DUAL-SPORT HALL OF FAME: THE MOTORCYCLES THAT BUILT A CATEGORY

#dirtbike #offroad #sports #outdoors #history We’re the first to admit it. Back in the day, we didn’t get it. “We” being Dirt Bike Magazine in the distant, yellowed past of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. When you flip through those old issues, it’s apparent that there was no room for compromise. Why bother? We were celebrating the coming of specialized enduro bikes, purpose-built motocross racers and exotic machines that were just making their way to America for the first time. Old, heavy four-stroke scramblers were something we were trying to get away from. At some point, things began to change. We might not have seen it at first, but the lack of a specialty was becoming a specialty in itself. Those massive twin-cylinder street bikes with their upswept pipes gave way to nimble, lightweight off-road bikes. Between the urbanization of America and the closure of riding areas, the idea of riding from your garage became more and more appealing. This month we got to flip the pages of time back a few decades with the test of the Kawasaki KLR650. That bike perfectly illustrates the changing place of dual-sport bikes and the rise of the ADV category. When it first arrived in 1987, Dirt Bike barely had the interest to test it. We were too busy with bikes that we thought mattered more. Now, we look back on it as one of the most important bikes of the last 50 years. Subscribe to Dirtbike Magazine: https://hi-torque.com/product/subscri... FREE APP DOWNLOAD Apple:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dirt-... Android: https://play.google.com/storeappsdeta... Amazon/kindle:     http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009D8V39C/ Follow Dirtbike Magazine:    / dirtbikemagazine   Dirtbike Magazine Website: http://www.dirtbikemagazine.com Dirtbike Magazine Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/dirtbi... Dirtbike Magazine Twitter:   / dirtbikemag   Dirtbike Magazine Instagram:   / dirtbikemag