KTM’s surprise debut of two new 890 Duke models has been quite the letdown, as today we get our first glimpse of the 2022 KTM 890 Duke GP.
What does the KTM 890 Duke GP come with to earn those extra two letters at the end of its name? Some orange paint.
We’re not quite sure that “bold new graphics” warrant a separate model designation in KTM’s lineup, especially when the KTM 890 Duke R is becoming a popular track tool and race bike, and could use some kit for that purpose, but here we are.
The first big contract to be signed in MotoGP’s so far torpid silly season is one of the least surprising.
On Monday, Ducati announced that they had signed up Pecco Bagnaia for two more years, meaning the Italian will stay with the Bologna factory for the 2023 and 2024 MotoGP seasons.
It had been the intention of both parties to continue for the foreseeable future, especially after Bagnaia’s exception 2021 season, in which he came close to preventing Fabio Quartararo from taking the MotoGP title.
What did we learn from the Mandalika test? First of all, we learned that building a circuit is hard, and every aspect of it needs to be carefully monitored. Because using the wrong stones in the aggregate for the asphalt can mean you have to resurface the track just a few weeks before the race is due to be held.
Despite the state of the asphalt, once the track cleaned up – something the riders had to be bullied into to doing, even though it was for their own good – the riders put in a lot of laps, the reward for effort going to Takaaki Nakagami, who racked up a grand total of 91 laps on the final day, or over 390km.
The first of Ducati’s second unveiling of 2022 motorcycles was today, and to kick things off, the Italian brand has a special XDiavel for us.
The Ducati XDiavel Nero is a limited and numbered edition of the performance cruiser, and its biggest feature is a custom seat, developed by the renowned leatherworkers at Poltrona Frau.
Only 500 units of this unique Ducati XDiavel will be made available for the public, with five different leather seat color options, which bring with them a $4,200 price increase over the regular XDiavel S model.
On the coattails of the success seen by Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series, which follows the car world’s Formula One World Championship, MotoGP has finally decide to allow a series of its own.
Titled “MotoGP Unlimited” and produced by The Mediapro Studio, the eight-episode docuseries will be streamed on the Amazon Prime service (and also available on MotoGP.com for its subscribers).
This premiere series will follow the 2021 MotoGP World Championship, and aims to cover the stories behind the races.
The rumors were true, and the Yamaha Ténéré 700 family just got a little bigger, with the tuning brand adding its third variant of the popular ADV bike to its lineup.
As such, the 2022 Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid is an up-spec long-distance adventure machine with only one caveat – it is only coming to Europe.
Episode 263 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one sees once again getting into some on-track action, as MotoGP made a stop in Indonesia, testing at the Mandalika street circuit.
To discuss the tropical topics, we have the usual crew of Steve English, David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler on the mics, as they trade insights on our first glimpse of the MotoGP bikes on the island track.
If you have a 2022 Triumph Trident in your garage, you might want to check that the bike is still upright, as the British brand is recalling 314 units of the street bike because its sidestand might be prone to bending.
The defect stems from an incorrect raw material being used in the sidestand’s production, which can lead to it bend over time and could potentially cause the motorcycle to fall over when parked.
The people of the MotoGP paddock were extremely enthusiastic about their return to Indonesia. The series had long-wanted to return to a country that is at the heart of the MotoGP fanbase in Southeast Asia.
Once at Mandalika, the teams and riders loved the setting and the scenery, and were very positive about the layout of the track. It was fast, and it was fun. They were less happy about the surface of the track.
It was filthy on arrival, with mud and dust all over the track, and the riders were forced to make laps on the first day of the test to clean it up, creating a single racing line. Once clean, the track had plenty of grip.
Ducati isn’t done showing its 2022 model lineup, with the Italian manufacturer suggesting that we will see three more model announcements in the next few weeks.
Teasing three release dates (and thus presumably three new models), Ducati has virtual launches set for February 17th, March 3rd, and March 10th, which will stream on the company’s YouTube channel.
What models could Ducati be getting ready to launch? According to the sleuthing done by Motorcycle.com, we have a good idea what two of those three bikes might be.
The dark horse in the 2022 MotoGP Championship has to be the Aprilia RS-GP race bike. With a budget that is a fraction of the other factories, Aprilia has been able to evolve the RS-GP each season into a sharper weapon – albeit, slowly.
The Italian squad made big steps in the 2021 season, however, and Aprilia is keen to keep that momentum moving forward and see Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales on the top rankings of the score sheets.
Taking one look at the 2022-spec bike, which was on hand for the team’s season unveiling and photography, and we can already see the evolutions in place for the coming season, and motions are under way for a breakout year.