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Motorcycle Safety Foundation Launches iTunes U Courses

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Want to improve your riding skills from the comfort of your computer or tablet? The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) has the digital solution for you. Releasing four courses onto the iTunes U store for free, the MSF has made available a wide variety of tips and strategies to help motorcyclists to sharpen and hone their two-wheeled craft.

The four courses are “An Adventure in Motorcycle Physics,” “Dr. Ray’s Street Strategies,” “Dr. Ray’s Guide to Group Riding,” and “Dr. Ray’s Seasoned Rider,” with each class consisting of 20 or so chapters.

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Bikes

Horex VR6 Café Racer 33 Limited

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We were excited when it was announced that Horex, a revisited German brand, was getting a second chance at life and again making motorcycles. The team announced a new street-standard with a VR6 engine — even more interesting was that one of the models was to be supercharged and deliever 200hp.

As time has worn on though, we have become less interested. While the finished Horex VR6 is a beautiful bike, you would be hard-pressed to understand its €24,500 price tag. Disappointingly too, the supercharger model never materialized.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a follow-up for the German brand either, and after debuting the “Classic” model in August of last year, today we get out third flavor of the Horex VR6: the oddly named Horex VR6 Café Racer 33 Limited.

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Bikes

Ducati Elite II Café Racer by Moto Puro

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The Ducati 1199 Panigale is perhaps the pinnacle of technology for sport bikes from Bologna, Italy. With 195 horses of fury, and a positively anorexic dry weight of 367 lbs, the spec-sheet racing for the Panigale is intriguing, if getting around a race track the absolutely fastest way possible is your primary goal.

But what if you enjoy the finer things in your Ducati life as well? In that case, the brains at Moto Puro might have just the thing for your Desmo addiction: the Ducati Elite II.

To build the Elite II, the Dutch builders of Moto Puro took a Ducati 1199 Panigale S, and stripped the machine down to its Superquadro engine and electrical components. From there, those crazy Dutchmen built a café racer style motorcycle, complete with tubeless wire-laced wheels on single-sided swingarm.

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Racing

TT Legends — Episode 8: The 24 Hours of Le Mans

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We knew at some point that the eight-part “TT Legends” documentary would have to come to an end, and today is that day. For the last seven Wednesday’s, we have been enjoying the racing antics of the Honda TT Legends team, as they compete in road racing and endurance events.

Our final installment comes from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which also happens to be the final stop on the FIM Endurance World Championship calendar. The Honda TT Legends crew is mathematically in the hunt for the Championship victory, but they need a solid result at Le Mans to solidify a Top 3 position.

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Banter

Video: The Genesis of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R

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The Austrians refer to the KTM 1290 Super Duke R as “The Beast” whenever possible, and as our trained crash test dummy Iwan found out first hand, the name is appropriate for the 180hp streetfighter. The first motorcycle from KTM with traction control, the new Super Duke R is mighty, but pliable…and for good reason: KTM designed it that way.

It may not have as robust of an electronics package as the Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS, but the 1290 Super Duke R has unsettled the Italian bike as the sport-naked to have in your garage…that is, if you can afford it.

How did The Beast come to be from its RC8 R roots though? Never fret, KTM has put together a short video, which tells the genesis story of this monster machine.

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Racing

Ulrich’s Pro-Am Motorcycle “Triple Crown” Event Is a Go

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In January, Roadracing World Editor-in-Chief John Ulrich penned an editorial where he outlined his desire to create a three-event road racing series that would take place between the six-week time period of AMA Pro Road Racing’s first and second rounds.

This “triple crown” event would be help bolster the current five — hopefully to be announced six — events on the AMA Pro Road Racing calendar, which in-turn would help AMA Pro Racing teams and riders meet their obligations with their sponsors.

Ulrich also hoped in his article that some sort of tape-delayed TV package could be put together for the three events as well, another item desperately needed by AMA stakeholders, yet seemingly elusive for DMG officials to put together.

Several sources have now confirmed to Asphalt & Rubber that the triple crown series is a go, with Sonoma Raceway, Auto Club Speedway at Fontana, and Miller Motorsports Park to host the three rounds on its schedule.

Ulrich’s event will piggyback off the amateur racing schedules at those race tracks, making the triple crown event a proper Pro-Am outing of motorcycling’s best professional and amateur racers.

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Bikes

Yamaha Trademarks “FJ-09” for the US Market

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In the digital age, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have become a good resource for sleuthing out upcoming machines from motorcycle manufacturers.

The publicly accessible online databases have outed Ducati’s plans to build a “frameless” motorcycle (later known to be a patent for the Panigale), tipped-off the coming of the water-cooled engines to Harley-Davidson, and even hinted at Honda doing something with the Africa Twin name.

Trademark registrations have tipped off bikes like the Ducati Diavel, Ducati Scrambler, and Yamaha YZF-R3; and for today, it seems another motorcycle has been outed by the government agency: the Yamaha FJ-09. Registered with the USPTO, the FJ-09 is likely to be a three-cylinder sport-tourer, if the tuning fork brand keeps to its naming conventions.

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Bikes

2015 Ducati Diavel Mega Gallery

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Announced today at the Geneva Motor Show, the updated Ducati Diavel is being called a second-generation model, though the power cruiser offers only modest changes for the new model year.

For most riders, the key differences are the addition of the Testastretta 11° DS engine, new exhaust system, and full-LED headlight. These changes come with an additional $1,000 price tag to the “Dark Stealth” base model, and two Diavel Carbon machines (Ducati Red & White Star).

Peak power is the same (162hp) though comes in at 9,250 rpm rather than last year’s 9,500. Like the Dual Spark engine update on the Multistrada, the power range has been broadened, with more power lower in the revs than before. Peak torque is up though, to 96.3 lbs•ft — up from the 94 lbs•ft of last year.

Visually, the big changes are the stock exhaust (tailored to look more like the Ducati Performance Termignoni exhaust), as well as the radiator guards and LED headlight. It’s the headlight element that will catch most people out visually though.

Fans of the Diavel design will enjoy the refresh and modern tech, however if you happen to be in the group that never cared for the looks of Ducati’s Devil, we imagine the change will do little to woo you over. We fall into the latter group, as we’ve never been big fans of the Monster aesthetic, until we saw the Monster 1200 of course.

Without having swung a leg over the machine, we expect the “second-generation” Diavel to be just as much fun to ride as its predecessor. Low, comfortable, and fast…there isn’t much to dislike once you’re behind the handlebars of this machine. Expect to see bikes in or after April; but until then, enjoy the high-resolution photos we have after the jump.

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Bikes

2015 Ducati Diavel Unveiled – DS Engine & LED Headlight

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As expected, Ducati has unveiled an updated version of the Diavel power cruiser today at the Geneva Motor Show, during Volkswagen’s presentation. Expected to hit dealerships from April onwards, the 2015 Ducati Diavel features a Testastretta 11° DS engine, a new exhaust system, and a new full-LED headlight.

With the additional of the “Dual Spark” engine, top power remains the same as before, at 162hp, while mid-range power has been improved upon. Tipping the scales at 452 lbs dry, 11 lbs lighter than before, the updated Diavel is pretty much the same everywhere else though.

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Racing

Kevin Schwantz Will Compete in the 2014 Suzuka 8-Hour with Yoshimura “Legends” Team

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After taking a podium in last year’s Suzuka 8-Hour with Team Kagayama, Kevin Schwantz has signaled his intention to race again at the iconic endurance race. Riding for the Yoshimura Legends team, Schwantz will be reunited with his teammate from the 1986 Suzuka 8-Hour race, Satoshi Tsujimoto.

The reunion of the former teammates will help Yoshimura celebrate its 60th anniversary; and since Schwantz & Tsujimoto finished third in 1986, they will be looking again to bring results for Yoshimura Suzuki.

In addition to the “Legends” squad, Yoshimura will also field the two-man Yoshimura Shell Advance Suzuki team, which will be comprised of BSB rider Josh Waters and All Japan Superbike Takuya Tsuda.

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Dirt

Gas Gas Acquires Husqvarna Engine Designs

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It was nearly a month ago that we heard that Spanish firms Gas Gas and Ossa had merged their operations in order to take on the difficult economic climate in Spain. The firms’ business position should be even stronger now, as Gas Gas has acquired the IP from Moto Italia, the holding company of Husqvarna’s remains.

When KTM’s Stefan Pierer acquired Husqvarna through his Pierer Industrie AG company, he did not buy all of the once Swedish motorcycle brand from BMW Motorrad. What wasn’t transferred into the Austrian company’s control was left behind as a new company, Moto Italia, which now will find a new home in Spain with Gas Gas.

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