00:00All right, we're here at the Cycleworld office on a Saturday morning and that's because it's
00:22October and that means 10 best.
00:25So we've already decided most of the 10 best categories already, but when they asked me
00:30what's the best lightweight bike of 2024, I just couldn't decide right off the rip.
00:36I knew the three bikes that I had in mind, but I had to get them all together with the
00:41boys to figure out what is the best bike in the lightweight category for 2024.
00:47So I got Doug and Bradley with me right here.
00:49We've got the Triumph Speed 400 over there, Duke 390 right there, and then the track focused
00:56Aprilia RS457 right here.
00:58We're going to just go for your typical Saturday ride.
01:02We'll do freeway stuff, of course, some city kind of suburban stuff, and then get these
01:08bikes up in the twisties, wail on them a little bit, and find out what's the best lightweight
01:13bike of 2024.
01:15Let's go for it.
01:19Man, this KTM, like 70 miles per hour, and like there's a sixth gear to roll on, like
01:29passing power is pretty impressive.
01:32This thing doesn't vibrate or buzz like too much.
01:36Yeah, this Aprilia does feel good out here.
01:41It definitely has like a little bit heavier steering than the KTM, but like once you're
01:46out here, it feels really good and planted.
01:49Okay, I'm not going to lie, right off the bat, this handlebar just feels silly on this
01:53bike.
01:54If I sit where they want me to sit, the gap between me and the handlebar, which is like
02:03nothing, I'm like bolt upright.
02:05It's a compact package.
02:08There's no doubt about that.
02:10I can't really fault that because I'm just tall.
02:13Thanks, dad.
02:14You made me tall.
02:15The rider section here is pretty long.
02:18The cool thing about the Aprilia is it looks and feels like a full-size bike.
02:23I mean, riding down the freeway, getting here, it was really surprising how comfortable I
02:29was.
02:30I mean, for sure, a little bit more weight on the wrist, you're up over the front just
02:33a little bit.
02:34It does have that kind of sport bike ergos, but dimensionally, it's a bigger motorcycle.
02:39Aprilia was trying to build a bike that had that sport bike lineage, right?
02:46They've definitely succeeded in that.
02:49And then Triumph was just trying to build a comfortable roadster.
02:52Nice.
02:53Yeah, just road games.
02:54And they've accomplished that.
02:55They've totally accomplished that.
02:56I haven't had Julian Pine in a long time.
02:59Let's see if we head over there.
03:01If we find it.
03:02Pine and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, huh?
03:09So, I'd already kind of done a couple little stunt tricks on the KTM.
03:21I didn't think the Aprilia would do it so well, but it actually surprised me.
03:25You can do no stoppies, and it doesn't wheelie quite as well, but it was a pretty good little
03:29hooligan bike.
03:30The shorter rides would be better on the Aprilia.
03:33I don't find it offensive, but it's a little bit tighter than the Triumph.
03:38It's fine for me riding it right now, but if I had to do, say, 200 miles instead of
03:4450, I would probably choose the Triumph for 200 miles just because of the ergos.
03:51Yeah, the Triumph's pretty comfortable.
03:54I like the ergonomics on it.
03:57The engine doesn't quite have what the other bikes do, so it feels like you're kind of
04:02pushing the envelope of what this engine wants to do, that kind of sustained high speed.
04:07I will say, the softer seat, the plush seat, is really nice.
04:11Just made it to the lookout.
04:13You can see right there, we're on the Elsinore side of the Ortega Highway, which just recently
04:20got burned.
04:21As you can see over there, gnarly fire that just came through here recently.
04:26We all got to switch off and hop on each of the bikes, and so far, we were noticing things
04:32that are quite different.
04:33We're so different.
04:34Obviously.
04:35We kind of knew they would be different.
04:36There's some stuff that stands out on each of them, I would say, right?
04:39Yeah, for sure.
04:40And everything's different, like, ergos are different, engine character's different, like,
04:46styling obviously is different, chassis, yeah.
04:50Looking at the evolution of small bikes, I'm like, the KTM, for me, it's like a middle
04:55ground.
04:56You get so much performance to it.
04:57Yeah, for sure.
04:58It's pretty cool.
04:59I mean, it's a little bit on edge in some ways, where the Triumph doesn't have that.
05:03Riley's trying to act like the KTM is too on edge.
05:07You know how many times I've heard him say that, especially about KTMs?
05:12Come on.
05:13Let's see.
05:14Where's the motocross track?
05:15The motocross track is where?
05:16Yeah, like right there.
05:21Honestly, I feel like the KTM is, probably offers the most from my experience so far
05:26with them, but it's also very on edge in a lot of ways.
05:31The vibration, especially, the ergonomics on it, like, it's so compact.
05:36It asks a lot of the rider, relative to the category.
05:41Like, if you're a smaller rider, okay, it'd probably fit okay.
05:45I'd be curious.
05:46Yeah, I mean, it definitely feels pretty cramped, like, compared to the Triumph and the Aprilia.
05:57Me being a smaller rider, like, it doesn't really bother me so far.
06:01Peg, do your legs feel tight on the KTM?
06:04I mean, I haven't maybe spent enough time on it to, like, get that.
06:07I didn't feel that.
06:08To me, it just felt like the tank is, like, you're up on top of the tank with the bars,
06:14like, close.
06:15You're trying to turn a supermoto.
06:17Yeah, and for me, it's basically, does the Triumph have enough performance and aggression
06:21for me?
06:23Does the KTM have enough comfort for me?
06:26And then, can the Aprilia act like a good enough, just, day-to-day street bike for me?
06:31The cool thing about Julian is you've got, A, it's just like a cool, scenic town.
06:35It has a good vibe to it.
06:37And then, on the one side of Julian, like, going out, it's got, like, one of the best
06:42roads ever, Banner Grade.
06:44And it's just repaved, like, not that long ago.
06:47Yeah.
06:51Surprisingly, we made it here before the sun went down, which is unlike us.
06:55Yeah.
06:56We didn't make it for lunch, but we made it for dinner.
06:59But, pretty cool, we made it in time to meet up with our buddies, Alex and Jen, who own
07:05Quinn Knives here in Julian, which is really cool.
07:08Some folks that we know from the motorcycle industry, and they ended up here, what, it
07:11was, like, a couple years ago.
07:12Yeah, I think she said four years ago.
07:13Yeah, and bought this knife store up here in Julian.
07:22Quinn Knives, right here.
07:24Come check it out if you're in the Julian area.
07:26And now, pie.
07:28Pie.
07:29So, the bad news is, the pie's not ready yet.
07:32The big lesson today, you should come check out Julian if you get a chance.
07:36Such a cool little town, so much to see, so much good food.
07:41And it was a good ride up.
07:42Yeah.
07:43Good ride up, good times on the bikes.
07:45Yeah.
07:46Got good roads everywhere.
07:47Good roads, good for riding.
07:48That's the thing I like about coming down here.
07:50You've got those big open back roads where you can, like, test the comfort of the bikes.
07:54You're obviously riding freeways for a little bit to get down here, so you get to understand
07:57the bike's net.
07:58You've got really good pavement, tight, twisty stuff.
08:01You've got some choppy pavement.
08:02You just experience all of it.
08:04Yeah.
08:05We talked a lot about the triumph, the comfort on the big open back roads, the KTM, the agility
08:09and the really tight stuff.
08:11And then, the Aprilia is when you've got a really nice, smooth road that's, like, your
08:15proper canyon road.
08:16Like, that's where that thing shines, right?
08:19But, I think, like, probably, I don't want to speak for you guys, but, like, I think
08:22one of my big takeaways from the day is not just looking at what all the bikes do well,
08:27but what the bikes don't do well.
08:29Yeah.
08:30Like, where the shortcomings are.
08:31I think that's a good measurement of these bikes.
08:33And, yeah, I think, in my opinion, I think we keep going back to, I would probably say
08:38the KTM has the most shortcomings.
08:40I know we talked about that a little bit on the ride over, right?
08:42Mm-hmm.
08:43Yeah.
08:44Yeah.
08:45It's a tighter package.
08:46It's smaller.
08:47It's more compact.
08:48It's a little bit more sensitive.
08:49It's very agile, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but, you know, overall, in the
08:54big picture...
08:55Yeah.
08:56It's not to say they're bad motorcycles.
08:58Like, the whole point of the reason we talked about this earlier, the reason why we have
09:01these motorcycles is because they're all, like, the cream of the crop within the category.
09:04We're trying to find out which is the best.
09:06So, like, yeah, we're talking about maybe some negatives here and there, but, like, let's
09:09be honest, none of it makes...
09:11They're all strong motorcycles.
09:12These things have so many strengths.
09:13It's crazy.
09:14Yeah.
09:15Like, I really just like that KTM.
09:17No, it's not very...
09:19It's the least comfortable.
09:20Yeah.
09:21It's the most kind of on-edge, twitchy bike.
09:24Yeah.
09:25But it just...
09:26But that's just, like, it's you.
09:28It's me.
09:29It's you stopping us.
09:30We're not gonna tell you the answer yet.
09:32Wait for 10 Best to come out.
09:34Watch videos, read reviews, because damn near every bike these days is pretty dangerous.
09:40We're gonna get our bellies full of popcorn.
09:42There's cheese pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie.
09:44Don't have a pie.
09:46Well, I guess that's it then, right?
09:47That's it.
09:48Thank you guys for tuning in.
09:49We'll see you on the next one.
09:54Where are you going?
09:55Don't want some circle track with me?
09:59Come circle track with me.
10:11Alright.
10:20I can't back it in.
10:36That little off camber right there is hard.
10:40You gotta really take advantage of it right there.
Comments