TL;DR Indian Super Chief Specs at a Glance Spec Super Chief (Base) Super Chief Limited Engine Thunder Stroke 111 (111 ci / 1,811 cc) Thunder Stroke 116 (116 ci / 1,890 cc) Peak Torque 108 lb-ft @ 3,200 rpm 120 lb-ft @ 2,900 rpm Horsepower (claimed) ~79 hp ~91 hp (est.) Bore x Stroke 3.976…

TL;DR How the Can-Am Lineup Is Organized Can-Am’s on-road vehicles split into two families: the Spyder (larger, more powerful, sport or touring oriented) and the Ryker (lighter, more affordable, CVT automatic). Both sit on a reverse-trike layout — two wheels up front, one in the rear — and both require a motorcycle endorsement in many…

TL;DR How Fast GasGas Motorcycles Really Are (And How We Ranked Them) GasGas operates under the Pierer Mobility umbrella alongside KTM and Husqvarna, sharing platform DNA across most of the lineup. The SM 700 and ES 700 are the only models with credible third-party speed data — both run the KTM LC4 engine and have…

TL;DR Which Can-Am Spyder Years Have the Most Problems? The years with the worst documented records are 2008–2010 and 2013. The 2008–2010 Spyder GS and RS models accumulated multiple NHTSA recalls spanning steering faults, fuel vapor fire risks, and fuel cap sealing failures. The 2013 Spyder RT earned its reputation as the single worst model…

TL;DR What the Can-Am Ryker Is and Why Year Selection Matters The Can-Am Ryker is BRP’s entry-level three-wheel motorcycle. It launched in 2019 as a more affordable, sportier alternative to the Spyder, powered by either a 600cc or 900cc Rotax ACE engine mated to a CVT automatic transmission. Two front wheels and one rear wheel…

TL;DR What Makes a Zero a Problem Buy — and What Doesn’t Zero Motorcycles, founded in Santa Cruz in 2006, builds the most widely available electric street motorcycles in the US. An electric drivetrain means no clutch, no gearbox, no oil changes, and no valves to shim. That simplicity is real. What the simplicity argument…

TL;DR What Makes a GasGas Year Worth Avoiding GasGas has had three distinct eras, and the problems that make certain years risky to buy are different in each one. From 2013 to 2015, the brand was a cash-strapped Spanish manufacturer circling bankruptcy. From 2016 to 2019, it limped along under the Torrot Group with uneven…

TL;DR Why MV Agusta Has More Trouble Spots Than Most Italian Brands MV Agusta builds some of the most stunning motorcycles on the planet. They’re also built in extremely low volumes – Wikipedia reports production of 3,650 units for all of 2010 – by a company that has cycled through financial stress, ownership changes, and…

TL;DR The Short Version: Which Benelli Years Have the Most Problems? The most problem-prone Benelli years are 2017 through 2019. That covers the first-generation TRK 502 (launched 2017), the TRK 502X (launched mid-2018), and any smaller models from that era that shared the same Qianjiang-era production standards before meaningful quality investment arrived. If you’re shopping…

TL;DR Why the Model Year Question Actually Matters for CFMoto CFMoto isn’t Honda or Yamaha. The brand doesn’t have four decades of incremental refinement in North American markets behind it. It’s a Chinese manufacturer founded in 1989 that entered the US market in the early 2000s, and its quality has changed significantly across different production…

TL;DR Why Royal Enfield Has a Reliability Reputation Problem Royal Enfield’s reliability has genuinely improved over the past decade, but the brand’s history is patchy enough that the model year and specific generation matter more than the nameplate alone. The same model name can represent a bike that runs 70,000 miles with routine maintenance or…

TL;DR The Short Answer: Which Husqvarna Years Should You Skip? The years to avoid depend on which platform you’re shopping. Husqvarna has gone through three distinct ownership eras — Swedish independence (pre-1987), BMW ownership (2007-2013), and KTM/Pierer ownership (2013-present) — and the problems cluster by era and model line rather than across the entire brand…

TL;DR Why Moto Guzzi Has a Short List of Problem Years Moto Guzzi is a 100-year-old Italian brand with a long reputation for durable, shaft-drive-equipped motorcycles that rack up serious miles when maintained properly. That said, no manufacturer ships a spotless history, and Guzzi’s catalog has a handful of specific model years where real problems…

TL;DR Which Aprilia Model Years Have the Worst Track Record? The years most worth skipping are 2010 (RSV4 conrod recall), 2009-2016 (stator-prone RSV4 and Tuono V4), and 2021 first-run (RS 660 / Tuono 660 conrod recall). These are not opinions — two of the three involve official NHTSA safety recalls requiring full engine replacement. The…

TL;DR Polaris relaunched Indian Motorcycle in 2013 and hit the ground running — but like any brand reborn after a decade-plus dormancy, the early bikes carried growing pains. The Indian Motorcycles years to avoid cluster around first-year production (2014), specific platform defects on the 2015-2017 Roadmaster, and the early FTR 1200 launch years. Most issues…