The same road can be a great ride for one rider and a forgettable one for another. That's not a bug — it's the whole point of the ride profiles. MotoScore™ rates every road for sport riding and for touring at once, and shows you both verdicts side by side, so you can see how the road suits each kind of riding. This guide walks through what each profile looks for and how to read the two verdicts together.
What a profile actually changes
A profile does not change the road. It changes what MotoScore treats as good about a road — so the same route can come back as a great ride for sport and a dull one for touring, or the other way round. You don't have to pick one to find out: both verdicts are on screen for every route you draw, and when they differ, that difference is the road telling you what kind of ride it is.
Here's what each one is looking for.
Sport
Who it's for: riders on sport bikes or nakeds who want tight curves, quick elevation changes, and clean tarmac.
What it rewards: curves, on good tarmac. Long steady grades are a bonus rather than the point.
What a top result looks like: a 30-mile canyon road with sustained sweepers, switchbacks, and grippy pavement. Deal's Gap, Mulholland Highway, Highway 1 in the San Gabriels.
Where it rates a road low: long scenic highways that never really turn. Rough or unpaved surfaces count against it, though a twisty enough road can still rate well.
Touring
Who it's for: riders on sport-tourers, baggers, and big standard bikes who want long days with variety — some corners, some miles, big views.
What it rewards: variety. A road that is good in several ways at once rates higher than one that is exceptional in a single way. It is the most even-handed profile.
What a top result looks like: Touring is built for roads that combine corners, climbs and altitude.
Where it rates a road low: short, tight canyon roads that hardly climb — plenty of corners, but this profile is looking for more than corners. Flat straight roads through farmland rate low.
Commuter — coming soon
Who it's for: riders whose main question is "what's the least painful way to get there?" — daily riders, all-weather commuters, anyone optimizing a route they ride often rather than a weekend escape.
You'll see Commuter beside the other two verdicts, marked coming soon, with no verdict yet. This section will say what it looks for once it has one.
How the same road scores differently
A concrete example: the Peak-to-Peak Scenic Byway in Colorado (Central City to Estes Park, about 55 miles).
- On sport: middling. The corners are good but not extraordinary, and sport is not looking for the altitude and open terrain that make this road what it is.
- On touring: strong. This is the road's "home" profile — it is good in several ways at once, which is exactly what touring rewards.
Same road, two verdicts, both on screen at once — and each one is correct for the rider it's built for.
Which verdict to read first
Both verdicts are always there, but one will usually be yours. Three questions usually settle which:
- What kind of bike do you ride most? Not aspirationally — actually. A sport-tourer is touring territory, not sport.
- Is the ride itself the point, or are you mostly getting somewhere? If you mostly need to get there — daily, in any weather — that's what Commuter is for, and it's coming soon. Until then, read touring.
- Do you prefer carving corners or eating miles? Corners → sport. Miles (with good scenery) → touring.
Then draw a road you already know well and see whether your verdict matches your gut. If it doesn't, look at the other one: a road you love that rates higher for the other kind of riding tells you something about what you actually value.