Harley-Davidson says the RV range suppliers has “premium” rear suspension, which hopefully means they’ve tuned it for more aggressive riding (rear shock travel is allegedly 3.Of course, the Roadster is just the latest evolutionary step in Harley-Davidson’s long-running Sportster platform.2 inches).The Roadster is part of the Dark Custom series, intended to look like something a handy garage-based builder would put together.Dry weight is 258 kg. At time of writing, no Canadian MSRP was available.GALLERYCheck out all the pics that go with this story!. Styling is also intended to bring back memories of the days when Sportsters were high-performance weapons on the drag strip.Things to like about the new bike:Along with a 19-inch front wheel and 18-inch rear, Harley-Davidson included dual-disc brakes up front (ABS optional) and 43 mm inverted front forks.The Sportster lineup once again has a new entry, with the introduction of the new Harley-Davidson Roadster. They also made sure the bike has mid-mounted controls, which are preferred by many riders for aggressive riding. It’s powered by their air-cooled 1200 cc V-twin.You can find more details on the Roadster on Harley-Davidson’s Canadian website hereGiven these market trends, governmental restrictions, and the practicality of adapting an already-existing platform, an adventure bike built around the FZ-07 makes sense.It’s been rumoured for a long time, but if recent spy shots are for real, Yamaha is finally building an adventure bike around their FZ-07 platform — a new Tenere.Currently, Yamaha has the XT660Z Tenere as their mid-sized adventure bike, although it isn’t available in North America. Expect to see more rally fairings in the future, as adventure bike designers seem to be taking to the style..This snap (we saw it on Visordown, but it’s in other Euro mags as well) shows the prototype seems to be aimed at legitimate off-road use — it eschews easily-chipped cast rims for wire wheels.There’s also a large bash plate to fend off boulders and rocks. The bodywork is a bit of a mess, but it seems to sport a large rally-style fairing, similar to the existing XT660.Overall, it’s encouraging to see this photo floating around, as it’s a bike that might actually show up in North America, because we aren’t likely to ever see the 660 thumper arrive at this point.That single-cylinder platform is getting very long in the tooth, and likely won’t be able to meet ever-restrictive Euro emissions and safety restrictions. People have been asking for one ever since the twin-cylinder Yamaha debuted. The low-slung front fender might cause trouble when slogging through heavy muck, but most adventure bikes aren’t used for that these days. Yamaha could go ahead and build a new thumper, but the dual sport market is increasingly moving towards smaller, lighter bikes, while the adventure market is moving towards bigger, smoother, bikes
