It looks like Yamaha is getting ready to bring an updated Tiny Ténéré to market (photos here), giving ADV riders a new middleweight option in the Yamaha lineup. This is because spy photos from Europe show what looks like a adventure-tourer, powered by the 689cc FZ-07 parallel-twin engine.
If we do see a Yamaha XT700ZE enter the market, it would be a welcomed compliment to the 1200cc Yamaha Super Ténéré, and help the Japanese brand compete in the increasingly competitive ADV market, especially against brands that already have a ~800cc adventure model available.
BMW Motorrad says that its first-quarter 2016 motorcycles sales are the best start to its motorcycle season, ever for the German manufacturer. To this point, in the first three months of the year, BMW sold 33,788 bikes to customers, up from last year’s mark of 31,370 units.
That 2,418 unit increase comes to a 7.7% growth in Q1 for BMW Motorrad, over the equivalent period from last year. The bulk of those sales came in March, with 16,465 units delivered to customers.
The news is a continuation of BMW’s sales growth, and the German brand has been a testament to what motorcycle OEMs can achieve purely with large-displacement machines, though that will begin to change for the marque.
A photoshopped image, along with suspicious timing, got us on the wrong track (pun intended) with Christini Technologies, but indeed the American outfit is working to bring its two-wheeled drive dirt bike technology to the snow bike market.
The idea seems fairly obvious, which of course is why we thought it was the perfect April Fools story, since all it requires is Christini to attach a Timbersled track to the rear of its chassis design, and develop a front track and ski that can be powered by the Christini 2WD drivetrain.
It’s the worst kept secret in the MotoGP paddock right now, and the flat refusals to talk about it, by those involved, hasn’t helped the matter either. What are we ranting about? Jorge Lorenzo moving to Ducati Corse next year, of course.
There’s been so much smoke around this fire for the past two weeks, and it was obvious in the pre-event press conference that the MotoGP press was hungry for some confirmation to the speculation that has been circulating recently. We were sadly disappointed.
But, that hasn’t stopped more intrepid scribes from peddling around strongly supported rumor as fact, as virtually every MotoGP journalist expects Ducati Corse and Jorge Lorenzo to unveil their marriage when MotoGP lands in Europe next week.
While our attention right now is mostly on Austin, Texas for the MotoGP round, the FIM Endurance World Championship is kicking off in Le Mans, France.
And since one cannot talk about motorcycle endurance racing without also mentioning first one of the its most dominant teams, we bring you the launch of the 2016 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team.
Comprised of riders Anthony Delhalle, Vincent Philipe, and Etienne Masson for the 2016 season, SERT again has a strong team riding its tricked out Suzuki GSX-R1000, and there is a strong possibility that the outfit will successfully defend its #1 plate.
First of all, apologies for how long it has taken us to get this episode of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast out to you. There are a few reasons why this particular show took so long to get out on the feed, but the biggest reason is that I have been slowly working through a massive backlog of stories. So, apologies for that.
That being said, Quentin and I are very stoked to bring you our third attempt at tackling the Buell/EBR story on the podcast. As such, Episode 19 covers Buell’s divestiture from Harley-Davidson, Erik Buell Racing’s launch from those ashes, and EBR’s very convoluted and complicated receivership process.
We also talk at great length about Quentin’s experience with the racing side of Buell and EBR, as well as my familiarity with EBR’s business operations and products. Whether your a fan of Erik Buell or not, we think you will find the show very interesting.
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!