Jorge Lorenzo’s disappointing performance at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans has been the cause of some debate. The factory Yamaha man finished a lowly seventh, his worst finish (other than DNFs) since his rookie season in 2008, and finishing off the podium for the first time since Indianapolis in 2011. To say this was an uncharacteristic performance from Lorenzo is something of an understatement.

So what went wrong? Immediately after the race, Lorenzo made it clear that he believed the problem was with his rear tire. He had had no grip whatsoever, and been unable to get any drive from his rear tire.

He told the press afterwards that the only logical explanation he could think of for his problems was a defective rear tire. Lorenzo had been fast in the morning warm up, though it was a little drier then, and the set up used was very similar to then. In 2012, Lorenzo had won at Le Mans by a huge margin, so he could not understand why he was struggling so badly in France.

Bridgestone naturally denied there had been a problem with Lorenzo’s tire. After the race Bridgestone officials told the press that they had examined the tire together with Yamaha engineers and found nothing wrong with it.

In their customary post-race press release, Bridgestone’s Motorsport Tyre Development Manager Shinji Aoki reiterated this stance. “As is always the case in these situations, his engineer thoroughly examined Jorge’s race tyres which were found to be in good working condition,” he is quoted in the press release as saying.

“In addition, I examined the tyre myself and personally discussed the matter with the Yamaha engineers and we all agreed that Jorge’s lack of rear grip was not attributable to his tyre.”

What do we know ourselves? Though nobody is saying anything other than official statements, there are still some clues we can piece together from the data available. The key fact is visible from the race footage, available to those with a MotoGP.com video pass on the official MotoGP website.

An interesting development on the aftermarket side of things has graced our desks, as Öhlins has released a “suspension control unit” (SCU) that upgrades the electronically adjustable suspension on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S so that it becomes a semi-active suspension system. Whhhaaaat??!

So, if you’re the proud owner of a pre-2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S, and you think that your electronically controlled Öhlins suspension is no longer boss, now that Ducati has released its Sachs-powered “Skyhook” semi-active suspension pieces on its new batch of Multistrada sport-tourers, there is a remedy for your motolust.

Enticed by the idea of having semi-active suspension on your motorcycle? Then the latest tech from Öhlins Suspension might be the thing for you, as the Swedish company has developed an electronically controlled mechatronic shock for existing motorcycles, starting with the 2011-2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

Developing the system first in the  World Superbike Championship, Öhlins is the first suspension manufacturers to bring the technology to the masses, though companies like Bitubo, Marzocchi, and WP Suspension have similar units that will be available next year as well.

Building off of three decades of tradition and 170,000 units sold worldwide, the 2013 BMW R1200GS has some big shoes to fill. Officially debuting today at the INTERMOT show, the Bavarians have kept most of what makes a GS a “GS” intact, while of course adding a much speculated, hyped, and rumored water-cooled boxer-twin motor into the mix.

The big push with the new model is its ability to meet stricter noise and emission standards, hence the move to liquid-cooling. Though, BMW says it also aimed to improve the R1200GS’s on & off-road performance, increase the bike’s safety, and of course continue the GS heritage that has basically defined the segment.

Using “precision cooling” derived from Formula 1, the 2013 BMW R1200GS only uses liquid cooling on the parts of the motor that need the additional heat exchange, thus allowing the engine still to use a high-degree of air-cooling, which BMW says helps justify the continued use of the boxer-twin motor design. Other changes include a wet slipper clutch and left-hand side cardan shaft drive. As we reported earlier, power is 123hp and 92 ft•lbs of torque at 6,500 rpm, while the curb weight is 525 lbs (238 kg) without fuel.

If you are anything like us, yesterday’s announcement of the revamped 2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 line left more questions than answers. Semi-active suspension on a Ducati? A Second-generation Testastretta 11° motor? Give us the deets Bologna! Surely both these changes are going to make it beyond just the MTS 1200 in the Ducati model line-up, yet Borgo Panigale is mums the word on what these changes are exactly, beyond their actual existence.

We do have some clues however, since Ducati released photos of the 2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak & 2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Granturismo motorcycles. A close look at the forward-facing cylinder head shows a feed for a second spark plug (2013 model on the left, 2012 model on the right), while the absence of the usual obnoxiously gold-colored forks raises some eyebrows as to whom Ducati is using to source its new “Skyhook” semi-active suspension.

When Ducati USA unveiled a new (stunning) livery for the team’s two Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak race bikes, there was some good gossip that the red and white paint scheme could find its way into production. The rumor is now gaining some more steam, as the folks at Moto.it have gotten their hands on a photo of a road-going version of the Multistrada 1200 S with the Pikes Peak livery adorning its Italian lines.

Since the Isle of Man TT, I have been hearing some talk about MotoCzysz developing some performance pieces for mainstream market consumption. Since the MotoCzysz crew is now busy making electrons go faster than the speed of light, the obvious candidate for the rumor would seem to be the company’s 6x-flex fork, which was originally tested on a Honda CBR1000RR and would only need some basic adjustments in order to fit modern dinosaur-burning motorcycles.

While I chalked the rumors up to conjecture, there appears to be some truth to the matter, as MotoCzysz was recently up at Portland International Raceway doing some testing. We assume the testing time was for the 2012 MotoCzysz E1pc, which is set to make its track debut this weekend for the e-Power/TTXGP round at Laguna Seca. Tweeting about the test, MotoCzysz let it drop that “performance parts [for] your bike” would be announced soon. Schwing!

For the next model year, Kawasaki is giving a modest update to its flagship model, the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. Mostly touching up its work from 2011 with a dollop of new paint, the one intriguing feature of the 2013 Kawasaki ZX-10R is its new electronic steering damper, which adjusts the level of steering damping based on how fast the motorcycle is traveling.

Kawasaki developed the damper with the help of a little Swedish company named Öhlins, and is the first manufacturer to use the new suspension from the famed suspension brand, which is sure to be a standard item on the bikes of other OEMs in the coming years — just like the Honda Electronic Steering Damper (HESD) that Big Red debuted circa 2004.

You know what they say about first-generation Italian motorcycles…Yes folks, the superbike of 2012, the Ducati 1199 Panigale, is having its first technical recall. Ducati North America is recalling 375 units of the Panigale because of an incorrect screw was used to attach the rear swingarm to the rear suspension linkage. The faulty screw could cause the swingarm to detach from the linkage, which would in-turn could cause a catastrophic suspension collapse.

One of our favorite bikes to debut last year, the Vyrus 986 M2 continues to be developed by the small Italian firm, and pictures of the 600cc, omega-framed, hub-center steered motorcycle have been uploaded to the Vyrus Facebook profile page, and show the Moto2 hopeful in its street-legal form.

Breaking cover back in January 2011, Vyrus had hopes of racing the 986 M2 in the Moto2 Championship, as well as selling a street and kit version of the motorcycle to consumers. At €25,000 ready to roll (€50,000 for the race version), the street-going Vyrus 986 M2 might be one of the most expensive supersport-class motorcycles on the market, but honestly, wouldn’t you want to own one these bay boys instead of a comparably-priced liter-bike? We know we would.