Triumph's Street Triple has been an amazing showroom success. It combines the looks of the big 1050cc Speed Triple with the size and handling of the Daytona 675, making it an incredibly capable and entertaining motorcycle. More than 40,000 examples of this middleweight naked bike have been sold worldwide since 2007, with sales holding steady despite the economic recession.

Erik Buell is right: Everything would have been different if Buell Motorcycles had built this bike first, as he intended, instead of the quirky 1125R that parent company Harley-Davidson demanded in 2007. Motor Company management feared competing with Japanese and European manufacturers head-on, so rather than green-light a pure superbike they commissioned the offbeat 1125R. That bike's failure to connect beyond a small group of outlier enthusiasts was the beginning of the end for the Buell brand.

Apparently the Italians don't have a saying that corresponds with "the third time's a charm," but after riding Version 3.0 of Moto Guzzi's Stelvio adventure-tourer, I reckon it's time they came up with one.

Top-tier factory racebikes are often referred to as "works," even though the machines in AMA professional motocross and supercross are in fact based on production models. Prior to a 1986 rule change, however, works bikes were in fact hand-built prototypes of the highest caliber and greatest rarity. The reality is that even in the elite Motocross Grands Prix, true works bikes are few and far between. Yet TM production bikes fit the definition of a works bike to a tee.

First it was mega-dollar supercars, then cutting-edge superbikes, and now launch control has come to dirtbikes on the 2012 Kawasaki KX450F.

The original Norge of five years ago had plenty of positive attributes, but Moto Guzzi's fully faired sport-tourer was criticized for a laundry list of flaws including handlebar vibration, excessive heat from its 1151cc, four-valve V-twin and an uncomfortable seat.

Harley-Davidson Softails have always shifted shape to match the custom trends of the day, from the Pro Street-styled Softail Deuce in the late '90s to the more recent, raked-out Rocker C. The new FXS Blackline's skinny rear tire and narrow drag bars mimic the Frisco-style choppers of the Hell's Angels' glory days, delivering exactly the stripped-down, vintage look that 2011 trendsters demand.

The Monster is in its element on the road that winds through the black lava fields below the snowy peak of Sicily's Mount Etna. The Italian machine slices through the bends with the swiftness of a mafia switchblade, and when I twist the throttle it leaps forward with a suitably volcanic rumble of induction and exhaust noise.

It was no Hollister, but it was a riot. A dozen hooligans on scooters charging down the cobblestone streets of historic Charleston, South Carolina, confusing local traffic with our poor navigational skills and delighting passersby with the occasional hard-won burnout. We'd been invited to sample the 2012 lineup from Taiwanese manufacturer Kymco, which boasts nearly as many scooter models as South Carolina's "Holy City" has churches.

I’d been keen to add some excitement to the ride, but not like this. We’d stopped at a turnout near Seville in southern Spain to shoot some photos when a Guardia Civil van arrived with blue lights flashing. The pistol-wearing policeman leapt out, confiscated our passports and booked one rider for pulling wheelies.

"They didn't change enough," says the guy. "They needed to do something bigger ... more." We're standing around Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort in Robbinsville, North Carolina, kicking tires. Specifically the new Bridgestone tires on the 2012 Honda GL1800-just a few moto-journalists, Honda's media team, the Gold Wing project leader from Japan and Ray Blank, senior vice president of the company's North American operations. It's a tad tense, but the guy is telling it straight. The 2012 Gold Wing isn't really "new" at all, only mildly enhanced. Then the guy adds, "But I'm still going to buy one. I've owned Gold Wings for the last 20 years. What can I say? I'm a Honda guy."

GSX-R is synonymous with sportbike in America. Over 360,000 Gixxers have been sold here since 1986, out-selling the competition by as much as 25 percent for the past 15 years. So when Suzuki acted to unclog its constipated inventory channel by withholding all its streetbikes—including the iconic GSX-Rs—from the USA last year, the absence was acutely felt. Now the reset button has been pushed and the company is back to business, leading off with this substantially revised GSX-R600.

In the First World War, No Man's Land was the contested space between enemy lines. In modern off-road riding, it is the performance and weight gap between the svelte but high-strung 250cc four-strokes and the heavier but fast-to-the-point-of-brutal 450s. The players in the middle have been limited to the Husqvarna 310, the shrinking field of 250cc two-strokes and the small but growing number of 300cc two-strokes. Jumping from a 250F to a 450F is a minimum 15-lb. and 15-horsepower gain. On a dirtbike, that's a leap that significantly impacts the handling and fun factor, but rewards with bug-catching grin factor when accelerating. Now, KTM is hammering No Man's Land with its 350 SX-F motocross model, soon to be followed by the off-road-modified, closed-course 350 XC-F.

With barely a year of riding experience under my belt, I enjoy the opportunity to test beginner's bikes whenever one rolls into the Motorcyclist garage. At 5-foot-2, I'm also looking for something that offers a comfortable fit. Fortunately for me, Suzuki recently gave us a GZ250 to try out. At first glance, the GZ looks dark and untamed. After taking it for a spin, however, I know better: With an unintimidating 249cc single-cylinder engine, a low 27.8-inch seat height and a light 331-lb. claimed curb weight, this mini-cruiser is a breeze to ride. It comes as no surprise that the GZ is employed at many Motorcycle Safety Foundation (www.msf-usa.org) training sites.

Halfway up the gloriously twisty road leading up the west coast of Mallorca, my feelings for Honda's new Crossrunner are switching from admiration to frustration almost as often as the road changes direction. Most of the time I'm impressed by the Honda, loving its storming acceleration and especially the soulful intake moan as it charges out of yet another hairpin.

A few days before I arrived in Seville for the launch of the Honda CBR600F, the Spanish government reduced the national speed limit to save fuel. It seemed like the ideal moment to be launching a middleweight sportbike intended to be a less expensive, more economical alternative to the CBR600RR.

I've just pulled into the Valencia pit lane after my first session on the Tuono V4R, and handed the bike to the waiting mechanic. I muttered a brief "grazie" and floated into the garage on a wave of adrenaline, barely capable of coherent speech after 20 minutes aboard one of the fastest, most outrageously exciting bikes I've ever ridden.

Just like heated seats in a car, once you’ve ridden with music it’s hard to ride without. When my iPod is plugged into the Kawasaki Vaquero’s audio system and it cues up Townes Van Zandt’s “To Live Is To Fly” just as we enter the Sam Houston National Forest, I’m reminded how much the right soundtrack enhances a ride. “Where you’ve been is good and gone/All you keep is the getting there,” Van Zandt sings. When it comes to getting there, this is about as good as it gets.