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Call it braking news (sorry, sorry) as Italian brake manufacturer Brembo has just acquired the entirety of Spanish brake company J.Juan for a reported €70 million ($85 million) in cash.

The move is said to center around Brembo’s desire to invest more in the motorcycle sector of its business, where J.Juan has made an increasing number of inroads with OEM and aftermarket fitment.

Italian brake component manufacturer Brembo is continuing its investment spree.

Loyal A&R readers will remember that Brembo bought a portion of Pirelli back in April of this year, and now the Italians have gobbled up Danish company SBS Friction A/S, which is known best in the marketplace for the SBS line of brake pads.

The deal sees Brembo taking 100% ownership of the Danish company, in an agreement that is worth 224 million Danish kroner ($36 million), with SBS being valued at 300 million Kr.

Even if you missed our live chat on YouTube with Sylvain Guintoli last week, you still might have caught on that we are really enjoying the videos that the former WorldSBK champion has been making lately.

With a wide-ranging resumé on two wheels, including being the current factory test rider for the Suzuki MotoGP team, Sylvain is perhaps over-qualified to be the newest social media influencer for the motorcycle industry, but that is also what makes his explanations on YouTube so great.

Speaking with first-hand knowledge (and in various languages), as well as delivering his experiences in a clear format, Sylvain has been boiling down high-level topics on motorcycle riding. 

Triumph is the second motorcycle company to report a recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning Brembo brake pad failures, as a bevy of motorcycle brands are expected to be recall motorcycles that use the Italian firm’s brake pads.

For those who don’t know, this wave of recalls stems from the friction material separating from the metal backing plate, often because of exposure to corrosive conditions.

We won’t rehash the technical details over and over again as the recalls come through (we are expecting several more), but you can read our initial post on Brembo brake pad issue, if you require a primer on the situation.

Our Bothan spy sources are telling us the the Ducati 1299 Superleggera recall from yesterday is just the tip of the iceberg of what is coming from Brembo, as the Italian brake supplier’s affected brake pads are in multiple makes and models throughout the USA and worldwide (editor’s note: we see Triumph now making the same recall today as Ducati).

For those keeping track, this is the second time that Brembo has seen a large recall for its brake pads because the friction material might become separated from the backing plate. And like the Brembo recall for its master cylinder piston failure, this is something that is going to affect a number of motorcycle brands, as Brembo is a large OEM supplier.

Our sources are telling us that thousands of bikes in the United States will be affected by this recall, though thankfully the fix for the brake pad failure is pretty easy – one only has to change out the brake pads for new ones.

If you are the lucky owner of a Ducati 1299 Superleggera, then you should pay attention to this recall from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as it pertains to all 97 of these bikes that are in the USA.

The recall comes from an issue with the brake pads, which may see the brake pad’s friction material detaching from the brake pad’s back plate. This can happen specifically, but not exclusively, for motorcycles that have been operated in corrosive environments.

According to the recall documents, if this occurs, the distance between the braking plate and brake disk cannot be balanced with a single action on the brake master cylinder, rendering the brake pad ineffective and defective. Accordingly, potentially defective pads can increase vehicle stopping distances.

Call it the Italian connection, as brake-maker Brembo has just bought a chunk of shares in Pirelli. As such, the move sees Brembo taking a 2.43% in the Italian tire brand.

Despite the surprise of the headline, the transaction has not a complete surprise to those following the actions of Brembo, as the braking brand announced last year its plans to go shopping in the corporate M&A realm.

Matteo Tiraboschi, Brembo’s Executive Deputy Chairman, even signaled last year that the the company’s appetite for acquisition could be as large Brembo itself.

The 2019 EICMA show in Milan is next week, and there we expect to see a bevy of new models, including a few from Aprilia, but those crafty Italian have gotten a jump on things, releasing today the 2019 Aprilia RSV4 Factory.

As we predicted, the new top-spec superbike is getting a displacement increase to 1,078cc on its 65° V4 engine (we wonder why), which gives the new Aprilia RSV4 Factory a class-leading peak power figure of 214hp (159.6 kW), and 90 lbs•ft (122 Nm) of torque.

Matching that substantial gain in power, the 2019 Aprilia RSV4 Factory gets a solid weight reduction, tipping the scales at 439 lbs when fully fueled. Helping cut the weight down is a lithium-ion battery from Bosch and a street legal titanium exhaust from Akrapovic.

For those doing the math, we will save you the trouble: the 2019 Aprilia RSV4 Factory weighs 11 lbs lighter than its predecessor, and makes 16hp more power, and 5 lbs•ft more torque as well. Win, win, win.