BMW hasn't lost the ability to build great touring motorcycles of late, but it's definitely gained the ability to build amazing sportsbikes. BMW has changed though as we can see in the latest two BMW K1600GT and fully dressed K1600GTL.

Key figures from the six-cylinder BMW engine to note are 160 horsepower at 7,500rpm, 175 Nm of torque at 5,250rpm, with more torque at 1,500rpm than the Kawasaki ZX10R generates at peak torque. The theory with the BMW K1600GT project was based around lightweight materials: the traditional Duolever front end has been constructed using magnesium alloy, the rear-sub frame from aluminum. The engine covers have also been cast in magnesium alloy. On board the motorcycle BMW is breaking new ground with the use of an adaptive Xenon headlight. Using the same bank angle sensors that the DTC uses to determine lean angle and load, the headlight maintains a constant level view of the road. We got the change to trial the system on a test and it is fairly spectacular. For a headlight system.

Triumph have been working on the Triumph 1200 Tiger Explorer for a few years, but have now finally added it to their Adventure range. Triumph had to design and build a brand-new engine as well as a brand-new motorcycle. The Triumph Explorer's 1215cc, three-cylinder engine shares neither its parts nor its dimensions with any other engine in the current Triumph's model line-up.

The three cylinders run 85 x 71.4mm bore and stroke dimensions and a full ride-by-wire Keihin fuel injection system takes care of a number of important aspects such as cruise control, traction control and capping the top speed at 220km/h.

Triumph claims a peak figure of 135 horsepower and, the most crucial part, a peak torque of 121Nm delivered at 6,400 revolutions per minute. The Triumph 1200 Explorer comes with traction control, ABS, cruise control as standard equipment.

Let me kick this feature off by assuring you that Kawasaki's new Ninja ZX-14R (ZZR1400 for the rest of the world) is no one-trick horsey... Now that's perhaps not what you want to hear if your interests lie purely in straight line sprinting, but for the rest of us it means there's a new motorcycle in town for the sports-touring market. And it's a good motorcycle at that.

Kawasaki's focus with the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R was to make it more versatile and practical for everyday use. Sure enough, as its flagship motorcycle it still had to carry the 'wow' factor that's become synonymous with the model since its global launch back in 1990 – where it awed the world with a genuine 149 horsepower output – but it also had to be more user friendly and as capable of everyday riding as it is for sprinting down 400 meters (quarter-mile) drag strip. In short, the Kawasaki ZX-14R was taken aside and taught a few manners by the white coated tuning engineers of Kawasaki. And what a great job they've done.

There aren't many times in life when you can genuinely hold our hands up and say that controlling a 200 horsepower hypersportsbike is actually quite easy, but for the select group of people who have sampled the new 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R, it is indisputably one of those moments. And that's simply down to the huge developments that have been made to the Kawasaki ZX-14R. While its core values are still shared with its predecessor, the introduction of electronic aids, improved geometry and more relaxed riding position have made the Kawasaki ZX-14R a friendly, green giant. Kawasaki claims to have taken all the weak points of the old ZX-14R and honed them to a level of supremacy for a motorcycle in this field. Which is hard to contest.

If you've ever fantasized about having a real classic motorcycle, and followed that idea and tried to realize it, the plan probably preliminary ended by hearing what it would cost.

But the best second next thing is a Royal Enfield Classic 350, which has all the answers – for a lot less money than a 'real' classic motorcycle.

OK, so it's not quite as cool as a real classic BSA B31, but just 145,000 THB will get your bum on the flat seat of a Royal Enfield Classic 350, while your arms stretch to the handlebars, and the smile relentlessly creeps across your face. The Royal Enfield Classic 350 is a feel-good motorcycle, brimming with character, noise, old-skool handling and classic looks.

The thumping Single Cylinder, 4 stroke, Twinspark, air-cooled, 346cc engine throbs away with lazy abandon, coaxing you up to a cruising speed of 95 to 100km/h and offering more than enough poke to make country cruising possible and town forays a genuine blast. The Royal Enfield exhaust pipe offers the unique sound of a classic single-cylinder thumper on the throttle, and pleasing pops and bangs off it. It'll turn heads long before they know which way to look, and no-one fails to take notice as you fly past, laughing to yourself at the simplistic brilliance of it all.

Kawasaki's new D-tracker 150 supermoto is still a bit underpowered. But the new air-cooled, 4-stroke single cylinder, SOHC 2-valve, 144cc engine is remarkably better than the previous 125cc Kawasaki D-tracker.

Kawasaki's new D-Tracker 150 is like extremely fun to ride. It's got 14-inch wheels, a scaled-down steel tube frame and titchy running gear. So is the Kawasaki D-tracker 150 better than the 125? To start with , yes. The Kawasaki D-tracker 150 graphics look much cooler than the D-tracker 125. I remember the original D-tracker 125 and the engine power was limited to only 10 horsepower. The Kawasaki D-tracker 150 pumps out 12 horsepower at 8,000rpm and 1.2 Kgf.m at 6,500rpm, which on paper would not impress much people as it's just a little bit more, but riding the little machine will change your mind.

For years a German manufacturer set the standard for the Adventure sector of motorcycling, but it hasn't stopped other manufacturers trying to take it on. Just as Yamaha has with its XT1200Z Super Tenere.

Right from the first couple of kilometers there's a nice balance to the Yamaha XT1200Z Super Tenere, so much in fact that as the rider you instantly feel at one with the motorcycle, and even filtering slowly through Bangkok's traffic in downtown traffic madness wasn't too daunting. As long as you take into account the width of the handlebars.

Initial thoughts on the smooth-running parallel-twin cylinder 1199cc engine were a little mixed though. The 270-degree crankshaft arrangement does give some immediate drive in the very earliest part of the YCC-T (Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle) throttle opening, but for its capacity and configuration it can still feel a little flat at the lower end of its rev range. That fooled me into thinking I'd set the power option switch on the softer 'Touring' setting, but a quick look at the clocks revealed I was actually in the sharper 'Sport' mode.

Get the Yamaha XT1200Z engine revving though and the parallel-twin engine pulls more strongly in the midrange and what's lost over the BMW GS's engine initially begins to be compensated big time. But just as the Yamaha XT1200Z is getting into its stride the power fades and all you can do is hook up another gear to keep things moving along briskly.

The Yamaha FZ8N is described by Yamaha Thailand as 'not a motorcycle for beginners – it's the naked sportbike with true attitude and the power to back it up.'

So, first things first then. Under the enforced low-rev conditions it's an easy motorcycle to ride with a welcoming combination of light-to-the-touch handling and soft engine power delivery making life very straightforward.

But having to bumble around a lower revs for a while did mean that I had to wait to get hold of any of the 'true attitude' Yamaha says the new 2012 Yamaha FZ8N has. What I did notice though, as I was caught in the running-in amble was that, at low revs, the Yamaha FZ8N feels typically too refined, Japanese, and mass-produced to have much of any sort of attitude at all.

The Yamaha FZ8 is powered by a 799cc, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, DOHC, forward-inclined parallel 4-cylinder engine, with a 68mm bore and 53.6mm stroke and a compression ratio of 12.0:1. The engine produces a claimed maximum 105 horsepower at 10,000rpm and 82.0Nm torque at 8,000rpm.

Fast forward a few days and I get the chance to sample all of the engine's potential by trying a fully run-in Yamaha FZ8. The weight is lifted off the motor's shoulders and we're away.

Honda Thailand entered a new territory when they introduced the Honda PCX 125i scooter in the Thai market. The Honda PCX 125i was the first Honda 125cc scooter for some time. It was based on a completely new design, and it was clear that Honda was targeting the daily city commuters. The first Honda PCX was powered by a newly designed 125cc PGM-Fi (fuel injection) engine. Honda Thailand. However, it failed to live up to the expected performance in the market and thus could not make an real impact as Honda had hoped. Taking lessons from the PCX 125i's shortcomings, Honda Thailand made the essential improvements and launched an upgraded variant of the scooter, called Honda PCX150i.

The Honda PCX150i has a plain design, while the colors are different from the previous model the whole scooter is almost identical to the original PCX. However, it now gets a new eSP (Enhanced Smart Power) engine. The analogue information display has simple and easy to read layout consisting of a speedometer, and digital section for odometer and fuel gauge. Turn indicators find space on the tops sides of the centered speedometer on the left side of the dash you find the idle-stop and high beam indicators.

Triumph's focus changed for the good in 2006, with the previous barges being replaced by something very fresh and enormously invigorating. The impact the Triumph 675 Daytona made on the motorcycle world was monumental. Suddenly, among a group of drab Japanese four-pots came this British triple bulldog, complete with a funky soundtrack and the potential for great track handling. It may not have been the polished product we would have liked, though. This was more of a tease of Triumph's potential.

The problem with the original Triumph Daytona 675 is its 2009 successor. Now we can talk with hindsight, and that version is so bloody good it puts the original one in the shade. It's easy to compare them like they're a pair of sisters: both are fit, but one is drastically classier than the other girl. One of the most popular questions you can find is 'is it worth paying more for the newer model?' Yes, it is.

Still, the original Triumph 675 Daytona was one of the best thing to come out of the Triumph Hinckley factory. The golden nugget is its three-cylinder engine. Nothing on this earth compares to sampling the Triumph 675cc for the first time and rejoicing in the symphony and its idiosyncratic characteristics. Usability and effectiveness don't hinder any thrashability, with oodles of midrange that continues to flourish into the top-end. The noise eggs you into spending more time near the redline although our only qualm with the engine is that it runs out of revs way too early, attributable to its puny terminal speed.

Motorcycling isn't very sensible, it's fun. It's impossible to choose a motorcycle using your head as the heart has far more to do with our choices in life than anything else, despite what we like to think. The fact that motorcycles like the Ducati Hypermotard 1100 exist is proof of that.

We don't like to be negative about anything, especially if it's got two wheels, but it's pretty hard to find a role for Ducati's take on the supermoto. It's not completely unique, KTM's 950 SM started the trend for big capacity heel draggers, but it does stray furthest from the original concept of a 'crosser with new tires'.

The quality and eye catching parts from the Ducati Hypermotard 1100 now synonymous with the Italian brand are all welcome, but they come at a price, in every sense.

The Ducati Hypermotard 1100 is no back street scratcher or ultra perfect commuter. With the mirrors out it's wider than the regular space you have in Thai traffic and the steering's nowhere near as quick as you'd expect. It's not got what you'd call a bullet proof front-end either, due to a more conservative geometry and center of gravity than the focused riding position suggest. Decent tires can help, but it'll still be less sure footed than the KTM. Let's just advise that trying to do a knee down may cause unfortunate side-effects.