It was a foregone conclusion that BMW’s all-new, “precision liquid-cooled” boxer engine that debuted in this year’s R1200GS would soon spread like a puddle of spilled ethylene glycol to cover the rest of BMW’s flat-twin lineup. Recent spy shots captured in the south of France reveal that BMW’s R1200RT touring bike will be the next model to receive the water-boxer upgrade. A trio of heavily disguised test mules undergoing final validation testing reveals that the next RT incorporates the same mechanical upgrades as the GS model, plus styling and comfort features that appear inspired by the K1600GT—including an even larger fairing and the optional “adaptive” Xenon headlight array that “sees into corners.”

This is highly unusual, a one-time thing. Really. I mean it. Here it is, early April and we still haven’t received any Honda CB500-series testbikes. Despite being introduced late last year and actually on the road in Europe, the American press has seen nothing and heard little more than the word “delayed.” Indeed, Honda Europe held its press launch in February. February!

Some parts of riding are simple. When the choices of action are limited or easy to grasp, riders feel in control. When choices are more complex or not fully understood, errors can occur. If riding sometimes feels like a coin toss—heads, I brake; tails, I gas it—realize that you have some work to do.

Dreamers take a lot of flak in this world. “Real life” is meant to be one big bowl of broccoli, steamed into properly ascetic green mush. Don’t tell the hall monitors that somewhere, out on the high plains, a couple of dedicated riders are doing what motorcyclists do best: cheating life.

Somewhere along the way, I lost control of my Suzuki DR650. Not like that, though I’ve definitely run it through a few trees and dragged it down a slope or two. No, where I let it get away from me had to do with modifications, and giving purchase to that crazy idea that I could make my 2005 model into a “modern” dual-sport machine. I know that factory engineers make compromises of performance and cost, and in doing so face an impossible task. Where you want to go isn’t where you can go.

Motorcyclist: What role does testing play in Metzeler’s R&D process?

Growing up, I loved magazines such as Popular Mechanics and Popular Science for the cover illustrations of future tech and the many inventions that would change our lives. In recent years, websites like Modern Mechanix (blog.modernmechanix.com) have preserved the old covers and articles, showing that while there have been tremendous and very real technical advances, there has also been techno-fantasy and science fiction mixed with the genuine progress.

1967 Montesa 250 Impala Sports
Name: John Green
Age: 63
Home: Playa del Rey, California
Occupation: Social Worker

Some days, I can’t find my feet.

Evan Firstman skids his BMW GS to a stop half a foot from the gathered class members. His body language is unmistakable. In one energetic motion he swipes the kill switch, flicks open his visor, and thrusts two fists into the air. “Man, that was awesome. I made it all the way through...first time ever!” The rider closest to him receives a hard fist bump to a heartfelt war whoop. The elation in his eyes matches his overt actions.

There is an old proverb that says, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” When it comes to riding, nothing could be further from the truth. Not knowing can definitely hurt you. A few decades ago, rider errors seemed inevitable because no one seemed to know why they happened. It wasn’t even an open discussion because everyone just knew riding was dangerous. Case closed.

“Look out, Dad. Tire cloud at 12 o’clock.”

The 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball II Endurance Run had all the makings of an epic tale. It attracted participants from around the globe who shared a love for old motorcycles and were compelled to test themselves and their machines in a singular way. Nearly 70 bikes made it to the start in Newburgh, NY, creating an assemblage of museum-quality bikes the likes of which had never before been put together for a ride like this.

2005 Triumph Daytona 650
Name: Tracy DeBrita
Age: 42
Home: Williston, Vermont
Occupation: Fitness Trainer and Professional Body Builder

Mild-mannered Julian Farnam, a respected member of his Livermore, CA, community and an accomplished Industrial Designer at Dolby Labs, is definitely a Dirtbag. Farnam has been building unconventional motorcycles for decades, including a hub-center-steered RZ350 that's his daily driver. A decade or so ago, Farman also produced the AK-1 roadrace frames for Kawasaki EX500 engines, and he's been a Dirtbagger since 2010, when he entered the contest with a chopped VF700 Interceptor.

More than 10,000 people rolled through The One Motorcycle Show in Portland in February-or at least that's the best guess, since admission is free and nobody is really counting. This is Portlandia, after all.

Emory Pass in south-central New Mexico nearly had us for dinner. On the way over HIghway 152 between Silver City and Hillsboro, the road gradually turned from merely rough and dusty to icy and snow-patched as we headed into the trees and the temperature dipped below freezing. Wending through pine-scattered canyons, the highway became tighter and ever more challenging. It was getting dark. Thanks to heated gear, we were all warm, but I had a trickle of sweat running down my back not from the Gerbing's liner but from anxiety.

At 33 feet by 16 feet with an 8-foot-high ceiling, Room 410 at the Horn Lake Best Western Plus near Memphis, TN, has more than 4000 cubic feet of storage capacity. Plenty roomy for the largest Hog rider, this huge volume is cooled by a low-mounted, through-the-wall Sanyo air conditioner wired to a remote Simple Comfort 2001L thermostat. Best Western, hoping to avoid the red-hot hotel BTU wars, declines to rate the Sanyo. But from the amp draw I'm guessing around 18,000. 410's copy of the SC 2001L thermostat has an overly tight differential, causing the Sanyo to short-cycle. Dehumidifying performance suffers and if I was staying more than one night I'd install the spare Robertshaw 7-day programmable unit I carry in my pocket for just this situation.

Doomsday scenarios surround us—the Mayan apocalypse, fiscal cliffs, peak oil, hypercanes, the credit crunch—and even motorcycling isn’t immune. Pessimists wring hands over the “death of the motorcycle industry,” especially in Japan, where seven-year-old sportbikes, missing model years, the end of exotic concepts, lackluster race support, and so many other examples that would have seemed unthinkable five years ago have become the new norm.

When the Irish novelist Bram Stoker wrote the dark Gothic novel Dracula in 1897, the world of mysticism, the occult, and belief in the underworld were held in a very different regard than today. His novel dabbled in the unknown and was indeed made of scary stuff. Doubtless he would be amazed that his fictitious vampire character not only spawned numerous cult movies but also an entire tourism industry for the district of Transylvania in Romania.

In the late ‘50s, when Soichiro Honda wanted to expand beyond the domestic Japanese market and build Honda into a global brand, the first thing he did was go racing. Mr. Honda thought international racing success would elevate his motorcycles above other Japanese machines, and make the Honda name known beyond Japan’s borders. Of course he was right. Now, almost 60 years later, motorcycle manufacturers in another isolated market—India—want to expand globally and follow Mr. Honda’s path. Will they have the same success?

Mahindra isn’t the only Indian company to jump on the racing-as-brand-building bandwagon. Market leader Hero MotoCorp has joined in as well, making racing a key component of the attempt to reinvent its image after ending a 26-year-long joint venture with Honda in 2010. This isn’t news to American racing enthusiasts. Followers of AMA SuperBike are already familiar with the Hero name thanks to that firm’s title sponsorship of the Erik Buell Racing effort, an outgrowth of Erik Buell’s technical consultancy with the massive Indian manufacturer.

Name: Rob Brooks
Age: 49
Home: Dacula,Georgia
Occupation: Minister

In riding, each moment contains the question of how to arrive at—or how to avoid—a certain location in space, at a certain moment in time. Typically, it hardly requires thought at all: Avoid the pothole, turn here or there, pass the car or wait.

Two of the most important technical developments in motorcycling have come to us via the automotive industry: electronic fuel injection (EFI) and anti-lock brakes (ABS). That they arrived first in cars shouldn’t be a surprise if you understand what it must have cost to develop and implement these technologies—on the order of billions, rather than millions, of dollars. It’s an effort that’s probably only possible in an industry of the scale of the auto industry.