If you've been reading RideApart since I took over as its boss, you'll likely know that my heart lies in the dirt. Whether that's with side-by-sides, hunting, fishing, dirt biking, or adventure motorcycles, my one true passion is getting dirty. It's the best place to be. And part and parcel of that love is off-road racing.
Baja is amazing. WRC is wild as hell. Motocross and FMX is just the coolest. And Dakar, well, Dakar holds this special place that no others can touch. It's the one race where you're not just pitted against other competitors, but against the elements—the dirt itself—and everything the terrain can throw at you.
And over the years, there've been numerous special edition machines that have paid homage to the race. Or manufacturers have delivered outright clones of their race-bred machines. None, however, come close to the motorcycles that raced the competition in the 1980s in terms of just looking drippingly cool. There's an aesthetic that even the modern race bikes can't touch, despite all the carbon and cool aluminum bits and rally stacks.
