Back in 2015, Yamaha Motors set out with an ambitious objective: to create a robot that is capable of beating…
After much teasing, Honda quietly debuted its Neo Sports Café concept at the Tokyo Motor Show today. Releasing nary a detail about the simple but modern motorcycle design, we are left to draw our own conclusions about the machine. We had hoped that the Honda Neo Sports Café would lead to a retro-styled version of the Honda CB1000R, much in the same vein that the new Kawasaki Z900S is a hipsterfied version of the popular Z900 street bike. It’s not clear if Honda intends to produce the Neo Sports Café concept, but its design is intriguing, especially when you consider the now ancient four-cylinder engine that resides in its chassis, which is of course derived from the previous generation Honda CBR1000RR.
As expected, at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Kawasaki unveiled a new retro-syled model based off its popular Z900 street bike, thus creating the 2018 Kawasaki Z900RS. As the core of the bike is the same four-cylinder, water-cooled, 900cc engine that is found on the Kawasaki Z900, but Team Green has completely revamped the styling to have a more heritage look and feel to the “RS” model. Peppy motorcycle meets trendy aesthetics, the Kawasaki Z900RS truly lives up to its “Retro Sport” moniker. Equipment includes LED lighting, new spoke-looking wheels, and a revised exhaust design. The paint scheme is meant to mimic the design found on the 1972 Kawasaki Z1, one of the Japanese brand’s more classic motorcycles, while appealing to the features that modern motorcyclists rely upon.
Those bastards at Yamaha actually did it, they actually did it…the Yamaha MWT-9 leaning trike concept has been made into a production model. As such, say hello to the new 2018 Yamaha Niken. Powered by the familiar 900cc three-cylinder engine found on the Yamaha FZ-09, that is all that is familiar about Yamaha Niken, as this isn’t your ordinary motorcycle. This is because the Niken is based on a leaning-chassis design with three wheels, as it explores a different type of motorcycling fun. Yamaha isn’t saying too much about the model, though it does appear to be coming to the United States. What the tuning fork brand has relayed to us is that the Yamaha Niken will use 15″ wheels up front, with dual-tube upside down forks.
Enthusiasts of the Honda Gold Wing motorcycle have waited a long time for this day, and now it is finally here, as Honda has finally brought a new Gold Wing to market – the sixth generation of this iconic motorcycle. The 2018 model comes in two flavors, a bagger version which Big Red is calling the Honda Gold Wing, and a touring version, which is aptly named the Honda Gold Wing Tour. Both of the 2018 models are all-new motorcycle designs, with virtually no part of the machines being shared with the previous generation bike, and both built around a brand new six-cylinder engine. Focused around a more compact design, the 2018 Honda Gold Wing is staggeringly lighter than before, with roughly 90 lbs of bulk removed from its mass.
More sad news from MotoGP this weekend, as we have recieved word that Shoya Tomizawa died today during a tragic accident in the Moto2 race at the San Marino GP. Entangling with riders Scott Redding and Alex de Angelis, Tomizawa sustained massive injuries to his chest and back, and later succumbed to those injuries at the hospital in Riccione. Tomizawa was in fourth, battling with the lead group, when he crashed during the 12th lap of the race.
