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Gone Riding: Benelli TnT 135

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We have covered extensively the rise of the small-displacement motorcycle segment here at Asphalt & Rubber, and today we are swinging a leg over a bike that is probably well off your radar, the Benelli TnT 135.

Benelli is better known for its larger sport bikes in the US market, with the Italian brand making an exodus from our two-wheeled lexicon at the turn of the century.

Now under ownership by China’s Qianjiang Group, Benelli is better known for its smaller motorcycles, which sell better in emerging markets than they do in the United States.

American importer SSR Motorsports is hoping to change that, and today we have sent motorcycling’s favorite wild man, Adam Waheed, to go ride the Benelli TnT 135 in SoCal and report back to us on this unique brand and motorcycle.

Per our new review format, Adam will be giving you a live assessment of the Benelli TnT 135 right here in this article (down in the comments section), and there he will try to answer any questions you might have.

So, here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride the TnT 135, before even Adam’s own proper review is posted. As always, if we don’t know an answer, we will try to get a response from the Benelli personnel. So, pepper away.

You can follow our thoughts on the bike live via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting on social media by looking for the hashtags #TnT135

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MotoGP

Nicky Hayden Remembered with Garden in Misano

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Nicky Hayden may have left us, but he is not forgotten, and now the World Champion will have a permanent memorial in Misano, Italy, as the city pays tribute to the American rider as well.

Accordingly, the Council of Misano is planning to create the “Giardino Nicky Hayden”, which will be a garden near the intersection where Hayden’s fateful crash occurred, not far from the Misano World Circuit, at corner of via Ca’ Raffaelli and via Tavoleto.

The memorial garden will be built by Denis Pazzaglini, friend and former mechanic to Hayden, during his time in the Repsol Honda MotoGP team.

The garden is expected to open later this year on May 22nd, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of losing Hayden during his bicycling incident involving another vehicle.

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Bikes

The Ducati Panigale V4 Looks Good Wearing Termignoni

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For a long time, the name “Termignoni” was synonymous with “Ducati exhaust”, with the popular scarico-maker being a constant fixture in the Ducati Performance parts catalog.

So prevalent was the brand, that if you see a turn-of-the-century (21st century, that is) Ducati clacking down the street with its dry clutch, chances are the exhaust you are also hearing was made by Termignoni.

But that has changed in recent years, with Slovenian marque Akrapovi? supplanting Termignoni in Ducati’s good graces.

To find out why, all one had to do was examine the products themselves – where Termignoni’s pieces were poorly fabricated and over-priced, Akrapovi? was infinitely better built and often cheaper.

In the past years, Akrapovi? has done a proper job of branding as the exhaust of choice for motorcycle exhausts (note the company’s many B2B marketing deals in MotoGP and with OEMs), with Termignoni seemingly all but forgotten…until today.

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Bikes

Honda CBR1000RRW Debuts for Endurance Duty

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What you are looking at here is the bike that Honda hopes will win the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race this year. It is called the Honda CBR1000RRW.

It is not all that different from the WorldSBK-spec model, the one that Leon Camier and Jake Gange are competing with currently (and that PJ Jacobsen is helping develop), save for some interesting changes. 

For starters, the Honda CBR1000RRW dumps its Cosworth boxes, and instead runs the Magneti Marelli electronics package that Jacobsen is using in WorldSBK.

Also, there are some obvious bodywork changes, namely where the exposed front spars of the frame would be, which are now covered by a silver painted panel.

Then of course, there are the mechanical changes for endurance duty, like quick-change wheel pieces and functional lights. Also note the Nissin brakes, Showa Öhlins suspension, and Bridgestone tires (the FIM EWC is the last major series where there is competition also amongst the tire brands).

Before CBR1000RRW can race at Suzuka though, Honda will campaign the machine in the All Japan Superbike Championship, with Takumi Takahashi at the helm.

Takahashi-san will race at Suzuka as well, with two other teammates, who are still to be named, and likely will come from Honda’s MotoGP or WorldSBK racing efforts.

So far, Franco Morbidelli and Thomas Luthi have been tipped as being asked by Honda, but we are sure that Big Red sent out more feelers to other riders.

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Bikes

Honda CB300R Coming to USA with Retro-Modern Looks

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One of the surprise pleasures at last year’s EICMA show was Honda’s family of “Neo-Sports Café” street bikes, which brought a retro-modern look to Big Red’s approach road bikes.

While the new Honda CB1000R tickled our fancy the most, we were delighted to see that the theme extended all the way to the Japanese brand’s small-displacement platform, the Honda CB300R.

An attractive and affordable entry-level bike, the Honda CB300R looks like it was designed in Europe, rather than Nippon, which is probably why the 286cc commuter is doing so well in the European market.

Seeing that success, American Honda has confirmed the CB300R as an early 2019 model for the US market – available in July 2018.

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News

Motorcycling’s April Fools Round-Up for 2018

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Another year, and another April Fools Day is done and dusted. I am fairly certain that for journalists, April 1st is better than Christmas, as it marks the one day where media outlets make the news they wish they could report on daily. And as usual, the imaginations of the motorcycle media pool didn’t fail to disappoint.

My colleague David Emmett had a nicely done story about the MotoGP World Championship, and the ever increasing high-stakes game that is the rider contract Silly Season.

An expertly crafted April Fools story, perhaps the biggest disappointment from David’s piece is that we must now knowingly live in a world where “Racing with the Stars” isn’t a show we can watch on TV. I know my life will be the lesser because of it.

For my own part, I took advantage of the long-con approach, and fit a story into our ongoing series about the upcoming Suzuki Hayabusa, which seems to have no shortage of weekly rumors about this bike’s supposed features and technical specifications.

All I’m going to say is that “Drag Busa” rolls right off the tongue, and an extendable rear swingarm would be “tyt” with the Busa’s core demographic. Hopefully someone in Hamamatsu is listening.

How about from the rest of the industry though? In case you missed them, the highlights of April Fools Day are after the jump.

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Recall

Polaris Recalls 24,000+ Slingshots for Seat Belt Failures

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Here’s one you don’t usually see on a motorcycle new site, as Polaris is recalling over 24,000 Slingshot autocycles for issues with their seatbelt and seat design and manufacturing.

This recall is a big one, as it applies to seemingly all Polaris Slingshots sold between 2015 and 2018, for a tally of 24,235 vehicles affected by this recall notice. In its recall documents, Polaris estimates that roughly 1 in 100 vehicles exhibit the problem.

What’s at issue is that the driver and passenger seats might have a seat belt and seat back anchoring bracket that may have been improperly welded.

Additionally, there may have been a difference in the seat assembly at the factory, which may prevent the proper latching of the seat slider, which would allow the driver’s seat to move unexpectedly.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #74 – Triumphant

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Episode 74 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and it covers a busy schedule at the 2EP HQ. 

First off, we talk about Harley-Davidson’s investment in Alta Motors, and discuss what the future holds for these two American brands. The conversation shifts from the future, to the past, and also examines Harley-Davidson’s management of Buell and MV Agusta, which makes for an interesting contrast.

The conversation then turns to two pieces of equipment that we see shaking up the motorcycle apparel space: the Dainese D-Air Misano jacket and the Sena Momentum helmet. Both of these pieces are bringing new technology to the industry, and we’ve had a chance to spend some miles on both of them.

The show then covers what it’s like to ride the Triumph Speed Triple RS and Triumph Tiger 800 XCA, as Jensen was in Spain and Moab (respectively) riding these two British bikes.

We finish too with another quasi-review, as Carlin Dunne was down at the Alta Motors Redshift MXR launch, riding Alta’s new electric dirt bike and relaying his thoughts back to Asphalt & Rubber.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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News

This Week’s Suzuki Hayabusa Rumor, Part 3

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We know to expect a Suzuki Hayabusa reboot in the coming months, and in a way, that is all that we know. The iconic superbike is in its 20th year of production right now, and an all-new machine is set to take its place, for the 2019 model year.

Will it be turbocharged? Will it have a larger displacement? How about a dual-clutch transmission? That remains to be seen.

Safe bets are that the 2019 Suzuki Hayabusa will have updated electronics, likely powered by an inertial measurement unit (IMU). Euro4 emissions homologation is a must, and Suzuki will presumably be building the new Hayabusa with the Euro5 standard in mind as well.

Beyond these givens though, it seems that every week there is a new rumor regarding the next Hayabusa generation, and this week is no different.

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Bikes

Ducati Supersport R Concept by Oberdan Bezzi

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When we first heard that Ducati was bringing back the Supersport line, we were excited. The original SuperSport wasn’t exactly the best selling model for the Italian brand, but Ducati created some loyal enthusiasts with the half-faired sport-touring machine.

The new Ducati Supersport does a good job of tapping into the ethos of the old model, but visually it draws too close to the Ducati 1299 Panigale Superbike, rather than the lines of yore.

Here, Oberdan Bezzi plays another one of his “what if” games, drawing an air-cooled Supersport model (based off the current Scrambler platform), complete with the more classic half-fairing design. 

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Rumors

Suzuki Registers Katana Name Again, Internet Goes Crazy

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Suzuki has registered the “Katana” name here in the USA, and if that sounds like familiar news to our regular readers…well, it should.

This is the second time that Suzuki has registered the venerable Katana name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and there is good reason for that.

But, before we get into what Suzuki is and is not doing with the Katana name, we should first understand what this motorcycle means to long-time motorcyclists, especially in different markets.

This is because the Katana name evokes different ideas to different motorcyclists, because Suzuki has used it in different ways throughout the years, and in different countries.

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