2018 Bikesales Bike of the Year: Introduction

Picking an outright winner from nine of the best road bikes going ain't easy, but a frenetic three days in Tasmania certainly helps…

The Bikesales Bike of the Year mega-test just keeps on growing, and for 2018 our all-star line-up of exquisite machines headed overseas – or over Bass Strait, to be precise – to the motorcycling paradise that is Tasmania.

Tassie's combination of superb roads and sparse traffic makes it nothing short of motorcycling Nirvana, and we were going to need all the help we could get to narrow our nine road-bike finalists down to one ultimate winner.

Each of these nine bikes represents what we think are currently the best bikes in their respective fields – a collection determined after much reflection, discussion and perhaps the odd argument, and after reviewing all the many new and established models Bikesales reviewers have sampled over the past year.

Of course, this is a road test and so we only assembled the road-bike models of this year's awards for this mega-test, leaving out the winners of our Motocross (Kawasaki KX450) and Enduro (Gas Gas EC 300) categories. We don't usually take along our Scooter category winner too, but as this year's finalist was a maxi-scooter we felt it was well equipped to mix it with its bigger-capacity cousins.

As such, our 2018 Bikesales Bike of the Year road-bike category winners were as follows:

• Supersport: Ducati Panigale V4S
• Cruiser: Harley-Davidson Fat Bob 114
• Naked: Yamaha MT-09SP
• Touring: BMW K 1600 Grand America
• Sportstouring: KTM 1290 Super Duke GT
• Adventure: Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports DCT
• Adventure sport: BMW S 1000 XR
• Retro: Kawasaki Z900RS Café
• Scooter: Kymco AK550

So how do you select an outright winner among that eclectic cast of two-wheeled talent? Our nine testers, including long-term bike journos and riders with decades of experience, were assessing and scoring our fleet against a broad range of criteria.

A potential total of up to 20 points were awarded across each of five broad categories – Engine & Drivetrain; Handling & Brakes; Build Quality; Value for Money; and Fit for Purpose – while each of those fields was then broken up into several sub-sets. It's a very similar ratings system to that used by Bikesales.com.au's sister site, Carsales.com.au, for its annual Car of the Year awards, and ultimately it gives each machine a score out of 100.

While we had no limits on price, performance or capacity, to be eligible each bike must be a volume production machine and on sale in Australia as of September 1, 2018. So, with all that in mind, we gathered our bikes and riders and set sail for Tassie…

Testing times

For 2018 we piled nine motorcycles, one Lexus RX 350L camera car and one Fiat Ducato support van onto the Spirit of Tasmania ferry at Port Melbourne.

This voyage across Bass Strait is the traditional start and end to any motorcycle tour of the Apple Isle, and after a hearty feed in the ship's bistro and a night in the Spirit's compact but well-appointed cabins, we awoke the following morning to a misty morning start in Devonport.

The plan was simple: trace a clockwise route around the top half of Tasmania, taking in some of the best roads the island state has to offer.

Day one saw us make a beeline from Devonport to Launceston to fulfil some media obligations – seems Tassie's TV news and a variety of radio stations were keen to learn more about this Bikesales Bike of the Year test, especially as it was all taking place in their own backyard…

Those obligations met, we then headed for Scottsdale, St Helens, and the famed St Marys and Elephant Passes, before hitting the seaside town of Bicheno, where we stayed for the night.

Day two took us over the flowing and serpentine Lake Leake Road to Campbell Town, before we headed south Bothwell, down to Hamilton, and then up the picturesque Lyell Highway to Derwent Bridge and finally Queenstown.

That left day three for the run back to the Spirit of Tasmania, taking us north from Queenstown past Lake Plimsoll to Tullah, then Hellyer Gorge on the run to Burnie, before hugging the coast east to Devonport.

That gave us three jam-packed days and around 900km of superb roads in which to reach a final decision – and to gather all the video and photography required to present our findings here on Bikesales.com.au.

The crew

Like last year, we took along ace videographers Rene Mitchell-Pitman and John Wilson to capture all the action, along with veteran automotive photographer Stuart Grant to work his magic with the stills. Rene and John had over $100,000-worth of Lexus at their disposal – thanks to Carsales for the use of its long-term test vehicle! – while Stu piloted our Fiat Ducato support van, carting the whole crew's gear (and any bikes that might run into difficulties over the course of the trip, as was the case on the final day!).

As for our cast of riders, this year's bunch comprised the usual Bikesales regulars along with some fresh faces. Well, 'fresh' perhaps isn't the operative word, given our nine participants brought a combined total of 329 years of riding experience to the table – that's an average of over 36 years apiece!

So, somewhere between Tassie's spectacular coastal highways, winding mountain passes, challenging gorges and ancient forests, the Bikesales team arrived at one solitary motorcycle worthy of the title of 2018 Bikesales Bike of the Year.

Which one was it? Read on for a full report on each of our nine road-category finalists – it will whet your appetite before we announce the 2018 Bikesales Bike of the Year at the 2018 Melbourne Moto Expo on Friday, November 23.

2018 Bikesales Bike of the Year: Introduction

Testing times

The crew

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