Yamaha is keeping tight-lipped on exactly what changes will be coming to the 2013 Yamaha FZ8, but the 800cc sport-naked is said to be getting a minor update for the 2013 model year. Introduced to the American market in 2011, the Yamaha FZ8 has had a short two-year model life, and apparently Yamaha thinks the bike needs some refreshing.
Officially debuting the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R in New York’s Times Square today, Kawasaki has unsurprisingly brought a stroked-out 636cc machine to a 599cc supersport battle. While the chassis of the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R is the same, the motor has obviously been reworked, along with the bodywork. However, the big news from the reveal is the addition of Kawasaki’s three-mode KTRC traction control to the supersport-class motorcycle, once again proving that electronics are the new horsepower.
Other additions to the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R include Showa’s new SFF-BP front forks. Combining Showa’s Separate Function Fork (SFF) with its Big Piston (BP) technology, Kawasaki hopes the suspension units will provide the optimal balance between street and track riding. The new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R motor also gets further improved with the addition of a back-torque limiting slipper clutch.
The very German folks at Motorrad have gotten a chance to swing a leg over the pre-production version of the upcoming 2013 KTM 1190 Adventure R. Avoiding a conversation about how motorcycle publications are starting to look more like the outsourced marketing departments of motorcycle OEMs, what is perhaps the second most interesting thing from the article are the details about the Austrian company’s newest offering to the adventure-touring crowd.
According to the completely unbiased Germanophone Michael Pfeiffer, the new KTM 1190 Adventure R borrows its lump from the current KTM 1190 RC8 R superbike, and is marked improvement over its predecessor: the KTM 990 Adventure R. Pfeiffer says power is roughly 150hp, while the 1190 Adventure R tips the scales at 230kg (507 lbs) when at the curb with a full 24 liters of fuel (that’s 6.3 gallons for us ‘Mericans). Fitted with a 21″ front wheel, the KTM 1190 Adventure R also features switchable ABS, traction control, and dual engine map settings for on-road and off-road use.
This seems to be the year for small-displacement motorcycles, as Big Red has teased its lineup for next season, and announced the 2013 Honda CBR250R Repsol edition. The same fuel-injected single-cylindered bike as before, Honda hopes that its MotoGP racing livery will help dissuade 250cc buyers from thinking green in 2013.
The quarter-liter sport bike market is about to get more interesting, as photos of the 2013 Kawasaki Nina 250R have sprung from Kawasaki Japan’s corporate site, ahead of the bike’s presumed late-fall international launch. Revising the long-time tested aesthetic of the previous generation Kawasaki 250R, the 2013 model takes more than a few cues from the current generation Kawasaki ZX-10R.
One of the best selling motorcycles in the United States, the Kawasaki Ninja 250R is surely feeling the pressure from Big Red, as the Honda CBR250R came to market last year, and has been a strong seller locally and internationally. With KTM to bring a 350cc sport bike to the USA in 2014, and other manufacturers eyeing the learner-bike model segment, Kawasaki has surely been feeling its dominant position in this space coming under fire, and has acted in response.
In addition to debuting the Husqvarna TR 650 Strada, our favorite German-owned Italian-based Scandinavian-branded motorcycle company has released a 21-inch-wheeled version of the Strada that is destined for more off-road use. They call it the Husqvarna TR 650 Terra. Using the same 652cc water-cooled single-cylinder DOHC motor, the Husqvarna Terra also makes 58hp and 44.25 lbs•ft of torque, just like the Husqvarna Strada.
Tipping the scales a bit lighter than its road-going sibling, the Terra has a dry weight here in the United States of 368 lbs (410 lbs wet). Available with ABS as an option in other markets, it appears our more feature-reluctant American riders will only be given the non-ABS variant of the pseudo off-road machine (apparently Husky isn’t a part of BMW’s pledge for universal ABS). While the Terra shares many components with the Strada, BMW Husqvarna hopes that the minor changes between the two bikes will help facilitate the Husqvarna Terra’s more off-road oriented purpose in life.
It has been eight months since Husqvarna took the wraps off its second road-going model, but the Husqvarna TR 650 Strada is now officially official ahead of fall’s motorcycle bike shows. A big displacement thumper to compliment the only moderately civil Husqvarna Nuda 900, the Strada is an interesting model to go alongside its parallel-twin street counterpart.
Featuring a 652cc water-cooled single-cylinder DOHC motor, the Husqvarna Strada puts out 58hp and 44.25 lbs•ft of torque (Husqvarna offers a de-tuned version of the Strada with 48hp for countries with graduated license schemes). At 375 lbs dry (414 lbs wet), the Strada has a strong power-to-weight ratio for its class, and is the on-road variant in Husqvarna’s dual-pronged single-cylinder motorcycle attack plan.
In introducing its 2013 line-up of returning models (as well as the updated F700GS & F800GS), BMW has announced that it has made anti-locking braking systems (ABS) a standard option on all of its motorcycles. The move is a part of larger safety initiative called Safety 360, which sees the Bavarian company taking a three-pronged approach to rider safety by focusing on: safety technology in the vehicle itself, safety derived from rider equipment, and safety derived from rider training.
Pre-empting the likely introduction of laws making ABS required on all motorcycles in the European Union by 2016, BMW is the first motorcycle manufacturer to make the braking technology standard on all of its models. Fittingly, back in 1988 the German company was the first motorcycle manufacturer to introduce ABS to production motorcycles, and again is the market-leader in this space.
BMW has updated its 800cc GS line, starting with the new 2013 BMW F700GS. An adventure bike with the road more in mind, BMW is differentiating the 2012 BMW F700GS from the 2103 BMW F800GS by using lower-spec suspension, cast wheels, a 19″ front wheel, lower seat height, and lower horsepower output.
Using the same 798cc four-valve parallel-twin liquid-coooled motor, the BMW F700GS gets a modest power increase over the BMW F650GS it is replacing, as peak power has been pushed to 75hp, up from the 71hp the F650GS made. Peak torque has also been boosted to 56.8 lbs•ft, while the curb weight is 209 kg (460 lbs).
Tomorrow, the Honda TT Legends World Endurance Championship team will take to Magny-Cours, and compete in the 24 hours Bol d’Or endurance race. The first stop on the FIM World Endurance Championship, John McGuinness, Cameron Donald, Gary Johnson, and Simon Andrews qualified 11th for the Bol d’Or, but hope their 2012 Honda CBR1000RR will be able to make up the distance to the front-runners over the course of the race.
Putting together a quick video about the team, and endurance racing in general, the Honda TT Legends squad knows that it has a challenge ahead of them. Acknowledging that last season was a “development year,” for 2012 the team hopes to be on the podium at every race. A race bike with lights, the Honda TT Legends mechanics have had to take the race-spec Honda CBR1000RR, and “tune it down to 200 [hp]” in order to meet the reliability requirements for such a long race.
We can’t imagine what it is like riding a bike that only makes 200 hp around a tiny French track for 24 hours must be like, but McGuinness et al seem quite pleased with the machine thus far. Featuring ABS brakes on the CBR, we especially like McGuinness’s thoughts about the technology, and attitude towards “the lads in the pub” and what they have to say about ABS on sport bikes. Better living through technology, the Honda TT Legends squad is going to be a menace in the rain with the ABS-equipped CBR1000RR.
After teasing us with some photos and video of its new Duke, KTM finally unveiled the 2012 KTM 690 Duke at EICMA this morning. With 90% of the bike being completely brand new, KTM says the new 690 Duke brings the Austrian company back to its street-naked roots, with an off-road influence of course. Accordingly, at the heart of the KTM 690 Duke is a 690cc LC4 single-cylinder thumper that puts out a crushing 70hp and 51 lbs•ft of torque, while the whole motorcycle package weighs only 330 lbs (without fuel).
Further refining the LC4 single-cylidner motor, KTM has created a new cylinder head, and added a dual-ignition system & ride-by-wire throttle for the 690 Duke. Anti-lock brakes have also been added to the 2012 KTM 690 Duke, as the Austrian company has tapped Bosch to use the Bosch 9M+ ABS package. Lastly, braking power comes from a Brembo radially-mounted caliper with a single 320mm brake disc, while suspension is handle by KTM subsidiary WP, and consists of fully-adjustable 43mm front forks, and a fully-adjustable rear shock.