Adventure Motorcycles are Perfect for Canada

Dec 19, 2022 — I once read a forum post from a German rider. He had heard about the legendary coast-to-coast ride and was wondering if the Trans-Canada Highway was paved.

Yes. Yes it is.

Then I remembered when I used to work in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park. It's an old railway-turned-bicycle-path, up in the mountains about 1300 meters above Kelowna. I was checking the parking lot for bear scat and fallen trees when a group of Californian motorcyclists came bumping up the logging road on their custom choppers. The chips in their gas tanks matched the ones on their shoulders. As they launched into a tirade about how nature parks should be accessible by four-lane boulevards, I couldn’t help but think:

No. No they shouldn’t.

Canada isn’t the same as the rest of the world. It isn’t all that different either. Yes, it’s a little more rustic and spacious than some countries. No, it’s not a brutal, semi-arctic desolation.

The truth of our great country is somewhere in the middle ground. Like ADV motorcycles.

The Spirit of Adventure

Adventure touring is the fastest growing subset of motorcycling, and we're okay with that. ADV bikes are a not-so-elegant mix of on-road power and off-road prowess. You might say that they don't really excel at anything. Or you could say that they excel at doing everything. Take your pick.

ADV machines can carve on the road, but you won’t look like Marc Marquez with your elbow scraping the pavement.

ADV bikes have the suspension and ground clearance to tear down dirt roads without difficulty. But if you try to take one of these clunky machines over tight trails and hill climbs, you’ll probably dump it.

And again, the upright riding position of an ADV bike will make long rides wonderfully bearable. But you won’t get that La-Z-Boy feel of a proper touring bike.

So, the ADV motorcycle is a jack of all trades. And so is Canada.

We have some gorgeously paved roads with tight, curvy lines. But after a good winter, those same highways will look like the surface of the moon, only dustier. And for every endless stretch of highway, there’s a dirt road that dwindles into some gnarly-looking trail head.

ADV motorcycles can manage it all. And that's why — when we decided to ride all over Canada for the FortNine Explore travel series — we decided to do it on an ADV bike.

An Incredibly Varied Landscape

See, ADV motorcycles offer more than I can handle at a given time. On pavement, I'll never make full use of the off-road capability. And on dirt, the road-going side of an ADV machine can't stretch its legs. So my motorcycle is always egging me on to do more.

Just like Canada.

The Rockies, the Great Lakes, the tundra... Canada offers more than I could experience in a lifetime. But because it's all out there, I'm inspired to go and live it. Some of it, anyway. As much as I can.

So the ADV bike is the perfect Canadian machine. It's rugged, refined and full of possibilities. There's a Great White North outside your window. And inside your motorcycle.

It's more than you'll ever master — so give it a try.