Leaked well ahead of the EICMA show, we can now officially talk to you about the 2013 Aprilia Caponord 1200, Noale’s adventure-tourer. Using the chassis from the Aprilia Dorsoduro 1200 as its basis, Aprilia says it has modified the “robust” chassis to suit the Caponord 1200′s raison d’être, though you would be hard pressed to get a weight figure from the company.

Inside that presumably hefty chassis is a 128hp 1197cc v-twin motor with 85 lbs•ft of peak torque, which isn’t going to blow the doors off on any spec sheet comparisons. Instead, Aprilia is hoping to entice would-be Caponord 1200 owners with the bike’s bevy of electronics.

We have patiently been awaiting the arrival of the liquid-cooled Ducati Hypermotard for some time now, and today, a day before the EICMA show, is the day that we get to see what Ducati has been cooking. Simply called the 2013 Ducati Hypermotard, the 821cc Testastretta 11° DS v-twin machine is anything but a casual update to Bologna’s maxi-motard.

More than just a reworked Superbike 848 mill, the 2013 Ducati Hypermotard boasts a longer stroke than the 848cc machines, with a much smaller bore. The result is a motorcycle with 110hp at its peak, but with 65.8 lbs•ft of torque at 7,750 rpm. At 436.5 lbs wet and ready to go, the new Ducati Hypermotard on its spec sheet sounds like a rocket out of the corners…assuming you can keep that front wheel down on terra firma.

MV Agusta is teasing its 2013 MV Agusta F4 line ahead of the upcoming EICMA show next week, and the company from Varese, Italy has massaged in some extra goodness into its premier superbike. Not giving us the full monty, MV Agusta is willing to admit that the F4 will come in three flavors: the MV Agusta F4, MV Agusta F4 R, & MV Agusta F4 RR.

For 2013, the key feature updates include upgraded Brembo M50 monobloc brakes, Öhlins electronically controlled suspension, ride-by-wire throttle control, and the MV Agusta MVICS electronics package with eight-way adjustable traction control.

We don’t have word on the F4′s key performance specs, but in its teaser video MV Agusta lets it slip that at least some versions of the 2014 MV Agusta F4 will have titanium con-rods and a redesigned crankshaft (by the way, did you see the new running lights in the photo above?).

Thus, expect the F4 to get a power boost that puts it properly in the 200+ hp realm (many media outlets fail to realize that the current F4 Corsacorta motor makes 201 CV, which equals 198hp). One of the most beautiful motorcycles you could hope to own, MV Agusta may be getting a bit derivitive with the F4′s design, but the company lives up its “Motorcycle Art” tagline, as always.

We have got a bunch of screen captures and a teaser video for you after the jump. Stay tuned next week for the 2013 MV Agusta F4′s official launch, where we’ll bring you all the photos and technical spec available.

KTM’s pre-EICMA marketing machine continues to churn along, after the company first released a sound clip of its new Super Duke revving its engine in a garage. Today we get a glimpse of KTM’s new street-naked machine, the KTM 1290 Super Duke — a bike KTM is calling a “Beast” on its blog.

More of a concept bike teaser than a reveal, the bike in question appears to be a stunting prototype of the 2013 KTM 1290 Super Duke production model, but KTM has give us some clues what to expect next week: ride-by-wire throttle control, a new chassis, WP suspension, and  a bored-out 1290cc v-twin motor. Your mother already hates it.

It is a rarity that an A&R reader is better informed than us on a topic, but one of the great things about online media is that there is an instantaneous two-way dialogue on every subject we publish. As such, a special hat-tip goes out to commenter “Bob” who spilled the beans that Motus had dropped gasoline direct injection (GDI) for the Motus MST sport-tourer that the company is soon to unveil at the Daytona Bike Week. We followed up the comment with Lee Conn, President and Co-Founder of Motus, about the comment, where he confirmed that Motus would adopt a port fuel injection & ride-by-wire scheme instead of the heavily touted GDI setup.

“Having ridden the MST’s with GDI all over America, I can report that we pioneered a really cool GDI system and it works great,” said Lee Conn. “GDI is a modern, smart and efficient way to fuel an engine, but after a lot of discussions with dealers, customers, technicians, and tuners, we concluded that there is not enough support in the current industry to roll out this technology yet.” After seeing what bikes A&R commenters were using in comparison to the Motus MST, Lee made a joke about how the Motus team would have to rethink its product messaging, and then said something that is very central to the Motus MST ethos.

Honda teased us last year with the Honda Crosstourer Concept, but for the 2011 EICMA show, the Japanese manufacturer is making good on its promise to bring the GS-lookalike to market. Based off the VFR1200F, the 2012 Honda Crosstourer comes with traction control, combined anti-lock brakes (C-ABS), and of course an optional dual-clutch transmission. While the Crosstourer shares the VFR’s 1,237cc V4 motor, the adventure bike model puts out a significantly lower 127hp @ 7,750 rpm, while a gluttonous 93 lbs•ft torque @ 6,500 rpm remains on-tap.

Clearly a road-focused adventure-tourer model, the Honda Crosstourer may never have the off-road pedigree as the BMW R1200GS it is meant to emulate, but true to Honda fashion, the Crosstourer has plenty of technical prowess built into it. For instance, the idea of using DCT technology for an adventure bike should prove interesting, as it takes the process of having to manage the clutch/motor over unsteady terrain out of the picture.

After showing us the 2012 MV Agusta F3 675, the iconic Italian motorcycle company has also spilled the beans on the MV Agusta Brutale 675. The three-cylinder 675cc naked bike, is unsurprisingly and basically an F3 supersport without its fairings. With a peak power figure of 113hp @ 12,000 rpm and 52 lbs•ft of peak torque @ 10,600 rpm, the Brutale 675 tips the scales at 163kg dry (359 lbs), and like its fully-faired counterpart, the new Brutale should be a peaky, yet potent, stead for willing owners.

Featuring the same MVICS electronics package that was debuted on MV Agusta F3 675, the MV Agusta Brutale 675 will continue the “electronics are the new horspower” trend of the new decade, and with a €8,990 price tag should be equally alluring. The cheapest MV Agusta now on the market, we imagine Varese is hoping to sell a metric boat-load of the new baby Brutale. However, as we saw with the US pricing of the MV Agusta F3, how that sub-€9,000 price tag will translate to greenbacks remains to be seen.

Ducati has a new flagship Superbike coming out soon, if you hadn’t heard the news. Powering the Ducati 1199 Panigale is a new 90° v-twin motor dubbed the Superquadro (Ducati mini-site here), which the Italian company officially unveiled today. Confirming the specs we released back in November of last year, the power plant boasts 195hp and 98 lbs•ft of torque, making the Ducati Superquadro motor a new direction for Bologna, in more ways than one. For starters, the Superquadro is the first production motor in the company’s history that’s is fully-integrated into a bike’s chassis, thus putting final confirmation that the 1199 Panigale will use the MotoGP inspired “frameless” chassis design (not that we were really doubting this).

Deriving its name from the massively over-sqaure cylinder design, the Superquadro is the most powerful motor to come in a production motorcycle from the Bologna brand. Other highlights include the use of hybrid chain/gear-driven camshaft, titanium valves, a wet slipper clutch, ride-by-wire throttle actuation, 15,000 mile major service intervals, and a rider-selectable “riding mode” system. Boasting that the company built the Superquadro motor with a clean sheet of paper, the company has proven once again that there are no sacred cows in Bologna.

Carlos Checa (1:47.196) won pole for the 2011 World Superbike round at Imola on a sunny and clear day, after dueling his way through Superpole with second place starter Jonathan Rea. Checa set a new track record early in the final session and looked confident in the garage until Rea came within hundredths of his lap time. Checa returned to the track, though Rea was unable to best his time and had to settle for second on the starting grid for Sunday. Noriyuki Haga, who led S2, will start third while Tom Sykes will complete the front row of the grid.

Before the on-track action even got underway, the championship hunt was shaken up as Biaggi, with his injury from the Nurburgring weekend not healing as quickly as required, is sitting out the entire Imola weekend,  “It is a bad split fracture which – fortunately – is progressing well. But it has not healed and the X-ray today shows that,” said Dr. Claudio Costa. He continued, “Max – summoning up reason – was forced to acknowledge the situation.” This is the second race weekend in a row Biaggi has been forced to miss due to the injury, which occurred during practice three weeks ago. Also missing from the field is Chris Vermeulen and the newly-retired James Toseland, who has been replaced by Javier Fores at BMW Motorrad Italia.