Indian Motorcycles is getting into a flat track racing in a big way. We have already seen the American brand’s purpose-built race bike, the Indian Scout FTR750, which looks quite the business with its purpose-built 750cc v-twin race engine.
Now, we get word that Indian will have an all-star team of riders competing on the Indian Scout FTR750, with Bryan Smith, Brad Baker, and Jared Mees lined up to be Indian’s new three-man “wrecking crew” on the race track.
Flat track racing in the United States is getting a makeover, with AMA Pro Flat Track changing its name to American Flat Track (AFT). This change comes during an interesting time, with flat track racing seeing a renaissance in its two-wheeled racing spectacle.
Reading our minds, the press release from AMA Pro Racing says that the rebranding comes as “the dawn of a new era for America’s favorite motorcycle sport,” which also comes as American Flat Track also ushers in a new class structure for professional flat track racing.
As you would expect then, AMA Pro Racing is also announcing its new racing classes for the newly named American Flat Track series.
There will be an AFT Twins class, with two-cylinder motorcycles, 650cc to 999cc, which will cater to the series’ top riders; and then there will be an AFT Singles class, with 450cc single-cylinder machines, which will serve as a feeder for the AFT Twins class.
There might be no finer off-road boot than the Sidi Crossfire 2 SRS, which boasts superb design, riding versatility, and modular parts. And yet, the Italian company endeavors to improve upon that design, teasing this weekend the debut of the Sidi Crossfire 3 SRS.
I am not sure if the debut of an off-road boot needs to be drawn out over several teaser videos — I can hardly stand it when the same is applied for a new motorcycle launch — but we might forgive such a marketing scheme for such a worthy piece of kit.
To that end, the Sidi Crossfire 3 SRS continues the trend of the Italian brand, with replacement parts and pieces readily available for owners. This makes repairs from heavy spills an easy affair, it also makes the SRS line of boot highly adaptable for different types of riding.
This is because like its predecessor, the Sidi Crossfire 3 SRS has a variety of replacement soles available, which can be easily installed for riding motocross, enduro, adventure-touring, and supermoto.
Things keep getting worse motorcycle helmet startup Skully, as its production partner Flextronics has filed suit for money and materials allegedly owed it.
According to court documents, Flextronics is demanding payment of roughly $2 million dollars – $505,703 in past-due bills, $514,409 in unpaid bills, and another $1.5 million in what Flextronics calls “materials and inventory related to the Skully project.”
This lawsuit is the second legal action taken against Skully since the company laid off its workforce and shut its doors for lack of funding.
After the American company’s drawn out receivership proceedings, Erik Buell Racing seems like the brand everyone has forgotten about. Posting a press release to its Facebook page today though, EBR says it has some interesting projects in the works.
To unveil for the 2017 model year, EBR is teasing an urban street bike that is “quick, dark, and low”; meanwhile for the 2018 model year, EBR says it will debut a sub-$10,000 motorcycle platform.
There also seems to be some movement on the 1190 platform, presumably with model updates to the RX and SX sport bikes, and the 1190AX adventure bike could finally be coming to market.
I had to check the A&R archives to see if we have even mentioned Lit Motors before, mostly because the the San Francisco startup has been slow to develop its self-balancing motorcycle, and I’m not terribly bullish on the project.
That doesn’t mean the concept is without merit though, and its apparently caught the interest of Apple. If that sounds strange to you, then you need to understand that Apple, along with a bevy of other tech giants, is working on an autonomous car for the masses.
This “Project Titan” as it’s called, has already seen Apple poach a couple of Lit Motors’ personnel, and now the most valuable company in the world is looking at acquiring Lit Motors, and/or other automotive entities, according to the New York Times.
If you read as many motorcycle news sites as I do, then you surely know that Honda is almost definitely probably maybe debuting a new “monkey bike” in the near future. The source of this news is Honda’s recent application for design patents in the European and Japanese markets.
Intellectual property filings are a great way of seeing what a motorcycle OEM is up to, but as our colleagues at Motorcycle.com correctly pointed out, they can also be a great source of red herrings.
This is because motorcycle manufacturers not only patent and trademark the design they intend to put into production, but also the design they don’t intend to produce, but have still shown the public. This is just smart policy when it comes to intellectually property protection.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s easy to jump to conclusions when one sees a filing that exactly mimics a show bike or concept, as we’ve seen this week with the Grom-powered Honda Monkey.
A recall has been issued for the BMW R nineT, affecting bikes from both the 2014 and 2015 model years. The recall is being issued because the design for the rear turn signals may be obscured, for drivers following behind the motorcycle.
Since the light assembly does not comply with the provisions of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, “Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment,” this recall was issued through NHTSA.
All said, the recall affects 1,792 machines, those manufactured between November 27, 2013, through January 26, 2015.
I’m not going to lie to you, Episode 33 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast starts off a little rowdy, and never really stops partying. In it, we look at the recently spied 2017 Honda CBR1000RR and recently teased 2017 Yamaha YZF-R6, two incredibly important machines in the sport biking side of the industry.
We also talk about the Wazer water jet cutting project, and how that’s going to affect builders and makers. From there, we pivot to a discussion on the consumerization (that’s a word now) of high-tech manufacturing techniques, which has made things like water jet cutting and rapid prototyping accessible to the masses.
The show ends with a listener question about ABS brakes, which is good timing, considering our interesting discussion about electronics as a whole, and the progression of rider aids in the motorcycle industry. Wankel jokes aside, it is a pretty interesting, and dare we say entertaining show.
As always, 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. Enjoy the show!