It’s BMW’s turn to churn out one of these retro ‘thingies’ and I for one am pleased with the result. It’s called the R nineT, for whatever reason, but it does seem to suit its ‘git-like’ portfolio. But what’s a ‘git-like’ portfolio you ask?

I doubt there’s any person in the world (motorcyclist or otherwise) that doesn’t want to ride this and/or own it, right? Just looking at the thing immediately makes one conjure up images of having it sitting proudly in their garage, right, and justifiably so? If beautiful motorcycles were rated on a scale of one-to-ten this would be the proverbial 11, right?

KTM has gone ‘all-in’ as far as racing in America goes, with their latest trophy haul proving to the world that they have the recipe for success. This influence of being heavily involved in America seems to be rubbing off on the Austrian company... You see, in the United States of America excess and size matters. They openly preach from the good book of might is right, and hence there’s no replacement for displacement etc, etc… So when I got to throw a leg over the latest KTM 500 XC-W I was worried that this was going to be an overwhelming platter of supersized double cheese burgers with fries and a large shake. So what I wanted to find out is if the Americans are onto something or is this bike a by-product of brash excess?