Another bike is affected by the Öhlins suspension failure, as American Honda has submitted what it calls the Honda CBR1000S (that’s the CBR1000RR SP for everyone else) for recall with the NHTSA.
In total 504 units are affected by Honda’s recall, which applies to 2014 motorcycles made between December 9, 2013 and to March 28, 2014, and to 2015 motorcycles made between October 20, 2014 and February 27, 2015.
It looks like we were only partially correct in our news that Brammo would be returning to the Isle of Man TT, as the brand’s sister company, Victory Motorcycles, will in fact be racing an electric entry — one that looks like a rebadged Brammo Empulse RR — in the TT Zero event at the historic road race.
According to its press release, Victory Motorcycles will field a two-rider team, comprised of William Dunlop and Lee Johnston (a photo of “General Lee” testing a Brammo superbike is what initially sparked this news).
While Victory is calling its racing platform a “Victory electric race prototype motorcycle” the chassis and fairings give way to a shape we recognize as the Brammo Empulse RR electric superbike.
American Honda dropped a bombshell today, confirming that the teased “True Adventure” ADV model will enter production, and be named the “Africa Twin”, as expected.
Officially designated at the Honda CRF1000L, the Africa Twin will be a 2016 model (in dealerships early next year), and best of all, it will be coming to the USA.
The 2016 Honda Africa Twin draws upon a legacy of rugged off-road race-proven machines that also wore its name, a sign that Honda intends the CRF1000L to be very capable off-road, and thus not follow the road-going adventure-sport trend.
April 2015 was the best sales month ever for Ducati Motor Holding, with the Italian firm delivering 7,309 units to customers. This figure is up 29% compared to last year, and tops Ducati’s previous best month ever by 800 units (April 2014 with 6,500 motorcycles).
Why the sudden spurt in sales for the Bologna Brand? We have two words for you: Ducati Scrambler. Unsurprisingly, the budget-priced Scrambler range is seeing a strong market response, and of course its getting some help from the all-new Ducati Multistrada 1200 and the Ducati 1299 Panigale line.
The Öhlins suspension recall continues to affect motorcycle manufacturers, as Triumph is now recalling two of its models, the Daytona 675 R and Speed Triple R, for faulty Swedish shocks.
For Triumph, the recall only affects 566 units — those models that were built between January 1, 2014 and April 1, 2015 — and it will commence on May 15th of this year.
It is a sad day for motorsports fans near Salt Lake City, as Miller Motorsports Park will cease operations at the end of October this year, the track has announced.
The news comes from the Larry H. Miller Group (LHM), the track operator, which has decided not to renew its lease with Toole County on the property, thus effectively closing the track and ceasing its operations.
This news will not affect the schedule of racing events (including the MotoAmerica round in June), driving schools, public karting access, and other group activities that are currently planned at the facility, but it does raise some question marks regarding what will happen to the space once the LHM is no longer running it.
One of the highlights of the 2014 EICMA show, the BMW S1000XR is Germany’s direct assault on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 et al. That move is an interesting one, considering bikes like the Multistrada 1200 were in response to the popularity of the BMW R1200GS — thus making the adventure-touring-sport segment one big dog chasing its tail, but we digress.
The S1000XR officially splits the adventure segment in two, making a clear distinction between adventure-touring motorcycles like the BMW R1200GS(A) and KTM 1190 Adventure, and the adventure-sport segment, which includes the Ducati Multistrada 1200 and MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800.
Built for speed and long-distance travel, the adventure-sport machines mimic the sport-tourers that they are replacing in sales, with their added offer of longer suspension travel and at least some gravel-road competency (whether you’d take any of these machines off-tarmac is another debate entirely).
All of this means that the BMW S1000XR is an important machine for the Bavarian brand, as well as the motorcycle industry — we are already seen other manufacturers respond to this new segment.
The S1000XR is also on A&R’s short list of new bikes to try this year, and it looks like BMW is finally close to granting us that wish. After rumors of production delays, the 2015 BMW S1000XR finally seems ready for showtime. As such, we have a mega gallery of 302 hi-res photos for you, after the jump.
Yamaha has been rolling out some interesting YouTube fodder lately, with the most recent installment being a short video that features the five project leaders from the different generations of Yamaha YZF-R1 superbikes.
Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear too much from the Japanese project leaders, other than a quick one-line synopsis of what their project goals entailed, but we are treated to some good visuals of Valentino Rossi flogging the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 down the race track.
The best part of the video though might be the pride shown by these project leaders — they look like proud fathers standing next to their creations.
If you like your small displacement machines sans fairings, then this might be the bike for you, as the first clear photos of the Yamaha MT-25 are hitting the internet, courtesy of Indonesian blog TMCblog.
Based around the same 249cc parallel-twin engine as the Yamaha R25, the MT-25 will go up against the other quarter-liter naked bikes on the market, like the Honda CB300 and KTM 200 Duke.
As we can see from the photos, the MT-25 shares many of the same parts with the R25 — most notably the chassis, suspension, exhaust, seat, and engine. Added is a new headlight, fairing chin, and air intake tubes.
When Öhlins announced that it was recalling certain aftermarket shocks and steering dampers earlier this year, the obvious question was whether it would affect motorcycles that were equipped with the Swedish suspension from the factory, namely the new Ducati 1299 Panigale and the Yamaha YZF-R1M.
While a recall was expected for both machines, so far we only have word from Yamaha USA that the R1M will be recalled to replace the Öhlins shock. The recall only affects 350 units for Yamaha, a figure that likely indicates the total number of R1M motorcycles in the USA.
Technology on motorcycles is a double-edged sword, it bring us new features to amazing machines, like the Yamaha YZF-R1 and its slide control, but it can also, as seen by this tale.
Taking a cue from the car world, some motorcycle manufacturers have taken to supplying motorcycle owners with wireless key systems, where you only need to have the key on your person in order to start a motorcycle (note: I am not talking about the key systems where you press a button to start or unlock a vehicle).
The process to make this work is simple, as the key fob has an RFID implanted inside it, and when it comes into proximity of the motorcycle, a reader grabs the signal from the key, which has a special code that unlocks the bike and allows it start and be operated.
It’s a complex process that saves you five seconds in looking for your key. That’s called progress.
The problem of course is that thieves are becoming increasingly savvy to these changes in technology, and if OEMs aren’t careful, they can open-up consumers to a world of trouble.
In the case of wireless keys, a new work-around has been made that boosts the signal of the RFID reader, and thus makes it easier for a thief to hijack your ride.