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Redesigned Yamaha XSR900 Gets Big Updates, Small Price

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The hipster bike movement may be dying, but Big Blue is bringing a completely redesigned Yamaha XSR900 to market for the 2022 model year, and we are totally fine with that.

One of the more popular bikes in Yamaha’s lineup, the three-cylinder machine is a fun and sporty ride for not a lot of money, and if you happen to like the retro aesthetic, then its a fashionable way to get around town.

For the 2022 model year, the Yamaha XSR900 gets a brand new chassis, more power, and more advanced electronics. Win, win, win…

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Bikes

BMW R18 B – The “B” Stands for Bagger

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As was expected from spy photos and internet rumors, a bagger version of the BMW R18 has finally official broken its cover.

We always knew that BMW Motorrad’s gigantic air-cooled boxer-twin engine would be a platform for multiple models, so it shouldn’t surprise us to see the BMW R18 B debuting for the 2022 model year.

The bagger model launches with marque’s dresser variant, the BMW R18 Transcontinental, also coming to market, with both bikes available in August 2021.

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Bikes

A Bigger, Better, Badder Moto Guzzi V7 Debuts for 2021

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When the Moto Guzzi V85 TT debuted, we speculated that the new 850cc engine could show up in other models. Now, it seems that day has finally come as we get word that the Moto Guzzi V7 is getting a hefty update for the 2021 model year.

Using a variation of the transverse v-twin engine found on the V85 TT, the 2021 Moto Guzzi V7 makes 65hp (up from 52hp), with 54 lbs•ft (73 Nm), in this street-bike friendly tune.

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Bikes

Dear Ducati, Can You Please Make A V4 Version of the MH900e?

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Ducati MH900E V4 Cafe Racer

The Ducati MH900e is a special bike in the brand’s history. It is a model that this author lusts over often, with its unique modern take of the old classic aesthetic.

The bike was ahead of its time, in many ways, and we can see now brands imitating in 2020 what Ducati made two decades ago.

The Ducati MH900e might be the best thing that Pierre Terblanche ever penned, and if you can find one in good shape these days, be prepared to spend some coin if you want it in your garage.

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Bikes

The BMW R18 Cruiser Is Finally, Finally Here

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Alas, the long wait is over, as BMW Motorrad has finally shown us the production version of its much-hyped cruiser model, the BMW R18.

Featuring the largest boxer engine ever produced by the German brand, the BMW R18 boasts an 1,802cc displacement for its two horizontally opposed cylinders.

As was teased, peak power is a paltry 90hp (67 kW), but the real attention-getter is the torque curve: 116 lbs•ft (158 Nm).

That peak torque figure hits at just a mere 3,000 rpm, but the BMW R18 churns out at least 110 lbs•ft (150 Nm) all the way from 2,000 rpm to 4,000 rpm, making for a nice broad power band to play with on the open road.

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Bikes

BMW Teases an 1,800cc Air-Cooled Boxer Engine Design

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BMW Motorrad is very quietly teasing a new motorcycle platform, one that is centered around an 1,800cc boxer design.

BMW teased this new engine in a unique way, having Yuichi Yoshizawa and Yoshikazu Ueda of Custom Works Zon build a show bike around the boxer-twin, which we are showing here in the story.

With its vintage style, it is easy to disregard the prototype engine from BMW as being something from the German company’s past, and perhaps that is the point. The engine uses a push-rod design, and its cooling fins tip-off its air/oil-cooling mechanism.

Specifics  beyond this are non-existent, however, with BMW Motorrad simply saying that “further details about the engine and its possible future use will be communicated at a later point in time.”

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Rumors

Triumph Speed Twin Leaks Ahead of EICMA Debut

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Triumph has several new motorcycles to debut at the EICMA show in Milan, but ahead of that debut, a Triumph dealer has spoiled the fun, posting photos of the 2019 Triumph Speed Twin to social media.

Spotted first by our friends at NieuwsMotor.nl, the photos come from Triumph’s yearly dealer conference, where the new machines were first shown to the public. Since then, the Triumph Scrambler 1200 has formally debuted, and now we see the Speed Twin that will go alongside it.

The Triumph Speed Twin picks up where the Triumph Street Twin left off, and supposedly shares its 1,200cc parallel-twin engine with the Triumph Thruxton platform. This means a 97hp peak power figure, with 83 lbs•ft of torque.

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Bikes

A New Ducati Scrambler Icon Debuts

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What you are looking at is the “new” Ducati Scrambler Icon. The changes are hard to spot from the original Icon model, but overall the machine gets a number refinements and enhancements, the most notable of which is the new cornering ABS package from Bosch.

Other changes include thicker aluminum side panels on the fuel tank, black paint on the engine (with brushed cylinder head fins), and machine-finished wheels. The headlight is new too, and features a daylight running light (DRL).

An auto-off feature has been added to the LED turn signals (thanks to the IMU powering the cornering ABS), and new switchgear is on the handlebars. On the more practical side of the spectrum, the LCD dash now includes a fuel level gauge. 

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Dirt

Triumph Begins the Big Scrambler Tease

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In a few months, Triumph is going to show us its new big boy Scrambler model, another motorcycle that will join Triumph’s heritage motorcycle lineup.

We know quite a bit about this new model, firstly that it will be called the Triumph Scrambler 1200. As you might expect, the Triumph Scrambler 1200 is set to take on the Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled in this segment, a bike which should be getting an 1,100cc variant later this year as well.

Said to be a capable full-sized dual-sport, we expect the Scrambler 1200 to 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.

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Rumors

BMW Plans To Launch Nine New Motorcycles

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It might be still be summer, but our eyes are looking ahead to the new bike season in the fall and winter, where the major motorcycle manufacturers will debut their new motorcycles for the future.

The big trade shows to watch are INTERMOT and EICMA, as these have traditionally been the venues of choice for new model unveils, prototype teasers, and concept debuts.

One brand that is certainly going to be showing us some new motorcycles is BMW Motorrad, with the German company saying that it plans to launch nine new models in 2018.

What those nine models will be is up for conjecture, though we have some good ideas, and some bad ideas, on what they could be. Let’s take a look.

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