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Husqvarna Norden 901 Gets the Green Light for Production

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If the Husqvarna Norden 901 was one of your top picks from the 2019 EICMA show, then we have some good news for you, as the adventure-touring bike has been given the green light for production by the Swedish brand.

The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to astute ADV fans, as spy shots of the new Husky have already been spotted in the wild, and Husqvarna has a strong track record of bringing its EICMA concepts to reality.

What will be interesting though is where Husqvarna lands on the feature list, and more importantly, how the Husqvarna Norden 901 is going to be priced against its competition.

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Rumors

A Triumph Tiger 900 Is Coming Soon for the 2020 Model Year

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It would seem that Triumph Motorcycles didn’t quite show us everything at the EICMA show in Milan (which is a good thing, since the British brand didn’t have much of note on display in Italy), as we are gearing up for the release of a “new” Triumph Tiger 900 in a few days’ time.

The news comes from Triumph itself, which is teasing the Tiger 900 on YouTube, and the rumormill is suggesting that the increase in displacement also brings a number of improved features to this popular middleweight ADV machine.

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Bikes

Up-Close with the Ducati Scrambler Desert X Concept

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While the Streetfighter V4 S was center stage at the Ducati stand at EICMA, our eye drifted over towards the Scrambler setup, where the Italian brand was showcasing two concept bikes for the Milan show.

At the Ducati launch event in Rimini, the Ducati Scrambler Desert X concept was the big tease, with the Italians saying very little about the bike.

Really, all that was revealed (beyond a couple sketches) was that the motorcycle would use the brand’s 1,079cc air-cooled engine, and instead Ducati encouraged fans to see the bike at the EICMA booth, if they wanted more than a rendering. So, we obliged.

For us, the Ducati Scrambler Desert X concept was the star of the Ducati EICMA experience, perhaps because we knew so far in advance that the Streetfighter V4 was coming, and had a pretty good idea about what this 205hp street-shredding machine would look like.

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Bikes

The Harley-Davidson Pan America Will Make 145hp / 90 lbs•ft from Its 1,250cc Engine

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Continuing their glacially slow trickling of information, Harley-Davidson has sprinkled a couple more details to us about its upcoming Pan America motorcycle.

Expected now in late-2020, the Harley-Davidson is an American v-twin adventure-tourer, which the Bar & Shield brand hopes will attract new blood into its cult of two wheels.

At the core the machine, is a 60° liquid-cooled v-twin engine, which Harley-Davidson is giving some specs about at EICMA.

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Dirt

Aprilia Very Quietly Teases the New Tuareg 660 at EICMA

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No press releases. No social media hype-posts. No big fancy displays. In fact, it was very easy to miss that Aprilia was giving us a glimpse at its next middleweight motorcycle at EICMA at all. But, it was there if you were careful to look at your surroundings.

Now granted, it is very hard to tell what is going on with the Aprilia Tuareg 660, since…well, the Italians covered it in shrubbery. Such is the state of their display at the Milan trade show, as they try to tease us with this ADV model.

But, we can pick out some details between the vines, bushes, and leafs…and they are intriguing.

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Bikes

The KTM 390 Adventure Is Finally, Finally Here

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It has taken a long time to wrangle this bike into existence, but the KTM 390 Adventure is officially a thing now and coming in 2020.

I could look back through the pages of Asphalt & Rubber, and see when we first started talking about this small-sized ADV bike, but it would be downright depressing for the Austrian brand. It has been…a while in the making, let’s just say that.

The good news though is that the KTM 390 Adventure arrives with an exclamation point, and it is certain to dominate in markets where the  373cc engine is considered quite large and peppy. It should be fun in the western markets too.

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Bikes

The Husqvarna Norden 901 Concept Is Ready for Adventure

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Every year, for the past five years, Husqvarna has worked like clockwork at the EIMCA show in Milan. This is because the Swedish variant from KTM has been steady in its approach of releasing one new street bike in Milan, and one new concept model for possible future production. For 2019, this trend continues.

Behold the Husqvarna Norden 901 concept, a uniquely styled adventure-tourer, with an 899cc parallel-twin engine, and plenty of styling cues to keep your pouring over the high-resolution photos below.

As the name suggests, the Norden 901 gets the upgraded “890” engine from the KTM 890 Duke R, but fit into a package that is similar to the KTM 790 Adventure platform.

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Bikes

The All New BMW S1000XR Debuts at EICMA – More Power, Less Weight

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A bike that we knew we would see at the 2019 EICMA show, it didn’t surprise us when the BMW S1000XR rolled onto the stage in Milan, but we are certainly glad that we saw it.

Based off the new BMW S1000RR platform, the 2020 BMW S1000XR takes that superbike DNA, and puts it into an adventure-sport format.

This means long-travel suspension, plenty of wind protection, all the damn farkles, and the horsepower to get it all there with a smile on your face.

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Bikes

Ducati Teases Two Intriguing Scrambler Concepts Ahead of EICMA

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While the Ducati Streetfighter V4 was the crown jewel of the Ducati unveiling event in Rimini last week, the items that everyone seems to be still talking about after the media launch are something else, they are the two concept bikes for the Scrambler range.

For those that didn’t watch the live stream, Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali presented two different Scrambler models that have the potential to go into production, an ADV bike and a supermoto.

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Rumors

This Is Our First Good Look at the New Suzuki V-Strom

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For the past many weeks, we have been talking about Suzuki’s plans to bring back the DR Big name – a moniker that has deep ties to Suzuki’s off-roading prowess, and draw links to the iconic Dakar Rally.

Then, we saw spy photos of a new Suzuki V-Strom 1000, which looked better-suited for the dirty trails, and showed a number of updates to this venerable line of adventure bikes.

Now, we get our first solid look at the 2020 Suzuki V-Strom 1000, as the Japanese brand gears up for next week’s EICMA show in Milan.

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Bikes

Here is the Cadillac of Multistradas, the 2020 Ducati Multistrada 1260 S Grand Tour

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The v-twin Multistrada is doing a bit of a swan song this year, as we ready ourselves for the 2021 Ducati Multistrada V4.

Now, we don’t expect the two-cylinder bike to completely disappear, but it would seem the road-focused Multistradas are destined to get two more cylinders in their engine package.

As such, Borgo Panigale is giving this popular motorcycle one last model year hurrah, with this “Cadillac” version dubbed the Ducati Multistrada 1260 S Grand Tour.

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