Honda still seems to be having trouble with the brakes on its venerable tourer, the Honda Goldwing, as Big Red is once again recalling the Goldwing for a rear brake that continues to drag after it has been applied and released.
This edition of the recall affects over 145,000 motorcycles, ranging in model years from 2001 to 2015. Three Goldwing variants are included in the recall: the GL1800, GL1800A, and GL1800B.
It took us a little longer than anticipated to get Episode 6 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast out the door, but we think it is worth the wait. To humble-brag, Quentin and I have a good conversation about the rumored Ducati Scrambler 400, and talk about how Bologna could finally enter the small-displacement motorcycle market (again).
We also cover the very intesting Yamaha PED2 & PES2 electric motorcycle concepts that debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show, and then segue into a conversation about the real demise of Mission Motors.
Of course, we can’t avoid talking about the happenings in the MotoGP Championship, though listeners should note that the show was recorded after the Malaysian press conference, but before the race. So we had no knowledge of the “Sepang Clash” at the time of this show.
Naturally talking about MotoGP leads us into finishing the show on the topic of professional wrestling. RIP Warrior.
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. Cheers!
Things have been pretty heavy here lately at Asphalt & Rubber, especially with the “Sepang Clash” nonsense continuing to collapse the sport in like a dying star. The Tokyo Motor Show had a lot of hard news too, with a bevy of models and concepts making an appearance.
So much has been going on, we nearly forgot the number one reason we ride motorcycles: they’re fun! Never fear, we have our eyes on the prize here at A&R HQ, so here’s a little something to brighten your day.
If you ever need a lawyer in Fort Worth, Texas area, we know a guy…Bryan Wilson, the Texas Law Hawk. Click past the jump for so much internet win.
You may have not realized it, but if certain OEMs had their way, you would not be legally allowed to work on your own motorcycle. That’s right, because of a perversion of the US copyright law, it would have been illegal for you to turn a wrench on your motorcycle, all in the name of digital rights management.
The issues comes around because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law from 1998 that was originally intended to update the Copyright Act of 1976 for life in the digital age.
Of the more important provisions, the DMCA protects ISPs from copyright claims, and it defines how copyright law would work on the internet and other digital mediums.
One of the major sections of the DMCA deals with digital rights management (DRM), and attempts to circumvent digital systems that are meant to block access to copyrighted information and material. This effectively makes it a violation of the DMCA to circumvent any sort of DRM or encryption put forth by a rights holder.
The original intent of this provision was to protect record labels and movie studios, who were seeing their products shared on peer-to-peer networks ad infinitum, but crafty lawyers have been able to expand this portion of the DMCA to include just about any digital system, including your motorcycle…until now.
The KTM RC16 has finally been spied testing, this time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. For those who don’t remember, KTM is set to join the MotoGP paddock for the 2017 season, after announcing that it was working on a new V4 MotoGP platform that it will sell to the public for €140,000 (presumably slightly detuned).
The Austrian firm recently signed Mika Kallio as its test rider, though the photos here seem to be of Alex Hofmann. As a former MotoGP racer, Kallio’s input on the KTM RC16 will be of great benefit to the race team developers, although it appears there is already a muse for KTM’s inspiration.
Though there are substantial differences between the machines, a quick look of the KTM RC16 brings thoughts of the Honda RC213V – as much as we hate to make those kind of comparisons.
Suzuki is making it no small secret that it plans to get in on the forced induction game in the two-wheeled space. The Japanese manufacturer first teased us with the turbocharged Recursion concept back in 2013, at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Since then there have been rumors that the Suzuki Recursion will go into production, and just a few months ago we spotted Suzuki trademarking the Recursion name in the US and European Union.
Now at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki has a turbocharged engine on display, though little to say about it.
The Sepang Clash, as Dorna would like for us to refer to it, continues to send shockwaves down the sport; as videos emerge of altercations between entourages at the track, photos and messages of hate circulate around social media, and the latest entry with Repsol releasing a strongly worded press release that calls into question the future of the Spanish company’s involvement in MotoGP.
David has already written exhaustively about the events at the track, and we have little interest here at Asphalt & Rubber in fueling the fire that was started in Sepang. Needless to say, no one is winning in all of this, and the sport is clearly getting a black eye because of all these actions.
While hopefully cooler heads prevail, it’s clear that things are still hot and heavy in the MotoGP Championship. Addressing some of the more unsavory acts that have come as a result of the on-track action at the Malaysian GP, FIM President Vito Ippolito has penned an open letter to the various stakeholders in the world championship.
While he doesn’t speak to anyone by name, it is very clear who are the different parties that Ippolito is reprimanding. You can read his letter after the jump.
Let’s face it, we knew this day would come. Technology has finally progressed to the point where our beloved past time of riding motorcycles can now be done by a robot. Sarah Connor was right. Skynet is coming. I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.
As tinfoil hat as we can make this story, let’s be honest…it’s pretty cool that Yamaha is developing a humanoid robot that can ride a motorcycle. It’s sorta creepy, but it’s also really cool.
To help lighten the blow, Yamaha is playing off its “Motobot” with a little bit of humor, having the machine taunt factory MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi, and suggesting that one day the robot will beat the ten-time nine-time World Champion at what he does best.
That’s fun and all, and it certainly grabs headlines, but the Yamaha Motobot is a really big deal for a lot more reasons that are less obvious than what has been put forth. Let me explain.
Yamaha Motor Corporation is known better for its powersports offerings, but what if the tuning fork brand followed Suzuki and Honda down the rabbit hole of also making a automobiles?
Yamaha might just be considering such a path, releasing what it calls the Sports Ride concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show.
The two-seater concept is very sporty, and Yamaha is quoting a 750kg weight…that’s roughly 1,600 lbs. While we are well into Lotus territory, there is no information at this time as to what could be powering the Sports Ride concept (if it even exists outside of computer renderings).
When we first saw the Kawasaki Ninja H2 and Kawasaki Ninja H2R motorcycles debut, we knew this wouldn’t be the last of the forced-induction machines from Team Green, and Kawasaki is now giving us our first glimpse at its next supercharged model.
Debuting the Kawasaki SC-01 “Spirit Charger” concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, we suspect Kawasaki is teasing us our first glimpse of the rumored “S2” motorcycle, which is expected to be a 650cc engine mated to Kawasaki’s special supercharger design.
As expected, Yamaha has a leaning multi-wheel concept at the Tokyo Motor Show for us to chew on. Without further ado, let us introduce to you the Yamaha MWT-9 leaning trike concept.
The key to understanding the MWT-9 is the number three. Three wheels to grip the road, three cylinders to power the engine, and three Predator movies to get the aesthetic jussssst right. Three groups of three makes nine, and blammo, you have the MWT-9.
In seriousness though, there is a lot to take in with the Yamaha MWT-9, once you get past its alien/insect/whatever-that-is look.