Once upon a time, Hero MotoCorp was Hero Honda, with the Indian brand relying on its Japanese counterpart to provide…
It has been over two years since we saw a new motorcycle from Confederate Motors, but you would be wrong to think that the boutique Southern brand has been sitting idly by all this time. Earlier this year, Confederate added esteemed motorcycle designer Pierre Terblanche to its ranks, and now we get to see the first fruition of the South African’s influence on the American motorcycle company. Announcing today the Confederate C2 P-51 Fighter, Terblanche has created Confederate’s second-generation model of the Fighter line — no easy feat to build upon, as Terblanche calls the original fighter one of his all-time favorite motorcycle designs.
There is a weird phenomenon as one gains experience on a motorcycle in regards to the usage of the rear brake. As novice riders, we are taught to use the rear brake in conjunction with the front brake, and in rider training courses like the one put on by the MSF, this is a skill that is practiced out on the range. As a rider’s skill set on a motorcycle improves though, a new love affair is found with the rear brake. Talk to any professional motorcycle racer about their rear brake, and you will begin to realize there is a huge role that the rear brake plays in bike stability, which at times makes no sense to a layman — something exemplified by Casey Stoner’s frequent use of the rear brake while also hard on the throttle. Not quite diving that deep, here’s a video that explains why you should fall in love again with your rear brake.
In October when Erik Buell Racing announced that it would be making the move into the World Superbike Championship, the American sport bike company wasn’t saying much about its racing program. Geoff May soon intoned his participation with the team, confirming his presence in WSBK to Greg White on Greg’s Garage, though May’s teammate was unknown at the time. That mystery seems to be over, as World Superbike media front-man Michael Hill has released a list of confirmed entries for the 2014 World Superbike season, with Yate’s and May’s names listed for the Erik Buell Racing entry. The news shouldn’t be terribly surprising to race fans, as Erik Buell Racing had been tipped to keep its all-American lineup as it stepped onto the world stage in WSBK.
KTM USA is going to have a mutiny on its hands if it doesn’t bring at least the KTM RC390 street bike to American soil, and we won’t even mention the KTM RC125 & KTM RC200. Not only have bikes like the Honda CBR250R and Kawasaki Ninja 300 shown a lucrative market for small-displacement machines in the United States, but AMA Pro Racing’s recent announcement that it is considering a national racing class for ~250cc bikes should sweeten the pot for the “Ready to Race” brand. Of course, KTM USA’s on-road segment management is umm…lacking…in its ability to bring the brand’s latest models to our shores. The KTM 1190 Adventure just recently made its way to US dealers, a full year after its arrival in Europe. Our fingers are crossed regarding the KTM 1290 Super Duke R.
AMA Pro Racing announced today that by 2015 it will overhaul the racing class structure and rules for the AMA Pro Road Racing series. The changes are designed to make America’s premier road racing series more cost-effective, and to bring AMA Pro Road Racing inline with other national and international racing divisions. Perhaps the most important change to the racing structure, AMA Pro Racing says that the Superbike class will see incremental changes made to the technical rules package over the next two seasons “in the interest of rule commonality, performance parity, and cost containment.” This likely means that AMA Pro Superbike will adopt rules similar to the rules progression seen in World Superbike.