Here is something to keep an eye out for as the 2020 model year comes closer to reality – it is an upcoming sport bike from British marque Hesketh, which has a supercharged 1,000cc three-cylinder engine.
Details beyond what I just said, and the concept sketch above, are non-existent, but the boutique brand is keen to make this motorcycle a reality in the next 365 days (if not sooner).
Here is one for a bit of nostalgia, as Honda is set to bring a concept motorcycle that riffs on iconic machine from Big Red’s lineup. The motorcycle shown above is the Honda CT125 concept, which is to debut in a month’s time at the Tokyo Motor Show.
For those that know their motorcycle history, the “CT” name should be a familiar one from Honda, as the trail-oriented motorcycles were the off-road counterparts to the popular Super Cub street bikes.
It looks like the Canadians are getting deeper into the electric vehicle space, as Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) has released more than a few electric concepts across its various product ranges.
Debuting the six concepts at the Club BRP 2020 event in Las Vegas, BRP’s offerings caught our eye for two very obvious reasons: the electric scooter and motorcycle concepts.
What can one say about the Suzuki SV650 motorcycle? The bike is in its 20th year of production, and though the model has changed a little by little over time, the same basic formula has stayed the same.
Here, we have a special idea from Oberdan Bezzi, who takes the venerable SV650 and turns it into large-format off-roader.
Dubbed the Suzuki SV650 Rally, the concept looks quite convincing, and it plays into the strategy that Suzuki seems to be building off of.
It is an obvious fact that the motorcycle manufacturers are looking to the future, and that future is looking increasingly like one without fossil fuels.
Electric drivetrains seem to be the prevailing technology of choice for the next generation of riders, and as such BMW Motorrad has its designers busy thinking about what the first electric motorcycles from the German brand could look like.
Enter the BMW Motorrad Vision DC Roadster concept, an electric motorcycle whose sole purpose is to imagine what BMW’s iconic boxer-twin engine shape could look like in an electric shape. Umpf!
Sometimes, you need to put something into the universe to see it happen, and it was just two days ago that we were speculating on rumors about Harley-Davidson’s plans for a small-displacement machine, likely headed for the Asian markets.
Today, we get confirmation of that news hearing that the Bar & Shield brand will collaborate with the Qianjiang Motorcycle Company to build small-displacement motorcycles targeted at China and the rest of the Asian continent.
The bike will be 338cc in displacement, and be released first in China, with the other Asian markets to follow.
It is the worst-kept secret in the motorcycle industry right… We are talking about BMW Motorrad’s upcoming cruiser, which will features an 1,800cc air-cooled push rod boxer engine.
We know this because the German brand has been shoehorning the mammoth-sized engine into a variety of show bikes, all in the effort to get excited about this “Harley-Davidson killer” of a motorcycle.
Spy photos have also given us a glimpse of the bagger that we can expect to see unveiled later this year, but for now we have yet another concept machine to whet our appetites.
I am not quite sure what makes the following a “concept” in the eyes of the Italian manufacturer, as the Ducati Hypermotard 950 is already a production model (it’s quite good too, by the way), and the example we see here differs only in paint and parts.
But still, the attraction that the Centro Stile Ducati has poured into this Hypermotard 950 is lurid, for sure.
The judges at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este would seem to agree with us as well, as this Hyper won first place in the ”Concept Bikes: New Design and Prototypes by Manufacturers and Independents” category at the prestigious event.
When we look at Aprilia’s lineup, it is surprisingly sparse. The brand has only a pair of models with its V4 engine, and another pair with its 900cc v-twin. Four bikes – that’s it.
The revised middleweights – the Shiver 900 and Dorsoduro 900 – debuted in 2017, bringing some refinements to the lackluster 750cc machines that they replaced. The 900cc bikes are not the stars in Aprilia’s lineup though, and they struggle to sell at Aprilia dealerships, but they have a tremendous amount of potential.
We say this because it always felt like Aprilia could have done more with the engine platforms available to the Italian brand. A long-travel suspension adventure-sport makes a ton of sense for the V4 platform, and today we see what could be done with the v-twin platform.
KTM’s 790 platform is a marvelous thing. It brought us the potent KTM 790 Duke sport bike, and this year sees the arrival of the hotly anticipated KTM 790 Adventure R dual-sport.
Compact, powerful, and affordable – those are the three words that best describe what the Austrian motorcycle house has created, and we knew from the get-go that the 790 platform was destined to bring us several motorcycle models.
Now, the time has come to ask where is our KTM RC790?
This is the year. This is the year that Harley-Davidson steps beyond decades of being stuck in the past, and instead takes a chance on leading the future.
I am of course referring to the Bar & Shield brand’s move to debut electric motorcycles – starting first with the Livewire electric cruiser.
The Harley-Davidson Livewire doesn’t exist in a vacuum, however. This is because the American motorcycle company has plans for a whole host of electric two-wheelers, which ranges from an electric bicycle, all the way up to full-sized models.
Today, we get a glimpse at the first of these additional models (along with more details on the Livewire electric cruiser), with Harley-Davidson showing us the physical forms of its electric scooter and and electric moped concepts.
The two motorcycles look very similar to the concept sketches that we saw last year, which is a good thing to our eye, as both machines look fit for the part.