By Mike Goetz

Let’s start with a disclaimer. Some of us at AutoTrader.ca love motorcycles just as much as we love cars. If motorcycles are anywhere in our presence we will inevitably gravitate to them. 

So that’s what happened at this year’s Toronto auto show. We showed up to check out and write about the cars, and we ended up sitting on a bunch of motorcycles, trying them out for size and aesthetics.

It’s not our fault. They shouldn’t have brought them here. 

And now we have to tell you which ones were our favourites.

Ducati Desmosedici 16RR (photo: Isaac Adams-Hands)

• Ducati Desmosedici 16RR — A race replica if there ever was one. Pretty much the same bike that contested the 2006 MotoGP season — but with lights and a muffler. $85,000. 212 mph. 210 hp. Carbon fibre everything. Only 1,500 made worldwide. Three went to RevCycles of Toronto, who brought one of them to the show.  

• Buell 1125R — New urban warrior from Buell, featuring Rotax 1,146 cc V-twin with a torque curve like a table top. Twin, side-mounted radiators, so engine can be far forward, to get more weight on the front wheel. 

• Harley-Davidson 1200 Nightster — Harley Davidson of Toronto added some chopper bars and few more black bits to this already matte black machine, and presto — a super cool chopper.

Harley-Davidson V-Rod Muscle

• Harley-Davidson V-Rod Muscle — the new model in the liquid-cooled V-Rod line, and in a stretched-out dragster idiom. 

• Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra Classic — new three-wheeled Harley, and featuring lots of amenities (including a trunk), and a 1,700 cc motor. 

• Orange Country “Production” Chopper — Harley-Davidson of Toronto is a now carrying the production bikes made by the famous Teutul family. Our fav of the three on display was the Splitback. 

• 50th Anniversary Triumph Bonneville — tasteful treatment and one of only 650 worldwide and 16 in Canada.

CanAm Spyder (photo: Isaac Adams-Hands)

• CanAm Spyder — Cousin of the Ski-Doo, this three-wheeler packs a 990 cc Rotax V-twin, and promises to be entertaining — and stable, thanks to an advanced stability control system from Bosch. 

• Honda DN-01 — Radical and automatic transmission don’t seem to go hand in hand, but they do this time. The DN-01 is easy to ride, cool to look at.

• BMW K1300R — BMW didn’t bring too many bikes to the show, but we were glad this 173-hp black bomber was one them.