Best all around bike ever? (if there is such a thing)

[Bob Wegman]

Back in the day, which means when I started riding, the best all-around bike was the Triumph twin series, 500 and 650. With the same frame and only a change of tires and exhaust, those bikes could tour, commute and race on pavement or dirt. From 1938 onward, the Edward Turner big-bike became the original desert sled and motocrosser, and also an ISDT champ, TT, Daytona and flat track winner, police bike, military ride, land speed record holder, chick magnet, around-the-world adventurer, and movie star, sharing credits with Brando, MQueen and countless stuntmen.

Beat that.

I totally agree

[Kev m]

The problem with that conclusion is, that the bike you like the most is not necessarily the “best” bike.
< snip >

What we like the most has only a minor bearing on what is the “best”.

To take a step back into the philosophical pond, that sounds like a YOU problem and not a ME problem.

That statement is 100% wrong (for me) while being 100% right (for you).

The simple fact is the question was too vague/subjective, so the answers can be equally subjective.

There isn't a single bike anywhere in the world that is objectively the BEST at everything if "everything" could ever be objectively quantified and measured.

So I would argue, absent such things, there is no better or more accurate measurement than what we LIKE.

What is BEST to me is what I like the MOST. I daresay not even one of us nutters here would not love a bike that does what WE WANT the BEST.

The BEST all around bike for me is the one that leaves me with a big grin every time I ride it, see it, think about it... or wonder if it is thinking about me when I'm not with it.