Our love for sportsbikes is an unconditional love, but touring aboard these fully-faired brethren brings obvious limitations – especially when you have to pack hideous amounts of camping gear and, of course, a drum kit, a keyboard and a guitar. Yes, we were getting the band back together.
Armed with the a BMW GS Rallye, KTM’s 1290 Super Adventure S and a Triumph Tiger Explorer XRT, we loaded the trio with as many essentials as possible and headed to the Nurburgring for week of camping-based hedonism. Adventure bikes have slowly evolved into perfect all-rounders, as demonstrated by this lot and their ability to munch miles in comfort and bust fairly rapid laps of the ‘Ring.
We fitted all three bikes with Bridgestone A40s to keep things fair (and safe). There aren’t many sticky rubber options for adventure bikes but these A40s allow pannier-scraping degrees of lean and silly mileage. This first instalment of Lords of the Ring features the trip there and everything that comes with a spontaneous adventure, plus a brief look at the epic roads that surround the ‘Ring and a glimpse of our debut music video.
Big thanks to: Bridgestone for the rubbery goodness, RST for the work wear, and Camping World for the onslaught of fine camping equipment. Take a look at what we took (and some super deals on kit) here. And big ups to Roy Orbison for dropping in and playing the guitar…
