and regularly are important. Don’t think you can only get dehydrated in hot weather, either. The dry air of winter sucks moisture out of you without you noticing. Days are shorter and temperatures can drop rapidly after sundown, so factor that into your planned distance. Nearly all my cold-weather rides are short ones, but if you are going to cover distance, consider what distance is realistic.
2. The cold reduces dexterity. So there you are on a salt-dusted road with cold tires and wearing insulated gloves when a car turns left in front of you, forcing you to threshold brake at the limits of reduced adhesion to avoid a crash. Do you have that level of fine control in your fingers when you need it most? When I choose winter gear, I put a lot of effort into keeping my hands warm. I’ve deployed various combinations of heated gloves, heated grips, handguards, and quality insulated gloves. On the road in winter, two things call for a mandatory stop: a shiver (means my core is getting cold) and stiff hands. A little warm water and time with the air hand dryer at the rest area restroom restores blood flow in my metacarpals.
3. The cold reduces mental concentration. It’s not just your frozen fingers. Hypothermia sets in gradually and it also affects your most vital organ, your brain. Words of warning from my friend Eric Trow, principal at Stayin’ Safe Motorcycle Training: “We tend to associate hypothermia with physical effects, such as stiff, numb, or aching hands and feet. But perhaps the greatest threat to the rider is the impact hypothermia can have on mental sharpness. Our thinking often slows, our active scanning and anticipation of potential threats diminishes, and our judgment can become seriously compromised. As a result, bad situations seem to develop more quickly and more often. And when they do, the physical limitations of stiff and numb hands and feet make responding to a threat even more ineffective. That’s a rather ‘chilling’ combination when you think about the potential consequences.” Stop before you get to that danger point.

Winter riding: Equipment matters

There is no ride without your motorcycle, the essential third part of the equation. My tips:

1. Buy a winter beater. Here’s a great excuse to buy another motorcycle. If you’re one of those riders who puts away your expensive bike for four months of the year because you don’t want to expose it to salt or test your throttle-control skills with a high-powered machine in iffy conditions, buy a cheap dual-sport. Many years ago, when I had a Monday-through-Friday regular commute to an office job where it was an unofficial badge of honor to ride year-round, I bought a humble Honda NX250 for $1,100 and rode it to work all winter for several years. The dual-sport tires worked well in the cold, the light weight and modest power made it easy to handle in sub-optimal traction conditions, and since it was already a beater when I bought it, I didn’t feel bad about its hard life.
2. Don’t neglect maintenance. Days are short. You ride home from work and arrive in darkness. Performing maintenance in the cold sounds about as appealing as taking a staple gun to your forehead. But the salt is at work on components. Sticky cables aren’t likely to move more freely as the temperature drops. Make time to keep on top of what’s happening to your ride (easier to do if you’ve stored your good bike and have only your winter beater to attend to).
3. Tires, again. We’re probably not going to be like the car driver who switches to snow tires for the season, but it does make sense to consider all-around performance when choosing tires. Compared to high-performance sport tires, sport-touring tires are generally designed with more siping to move water and with compounds that perform well over a wider temperature range, making them a better choice. If you’re riding that dual-sport I recommended, today’s 50-50 adventure tires work great on the street in wet conditions and could be a real lifesaver if you do get caught in some slushy snow.

Leave us your comments.

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Ural Motorcycles is going in an entirely different direction. Will the change be a fresh start that allows the company, which dates to World War II, survive? Or is this a radical change of direction that will leave behind the traditional customers for the quirky sidecar rigs while failing to attract new buyers?

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say Ural is fighting for survival. Ural co-owner and company President Ilya Khait says the same of the radical changes. “The alternative was losing Ural altogether. We’d rather see the name move forward than carved on a tombstone,” he wrote in an open letter to customers posted on the company website.

In short, Ural has ceased production of its “legacy models,” the two-wheel-drive motorcycle-and-sidecar rigs that look like they could have been fending off the German invasion of Russia more than 80 years ago. Is that pause permanent? Khait says that’s uncertain at this point. But for now, at least, Ural will be producing the Ural Neo 500 instead, a very different looking motorcycle and sidecar rig built with the Yingang company in China.

It seems like a risky gamble. Buyers who wanted the old-time look of the legacy Ural models are unlikely to take to the appearance of the Neo, so Ural will have to court an entire new cohort of buyers. And sidecars are not an easy sale, to begin with. But, as Khait described it in his letter, a risky move is better than certain failure. The company was no longer able to build its legacy models profitably.

A series of life-threatening challenges

For Ural, existential crises seem to come along at regular intervals and the company has survived them all so far, so maybe it can survive this one, too.

Formed from the need to mechanize troops in World War II, the company grew in the Soviet era to employ nearly 10,000 people at its plant in Irbit, primarily producing vehicles for the domestic market. The first crisis came with the fall of the Soviet Union. With cheap cars now being imported from eastern Europe, Russians weren’t buying motorcycles with sidecars. The company nearly went under.

Ural was bought by Khait and other investors who revamped the company, greatly reducing the workforce and buying parts and components from suppliers instead of trying to make every single part in-house. Though production continued in Irbit, Khait ran the company from a small office and warehouse in Washington state. Then came the next crisis when Russia invaded Ukraine and Russian companies were hit with international sanctions. Ural hastily moved production across the border to a plant in Kazakhstan to avoid the sanctions, while still keeping some operations in Irbit. But Khait says that model has become unsustainable. Then, on top of that, the company was hit with the new tariffs this year, making it even more unprofitable to import to the United States, Ural’s largest market.

Once again in financial difficulties, Ural is already dealing with unhappy customers who have not been able to get parts for their older models. I doubt many of those customers, who found the idea of a Russian BMW-knockoff straight out of the 1940s to be a charming choice for personal transportation will shift to deciding a far more modern-looking unit styled and built in China is a suitable substitute. Which means Ural will have to find an entirely new set of customers to survive its latest crisis.

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For several years, the Street Triple was Triumph’s best-selling model, and one way it racked up those big numbers apart from its all-around goodness was offering multiple flavors for riders of varying tastes and needs.

Someone on a budget who wanted a modern ride for weekday commuting that was still plenty sporty enough for weekend fun rides might choose the base model. A rider doing multiple track days a year might spring for a higher spec version with additional ride modes. Those seeking a certain style or exclusivity could opt for the RX version that was around a few years or the limited-run Moto2 edition paying tribute to Triumph’s role as engine supplier to that world championship.

Now that Triumph has introduced the Trident 800, the Street Triple line is free to pursue its sportier side. The Trident can now fill the slot for riders who want a middleweight for street duty but have no plans for track days or for those who never got comfortable with the Street Triple’s evolving looks and have spent the last decade-plus complaining that its headlights aren’t round. So while previously the Street Triple RS was the sportier member of the family, now it gets two siblings for 2026 that are even higher spec.

The 2026 Street Triple RX brings back that spicy suffix to the Striple line, while the 2026 Street Triple Moto2 is another limited-edition model that leverages Triumph’s role as engine supplier to the Moto2 world championship series. Both are identical mechanically, with Triumph claiming 128.2 horsepower at 12,000 rpm and a wet weight of 414.5 pounds. Both get a fully adjustable Öhlins NIX30 fork, instead of the previous Showa front suspension, to match the Öhlins rear shock.

Both models also carry on the full set of electronic rider aids, with five ride modes, including one optimized for the track and one that can be customized by the rider, as well as cornering ABS and cornering traction control. There’s also a bidirectional quickshifter.

Triumph built a Street Triple RX a decade ago, with sportier styling, and earlier this year it introduced the Speed Triple RX, with clip-ons and carbon fiber bits and semi-active suspension, making it the highest performing entry in the Speed Triple line. The same RX formula now applies to the Street Triple, with clip-ons instead of a traditional handlebar and a sleek tail section to go with the uprated suspension.

Triumph has been supplying race-prepped 765 engines for the Moto2 series since 2019 and the company noted that those engines have now run more than a million miles in race conditions. The 2026 Street Triple Moto2, like the Moto2 street motorcycles before it, highlights that racing connection. While the Moto2 is the same mechanically as the RX, it adds an element of exclusivity because it will be limited to 1,000 numbered units worldwide. It gets a few carbon fiber bits and a lot of Moto2 branding, along with its numbered top triple clamp and unique paint. 

The RX will be available in dealerships in North America in December and the Moto2 arrives next spring. See pricing and details in the specifications below.

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