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track bike

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Aprilia is making a tradition out of track-only specials for a discerning few (take a loo at the Tuono X and RSV4 X, and the latest iteration of that thought is certainly a stunner. Say hello to the Aprilia RSV4 XTrenta.

Only 100 units of this track weapon will be made, and in order to put one in your garage, you will need to shell out €50,000 (excluding VAT) from your pocketbook.

For that exclusivity and that chunk of change though, you get quite the potent superbike.

The bombshell racing news for 2023 has to be the fact that Ducati is taking over as the sole-manufacturer of the FIM MotoE World Cup, which runs at select MotoGP race rounds.

Before this news, Ducati was perhaps the last brand you would expect to embrace an electric powertrain, and since their MotoE announcement, the folks in Borgo Panigale have been working publicly on that goal with gusto.

Now today, we get our first proper glimpse at the Ducati “V21L” MotoE project, but also some of the performance specs we can expect in the MotoE series.

First off, the numbers you are dying to hear: 495 lbs (225 kg) ready-to-race, 150hp (110 kW) of peak power, 103 lbs•ft of torque (140 Nm), a 18 kWh battery pack (running at 800 volts) that can be charged to 80% in 45 minutes with the onboard 20 kW charger, and a top speed of over 170 mph (275 km/h) at the Mugello track.

Not to over-use an Italian cliché, but that’s a spicy meatball, and close to what Ducati achieves with its Panigale V4 superbike.

To help celebrate 50 years of the “M” brand in BMW, your favorite German manufacturer is releasing today the heavily worded BMW M1000RR 50 Years M Edition superbike.

Based on the already spicy BMW M1000RR, in all its carbon fiber glory, the 50 Years M Edition model brings extensive use aluminum and carbon parts, featuring a light-silver anodized aluminum swingarm, M GPS lap trigger, a M endurance chain, and passenger seat and seat cover.

You can get it in any color you want, so long as its “Sao Paulo Yellow” – which is pretty striking, if you ask us.

Any excuse to see some high-resolution photos of the KTM RC16 in its Tech3 livery – amiright???

The start of the 2022 MotoGP Championship season is rapidly approaching us, which means that the various grand prix teams are launching their racing efforts for the year.

My colleague David Emmett called the team launches glorified dog and pony shows, and that is largely because the bikes we see aren’t really the 2022-spec machines, and most of what is said at these events are platitudes written for sponsors.

I will retort though, that high-res images of some of the finest motorcycles on the planet never gets old, and the satellite Tech3 livery on the KTM RC16 is certainly a stunning combination that adds to the motolust.

Yamaha Motor Europe is making the most out of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu’s WorldSBK Championship title (along with the tuning fork brand taking the triple crown in the World Superbike series), and they have something special for 21 lucky buyers.

Making a limited-edition replica of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu’s Yamaha YZF-R1, the PATA Yamaha squad is making the bikes in Crescent Racing workshop.

If you don’t keep a pulse on the work that Team Classic Suzuki has been producing the last few year, then you owe it to your nostalgia to peruse their Katana race bike or Suzuki XR69 replica endurance bike. They are exquisite.

Now the British outfit has a new bike for us to drool over – one that cuts right to our 1990’s loving superbike hearts. It is a Suzuki GSX-R750 SRAD circa 1996.

Long-time Asphalt & Rubber readers might recognize the motorcycle above. It started life as the Norton NRV588, and then later became the Crighton Racing CR700P.

What is old is new again, it would seem, as the Crighton CR700W is getting significant press this week. And although the bike is a massaging of a machine that has been in the two-wheeled nexus for over a decade, Crighton’s work is certainly lurid.

This is because the Crighton CR700W is the only rotary engine powered motorcycles available on the market, and  the headline features are certainly worth talking about.

The Yamaha YZF-R7 is Yamaha’s answer to Twins Cup racing, refined over the MT-07 it replaces to have a stiffer chassis, better suspension, and some minor engine tweaks.

The real beauty of the R7 though is that it takes much of the work and expense in racing an MT-07 out of the equation, especially with its $9,000 price tag.

Hoping now to make the race-prep situation even simpler, Yamaha has released a bevy of “Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing” (GYTR) products for the twin-cylinder machine.

Last year, Yamaha announced that it was ceasing production of its popular YZF-R6 sport bike for the street, effectively killing the most popular 600cc supersport on the market.

The move was a sign of the times, and a glimpse into the Japanese brand’ unwillingness to update the platform for the stringent Euro5 emission standards in Europe.

With no European market to help bolster sales, the news also meant that the Yamaha YZF-R6 would cease for production as a street bike in the United States as well. But, there was a silver lining.