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WorldSBK Coming to Northern Ireland in 2019

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Northern Irish fans of World Superbike should rejoice at the news that the premier production motorcycle championship is coming to a track near them, as WorldSBK is set to compete at the Lake Torrent Circuit for the 2019 season.

The news comes today in a joint press release from Dorna (the media rights holder to WorldSBK) and Manna Developments (the circuit developer), where a three-year contract was announced today.

There is one caveat of course, and that is the fact that there isn’t a Lake Torrent Circuit…at least not yet, as Manna has yet to break ground on the construction of the track, which is destined to live just 40 minutes outside of Belfast.

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News

Harley-Davidson Electric Motorcycle Coming in 18 Months

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Harley-Davidson CEO Matthew Levatich dropped more than a few bombs during today’s earnings report, first saying that the Bar & Shield brand would close its Kansas City factory and consolidate production around its York, Pennsylvania plant.

The American brand isn’t stopping the news there though. Offering a carrot of good tidings, Harley-Davidson reports that it will make its first production electric motorcycle within the next 18 months, effectively bringing its Livewire concept into production.

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Racing

Energica Will Supply FIM Moto-e World Cup Race Bikes

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In recent months, the FIM and Dorna have been pushing ahead with the planned FIM Moto-e World Cup for the 2019 season, and today the electric motorcycle racing series took a serious step forward, as it was announced that Energica will provide the spec race bikes for Moto-e.

As such, teams competing in the inaugural season of the FIM Moto-e World Cup series will race on modified versions of the Energica Ego street bike model, which will presumably use the production model’s 134hp PMAC motor, and will almost certainly be lighter than the bike’s 570 lbs curb weight.

With Energica being owned by the CRP Group, a highly regarded engineering firm in Italy’s motor valley, the company’s ties to Formula 1 and other racing ventures certainly played to Energica’s strengths in the bidding process.

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MotoGP

Silverstone Will Host MotoGP for Three More Years

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In a somewhat surprising development, Silverstone has signed up to host the British round of MotoGP for three more years. The Northamptonshire circuit is to hold the race through 2020. 

Since the British round was held earlier this year, it looked like the race would go to Donington Park. The Leicestershire track had shown renewed interest in the race, after the circuit had been bought by MSV, who also run the BSB series and own several other British tracks.

Hosting the series at Donington would have required upgrades in a number of areas, however, and making those in time for August next year would have been difficult.

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News

KTM 790 Duke Will Come as a 2019 Model in the USA

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True to form, KTM North America will not be bringing the new KTM 790 Duke to US soil anytime soon.

Good news though, the American subsidiary is very excited about the KTM 1290 Adventure S coming for the 2018 model year…you know, the big ADV bike that debuted exactly a year ago in Milan.

Surely disappointing more than a few motorcycle enthusiasts in the USA, KTM says that the 790 Duke will arrive in “early fall” of 2018 – you know, when the riding season is over for most of the country – as a 2019 machine.

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Bikes

Is The Husqvarna Svartpilen 701 the Future’s Flat Tracker?

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In addition to showing us the production-ready Husqvarna Vitpilen 701, the Swedish brand also teased us with its dark side, debuting the Husqvarna Svartpilen 701 as a concept model.

A neo-retro take on the flat tracker aesthetic, this “black arrow” street tracker was designed to boast both minimalistic and sophisticated lines to motorcyclists around the world.

Centered around the same 690cc single-cylinder engine as the Vitpilen 701, the two bikes are a sort of ying and yang to where the Husqvarna brand is headed with its street bikes.

They share common design elements, like the round headlight, exposed pod air filter, fuel tank shape, and muted color palette.

Likely to be a 2019 model, the Husqvarna Svartpilen 701 concept is very close to what we can expect to see on dealership floors, if the debuted Vitpilen 701 can be believed.

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Bikes

Officially Official: KTM 790 Adventure R Prototype

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We were the first outlet to bring you photos of the KTM 790 Adventure R prototype, but now this 799cc trail-shredding machine is out in the wild, and we can share with you more specs, details, and higher resolution photos.

The first point is the obvious, the KTM 790 Adventure R will not be a 2018 model, but instead will debut for the 2019 model year.

It shares a parallel-twin engine with the KTM 790 Duke, which also debuted today at the EICMA show in Milan. The 105hp engine is a fully stressed part of the steel-tube chassis, which means there should be excellent weight savings for the 790 Adventure R.

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Bikes

Yamaha Ténéré 700 Is Still A Prototype ADV Model

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Last year, we were teased with the Yamaha T7 concept, a bike we expected to become a 700cc Yamaha Ténéré adventure machine. A year has passed now, and finally we can see the new Yamaha Ténéré 700 at this year’s EICMA show…or so we thought.

Based on the parallel-twin engine found in the Yamaha FZ-07, the Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid promises to bring a potent middleweight adventure bike to Yamaha’s dual-sport lineup. But instead, it is yet another prototype teaser from Yamaha.

We are Jack’s utter disappointment.

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Bikes

Say Hello to the Trail-Shredding KTM 790 Adventure

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The big industry trade show in Milan is still a few days away, but our story-breaking Bothan Spies are working hard to be the first to bring you an advanced look at the new motorcycles for the 2018 model year. As such, we have the first photo of the new KTM 790 Adventure.

Sharing a platform with the KTM 790 Duke (another bike that we expect to see in Italy next week), the KTM 790 Adventure uses the same 800cc parallel-twin engine as the smaller Duke, though that seems to be where the similarities end.

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Bikes

Motus Working on a V4 Streetfighter, And It Sounds Goood!

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Motus Motorcycles looks to be working on its second motorcycle model, as a naked prototype of the Motus MST has been making appearances on the American brand’s social media channels, including a very tasty video of the bike testing a 4-2-1 Akrapovic exhaust on the dyno (watch it, after the jump).

We reached out to Motus about its latest project, and the company confirmed its interest in making a naked version of the Motus MST sport-tourer, though it is waiting to see the feedback from other Motus owners and potential customers before committing to make the machine.

Still, Motus is teasing some very intriguing performance specs and design elements, which is more than whetting our appetite.

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MotoGP

GP Commission Restricts MotoGP Testing from 2018

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MotoGP testing is to be further restricted from next season. At the meeting in Motegi of the Grand Prix Commission, MotoGP’s rule-making body, the teams, factories, FIM, and Dorna agreed to limit the amount of testing which can be done next year and in 2019.

The 2018 testing season will look largely familiar, with a two-day test at Valencia on Tuesday and Wednesday after the race, then three three-day tests at Sepang, Thailand, and Qatar ahead of the start of the MotoGP season, and one-day tests after three of the European rounds (Jerez, Barcelona, Brno).

In 2019, the number of preseason tests will be reduced, with testing taking place only at Sepang and Qatar before the start of the season.

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