Despite winning the MotoGP world championship and its first-ever World Superbike title, Yamaha posted a debilitating $2.3 billion loss in 2009. That deficit cost the president his job, and sent the company scrambling to find a way to recover from what can only be described as the most horrendous sales year ever.

You've probably never heard of Kymco, but the Taiwanese manufacturer has been in business since 1963. Best known for its cruisers and scooters, Kymco is branching out into the beginner sportbike market with the new Quannon 150. Finally, there's an alternative to the ubiquitous Honda Rebel and Kawasaki Ninja 250!

Highland's most anticipated new model is its utterly outrageous, 950cc V-twin Desert X enduro. Company president Chase Bales reports 120 pre-orders on this bike alone. It's not an exaggeration to say there's absolutely nothing on the market that compares to this hairball machine, built to traverse wide expanses of nothing at mind-numbing speeds. The Desert X is positioned alongside BMW's HP2 and KTM's 950 Super Enduro, but with comparable power and 150 lbs. less weight, it's not even in the same moto-universe.

Riding Yamaha's new XT1200Z Super Ténéré to the South of France in May wasn't supposed to cause frostbite. But here on a steep mountain pass on my way to the acclaimed vacation spot, I'm wiping snow from my visor with a frigid hand. The entire trip has been cold and wet, and now the sleet has turned to swirling white flakes that are ruining visibility and reducing traction.

Ordinarily, the motorcycle industry is in a head-spinning technological arms race. A mad dash to feed technophiles their traction control and XM Radio; serve up ego-maniacs their astronomical engine-displacement figures; and deliver to mobile couch potatoes their heated seats. But there must be a few people like me left out there-people who just plain like to jump on something and ride it. People who feel that going 'round corners is the height of pleasure, and a good, torquey pull off the line is enough to make you halfway forget about who got voted off American Idol last Wednesday. Yes, there must be. Otherwise, Honda wouldn't have created the Shadow RS.

When I rode the Hypermotard 796 a few months back I was impressed with the bike's new engine, and immediately thought how nice it would be to slip the 803cc mill into a Monster chassis. Barely six months later, the Monster 796 is here.

When was the last time you rode a 125? If it was this century, good on ya'. If it was in the 1970s, it's time you re-learned what you thought you knew...

Mats Malmberg, who founded Highland Motorcycles in Sweden 15 years ago, wasn't necessarily looking to re-enter the bike-building business. Discouraged by seemingly endless frustrations producing the original Highland 950 Outback a decade ago, he back-burnered his bike-building dreams and transformed his company into a successful engineering firm that developed technology for Husqvarna and others. And he certainly wasn't looking to relocate to Oklahoma-a state most Swedes aren't even aware exists-until Tulsa-based entrepreneur Chase Bales made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

It's that tiny teardrop tank that gives the Forty-Eight its name. The "peanut" was originally introduced on Harley-Davidson's 1948 125 S-better known as the Hummer-and became an icon on the XLCH Sportster, the hot-rod roadster that ruled the '50s and '60s.

Following BMW's purchase of Husqvarna in 2007, the brand has been trying to attract road riders as well as the hard-core off-road contingent. One of the first fruits of the takeover is the TE630-a street-legal dual-sport single based on Husky's old 610.

Pardon me while I eat crow. Back in our March issue, I wrote, "Choppers are dead. Ask Honda about the Fury." Granted, nothing has been selling in great quantities lately due to the recession. But contrary to what I wrote-which was based on what a few dealers told me-the Fury was actually the best-selling metric cruiser of 2009. That's kind of like racing for second, given Harley-Davidson's continued domination of the cruiser ranks, but Big Red has reason to be proud, and I stand corrected.

Those of us with a taste for dirt have been anticipating Suzuki's off-road 450 for quite some time. Considering the excellence of the yellow brand's recent motocross machines, we were fully expecting to be blown away by the enduro version.

The latest subdivision of the cruiser market is the "Casual Full Dress" segment. This new group of heavyweights brings some of the qualities of full dressers but trims the heft and injects a touch more style, making them the hot ticket for weekend getaways. For 2010, Yamaha's Star division follows this trend with the Stratoliner Deluxe.

The Royal Enfield Bullet Classic takes you back a few decades. At least until a fully faired sportbike streaks by and returns you to 2010. Still, the Enfield feels right at home in the here and now. It slows obediently and accelerates away again enthusiastically. Previous Bullets never felt like this.

In addition to reborn Triumph and newly resurgent Norton, a third historic motorcycle name from Britain's past is ready for a revival. This time it's Métisse (French for mongrel), the iconic, competition-oriented marque founded in the 1950s by Derek and Don Rickman. The Rickman brothers first found fame building superior off-road machines, then went on to build café racers for the street. Unlike the old days, when Métisse motorcycles used engines borrowed mostly from British and Japanese manufacturers, this time the marque is coming to market with its own engine.

Since October 2008, when British businessman Stuart Garner acquired the rights to the Norton name from the previous American owners, he has moved quickly to return the historic marque to the marketplace. Garner almost immediately erected a 20,000 square-foot factory at the Donington Park race circuit, and then recruited a strong group of executives and engineers (many from the nearby Triumph factory) to push forward development of the first new Norton motorcycles sold to the public in 18 years.

The 2010 R1200RT is new, but the BMW touring experience is timeless. I'm cruising at a steady 85 mph on the Spanish motorway, seated on a plush saddle and sheltered by an adjustable windscreen as the flat-twin motor thrums steadily below. A glance at the digital instrument panel reveals a range of more than 200 miles. Bring 'em on!