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Jensen Beeler

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When I walked by the BST booth at the EICMA show, I wasn’t that surprised to see an electric motorcycle concept parked in the carbon fiber parts maker’s stall – it seemed like every booth at the Milan show had one, in some sort of attempt for attention.

With a small crowd around what I would learn was called the BST HyperTEK, I wasn’t that astonished that this particular concept was gaining attention. The bike was…lurid.

Built with crazy shapes, an impossibly small battery pack, and eye-catching colors, you would have had to been blind not to be struck by the electric concept.

“Mission Accomplished” I thought to myself, as the South African brand had clearly achieved its objective of bringing passersby (including myself) into their booth, though the carbon wheels on display would have done the trick just as easily.

It wasn’t until later that night though that I would learn that the BST HyperTEK was the work of renowned motorcycle designer Pierre Terblanche, which is of course when everything started to make sense.

Since we know now that the Husqvarna Norden 901 has been given the green light to go into production, I thought I would share this small gallery of the ADV concept from the EICMA show, and provide my thoughts from the trade show floor.

One of the most talked about machines from the Milan trade show, the Norden 901 is Husqvarna’s first adventure-touring machine, and helps marry the brand’s extensive dirt biking history with its more recent street bike offerings.

Saying that, it is perhaps surprising that the Husqvarna Norden 901 is so late in its arrival, as one could easily see how an ADV machine would be a more palatable motorcycle to begin Husqvarna’s straying from the dirt.

Right on schedule, the Triumph Tiger 900 has debuted with an updated ADV offering for fans of the three-cylinder adventure bike. As was expected, the 2020 Triumph Tiger 900 comes in five slightly less confusing varieties.

That said, there is the base model Triumph Tiger 900, the road-going Triumph Tiger 900 GT, and the off-road focused Triumph Tiger 900 Rally.

On top of this, there are “Pro” options for the Rally and GT models. There is also a low-seat height option for the Tiger 900 GT model.

While still a handful of models for what is essentially one motorcycle, the designations are still clearer and easier to understand than Triumph’s “XR, XRx, XRt, XCx, and XCa” alphabet soup of uppercase and lowercase letters.

If the Husqvarna Norden 901 was one of your top picks from the 2019 EICMA show, then we have some good news for you, as the adventure-touring bike has been given the green light for production by the Swedish brand.

The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to astute ADV fans, as spy shots of the new Husky have already been spotted in the wild, and Husqvarna has a strong track record of bringing its EICMA concepts to reality.

What will be interesting though is where Husqvarna lands on the feature list, and more importantly, how the Husqvarna Norden 901 is going to be priced against its competition.

In an exclusive interview with Asphalt & Rubber, MV Agusta CEO Timur Sardarov has revealed that the Italian motorcycle marque will release a lineup of 350cc twin-cylinder motorcycles.

The bikes will continue MV Agusta’s position as a premium motorcycle brand, but offer more opportunities for riders, not only in the Western markets, but in countries where smaller displacement motorcycles prevail.

“MV Agusta is entering the biggest relevant market in the world, which is 350c to 500cc,” Timur Sardarov revealed to Asphalt & Rubber

We continue to miss our friend Carlin Dunne, who died while racing at this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, but to honor his memory we have the Carlin Dunne Foundation.

The purpose of the Carlin Dunne Foundation is two-fold. First, the foundation focuses on helping athletes diagnosed with, or at risk for, CTE, Concussion Syndrome, and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Secondly, the foundation is dedicated to providing mentorship programs for up-and-coming riders while developing a network to provide the tools necessary to succeed, including programs geared to help rookies navigate the racing business and hone their skills.

So, to help support the Carlin Dunne Foundation, Ducati North America is hosting a fundraiser in New York City on Thursday, December 5th, to honor Carlin’s legacy.

Though few details we given at this year’s EICMA show, we were thankful that we get to look forward to another year of BMW Motorrad hyping its upcoming air-cooled lineup of cruiser-styled motorcycles, which are known as the BMW R18 family.

That is right, the fun isn’t over, and surely the German motorcycle brand will delight us at least one more time with another concept machine that shows off its 1,800cc air-cooled boxer engine, and all of its massive glory.

Until then though, BMW Motorrad has decided to tease out the engine’s very impressive technical specifications, in an effort to appease the countless number of fans who are eagerly awaiting this motorcycle.

That Ducati would make a “Superleggera” version of its popular Panigale V4 superbike is a clear given, as the Italian brand has made a run of these “super light” machines for each of its previous two superbikes.

While there was chatter that we would see the Ducati Superleggera V4 at EICMA this year, that rumor was clearly misguided, as the folks at Borgo Panigale prefer to use its Superleggera models as a sort of farewell, before its makes a model update.

This leaves next year though as a likely candidate as to when we will see the Ducati Superleggera V4, and documents found in the United Kingdom by the esteemed BikeSocial are giving us our first glimpse into what we can expect.

I have been lucky in my career to ride some of the finest one-off electric motorcycles ever created. I was the first to ride the Mission R street bike from Mission Motors, and first of two journalists to swing a leg over the Isle of Man winning MotoCzysz E1pc.

I was the first to ride the Alta Redshift SM prototype, back when the company was still called BRD Motorcycles, one of only a handful of souls can lay claim to riding the Lightning LS-218 around a race track, and one of the first to swing a leg over the Energica Ego.

Coming to the Valencia track in Spain, I knew though that I would be adding another one of these special machines to my list, as Energica had invited Asphalt & Rubber to ride its MotoE race bike, the day after the Valencia GP.

Five flying laps on the Energica Ego Corsa is all that we would get this day at the Spanish track, which didn’t include our out-lap and in-lap, which I have to admit disappointed me.