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The Yamaha Ténéré 700 Raid prototype was one of the (few) darling releases from the 2021 EICMA show in Milan, and the up-spec middleweight adventure bike brought more questions than it did answers.

Was Yamaha teasing a new higher price ADV machine for its future lineup? Was it trying to drum up business for its GYTR aftermarket parts catalog? Maybe a combination of the two? It’s hard to say.

So, it is curious that today we see that the Yamaha Ténéré 700 Raid machine getting spotted in European patent documents, by our colleagues at Cycle World. And once again, that creates more questions than it does answers.

When it comes to motorcycle-specific bags and backpacks, the motorcycle industry has a limited number of players.

Kriega is by far the 800 lbs gorilla in the space, but Oregon-upstart Velomacchi has been making waves as well with its offerings. There is a good chance you have seen one of these brand’s packs out in the wild.

Both brands offer great pieces, but what makes Kriega and Velomacchi both stand out is that they have created unique harnessing systems that are designed around the requirements that come with riding a motorcycle at-speed and while wearing motorcycle apparel.

And now, it seems Triumph wants in on that action, as the British brand has released on its UK website a set of bags that look very, very familiar. Is imitation the highest form of flattery? Or, is it bad for business for all the parties involved?

The engineers at Honda are busy looking at the future of how we will ride on two wheels, and their latest creation is a clutch-by-wire system for motorcycles, first spotted by the eagle eyes at Cycle World.

Similar to how a brake-by-wire system works, the clutch actuation begins by measuring the pressure applied to the clutch lever by the rider, and then sends an electronic signal to a slave cylinder, which replicates and applies that force on the clutch, either engaging or disengaging it.

We knew when the BMW R18 cruiser was first being teased that behemoth air-cooled motor from the Germans would be a platform for multiple motorcycles.

Now with the second BMW R18 model debuting for the 2020 model year, we get word of a third model – this time a bat-faired touring motorcycle.

We have seen spy shots of the bagger before, so today’s patent images, found by the talented Ben Purvis of BikeSocial, come as no surprise to our eyes.

One of the more lust-worthy motorcycles seen at the 2019 EICMA show may have just gotten closer to coming to reality, as design patents for the Honda CB4X have been spotted. 

The patents come from the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and while many are pointing to their filing as a sure sign that the Honda CB4X is headed for production, we reiterate our usual caution about reading too much from a patent application.

That being said, if there was a candidate for motorcycle concepts coming to real life, the Honda CB4X (which is based off the Honda CBR650R), is high on our list.

The question around electric motorcycles does not seem to be “if” they will come but “when” they will come, and from that comes a slew of other questions on how we are going to handle mainstream adoption of this budding two-wheeled segment.

From this momentum comes ideas on how best to charge electric vehicles, and we already see the great debate about the various charging standards available to manufacturers. 

BMW Motorrad is tackling the issue was well, and patent applications show that the German brand has a very smart solution for how to charge motorcycles.

There has been no shortage of rumors about the “new” Honda CBR1000RR superbike. It is a story that pre-dates even the start of this publication, ever since Honda updated its liter bike offering for the 2008 model year.

And now, we seem finally set to see a new chapter in the Fireblade story, with the 2020 model year widely tipped to see the introduction of a new superbike from Big Red.

The machine has been rumored through movements in the WorldSBK Championship, the FIM Endurance World Championship, and other domestic series, and those stories have been supported by a series of patents found worldwide.

Now today, the eagle eyes of Ben Purvis at Cycle World have spotted another patent, one with an intriguing proposition – active aerodynamics.

It would seem that BMW Motorrad is the latest motorcycle marque to explore the idea of forced induction for motorcycles.

This means that the Bavarians will join the ranks of Kawasaki, which has already three supercharged H2 models on the market; as well as Honda and Suzuki, which have been toying with the idea of turbocharged two-wheelers on dealership floors.

Spotted by Ben Purvis at BikeSocial (he’s on a roll lately), the German brand has filed patents locally for an electric supercharger design, with drawings seemingly using the S1000RR as its basis (for whatever that is worth).

A patent application by the Suzuki Motor Corporation is causing some waves, and for good reason, as the Japanese manufacturer is teasing an engine that looks very familiar…if you have ever seen the inside of the Ducati Supermono engine.

While Suzuki’s patent centers around the lubricating structure for a motorcycle engine, the diagrams being used for the patent application concern a single-cylinder engine type that includes a dummy cylinder for a balancer.

It looks like we are close to seeing the rumored BMW F850RS debut (likely later this year, at the EICMA show in November), as design patent drawings have surfaced showing a parallel-twin version of the RS series.

The bike looks visually quite close to the BMW 9cento concept that debut roughly a year ago in Italy, though with much more subdued lines than that adventure-sport offered.

While we expected the 9cento to usher in a new bigger motor, the final design seems to rest on the updated 850cc parallel-twin engine that has been injecting some character and life into BMW Motorrad’s middleweight lineup.