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Californian regulators have voted to ban the sale of new gas-powered generators, starting in 2028.

The news comes as part of a larger crackdown on “off-road small-displacement” motors, which includes lawnmowers and leaf blowers, which will become outlawed starting in 2024.

Gas generator have their provisions, which give them an extra four-year reprieve, and none of this legislation outlaws the use of currently owned equipment.

After a hectic handful of weeks, I sincerely hope today is my last press launch for 2021 – my Delta SkyMiles status is doing just fine for the next two years.

But, don’t take that as a complaint, as this edition of “Gone Riding” sees us getting ready to ride the new Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak adventure-sport, which brings the 17″ wheelset back to this popular ADV machine.

The launch is taking place in Palm Springs, California – but this sunny SoCal getaway has a bit of rain on the forecast for our street ride today. Even so, I don’t think that will stop us from seeing if this 167hp beast can do the business.

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind will be whether the paint and goodies on the Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak is worth the $29,000 price tag, which is more than a $3,000 premium over the Multistrada V4 S model.

I hope to find that out, and also to see whether Ducati has captured the spirit of its Pikes Peak heritage, which started with a Hypermotard, and ended with a Streetfighter V4.

Per our new review format, I will be giving you a live assessment of the new Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak right here in this article (down in the comments section), and I will try to answer any questions you might have about this exciting motorcycle. 

Here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride the Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak, before even our own proper review is posted. As always, if I don’t know an answer, I will try to get a response from the Ducati personnel. So, pepper away.

You can follow our thoughts on the bike live via FacebookTwitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting on social media by looking for the hashtag #MultistradaV4 #PikesPeak

Spec-Sheet Comparison of Relevant Models to the Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak:

  Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak Ducati Multistrada V4 S BMW S1000XR KTM 1290 Super Duke GT
Power 167 hp 167 hp 165 hp 175 hp
Torque 92 lbs•ft 92 lbs•ft 84 lbs•ft 104 lbs•ft
Weight 527 lbs (wet) 529 lbs (wet) 498 lbs (wet) 497 lbs (wet)
Engine 1,158cc / V4 1,158cc / V4 999cc / Inline-Four 1,301cc / V-Twin
Price $28,995 $25,795 $21,090 n/a

Photos: Ducati

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors has voted 4-1 to adopt a resolution that will bring some key facility and track upgrades to the Laguna Seca race track, including a resurfacing of the track’s 11-turn course.

The news marks the first time the track has been resurfaced since 2007, and the investment also includes a new start/finish bridge, which will be larger and included the ability for golf carts to go across it.

The Turn 3 Paddock Pavilion will also be getting a bevy of changes and enhancements.

Editor’s note: Breaking my collarbone just a couple weeks before the press launch of the new Ducati Monster in San Francisco, I asked the most discerning Ducatisti I knew to take my place and test this new street bike fro Asphalt & Rubber.

Colin has seen more than a few Ducati’s in his garage over his many, many years, so he knows the history of this iconic motorcycle name, and yet he has enough “other” bikes in his garage so as not to be a complete Italian snob. Enjoy his words, and the properly English accent they were written in. -JB

First a confession: I feel like an imposter. I am neither a moto-journalist nor a professional rider. But, I do have some qualifications.

I own an eclectic collection of Ducati icons from the 80s and 90s, and many other newer Ducatis have passed through my hands over the last 30 years including a beautiful, raucous, guttural, black Monster S4RS in the late aughts.

Now a second confession: that Monster was the only bike that ever really scared the crap out of me.

The ferocious power and torque and no electronics meant the front wheel needed no excuse to leave the pavement; usually when I least expected it and was not paying attention. This was a design feature not a fault.

It was…is…the reason people wanted that Monster. For me, it was exciting but exhausting. It had to go.

When Honda brought us the Rebel 300 and Rebel 500 four years ago, I called the small-displacement cruisers the most important motorcycles to debut for the 2018 model year. Now, Honda is adding a third model to the family: the 2021 Honda Rebel 1100

Debuting last November, the Rebel 1100 was Honda’s big new model for the 2021 model year , and the bike is basically the amalgamation of the Rebel cruiser line, with the familiar parallel-twin engine found in the Honda Africa Twin 1100 adventure bike.

This new metric cruiser is arriving in Honda dealers as we speak, but the American Honda team invited us to Murrieta, California to ride the Rebel 1100, to see if this interesting, if not odd, motorcycle was more than the sum of its parts.

Our ride saw us burn close to 200 miles, with a mix of tight canyon roads, rolling sweepers, and some urban commuting – the typical duty a bike like the Rebel 1100 would see in the real world.

Big Red will admit that the Honda Rebel 1100 is not a cruiser for everyone that rides in this segment, but the bike brings a unique appeal to a large market, and it does so with a certain flair that has been absent from this space. Let me explain.

The Rebel lineup has been a stalwart bike for American Honda, primarily in its role to get new riders on two wheels. But, what happens when those newly minted motorcycle enthusiasts want to upgrade to something bigger?

As Honda discovered, they go somewhere else, as the Japanese brand lacked an encore to the Honda Rebel 300 and Honda Rebel 500 motorcycles.

These motorcycle riders that Honda fought so hard to create were jumping ship to another cruiser brand.

But now the Japanese brand has a solution, the Honda Rebel 1100 – a bike that looks like a greatest hits album from the company’s current lineup.

Almost two-and-a-half years ago, Asphalt & Rubber broke the story that Aprilia was working on a twin-cylinder sport bike, which would be a more affordable and approachable option than the company’s flagship RSV4 superbike offering.

After teasing us at EICMA with the prototype in 2018, and then with the production model a year later, we were set for the Aprilia RS 660 to debut as a 2020 model…but then, the coronavirus outbreak changed all that.

With Italy no longer under lockdown, this bike is finally ready to take the stage, and of course the 2021 Aprilia RS 660 is headed stateside, with the first examples of it landing at dealerships in time for Christmas (and what a present that would be under the tree).

It has been a long wait for this eagerly anticipated motorcycle, and last week the American motorcycle press got their first miles on this middleweight-twin.

Riding the canyon roads near Santa Barbara, we put the Aprilia RS 660 through its paces on some of the best roads California has to offer (in this author’s opinion, at least), to see how this unique creation from Noale stacked up.

Would it live up to the hype? Is this the new twins class killer? Does Aprilia have another opus on its hands? That is what we aim to explain to you in this review.

Another bike on our list of “must-rides” for 2020, we are about to swing a leg over the Aprilia RS 660. This middleweight-twin has been a long time coming, especially in its full-fairing aesthetic.

On the spec sheet, the Aprilia RS 660 looks set to upend the segment, but of course the proof is in the pudding on how this parallel-twin motor runs, how its twin-spar aluminum chassis handles, and how refined its APRC electronics package truly is on the open road.

Today’s test takes us to the curvy pavement near Santa Barbara, California, where our 200-mile route through canyons and highways promises to give us a glimpse at this bike’s potential.

You may have already seen the news from yesterday, where California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that will require all new cars and passenger trucks sold in the Golden State to be zero-emission vehicles by the year 2035. 

The order also goes on to say that the state will phase out all new medium and heavy-duty trucks that are not zero-emissions by the year 2045, thus setting up the state to push electric vehicles onto its roadways in a big way.

There is a third provision in this executive order though, and it is getting far less attention than the other two, but it will greatly impact the motorcycle industry.

This is because Gov. Newsom’s executive order also says that by 2035 California will ban the sale of all new off-road vehicles that are not zero-emissions, where feasible.

Effectively, California has just set an expiration date on the sale of new dirt bikes, side-by-sides, and ATVs within its borders.

As if waiting for the debut of a new superbike from Honda wasn’t a marathon event in itself, the arrival of the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP onto US soil took its time in its own right, thanks in part to the coronavirus outbreak.

But, the new Fireblade is finally here in the United States, and Asphalt & Rubber is among the first to ride this new superbike.

Our ride test takes us to smokey California, at the Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. With fires smoldering not too far away, we consider ourselves lucky to ride this popular Californian track, and the new Fireblade should feel right at home on this undulating circuit.