is very torquey though, climbing backroad hills with ease in sixth gear. Helping that is the gearing, which feels optimised for offroad work and you could easily go up a tooth or two on the front sprocket for a more relaxed engine if heading off on some longer distance adventure travels. Bar and peg vibration is surprisingly low- Beta and Tayo have done a good job of producing a well-balanced engine. For me the pegs felt a bit high, but I had left the removable rubber inserts in. It’ d be a better fit without them, with the added benefit of improving stand-up riding. The standout feeling when riding a mixture of urban and country backroads is how much fun the bike is to ride. A reasonably light 35hp dualpurpose bike really does tick a lot of boxes. Then you take it for a bit of trail fun and that cements it. Knobbly tyres, soft and compliant suspension, modest throttle response – all nice and easy, and great fun.
THE SKINNY So, where does the Alp 4.0 sit and what are its competitors? I actually think the Alp 4.0 stands alone here – it’ s unique. Yes, there’ s a number of Dual Sport and Adventure bikes in the 300 to
400cc arena, like Honda’ s CRF300L and CRF300 Rally, along with KTM’ s 390 Enduro R and new 390 Adventure R, BMW GS310 and Kawasaki KLE300 and even the larger displacement( and much heavier) Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, which offers an easy-to-ride adventure platform at a competitive price point. However, none of the above really fit with what the Alp 4.0 stands for. Some have less power, some more, some have higher seats, a heavier weight, or are just more specific in intent. It’ ll depend on what you want in a bike, but the Alp 4.0 is the only one that really nails that old‘ quintessential do anything 350cc trail bike’ brief. And the Alp needn’ t be just a trail bike to commute on and hit some local trails, it’ ll also happily take you on an adventure with some gear strapped to it. The Alp 4.0 is definitely worth a look if you’ re new to riding and want a bike that’ s unique, has a bit of Italian flair, is easy to ride in traffic, and great at some weekend back-roading and trail exploring. It’ s also well-suited to more mature riders or those that just want a bit of manageable fun and it’ d be a great road / trail use stablemate for Beta fans who may already have a Beta trials bike or enduro weapon lurking in the garage.
KIWI RIDER 49