Crashing during the superbike practice at the North West 200 on Thursday, John McGuinness was reported to have suffered a broken right leg. But now getting an update on his condition, we can see that his injuries are far worse than was initially thought.
While Honda Racing has withdrawn from the rest of superstock and superbike races at the North West 200, because of concerns regarding a mechanical issue causing the McGuinness’ crash, these injuries also cast significant doubt over John McGuinness competing in this year’s Isle of Man TT.
Big news today out of the North West 200, as John McGuinness suffered a crash at the Primrose corner, during the Superbike practice session. He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, with a suspected broken right leg.
The injury has cast some doubt on McGuinness’s participation in this year’s Isle of Man TT, but it has also scuttled Guy Martin’s plans for the Superstock race at the North West 200.
Dirt Quake, the grassroots flat track event, has been acquired by North One TV. The transaction sees North One TV acquiring both the Dirt Quake name, and the Dirt Quake events, with the core Dirt Quake team, including Gary Inman, staying on for the foreseeable future.
North One says that with the acquisition the media company plans to grow Dirt Quake internationally, with Dirt Quake already hosting popular events in the UK, Europe, and United States.
Presumably this means an expansion of Dirt Quake events into new markets, where flat track racing is already popular.
Daniel Laine Kyle of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California – known best for his speed shop, Kyle Racing – pleaded guilty to defrauding the US government earlier this week, after it was found that Kyle had been hiding cash-based purchases made at this business.
Dan Kyle Racing is known best for being the largest Öhlins suspension dealership in the United States (if not the world), as the company offered aggressive pricing on the Swedish-born suspension, and was one of the first Öhlins dealers with an online presence in the early days of the internet.
The focus for electric motorcycles at the Isle of Man TT may center around Team Mugen’s dual entry with John McGuinness and Guy Martin, but one should not overlook this very attractive entry from Belgium.
Saroléa is back for the 2017 Isle of Man TT, continuing with its state-of-the-art carbon fiber chassis goodness and retro fairing design. On board will once again be Dean Harrison, who will be gunning for a podium-finish on the 2017 Saroléa SP7.
If looks alone could get you across the finish line, then Saroléa would have our vote. The Belgians have always been in the running for a strong result though, finishing 4th in 2014 and 5th in 2015. Maybe this year will be “their year” at the TT.
The Honda CB650F is coming to the United States as a 2018 model year machine, so says American Honda. Expected to arrive in August 2017, the Honda CB650F adds a naked option to Honda’s middleweight street bike lineup, complimenting the CBR650F in the range.
The 650cc inline-four Honda CB650F creates a solid middle-point between the Honda CB500F and Honda CB1000R, which helps create a set of steppingstones between Honda’s entry-point machines and top-of-the-line range.
Did you just feel that? That movement was a tectonic shift in the motorcycle landscape, as India just surpassed China as the world’s largest market for two-wheel vehicles.
Just how big is the Indian motorcycle market? Last year, over 17.7 million motorcycles were sold in India. That is over 48,000 motorcycles sold…each day. Compared to China, that is a margin of roughly one million motorcycles per year (16.8 million units sold last year).
India has seen a sharp rise in the sales of two-wheelers within its borders over the seven years, growing over 32% during that timeframe. Transportation in general has been growing in India, but that growth has been fueled by the country’s two-wheeler market.
I am really excited about the Suzuki brand right now. Out of the four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, the recession affected Suzuki the most, probably more than many people realize, but the Hamamatsu brand is poised to bring out some exciting machines in the coming few years.
We have already seen Suzuki return to the MotoGP Championship, and the work there has brought about the all-new 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike, which is looking to a potent weapon in liter-bike warfare.
By 2019, we expected to see Suzuki debut all-new GSX-R600 and GSX-R750 offerings as well, which should follow the footsteps of their 1,000cc sibling, by offering modern electronics, class-leading performance figures, and cut-throat pricing.
A new Hayabusa is also rumored to be in the works, though scarce details on that machine have us feeling it is more internet rumor than real-world reality. But, Suzuki has not been bashful about teasing a turbocharged sport bike for its lineup, showing us its Recursion concept on more than one occasion.
Could we finally see a turbocharged Suzuki this year though? The rumor mill is pointing to yes…but just pointing, and the reason is because of patents.
Much of this internet rumors stems from a flood of patents that have been found, where Suzuki is patenting technology related to turbo-powered engines in motorcycles, or because of other patents that make reference or inference to being part of a turbocharged motorcycle.
I woke up this morning to a message from a colleague, with a link to a story that linked Royal Enfield to buying Ducati Motor Holding. The story was from a fairly reliable news publication, but the headline read “Royal Enfield Might Consider Buying Ducati Pretty Soon” – the grammarist in me cringed.*
“Might consider” is the most nebulous phrase in the English language. Let’s think about that phrase for a moment, as it literally means that you are considering the possibility of considering something. Don’t get me started on the timeliness of “Pretty Soon” in the news realm, as well.
Metaphysics and meaningless headlines aside, for our purposes this narrative devolves further in that this story offers nothing new, beyond the story that Reuters published two weeks ago, which set off alarms in the motorcycle industry around the world.
The Isle of Man TT is rapidly approaching us, and the top road racing teams are doing their final days of testing before they cross the Irish Sea. One of those outfits is Team Mugen, which has been readying the sixth iteration of its electric superbike, the Mugen Shinden Roku.
This year, John McGuinness and Guy Martin will fight for the top honors in the TT Zero race, with both riders looking to be the first man to do a 120 map lap at the Isle of Man TT onboard an electric motorcycle.
A 125 mph lap isn’t out of the question as well, and Team Mugen is the heavy favorite (no pun intended) to take the top honors in the TT Zero race.
Helping them to that goal is an updated Shinden motorcycle, which as we have pointed out already, comes equipped with some interesting aerodynamic touches that are inspired by nature.
As battery technology slows down though, will we see a rise in the importance of aerodynamic touches, like the ones Mugen is displaying (note the chevron cutouts on the fairing edges)? Only time can tell.