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Aprilia’s MotoGP project has suffered a setback. The 2016 version of their RS-GP MotoGP machine will not be ready in time for the first official IRTA test at Sepang, according to a report by Crash.net’s Neil Morrison.

Instead, the 2016 Aprilia RS-GP will make its debut in a private test at Qatar, ahead of the third preseason test of 2016, with its first public outing coming in that third and final test, two weeks before the start of the 2016 season.

The delay is a sign that the project is at least a couple of weeks behind schedule. At Valencia, Aprilia spokespersons said that the original plan was to hold a shakedown test at a private Italian racetrack, with the bike making its public debut in Sepang.

Designing a radically new bike is taking longer than expected, however: the 2016 machine will be a brand new prototype, designed from the ground up, at least 10kg lighter than the current RS-GP, and is rumored to have a different angle between the cylinders.

Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL) has filed paperwork with the Bombay Stock Exchange stating that its wholly-owned subsidiary, HMCL Americas, has entered into a settlement agreement with Erik Buell Racing, which sees the American arm of the Indian brand acquire “certain consulting project” from EBR for $2.8 million.

The filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange reads: “”As part of the settlement agreement, HMCL Americas Inc has agreed to acquire the ownership of certain tangible and intangible assets of EBR Entities, free and clear of all encumbrances, for a consideration of USD 2.8 million.”

Continued reports suggest that BMW is getting closer and closer to releasing a small-displacement motorcycle single-cylinder motorcycle (codenamed the K03), which is being co-developed with Indian brand TVS.

The machine is expected to be in the 250cc to 300cc range, be engineered by BMW Motorrad in Germany, but built by TVS in India.

Pictures of the test mule have been on the internet (see above), but the final design is said to be similar to the TVS Draken concept that we saw this time last year.

Indian motorcycle brands getting involved with Western companies for R&D isn’t anything new, in fact the entire Erik Buell Racing story seems to center around that very issue.

So, it shouldn’t shock anyone to hear that the iconic Royal Enfield motorcycle brand has acquired famed British performance house Harris Performance.

“Royal Enfield is working on its new generation of products and platforms; to have the Harris Performance team dedicatedly working with us will clearly enhance our engineering and product design capabilities,” said Siddhartha Lal, CEO Royal Enfield.

A plethora of Indian Financial publications are reporting that Hero MotoCorp has bought a 49.2% stake in Erik Buell Racing for $25 million. Hero MotoCorp is India’s largest two-wheel manufacturer, and for a year now has partnered with Erik Buell Racing for technical development, as well as sponsoring the American company’s AMA Pro Road Racing team for the past two seasons.

Today’s news confirms numerous rumors we have heard about the Hero investing in EBR. Acquiring only 49.2% of Erik Buell Racing, Hero has only a minority stake in EBR, and while we cannot confirm the information, we would imagine that the odd 49.2% ownership was done to keep Erik Buell as the majority shareholder in his company.

If you’re just starting your routine this Friday morning, you’ve likely already seen that a massive earthquake struck Japan about 230 miles offshore from Tokyo. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake is one of the top seven most powerful quakes in recorded history, and the largest to hit Japan in over 100 years. Occurring relatively close to the surface, the Sendai Earthquake, as it’s being called, triggered a tsunami, with waves as tall as 30 feet. Since the initial quake, a series of aftershocks have hit Japan as well, with many of those having a magnitude of 5.0 or greater on the Richter scale.

While Japan has more serious issues to contend with at the moment, the immediate ramifications for the motorcycle industry appear to be the now expected delays in shipping motorcycles from Japan to other countries. So far Honda has confirmed that it has shutdown production at its Saitama factory, while production at its Suzuka factory has resumed. Honda has also confirmed that one worker died and 30 others were injured when a wall collapsed in its research and development facility in Tochigi.

KTM is hard at work on its new 125cc streetbike (which still needs a name) geared to young riders. Debuted at the EICMA show in Milan last year, KTM hopes to bring young riders into the “Ready to Race” brand at an early age. Accordingly, KTM released two concepts last year which centered around a 125cc four-stroke motor.

With a concept for track riding and a concept for stunting, KTM hopes this new bike will strike a nerve with what young riders think is cool about motorcycling. The bikes looked pretty good to us when we saw them first-hand in Milan, and from the looks of this teaser video, the R&D behind the concepts is coming along quite nicely.