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October 2014

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2015 Suzuki GW250F — A Fully-Faired 250cc for the USA

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Suzuki has finally brought a full-faired small-displacement machine to the US market, announcing today the 2015 Suzuki GW250F. As the name implies, the Suzuki GW250F is really just the GW250, with full-fairing bodywork.

The move is perhaps the mother of necessity, as Suzuki doesn’t have a proper motorbike to go head-to-head with the Kawasaki Ninja 300, Honda CBR300R, or Yamaha YZF-R25.

With the small-displacement war well underway in the United States, Suzuki Motor America surely felt that something beyond just the Suzuki GW250 was needed, and hence the GW250F was born.

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Bikes

2015 Suzuki GSX-S750 — Budget Middleweight Streetfighter

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Suzuki Motor America has just wrapped up its dealer show, and the surprise announcement is the 2015 Suzuki GSX-S750. The 749cc cousin to the Suzuki GSX-S1000 that debuted at the INTERMOT show, the Suzuki GSX-S750 is exactly what you think it is.

Taking the GSX-R750’s engine, and tuning it for low-end torque and mid-range power, Suzuki says that the GSX-S750 is perfect for street riding. Europeans have been calling it the Suzuki GSR750, since 2011.

The real kicker for the American market though is the price, as the GSX-S750 (available only in matte black) comes in at a paltry $7,999. Meanwhile the “Metallic Triton Blue and Pearl Glacier White” painted Suzuki GSX-S750Z (shown above) will hit dealer floors at $8,149, MSRP.

We gave Suzuki a lot of grief over the GSX-S1000 this week, but it seems they heard our thoughts in advance regarding pricing on the GSX-S line. There appears to be tremendous bang for the buck with the Suzuki GSX-S750 — American street enthusiasts, your budget streetfighter is here. Photos and specs are after the jump.

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Bikes

2015 BMW S1000RR Mega Gallery

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We had 12 kinds of trouble with BMW’s press site during INTERMOT, as such our stories on their new bikes were woefully under-stocked with images. To make that up to you, we’re going to bring you some “mega galleries” of high-resolution photos of the Bavarian machines. First up, the 2015 BMW S1000RR.

A bike we spotted out testing ahead of the trade show season, we knew that BMW Motorrad had some changes in store for the S1000RR.

New for 2015 is a revised the frame geometry for better handling, an engine that has been massaged for an additional 6hp (peak power is now 199hp, while torque is at 83 lbs•ft), and a bulk weight that has been reduced by 9 lbs (449.7 lbs with a full tank of fuel and ABS).

BMW says it gained the extra power by revising the cylinder head on the 998cc inline-four engine. A larger airbox, along with shorter intake lengths also help boost the peak horsepower on the 2015 BMW S1000RR.

To get the S1000RR on a diet, BMW has dropped the front silencer on the exhaust, for a healthy weight reduction of 6.6 lbs. The frame on the 2015 BMW S1000RR is lighter as well, and boasts refined positions for the steering head angle, wheel castor, wheelbase, and swingarm pivot. There is even a new battery, which shaves another 2 lbs off the 2015 BMW S1000RR.

Cruise control (yup) and semi-active suspension (BMW’s Dynamic Damping Control), has also been added to the updated superbike. Blah, blah, blah…you’re here for the photos, huh? We have 169 hi-res beauties for you after the jump. Enjoy!

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Bikes

Volkswagen XL Sport – A Ducati Superleggera Powered Car

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Whoa, hold on…don’t worry, you’re still at the right site. Yes this is a car, and yes this is a site dedicated to motorcycles, but it will all make sense in a minute…or however long it takes you to read the headline of this story. Don’t worry…scroll up…we’ll wait.

Anyways, one of the perks for Audi AG’s acquisition of Ducati is that parent company Volkswagen can play around with interesting concepts that involve the compact, yet powerful, engines that come out of Borgo Panigale. One of those flights of fancy has manifested itself into a real-life concept, the Volkswagen XL Sport.

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Bikes

Ronin – 47 American Street Bikes Like No Other

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You will have to go back almost five years to remember Magpul’s Ronin motorcycle concept. Based off the Buell 1125R chassis and engine, the Magpul Ronin was very refreshing and different approach to an American street bike.

Fast-forward to the present, and Ronin Motor Works (the company spun out of Magpul to make the Ronin motorcycle) is ready to sell its first 12 units of the avant-garde bike.

Key items on the Ronin include a linkage fork design, with a Penske shock handling the bumps traveling up the aluminum girders. Our favorite feature, the radiator has been place high up, near the handlebars, and features an integrated headlight design.

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News

BRD Motorcycles Raises $4.5 Million in Series A Funding

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It has been a long time coming, but we have some good news from the folks at BRD Motorcycles, as the electric motorcycle startup has just closed a $4.5 million Series A funding round.

The investment round was led by Spanish investment firm Modara Technologies, which was joined by Cedarville Investments, Tesla Motors founders Martin Eberhard & Marc Tarpenning, and Pedro Zapata Gil, the CEO of Baluarte Real Estate in Spain.

To-date that makes $8.2 million in capital raised by BRD, and now the San Francisco startup will be able to go ahead with production on its BRD RedShift electric dirt bike and supermoto offerings. BRD will show the production-ready RedShift MX & RedShift SM at the AIMExpo in two weeks’ time, which will retail for $14,995 and $15,495, respectively.

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KTM 1050 Adventure Outed by…KTM?

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At INTERMOT, we just saw the KTM 1290 Super Adventure — a model that KTM is calling “the safest motorcycle in the world” thanks to the machine’s use of the Bosch MSC “cornering ABS” module, and KTM’s robust traction control system.

Basically a 180hp off-road couch, the 1290 Super Adventure is the pinnacle of KTM’s ADV offerings. But, it seems another Adventure model is coming from zie Austrians.

Spotted by one of our readers on KTM’s website, the Austrian company makes reference to a KTM 1050 Adventure model in its owners manual download page. A KTM 1050 Adventure model has been rumored leading up to the INTERMOT show, so the reference is likely to be more than just a typographical error.

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