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The first of KTM’s 500cc lineup is expected to be ready by 2022. This isn’t exactly new information for those who have been following the space, but it is the first time that we have heard it from the horse’s mouth.

This is because KTM CEO Stefan Pierer sat down with journalist Sir Alan Cathcart, and discussed the new models (you can read his full interview on Motoring World) and several other items in an expansive interview.

There is quite a lot of buzz going on right now regarding KTM's upcoming 490 series of motorcycles - some of it is new information coming to the light, but most of it just rehashing old stories to fill in a dearth of headlines.

So, we figure we would sort wheat from chaff, and share everything we know and suspect so far from KTM's next engine platform, and put it into one place for our A&R Pro subscribers.

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In what has to be one of the most protracted business arrangements in motorcycle industry history, Triumph and Bajaj have finally officially announced the signing of their non-equity partnership to make motorcycles together.

The plan is exactly that, a long-term plan to jointly create mid-sized (200cc to 750cc) motorcycles for the Triumph and Bajaj brands, using the strengths of both companies.

While both parties will be bringing resources and expertise to the table, Triumph and Bajaj will extract very different things from their new relationship.

A little over 10 months ago, we brought you the first news about KTM’s planned mid-sized lineup, with KTM CEO Stefan Pierer spilling the beans that his company was working on a new 500cc twin-cylinder platform.

Now it seems, the first of these “490” models is getting close to prime time, and we can expect five motorcycles in total to come from this new parallel-twin lineup.

I had to dive back into the A&R archive to find out that Triumph and Bajaj first announced their intent to partner on middleweight motorcycles almost exactly two years ago.

Details were light at the time of the announcement, and few specifics have surfaced since…until today…sort of. This is because news out of India tells us that Triumph and Bajaj are aiming to have a formal agreement signed in Q3 of this year.

It feels like the longest rumored machine in KTM’s future lineup. We are of course talking about the KTM 390 Adventure.

The missing link in the Austrian brand’s adventure-touring model range, which we have talked, rumored, and speculated about for well…quite a long time.

About a year ago though, Bajaj SVP and KTM India boss Amit Nandi tipped that we would see the KTM 390 Adventure in 2019. Well, that time is now, and rumors are once again heating up about this small-displacement ADV.

I would hate to work in KTM’s press department back in Austria, mostly because KTM CEO Stefan Pierer seems to be quite difficult to corral – he always seems to be spilling company secrets.

This reality is great for us, however, as there is never a shortage of juicy gossip to report from the “Ready to Race” brand, and this week has been no exception.

We already reported on Pierer’s vocalization about his desires to own the Ducati brand, which certainly caused a stir in the motorcycle industry these past few days.

Now we have more news from Pierer’s interview with Germany’s Speedweek magazine, with the CEO dishing details on the company’s plans in the middleweight categories.

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.

Episode 60 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we cover some of the newsy items from the motorcycle industry that have caught our eyes recently.

But before we get to the news, Quentin and I break a pretty big story concerning a certain turbocharged motorcycle, which you won’t want to miss.

We then turn our attention to the plethora of recalls that have beseeched BMW Motorrad, and we also talk about the company’s halo bike, the BMW HP4 Race, and its 3,100-mile engine life.

We also talk about Triumph’s partnership with Bajaj, and how that will affect both brands’ futures, before we talk about Ducati’s software performance upgrade for the 2015/2016 Ducati 1299 Panigale owners.

Before the show ends, Quentin also gives a really insightful talk about plug chops, which unless you have ridden an older two-stroke machine, you have probably never heard of, until now.

There is a lot going on in this episode of the podcast, so you don’t want to miss it. And, if we have and Diet Pepsi and milk drinkers in the audience, please identify yourselves and explain this madness.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.

I'm not sure that the news of Triumph partnering with Bajaj quite made the impact on the motorcycle industry that it deserves.

Maybe it is because we have seen Triumph misstep with smaller displacement machines in the past (with an Indian partner, no less), or perhaps it is because the press release penned by Triumph CEO Nick Bloor was utterly incomprehensible, and devoid of any concrete facts.

Either way, the news is worth spilling some more pixels over, because there is a bit at stake in the coming years for the motorcycle OEMs, and Triumph just made a bid for sizable land grab for it.

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There is some big news coming out of the motorcycle industry today, as Triumph and Bajaj have just announced a new global partnership that will see the two brands collaborating on new middleweight motorcycles for the global market.

It is still not clear what the fine-print of the deal looks like, but an obvious guess would be that Triumph and Bajaj will co-develop middleweight motorcycles for both emerging and developed markets, with both brands taking advantage of the other’s distribution to reach new untapped customers.