Sports Bike Tours

Sport touring refers to either a style of motorcycle design, or a philosophy of riding. It is an attempt to blend performance with long-distance capabilities while providing comfort and relative safety to the rider. Sport touring has evolved over decades from simply strapping a bag to the back of any sporty motorcycle to a very specified genre of motorcycle riding for which specific models of motorcycles, luggage, riding apparel and other accessories have been designed.
As a result, engine designs were usually modified from their sport bike origins, typically being re-tuned and re-cammed (change of valve cam lift & duration) for an emphasis on greater mid-range torque rather than absolute peak horsepower. Additionally, it was common for certain rotating subcomponents such as crankshaft and flywheel to be replaced in the sport-tourer version of the engine with heavier versions to smooth power delivery and improve reliability. Other differences from the sport bike class include:
• Larger fairings than are implemented on their sport-bikes are usually added for more rider protection from weather & wind.
• The frame is usually designed from scratch to provide a more upright/less aggressive riding position ("all day comfortable").
• A longer wheelbase & more relaxed steering angle are usually also incorporated (both of which provide more straight-line stability than their sport bike origins, but not to the degree that most pure tourers do). The addition of these heavier parts (full fairings, longer frames, heavier engine components) also serve to increase the ratio of sprung to unsprung weight, giving the bikes a smoother ride over poor surfaces.
• Finally, ground clearance is usually left fairly high, permitting more sport-like riding on twisting roads than would a pure touring bike.
However, the class has become important and competitive enough that many manufactures now offer purpose-built engines for their sport touring models. The Honda ST series engines have never been used in any other models. The Yamaha FJR1300's engine, though closely related to the 1000cc R1 sport bike engines in design, is in fact a dedicated engine available only in the sport touring FJR models. Kawasaki introduced the new 1400cc Concours in 2007 with a dedicated engine design.
Sport-tourers tend to install accessories, called farkles, to better enjoy the ride.