Episode 143 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one takes us on another trip down memory lane, as we look at the 2015 MotoGP Championship.
Of note, this is our second part, to this two-part series on the 2015 season, and it focuses on the latter half of the championship schedule. You can catch Part 1 of the series, here.
As such, this show sees David Emmett, Steve English, and Neil Morrison on the microphones talking about this epic season.
Another week, and another Honda CBR600RR-R rumor. Well…to be fair, this is only our second rumor concerning the Japanese supersport machine, but if things continue forward, we can expect a lot more coming from the rumor mill on this one.
This week’s edition sees us still talking Honda working on a CBR600RR-R model, and that it will be ready in time for the 2021 model year (one assumes that the coronavirus has not disrupted this timetable).
But, things have been taken one step further, with an unveiling date being discussed in the far corners of the internet. Namely, the Honda CBR600RR-R is set for an October debut.
One of the more lust-worthy motorcycles seen at the 2019 EICMA show may have just gotten closer to coming to reality, as design patents for the Honda CB4X have been spotted.
The patents come from the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and while many are pointing to their filing as a sure sign that the Honda CB4X is headed for production, we reiterate our usual caution about reading too much from a patent application.
That being said, if there was a candidate for motorcycle concepts coming to real life, the Honda CB4X (which is based off the Honda CBR650R), is high on our list.
It didn’t last long. Exactly two months after the firing of Matt Levatich as Harley-Davidson’s CEO, the Bar & Shield brand has announced that it is stepping away from the company’s “More Roads Lead to Harley-Davidson” business strategy, for a new plan that is being called “The Rewire”.
As you would expect, the new plan is framed partially by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic that is gripping the world, but Harley-Davidson sees things further down the path as well, saying that the “The Rewire” will be a five-year strategy for the motorcycle maker.
This move comes after a considerable internal battle for control of the Harley-Davidson board of directors, which saw a proxy fight breaking out with Impala Asset Management – one of Harley-Davidson’s largest shareholders.
The fight ended in a truce, with Impala and Harley-Davidson agreeing to add another board seat, of their mutual choosing. Presumably, a part of that peace offering is the new Rewire plan that we now see.
The Bimota story is about to get another chapter added to its pages, this time in the form of the the Bimota KB4 motorcycle.
It seems like a lifetime ago since we first heard about the KB4, though the bike was only briefly talked about at the EICMA show in Milan, just a handful of months ago.
An eventful week for the Italian brand, the headline for EICMA was Kawasaki’s purchasing of 49.9% of Bimota’s stock, and the unveiling of the Bimota Tesi H2.
While the Tesi H2 was on display for all to see, and was very provocative with its hub-center steering layout and supercharged inline-four engine, there was also a very quiet murmur about a second bike that would come from the business acquisition, the Bimota KB4.
When I was putting together the story on the pricing for the Aprilia RS 250 SP race bike, I thought I had shared already some photos of the bike from EICMA, but that wasn’t the case.
I am not sure if that oversight comes from the madness of dozens of bikes being released at the same time; a complete lack of sleep for a week coupled to a nine-hour time change; or if simply the paltry number of photos I had taken was the cause of the gallery not going up; but it doesn’t matter. Here we are.
I do want to share these meager photos though (still in hi-def, of course), not so much because of how impressive the Aprilia RS 250 SP is as a race bike (especially now that we know it’s priced at €9,700), but because of the idea behind the machine. Here are some quick thoughts.
At the 2019 EICMA show in Milan, one of the surprises we saw in Italy was the Aprilia RS 250 SP motorcycle. A race-only machine, this quarter-liter four-stroke motorcycle from Noale is designed to be one thing: a cheap racing platform for Italy’s future two-wheeled stars.
Built in partnership with the FMI (Italy’s motorcycling federation) and Ohvale, the Aprilia RS 250 SP promised to be an affordable turnkey race bike, which would compete in a spec-series in Italy next year.
While we knew a bit about the bike’s technical bits, the one key feature missing from the Aprilia RS 250 SP’s debut at EICMA was its price. But now, we know that too: €9,700 – ready to race.
Triumph is the second motorcycle company to report a recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning Brembo brake pad failures, as a bevy of motorcycle brands are expected to be recall motorcycles that use the Italian firm’s brake pads.
For those who don’t know, this wave of recalls stems from the friction material separating from the metal backing plate, often because of exposure to corrosive conditions.
We won’t rehash the technical details over and over again as the recalls come through (we are expecting several more), but you can read our initial post on Brembo brake pad issue, if you require a primer on the situation.
Our Bothan spy sources are telling us the the Ducati 1299 Superleggera recall from yesterday is just the tip of the iceberg of what is coming from Brembo, as the Italian brake supplier’s affected brake pads are in multiple makes and models throughout the USA and worldwide (editor’s note: we see Triumph now making the same recall today as Ducati).
For those keeping track, this is the second time that Brembo has seen a large recall for its brake pads because the friction material might become separated from the backing plate. And like the Brembo recall for its master cylinder piston failure, this is something that is going to affect a number of motorcycle brands, as Brembo is a large OEM supplier.
Our sources are telling us that thousands of bikes in the United States will be affected by this recall, though thankfully the fix for the brake pad failure is pretty easy – one only has to change out the brake pads for new ones.
If you haven’t read my thoughts on riding the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S already, I suggest you do so before going further. Don’t worry it is a “short” review – only a couple thousand words or so.
For the TL;DR crowd, the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S is an amazing machine. It has all the low-speed manners that its 1098 predecessor lacked, but does so without sacrificing the astounding speed and horsepower found from its Panigale V4 lineage.
“Refinement” is the word that I keep coming back to when I talk about the Streetfighter V4 S, which is both a nod to the differences found from the Streetfighter 1098, but also an acknowledgement of the bar that Ducati is setting with its motorcycle lineup.
At $24,000 a pop – roughly $5,000 more than its closest competition – the Ducati better bring something extra to the table, and frankly buyers expect a more polished machine when they are paying that kind of pricing premium.
Is the Ducati that much better than the Aprilia or KTM? The journalist in me says the jury is still out, primarily because of the testing restrictions we have to deal with concerning the coronavirus outbreak.
But, I can speak about its refinement, which is what I want to do today.
If you are the lucky owner of a Ducati 1299 Superleggera, then you should pay attention to this recall from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as it pertains to all 97 of these bikes that are in the USA.
The recall comes from an issue with the brake pads, which may see the brake pad’s friction material detaching from the brake pad’s back plate. This can happen specifically, but not exclusively, for motorcycles that have been operated in corrosive environments.
According to the recall documents, if this occurs, the distance between the braking plate and brake disk cannot be balanced with a single action on the brake master cylinder, rendering the brake pad ineffective and defective. Accordingly, potentially defective pads can increase vehicle stopping distances.