Episode 181 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a new avenue for the show, as we being our first dive into the world of off-road racing.
On the mics, we have Steve English, and our newest member to the show, Adam Wheeler (from the magazine On-Track Off-Road), as the pair discuss the start of the Supercross season in the United States.
Toby Price, you are a damn legend. Anyone who wins a Dakar Rally is truly worthy of such praise, but this year Price really earned the mantle.
After a rest day on Saturday, Sunday’s Stage 7 was always going to be a tough one, as it is what the Dakar Rally calls a “marathon” stage.
On top of the usual difficulty one finds racing in The Dakar, competitors are left at the end of the day to fix their own machines – their mechanics cannot help them.
The gold standard of Dakar Rally bikes, the KTM 450 Rally earned its reputation from 18 years of total dominance at the iconic rally-raid.
While the factory ride with KTM is perhaps the most coveted in the bivouac, the Austrian brand makes its machinery available for privateers as well, where it is also the weapon of choice.
When we first caught a glimpse of the Honda CRF300L Rally last year, we speculated that the machine could be making its way to the United States for the 2021 model year.
That educated guess is coming true now, as not only will the United States get the Honda CRF300L Rally, but also the Honda CRF300L for the current model year.
If you tuned into the Dakar Rally today, you may have noticed an odd name at the top of the overall standings, as American privateer Skyler Howes is leading the bike category overall.
Though it is still early days at the Saudi Arabian race, the Utahn has found his way to the top by being a pillar consistency, in a field that has been anything but.
It is no secret that motorcycle racers at the top of the sport use flat track as a way to hone their skills during the season. The practice dates all the way back to Kenny Roberts Sr., and has stayed in the grand prix paddock ever since.
Like all great champions though, Valentino Rossi has taken things to the next level, building his own private flat track course near his home in Tavullia, Italy.
Things looked bad for the Canadian motorcycle industry last spring. By April, most of the country was under some sort of lockdown, including many motorcycle dealerships.
Along with the general worry over the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on health and the economy, moto-industry insiders were specifically concerned over the lockdown timing.
Motorcycling is tied to the seasons in Canada. Even in British Columbia and southern Ontario, the warmest parts of the country, most riders put their bikes away in the fall and bring them out for spring – and spring is also the busiest selling season for new bikes, and new gear. Dealers feared the lockdown would torpedo that sales boost, and potentially put them out of business.
We did see sales flatline in April, but we didn’t see lots of dealers going out of business. What did happen was weird, and unexpected.
The “Big Red Pig” (as it is affectionately known) is a stalwart in Honda’s dirt bike lineup.
That is to say, the Honda XR650 has gone relatively unchanged over the past 20 years, and yet the big 644cc thumper has a loyal, loyal following.
In the US market, we have lost the “R” spec machine, but the XR650L continues on, as a plated dual-sport that comes in a mild, yet reliable tune.
So, when VMX Restomod cranked the bike up to 11 in order to make it into a proper street-legal supermoto, it got our attention.
The long wait is nearly over, as the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 will finally get its production debut on Monday, February 22nd, 2021 – the Bar & Shield brand tells us (they will “preview” the bike, yet again, on January 19th).
Accordingly, this date will end what will be an almost three-year tease and wait process from the American motorcycle company, as the first Pan America concept broke cover in July 2018.
Since that time, Harley-Davidson has “let go” of CEO Matthew Levatich, and swapped its “More Roads” plan for the current “Rewire” scheme that has seemingly killed many of the diverse models once announced by Harley-Davidson.
The ADV project remains though, if for no other reason than it was the furthest along in Harley-Davidson’s portfolio by the time that current CEO Jochen Zeitz came onboard.
Our friends across the pond got a surprise today, as the Honda CRF300L Rally broke cover for the European market.
Rumors of the bike coming for the 2021 model year have been pretty rife the past few months, so perhaps “surprise” is the wrong word to use here, and of course the Euro5 regulations have pushed for a number of “new” bikes to debut in Europe.
Still, the bump from the 250cc machine to the 2021 Honda CRF300L Rally is a welcomed sight for this small-displacement machine.
The route for the 2021 Dakar Rally has been announced, as the iconic race once again traverses the country of Saudi Arabia.
There had been hope that this year would see The Dakar leaving the Saudi Kingdom, but with COVID-19 restrictions, opening borders is not a viable option at this time.
That is okay, because the Arabian country has more than enough terrain to challenge the Dakar competitors, and this year we see roughly 3,000 miles of special timed stages being used.