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What Happened to the Triumph Daytona 675?

By 44 COMMENTS

If you go to Triumph’s North American website, you will notice that the Daytona 675 is missing from the lineup. Similarly, the three-cylinder supersport machine is nowhere to be found on the Triumph Motorcycles UK site.

And even an intrepid look at Triumph Japan, Triumph India, and Triumph Brazil websites gives no joy, despite the latter’s still having the now defunct Tiger 1050 model. So what’s the beans?

The answer of course is the Euro4 homologation standard, which came into play for the 2016 model year, and has been killing motorcycle models ever since.

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News

Giovanni Castiglioni Explains MV Agusta’s Superbike Future

By 88 COMMENTS

While we are happy to report the rebirth of the Cagiva brand, and the pending launch of MV Agusta’s new Brutale 1000, we do have some bad news to report from Italy, as this will be the last year of the MV Agusta F4 superbike, for quite some time.

While the Italian brand plans to debut three new models from its four-cylinder platform over the next three years, the company’s superbike offering will be the last to be revitalized.

As such, the Brutale 1000 will debut this year as a 2019 machine, a “neo-classical” bike will debut next year as a 2020 machine, and a new “F4” will debut a year after that, as a 2021 model year bike.

This news is about to get worse, before it gets better, so let me explain further.

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News

Ride in Peace, Aprilia Founder Ivano Beggio

By 8 COMMENTS

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Ivano Beggio, the founder of Aprilia, who passed away during the early hours of Tuesday, March 13th. Beggio was 73 years of age, at the time of his passing.

Getting his start in his father’s bicycle shop in post-WWII Italy, Beggio innovated Aprilia from a simple bicycle company into one that sold motorcycles and scooters.

In 1975, Beggio started a small racing team, which quickly rose to success, winning the 125cc and 250cc Italian Motocross Championships in 1977.

From these pursuits, Aprilia became one of the largest motorcycle brands in Italy, entering the large-displacement market in 1998 with the RSV Mille superbike, and its racing pursuits have involved some of the biggest names ever in the sport.

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Reviews

Gone Riding: MV Agusta Brutale 800 RR

By 25 COMMENTS

Hello and good morning to a cold but dry Varese, Italy – the home of MV Agusta and just a stone’s throw away from Milan and the Dolomite mountain range.

Today we are riding the Euro4-spec MV Agusta Brutale 800 RR, and our course will be a street ride, around the region’s Lago Maggiore – a large lake not too far from the MV Agusta factory.

The current MV Agusta Brutale 800 RR isn’t exactly a new model, but it is one that has gotten lost in the shuffle with the Italian brand’s lengthy history of financial troubles. 

Historically one of the best-selling machines in the MV Agusta lineup, the Brutale 800 RR is a bike that I have been looking forward to riding for quite a while now, after I was first impressed with the changes made to the Euro4-spec Brutale 800 a few years ago.

The big difference between the Brutale 800 RR and the Brutale 800 is the engine, with the RR making 140hp from its three-cylinder power plant, an increase of roughly 30hp over the base model.

As you can imagine, the torque curve is considerably further up the rev range on the RR as well, which should make for a sportier ride. It’s not all roses though, and hopefully MV Agusta has been tackling my list of complaints to an otherwise awesome machine.

Will the Brutale 800 RR be just as fun to ride as the Brutale 800? That’s what we are hear to find out…well, that and whether its worth the $3,800 price difference ($18,498 MSRP here in the USA) over the base model.

So, here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride the Brutale 800 RR, before even my own proper review is posted (Italian cell service permitting). As always, if we don’t know an answer, we will try to get a response from the MV Agusta 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 #MVAgusta & #Brutale800RR

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Dirt

Cagiva Will Be Resurrected…As An Electric Brand

By 15 COMMENTS

Those who look back fondly on the Cagiva brand will be happy to hear that it will be officially revived as a motorcycle brand, with models set to debut later this year, for the 2019 model year.

Before you envision a modern take on the Cagiva Elefant however, this news comes with the caveat that Cagiva will serve as MV Agusta Motor’s foray into the electric two-wheeled space.

We are cautious to label this endeavor however, as the new Cagiva will operate in a segment of vehicle that hasn’t really been created yet – a type of electric two-wheeler that is somewhere between an e-bike and a full-blown electric motorcycle, like what Alta and Zero are producing.

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Rumors

The MV Agusta Brutale 1000 Will Debut Later This Year

By 23 COMMENTS

Asphalt & Rubber is coming to you from Varese, Italy this week, as we get ready to ride the Euro4-spec Brutale 800 RR.

Before we ride tomorrow though, we had a chance to sit down with MV Agusta boss, Giovanni Castiglioni, and pick his brain on a variety of subjects (keep an eye on the MOTR podcast for the full interview).

Revealing a few company secrets to us, as all good Italian CEOs do, Castiglioni has provided more insight on the company’s new four-cylinder platform, which will begin to debut this year, likely at November’s EICMA show, but possibly before then.

Described to us as “like Leon Camier’s bike, but without fairings”, the new Brutale 1000 will be the first of three models using the Italian company’s four-cylinder platform.

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Racing

Mugen Will Field a Three-Man Team at Isle of Man TT

By 3 COMMENTS

We are still about three weeks away from the official unveiling of the Mugen Shinden Nana, the seventh iteration of the Isle of Man TT winning electric superbike, but news is starting to trickle in about this racing effort.

In case you didn’t know, Mugen is looking to make the 2018 Isle of Man TT its fifth-straight victory at the iconic road race, and the chances are very good of that result happening.

This is because with scant competition coming from the other race teams, Mugen is set to race itself again this year, but for 2018 it will be with not one, not two, but three riders on the grid for this year’s TT Zero race, as the company confirmed via Twitter.

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News

UK Publication MotoFire Is For Sale

By 10 COMMENTS

It seems every couple months we have to report on the changing landscape in the moto-journalism realm, as the motorcycle industry continues a heavy churn with its constant state of flux and never-ending evolution (or lack thereof).

So far, we have seen a massive shakeup of Bonnier’s motorcycle titles, including Cycle World going to a quarterly format and Motorcyclist publishing every-other month format, while closing titles like Sport Rider and consolidating titles like Bagger and Hot Bikes.

We have seen The MAG Group (which is going through its own bankruptcy proceedings right now) close the doors at Motorcycle-USA, and also sell Cycle News to the motorcycle industry’s top advertising network.

We have also seen RideApart sold to media conglomerate Motor1 (and recently lost its Editor-in-Chief), Vertical Scope’s Motorcycle.com just lost its #1 and #2 leaders, Canada Moto Guide (the largest online publication in that region) has switched ownership, and internet upstart Rider’s Domain (owned by Jake Wilson) just let go of a significant part of its content and editorial staff.

And now today, we report that UK publication MotoFire has announced that it is for sale, with founders Steve Hunt and Ian Jubb (two ex-MCN employees) looking to take a step back from the website.

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Bikes

Hazan Motorworks Is Making A 950cc Supermoto – It’s Rad

By 35 COMMENTS

There simply are not enough big-displacement supermotards in this world we live in. There is the Ducati Hypermotard 939, the Aprilia Dorsoduro 900, then there is the Husqvarna 701 Supermoto, and well…that’s about it.

Thankfully, I am not alone in feeling that this is a big travesty – a crime against motorcycling itself, even. That is where Maxwell Hazan (the man behind Hazan Motorworks) comes in, with his “HazanSMR” project.

It starts with a 942cc LC8 v-twin engine from KTM, and it ends with a ~310 lbs motorcycle that spits 110hp to the rear wheel. Go ahead, we’ll give you a moment to compose yourself before continuing onward.

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Bikes

Here’s How to Race a $20,000 KTM RC390 R in the USA

By 25 COMMENTS

In case you haven’t noticed, the Supersport 300 class is heating up, and perhaps most interestingly with virtually zero machines with a 300cc displacement…but that is a subject for another time.

This has put pressure on KTM to remain at the pointy end of business in the small-displacement category, which has lead the Austrian company to the release of a homologation special for the 300cc class. As such, say hello to the 2018 KTM RC390 R sport bike.

A street legal motorcycle, the KTM RC390 R aims to sharpen the points where the entry-level KTM RC390 is a bit dull, namely by using better suspension and new intake trumpets that widen the powerband, but also with a new triple clamp, clip-ons, and levers.

With an MSRP of $8,499 for the RC390 R, the “ready to race” model commands a $3,000 premium over its lower-spec sibling. Of course, if you are really serious about your racing, you will want KTM’s Supersport 300 race kit as well, which will set you back another $11,000.

That’s right, for nearly $20,000, you can race in the “affordable” 300cc race class with KTM.

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Bikes

Voila! Here Is the 2018 Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP Race Bike

By 26 COMMENTS

The 2018 MotoGP season is almost upon us, but thankfully there is just enough time left for Aprilia Racing to debut its racing platform for this season – and unlike some other brands, the bike shown is actually the genuine article for 2018.

In the preseason, the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini squad has honed in a new aluminum frame made by Aprilia Racing, along with a new carbon fiber swingarm. The airbox and exhaust are also new, helping the narrow-angle V4 engine to breathe better on the race track.

This helps Aprilia to claim over 270hp from the four-cylinder motor, which has a counter-rotating crankshaft and pneumatic valves.

Other changes include a new aerodynamics package, which is hard to miss, but more subtlety the front suspension has also been modified, and uses Öhlins TSB46 forks (the rear shock is an Öhlins TRSP44 unit).

All of this is likely to evolve over the coming season, of course, but it is important to note that Aprilia is working with a fraction of the budget as some of the other factory teams.

As such, the Noale brand has made strong strides in recent seasons with the RS-GP, and when the stars align, we expect them to make some surprising results this year and continue their progression.

Of course, returning to ride the Aprilia RS-GP this season is Aleix Espagaro, and he will be joined in the squad by Scott Redding.

If you think we cherry-picked only the most awkward of their press photos, then you would be correct. Enjoy!

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