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The 2022 Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP Race Bike Is Ready for Duty

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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.

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MotoGP

Mandalika MotoGP Test Saturday Notes: The Cream Rises to the Top

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You could tell testing was underway in earnest at Mandalika on Saturday by the fact that for most of the day, Brad Binder’s name was stuck at the top of the timesheets. The time Binder set was already well under Pol Espargaro’s best time from Friday, hitting a 1’31.814 on his third exit from the pits.

But, nobody followed suit until the final hour or so of the test, with Luca Marini eventually ending up fastest with a lap of 1’31.289. The teams and riders were too busy with the hard graft of testing, optimizing parts and refining setup, figuring out the best base with which to launch their assault on the 2022 MotoGP championship at Qatar in three weeks’ time.

A day of riding had made a huge difference to the track surface, with a clean line with high grip appearing.

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MotoGP

Mandalika MotoGP Test Friday Notes: Sweeping the Circuit to Start

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It was a good day for attention-grabbing headlines at Mandalika. Pol Espargaro ended the day with a scorching lap which took him under the WorldSBK Superpole by four tenths of a second.

There were six different manufacturers in the top six. The lead on the first day changed hands time after time in the last couple of hours.

But the headlines don’t really mean very much. Times were dropping because the track started off filthy and only really started to clean up in the last hour or so of the day.

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Bikes

The Brabus 1300 R – A German Take, On an Austrian Bike

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Brabus is known best for its high-end and exclusive Mercedes-Benz automobiles, but the iconic German tuning house is turning its head to the two-wheeled realm now for the first time, partnering with KTM to bring the BRABUS 1300 R motorcycle.

With 154 examples set to be built, the BRABUS 1300 R builds off the recently released KTM 1290 Super Duke R EVO platform, and adds finishing touches that could only come from the German luxury brand.

As such, the KTM’s bodywork and style give way to the Brabus “black and bold” aesthetic, which includes plenty of carbon fiber bodywork and detailed trim pieces.

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Recall

Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP Recalled for Hot Exhaust

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The latest recall from the NHTSA concerns the 2021 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP motorcycle – and no, it’s not what you think – Big Red’s superbike isn’t getting recalled for its absurdly long name.

Instead, the Fireblade SP is being recalled because the exhaust pipe may overheat, which could lead to the oil cooler pipe melting and possibly rupturing.

This might increase the chance of a crash, injury, or fire, which necessitates today’s recall notice to the affected 311 owners of the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in the USA.

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MotoGP

The 2022 Honda RC213V Brings Big Changes from HRC for MotoGP

By 21 Comments

It feels like a broken record to say that the MotoGP team launches have become a bit anemic in terms of what is being presented, versus what is going to be raced in 2022, but today is a little different.

Launching their 2022 Honda RC213V at the Sepang MotoGP test last weekend, HRC is showing off its new bike, in its “new” colors, ahead of the season-opener at Qatar.

This is because the Japanese manufacturer has big changes underway for the 2022 season, and to see that, you only need to take a quick look at the bike displayed in these photos.

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Bikes

Here is Our First Proper Look at the Triumph TE-1 Electric Prototype

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Almost a year ago, Triumph Motorcycles announced that it was partnering with a group of British organizations (Williams Advanced Engineering, Integral Powertrain Ltd.’s e-Drive Division, and WMG at the University of Warwick) to create an electric motorcycle prototype.

The announcement featured a machine that looked very similar to Hinckley’s own Street/Speed Triple offerings, which means a sporty naked bike that should be well-suited for spirited urban riding.

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Podcast

Paddock Pass Podcast Episode 262 – Sepang MotoGP Test

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Episode 262 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one sees us getting into the nitty gritty of the 2022 MotoGP Championship season, with bikes finally on the track at the Sepang test in Malaysia.

To discuss the return of on-track action, we have the usual crew of Steve English, David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they trade insights on our first glimpse of the teams’ 2022 efforts.

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MotoGP

Ducati Debuts the Desmosedici GP22 to Dominate MotoGP

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Another day, another MotoGP team launch presentation. This time, our eye candy comes from the Ducati Corse factory team, which hopes to find grand prix greatness in the 2022 season.

Though a third of the bikes on the 2022 grid will come from the factory workshop in Bologna, not all of those machines will be 2022-spec Ducati Desmosedici GP22 race bikes.

Additionally, the photos here are almost certainly not the machines we will see on the grid in Qatar at the start of the season, but the high-resolution photos do give an indication of how hard Ducati is pushing the rules and the progress in the MotoGP paddock.

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MotoGP

What We Learned at Sepang, Part 1: Trying to Read the Tea Leaves

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With the bikes all crated up and shipped to Indonesia, and the entire paddock flown to Mandalika on the island of Lombok (bar those stuck in quarantine in Malaysia after testing positive for COVID-19), there is time to look back at the Sepang MotoGP test.

Because this year is so different to previous years in a number of ways, I am breaking it down into two parts.

First, some general points that apply to the test itself and across several or all manufacturers, and later in the week, a breakdown manufacturer by manufacturer.

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Bikes

Bold New Graphics Come to the 2022 KTM 890 Duke R

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KTM made a big deal about the month of February, teasing not one, but two new KTM 890 Duke motorcycles that were coming soon.

One of those bikes was the 2022 KTM 890 Duke R, while the other is a new trim-level, the KTM 890 Duke GP.

While we will have to wait and see what makes an 890 Duke a “GP” bike (we’re guessing a bellypan some other track bits), today we get to see what the fuss is all about with the 2022 KTM 890 Duke R

And frankly, we are disappointed in what we have to report to you with this story…

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