The reliable AutoWeek is reporting that it has the skinny on the new host for the BBC’s popular Top Gear car show, and one of them is a very familiar face: Guy Martin.
The famous road racer will be part of a trio of hosts, with Philip Glenister and Jodie Kidd (a pick that ensures a pretty blonde will always be in the front row), who will be replacing Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond.
Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index (PSI) is one of the major ranking systems out there assessing the US motorcycle industry and its dealerships.
To give you a quick primer on how scoring works, Pied Piper takes into account a mixture of “mystery shopper” experiences, along with actual sales success for each brand, thus giving a mixture of subjective and objective measurement.
For this year’s assessment, it comes with little surprise that Ducati is once again taking the top honors, followed closely by Harley-Davidson and Victory — two brands that have high customer satisfaction, according to Consumer Reports.
It might be hard to believe, but Can-Am has sold over 100,000 Spyder three-wheelers since the reverse trike first debuted in dealerships in 2008. Some off-the-cuff math here puts Can-Am Spyder sales as averaging 12,500 units a year — an impressive figure for the unique vehicle.
The 100,000th Can-Am Spyder was given to its new owner, a Missouri firefighter by the name of Brahm Wilson, at the Spyderfest 2015 gathering in Springfield, Missouri. Wilson is your typical Can-Am purchasers, an ex-motorcyclist returning to the sport/lifestyle after a hiatus, who wanted something a little different than the standard two-wheeled fare.
His bike is a 2015 Can-Am Spyder F3, which goes after America’s popular cruiser heritage, and mixes a bit of Harley-Davidson with on-road snowmobile to distinguish itself from the other Spyder models.
Yamaha is looking to defend its FIM Endurance World Championship title, won last year by the Yamaha GMT94 squad. Yamaha is still very much in the hunt for the 2015 title, though the GMT94 guys will have to post some strong results to overcome their 5th place finish at the EWC’s first round, at Le Mans.
You wouldn’t know that the reigning world champions were having a tough time of it, after checking out their promotional video from the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto — it’s that well done.
Hopefully that will translate onto the track for the French team, and their Austrian counterparts at YART, who are also featured.
KTM North America is recalling 409 units of its 2015 KTM 690 Enduro R motorcycles for a rear brake line that may have been damaged during the assembly process.
The recall affects only bikes made between November 1, 2014 and February 28, 2015, and specifically deals with the rear brake line that goes from the ABS pressure modulator to the foot brake cylinder. The alleged damage is caused by contact with the spring clamp of the crank case ventilation hose.
Because a damaged brake line may cause the loss of rear braking ability, and thus increase the likelihood of a crash, KTM has filed a recall with the NHTSA.
There has been a lot of talk around Guy Martin’s 2015 Isle of Man TT bid, with several outlets speculating with various amounts of reliability as to whether this will be the charismatic rider’s last TT.
The latest publication to add fuel to the fire is Scunthorpe Telegraph, a local English paper, which quotes Martin in a Q&A session as saying, “I’ll go there whatever happens. Whatever I do I’ll give it 100%. If I go and finish 20th I still know I’ve done my best. It’s the last time I’m doing it.”
“Let’s be honest, it would be mint to win. It would be great, I love motorbikes,” Martin added. “But it is only motorbikes. Tomorrow is another day. I’ve this sort of mindset – it is what it is.”
All the way back in February, I got an email from a loyal A&R reader, Tone, who had just put a down payment on the Polaris Slingshot. He had just sold his Honda RC-51 to make room in the garage for his new three-wheeled toy…to put it shortly, he was excited for his soon-to-arrive “motorcycle”.
I love meeting enthusiastic readers because they remind me why I started Asphalt & Rubber in the first place: for the love of motorcycles.
But, I have to admit…I didn’t quite get the fuss about the new Slingshot — and to sell an RC-51 (a bike I wouldn’t having in mind two-wheeled collection) for one? That seemed sort of blasphemous — may the Gods of Motorcycling forgive this transgression.
Tone’s enthusiasm and offer to give me a ride in his scoot, once it arrived, won me over in the end though. After all, if you’re not having a good time in a motorcycle, even a three-wheeled one, you’re probably doing it wrong. Right?
Fast-forward several months, once Polaris finished up its wheel bearing recall, and Tone was meeting me in Portland for a quick after-work joyride. For the tl;dr crowd, I take back every word of doubt about the Slingshot I’ve ever uttered in public and in private.
Reports from Indonesia continue to tease the upcoming launch of the Yamaha MT-25, the fairingless version of the Yamaha YZF-R25 sport bike.
Judging from the other MT models and the spy photos that have come out, the MT-25 is expected to look like the rendering above.
After first saying it would be business as usual, Team Hero EBR has regrouped and found that it will not be continuing in the 2015 World Superbike Championship.
Though a change in announcements, the news is perhaps unsurprising considering the state of EBR and the economic troubles reportedly faced by Hero MotoCorp.
The team quotes the “recent bankruptcy of EBR and the re-prioritizing of efforts by title sponsor Hero” as the cause of its withdrawal, with Pegram Racing hoping to announce its future racing plans soon.
“This is a really hard pill for us all at Pegram Racing to swallow, as we always live by the philosophy of Never Give Up,” said team owner Larry Pegram.