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After showing us three repainted Scrambler models at the INTERMOT show in Germany, Ducati has another reveal in the works, and the Italian company has begun teasing a new model that is set to debut this Friday.

Details are tight, but the teaser photo does give us a hint that the soon-to-be-released models like to play in the mud. Our guess? We think this will be the revised Ducati Multistrada 1260 Enduro – or so say our Bothan spies – with the same engine upgrade that came to the rest of the Multistrada lineup last year.

At the core of the update will be the Testastretta DVT 1262 engine, which makes 158hp in its Multistrada 1260 form.

We got a quick teaser of the new Moto Guzzi V85 TT just a day ahead of this year’s INTERMOT show, but now the uniquely styled adventure-tourer is officially ready for its debut.

Surprisingly, Moto Guzzi is still being tight-lipped when it comes to specs on the V85 TT, choosing instead to wax poetically about the bike’s retro styling, and the brand’s longing to return to the Paris-Dakar rally of many decades ago.

Moto Guzzi’s launch at INTERMOT was equally as confusing, with the Italian brand making little of a presentation, and then referring the world’s gathered media to a press kit that had no discernible information.

As such, the details we can share on the 2019 Moto Guzzi V85 TT are reduced to mostly what we can observe, which we have already shared with you before.

Last year, Moto Guzzi intrigued us with its V85 Enduro concept. The bike was based around a new 850cc, 80hp, longitudinal v-twin platform, and promised to be the basis for several new models for the Italian brand – the first of which would be an adventure-touring model.

Now, that wait is over, and we get our first glimpse of the 2019 Moto Guzzi V85 Tutto Terreno a few hours earlier than expected. True to expectations, the Moto Guzzi V85 TT is a middleweight ADV machine that promises some solid adventuring capabilities in a retro-styled package.

For the 2019 model year, BMW Motorrad is updating the venerable GS with a revised boxer engine, and thus is giving birth to the BMW R1250GS with ShiftCam technology. With that, the new engine makes a stout 134hp and 92 lbs•ft of torque.

To earn its name, the new ShiftCam motor uses a shifting camshaft on the intake valves (hence the name), which provides one set of valve duration and lift for cruising and city speeds, and another set for full-power applications. This should make the BMW R1250GS more well-mannered, while also improving fuel efficiency and engine response.

The R1200GS is easily the German company’s best-selling motorcycle in the US market, not to mention the world, which makes the R1250GS an important update for BMW Motorrad, and for 2019 BMW Motorrad has brought some smart updates to the bike.

For our money, the red/white/blue “HP” version looks the business, and ready to hit the trails. It includes more than a few bits from the aftermarket parts bin, including a solo “rally” seat, crash armor, shorter windscreen, wire wheels, and of course an Akrapovic exhaust.

It’s not clear when the 2019 BMW R1250GS will hit American dealers, but we’re expecting at least a $1000+ increase to accompany the updated GS when it finally arrives. Until then, we have almost 200 hi-res photos for you to drool over.

We have known about the 2019 BMW R1250GS for some time now. Details about the bike’s new boxer engine were published over a month ago, which tipped off the use of variable valve timing on the venerable GS. We also learned that a displacement increase of1,254cc  was coming, and with that a modest power increase of 134hp and 92 lbs•ft of torque.

Then last week, we got a teaser of the 2019 BMW R1250GS adventure-tourer, as a promotional video was leaked onto the internet, and it showed us in great detail what to expect from BMW Motorrad. More specifically, the video showed us the German motorcycle manufacturer’s new variable valve timing technology, called ShiftCam.

Providing two possible cam lobes for each valve, the camshaft shifts position in the cylinder head to engage one of the two lobes, depending on throttle inputs. Hence the name, ShiftCam.

This allows for different intake valve actuation (timing and stroke) during touring and city riding, for better gas mileage and softer throttle response, but still leaves the engine the ability to wake up during spirited riding, and provide more power.

The new “ShiftCam” boxer engine is coming to all the “R” bikes in BMW’s lineup for 2019, which of course includes the 2019 BMW R1250GS.

Triumph continues to tease its big model reveal for the 2019 model year, the new Triumph Scrambler 1200. Releasing yet another teaser video (above) we get our first glimpse of the new machine.

Our sources tell us that the Triumph Scrambler 1200 will be a capable full-sized dual-sport, and it will be fitted with the “high torque” version of Triumph’s 1,200cc parallel-twin engine, which makes 80hp and 77 lbs•ft of torque.

Two model variations are also expected. One will be road-going, and have cast wheels and street-focused rubber. The other will have spoked wheels and knobby tires. We expect both bikes to have a robust electronics package (straight from the Tiger series, if our Bothan spies can be believed).

For as long as Asphalt & Rubber has been in business, we have never seen Harley-Davidson debut an actual new motorcycle.

Rehashing the same design ethos over and over again, Harley-Davidson’s “new” bikes each year fail to stray very far from their predecessors. This notion changes today, however.

Releasing a number of concepts for future machines, the Bar & Shield brand is showing signs of life. The concepts include electric motorcycles, e-bikes, a new roadster, a streetfighter, and even an adventure-tourer.

We will take a look at these machines in turn, but first up, let’s look at Harley-Davidson’s biggest surprise to us, its ADV bike, which is called the Harley-Davidson Pan America.

The KTM 790 Duke hasn’t even made it to American soil yet — though, it strangely can race in the production middleweight class at Pikes Peak… — and we are already talking about its off-roading sibling, the KTM 790 Adventure R.

Built around the same 799cc parallel-twin engine found in the Duke model, the Adventure variant takes things to a whole new level for ADV riders.

Promising light weight, plenty of off-road power, and Dakar-inspired chassis components, this should be the adventure-tourer that dual-sport riders have been asking for.

With the production version of the KTM 790 Adventure R set to debut later this year at the annual industry trade shows, most of our appetite has been sustained by the prototype bike, which has been making the marketing rounds.

Adding some details along the way though, we have a slightly better idea of what to expect in a few months’ time.

It has been a motorcycle that we have long waited for, but it seems that the KTM 390 Adventure is finally set to debut. Based on the KTM 390 Duke platform, which currently shares itself with the KTM RC390, the new ADV bike targets the small-displacement adventure-touring segment.

This means that at the core of the KTM 390 Adventure model should be a 373cc single-cylinder engine, making roughly 43hp. Multiple spy photos of the bike have been spotted over the years, which show a long-travel machine that should be fairly capable off-road.

“With the 390 Adventure we would be making our long awaited entry into the niche premium dual-sport segment which is a very apt segment for Indian roads,” said Bajaj SVP and KTM India boss Amit Nandi, in a statement reported by several Indian publications.

Asphalt & Rubber typically posts between 20 and 30 stories a week. We are not prolific in the amount of content we produce each week, instead we are selective about what we cover, and always try to frame a single story into a much larger understanding of what is happening in a particular segment or in the industry as whole.

So, this means that not everything we want to cover gets covered. Some stories don’t make the cut, some stories fall to the wayside because of time or resources, and some stories just simply get lost in the shuffle.

It is a shame, so I wanted to create a new segment where we touch back on some of those topics, and include a few others that are completely outside the scope of this motorcycle blog.

Part clearinghouse for stories that we will never get our full attention, and part book club for our loyal readers who are doing their best to survive the work day, say hello to the first installment of the “What We’re Reading” column series.

Apologies if things have been a bit sparse here the last few days, as I’ve been making yet another trans-Atlantic crossing…my third in just seven days.

The trip has been worth it though, as I have been fortunate enough to ride in Morocco with Bridgestone the last few days, testing out the new Battlax A41 adventure-touring tire, and the Battlax T31 sport-touring tire.

Because of the schedule, we are going to have to Tarantino this “Gone Riding” post a little, and do thing in reverse, but there is plenty to talk about.

Our routes have been based out of Ouarzazate (productions like Gladiator and Game of Thrones have been filmed here), and it is a high-desert terrain with red rocks and plenty of sand and wind.

With two different tires, I have been on a host of bikes as well. On the Battlax A41, it was the BMW 1200GS Rallye, KTM 1290 Adventure S, and the Honda Africa Twin; while for the Battlax T31, it was the Suzuki GSX-S1000F, BMW R1200R, and KTM 1290 Super Duke GT.

Feel free to pick my brain about the new Bridgestone tires, the bikes I have been on, and what it is like to visit Morocco and the Ouarzazate region.

As always, you can follow our thoughts on the tires via FacebookTwitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting on social media by looking for the hashtags #BattlaxA41 & #BattlaxT31