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Honda Africa Twin Confirmed – CRF1000L Coming for 2016

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American Honda dropped a bombshell today, confirming that the teased “True Adventure” ADV model will enter production, and be named the “Africa Twin”, as expected.

Officially designated at the Honda CRF1000L, the Africa Twin will be a 2016 model (in dealerships early next year), and best of all, it will be coming to the USA.

The 2016 Honda Africa Twin draws upon a legacy of rugged off-road race-proven machines that also wore its name, a sign that Honda intends the CRF1000L to be very capable off-road, and thus not follow the road-going adventure-sport trend.

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MotoGP

MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa To Return to Racing at Le Mans

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Dani Pedrosa is to return to racing at the Le Mans round of MotoGP. His return brings to an end an extended absence following surgery to cure a persistent arm pump problem. Pedrosa missed three rounds in total, skipping Austin and Argentina, then making a last-minute decision to withdraw from the Jerez round.

That decision was regarded with some suspicion. Jerez is a track where Pedrosa has performed very strongly in the past, and missing a home GP is a major wrench of any MotoGP rider.

However, after testing his forearm by riding a supermoto bike, Pedrosa was concerned that his arms were not recovering as hoped. Now, with two weeks more rest, Pedrosa believes his arms will be strong enough to withstand the stresses of racing a MotoGP bike.

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Bikes

As Expected, The Scrambler is Killing It for Ducati

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April 2015 was the best sales month ever for Ducati Motor Holding, with the Italian firm delivering 7,309 units to customers. This figure is up 29% compared to last year, and tops Ducati’s previous best month ever by 800 units (April 2014 with 6,500 motorcycles).

Why the sudden spurt in sales for the Bologna Brand? We have two words for you: Ducati Scrambler. Unsurprisingly, the budget-priced Scrambler range is seeing a strong market response, and of course its getting some help from the all-new Ducati Multistrada 1200 and the Ducati 1299 Panigale line.

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MotoGP

MotoGP in 2017 & Beyond – Towards a Brighter Future?

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The MotoGP grid is looking in surprisingly good health in 2015. The series has come a long way in the five years since 2010, when there were just 17 full-time entries on the grid, and Suzuki was teetering on the brink of withdrawal.

Dorna’s CRT gambit has paid off: the much-maligned production-based bikes may not have been competitive, but they did spur the manufacturers into action to actually supply more competitive machinery to the private teams.

The CRT bikes became Open class bikes, and Dorna’s pet project of standardized electronics has been adopted into the MotoGP rules.

From 2016, there will be one class again (well, sort of, the concessions – engine development, unlimited testing, more engines – for factories without regular podiums are to remain in place), with everyone on the same electronics, the same fuel allowance, and the same tires. A bigger change is coming for 2017.

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News

Miller Motorsports Park To Cease Operations

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It is a sad day for motorsports fans near Salt Lake City, as Miller Motorsports Park will cease operations at the end of October this year, the track has announced.

The news comes from the Larry H. Miller Group (LHM), the track operator, which has decided not to renew its lease with Toole County on the property, thus effectively closing the track and ceasing its operations.

This news will not affect the schedule of racing events (including the MotoAmerica round in June), driving schools, public karting access, and other group activities that are currently planned at the facility, but it does raise some question marks regarding what will happen to the space once the LHM is no longer running it.

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Bikes

BMW S1000XR Mega Gallery

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One of the highlights of the 2014 EICMA show, the BMW S1000XR is Germany’s direct assault on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 et al. That move is an interesting one, considering bikes like the Multistrada 1200 were in response to the popularity of the BMW R1200GS — thus making the adventure-touring-sport segment one big dog chasing its tail, but we digress.

The S1000XR officially splits the adventure segment in two, making a clear distinction between adventure-touring motorcycles like the BMW R1200GS(A) and KTM 1190 Adventure, and the adventure-sport segment, which includes the Ducati Multistrada 1200 and MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800.

Built for speed and long-distance travel, the adventure-sport machines mimic the sport-tourers that they are replacing in sales, with their added offer of longer suspension travel and at least some gravel-road competency (whether you’d take any of these machines off-tarmac is another debate entirely).

All of this means that the BMW S1000XR is an important machine for the Bavarian brand, as well as the motorcycle industry — we are already seen other manufacturers respond to this new segment.

The S1000XR is also on A&R’s short list of new bikes to try this year, and it looks like BMW is finally close to granting us that wish. After rumors of production delays, the 2015 BMW S1000XR finally seems ready for showtime. As such, we have a mega gallery of 302 hi-res photos for you, after the jump.

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MotoGP

Trackside Thursday: After Race Day – Testing at Jerez

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With the dust settled on the Spanish Grand Prix, the serious business of testing got under way at the Jerez Circuit this past Monday morning.

With a live track for eight hours, this is invaluable time for riders and teams to assess new parts, fine-tune existing parts, and go in search of the elusive setup.

For a photographer, a test is an all together more relaxing experience than a race weekend. With so much time available you can linger at locations and take your time wandering around the track.

Additional locations become available as the advertising boards, which are usually too high to shoot over, have been removed. Pit lane is almost deserted, and provides opportunities that are harder to pick out on a race weekend.

With that considered, I will leave you with the gallery below from Monday’s test.

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Bikes

Yamaha Project Leaders Explain the Evolution of the R1

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Yamaha has been rolling out some interesting YouTube fodder lately, with the most recent installment being a short video that features the five project leaders from the different generations of Yamaha YZF-R1 superbikes.

Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear too much from the Japanese project leaders, other than a quick one-line synopsis of what their project goals entailed, but we are treated to some good visuals of Valentino Rossi flogging the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 down the race track.

The best part of the video though might be the pride shown by these project leaders — they look like proud fathers standing next to their creations.

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Bikes

First Shots of the Yamaha MT-25

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If you like your small displacement machines sans fairings, then this might be the bike for you, as the first clear photos of the Yamaha MT-25 are hitting the internet, courtesy of Indonesian blog TMCblog.

Based around the same 249cc parallel-twin engine as the Yamaha R25, the MT-25 will go up against the other quarter-liter naked bikes on the market, like the Honda CB300 and KTM 200 Duke.

As we can see from the photos, the MT-25 shares many of the same parts with the R25 — most notably the chassis, suspension, exhaust, seat, and engine. Added is a new headlight, fairing chin, and air intake tubes.

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Recall

Recall: Yamaha YZF-R1M

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When Öhlins announced that it was recalling certain aftermarket shocks and steering dampers earlier this year, the obvious question was whether it would affect motorcycles that were equipped with the Swedish suspension from the factory, namely the new Ducati 1299 Panigale and the Yamaha YZF-R1M.

While a recall was expected for both machines, so far we only have word from Yamaha USA that the R1M will be recalled to replace the Öhlins shock. The recall only affects 350 units for Yamaha, a figure that likely indicates the total number of R1M motorcycles in the USA.

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