Cologne motorcycle show review - Telegraph Austrian manufacturer KTM has put more pressure on BMW with its 1190 Adventure. This has a version of the RC8 superbike engine producing a Multistrada-matching 148bhp, and the bike is laden with the essential electronics such as electronic suspension adjustment (but not semi-active), engine, ABS and traction control modes. The standard model is more strongly biased towards road use than any previous KTM Adventure, but for those who want to venture away from the bitumen the Adventure R has longer travel suspension, larger wheels and other detail differences. The KTM weighs only 467lb without fuel, making it about 24lb lighter than the less powerful BMW and 15lb lighter than the Multistrada, so it should be lively. Triumph has refreshed the top-selling Street Triple 675 with a new frame, which helps to reduce weight, and a new underbelly exhaust. The altered weight distribution has allowed the engineers to sharpen the steering geometry without upsetting stability, so this should be more agile than the previous model, which was already a hoot on a sinuous road. As with the previous model, the Street Triple R has higher specification brakes and suspension and is distinguished by unique colours, including a red finish on the new, cast aluminium rear subframe. Kawasaki showed its new Z800, which replaces the popular if heavy Z750. This has very aggressive bodywork cloaking the same chassis and an enlarged version of the engine, which has more power and torque. In contrast, Honda's new naked bike, the CB1100, is an unashamed retro complete with air-cooled four-cylinder engine, although it has twin-plug heads and fuel injection, and Honda says it's capable of 70mpg. You also get a traditional tubular steel cradle frame and twin rear shocks. Suzuki has blown the dust off the US-only Boulevard 1500, which will be marketed here as the Intruder 1500. It's designed to have a serious touring capability and comes with a screen and integrated panniers. Suzuki also showed a prototype 1200GS rival in the V-Strom 1000, using an updated version of the old V-Strom 1000 V-twin. Yamaha drew the most attention of the Japanese, however. Not for the updated FJR1300, which we'll be reviewing next week, but for the speech by senior executive Kunihiko Miwa. He said that Yamaha was now re-committing itself to western markets and would return to its core values as the most innovative of the Japanese manufacturers, and would once again take risks in the interests of progress. To support this, Yamaha showed off an all-new three-cylinder engine which looks set to take over from the company's four-cylinder ones. All Miwa would say is that it has a cross-plane crankshaft, as used in the current R1 superbike. The idea is to minimise inertial torque, which causes crankshaft oscillations that filter out feedback to the rider at the extremes of grip. No further clues were given, but to achieve this in a three-cylinder engine Yamaha will need to fit a reciprocating counter-balance as well as a rotating balance shaft, but it should be very smooth and tactile as well as sounding fabulous. As a replacement for the aging four-cylinder R6 supersports machine, this is a very exciting prospect. All of these bikes (and possibly also Yamaha's three-cylinder concept engine) will be on display at the Telegraph-supported Motorcycle Live, the UK's biggest motorcycle show. This opens on Saturday, November 24 for nine days at Birmingham's NEC, and it's promising a whole host of displays and events in addition to most of the new 2013 models making their UK debuts. For more information, see www.motorcyclelive.co.uk