It looks like our Bothan spies were right yet again, because Triumph has confirmed our report from earlier this year that the Triumph Daytona 765 Moto2 bike would come to market as a limited edition machine.
Officially called the Triumph Daytona Moto2 765 Limited Edition, the bike is exactly as you would expect – a Moto2 race bike with lights and street-legal.
Coming from the ashes of Confederate Motorcycles, the new Curtiss Motorcycles brand has shown another of its two-wheeled creations, this one also an electric model called “Hades” – after the Greek god of the underworld.
The creator of the Hades is none other than J.T. Nesbitt, who brings with him some of the same lines he made famous at Confederate. As you would expect then, the lines of the Hades are provocative, unconventional, and alluring.
Sales continue to slip and fall for Harley-Davidson, as we see from the company’s second-quarter earnings report, which was was released today. Worldwide, the Bar & Shield brand saw an 8% drop in Q2 sales for 2019, when compared to Q2 2018.
This breaks down to an 8% drop in sales for the United States, with international sales showing a similar decline of 8.9%. For comparison, the relevant heavyweight motorcycle industry was down 4.9% in the USA during the same time periods.
On the dollar side of the equation, Harley-Davidson reported a net income of $195.6 million earned, from a consolidated revenue of $1.63 billion in Q2 2019.
This is nearly a 20% drop in net income, when compared to the $242.3 million that Harley-Davidson made on the $1.71 billion in consolidated revenue in Q2 2018.
This news continues an obvious trend for Harley-Davidson, as its sales continue to shrink each year, which is affecting the company’s bottom line earnings.
More sales news today, as we get word from MV Agusta that they have sold out their Brutale 1000 Serie Oro and Superveloce 800 Serie Oro motorcycles.
Both of the Serie Oro models were limited to a production run of just 300 units each, which is a pretty common way for the Italian brand to launch new models, and we can expect more obtainable “normal” versions of these two bikes to be ready for next year.
While the volume of 300 units isn’t a terribly large or surprising number, one should remember the substantial price tags that come attached to these machines. The MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Serie Oro goes for €28,000 MSRP, while the MV Agusta Brutale 1000 Serie Oro astounds with its €43,000 MSRP.
We have heard rumors that Ducati would jam its new V4 engine into a Multistrada-type for quite some time now.
But, most of those rumors seemed to confuse the high-powered adventure-sport for the upcoming Ducati Streetfighter V4, so we dismissed them. And yet, talk of a Ducati Multistrada V4 continues.
Now, the rumors are getting more palatable, and even more credible. One reasons for this is a report from Germany’s Motorrad Magazine, which says that they even saw the Multistrada V4 out testing in Bologna.
The future for motorcycles racing at Pikes Peak is under question, according to local reports about the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
The news comes from the Colorado Springs Gazette, which says that Executive Director Megan Leatham told the city and US Forest Service in an email after the crash that she thought the race would be the last for motorcycles on the mountain.
As one would expect, the discussion about the future for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and whether motorcycles would continue at the event, is far from a definitive conclusion, but the possibility of the motorcycle race ending is very real.
Did you feel that? Updates have landed for the 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 and 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1M motorcycles, with Yamaha debuting the bikes this weekend at the Laguna Seca round for the WorldSBK Championship.
As our bothan spies already reported, the updates are subtle ones, mostly geared towards refining the R1 to keep in touch with its competitors, and to provide the race team with the necessary changes they need under the homologation rules.
This makes the 2020 update very much an evolution, not revolution, for the Yamaha YZF-R1. As such, we see changes coming to the bike’s cylinder head, airbox, and bodywork, along with updates to the software and suspension.
Here it is, the Ducati Panigale V4 25° Anniversario 916 superbike. A limited edition machine (only 500 will be made) that commemorates the most iconic motorcycle ever to come from the Borgo Panigale factory, which sees this year being its 25th anniversary of going into production.
The new Panigale V4 model debuted today at the Laguna Seca WorldSBK round in California, and helping make that unveiling extra special was Carl Fogarty, who took the Ducati 916 Superbike to victory twice in the World Superbike Championship.
To go with its limited production run, Ducati has equipped the Panigale V4 25° Anniversario 916 (which is based off the Panigale V4 S) with a bevy of special parts, which includes an Akrapovic exhaust, a dry clutch conversion, Panigale V4 R front frame, forged magnesium wheels from Marchesini, and other bits and bobs from the Ducati Performance catalog.
Ever since Harley-Davidson told us that it would be bringing the electric-powered Livewire motorcycle to market, the Bar & Shield brand has been vague on details.
Surprisingly, as production was confirmed for the 2020 Harley-Davidson Livewire, detailed tech specs were still hard to come by, with Milwaukee choosing to talk more in experiential terms, rather than hard figures.
And even the night before the international press was set to ride the Livewire for the first time, Harley-Davidson wouldn’t talk spec sheets with us…until now.
From this we learn some critical numbers about the Harley-Davidson Livewire. 105hp / 86 lbs•ft of torque; 15.5 kWh (13.6 kWh nominal) of battery; 549 lbs of heft at the curb; and much, much more. Don’t worry, we’ve got all the technical details for you.
Tomorrow we will be among the first to ride the Harley-Davidson Livewire, the Bar & Shield brand’s first electric motorcycle.
The model marks a paradigm shift for the American company, as well as the motorcycle industry as a whole, so you can imagine that a great deal of attention will be on the machine’s debut.
Before we get our own first-hand experience with the bike, there is some talk about Harley-Davidson’s pre-sales activity on the Livewire.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson has tipped to Powersports Business that roughly 50% of Harley-Davidson’s initial batch of Livewire deliveries have deposits on them.
We broke the news two days ago that Ducati was working on a special edition of the Panigale V4, to help commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ducati 916 Superbike. Now, we have some official details on that news to share with you.
Helping Ducati celebrate one of its most iconic bikes is one of the men who raced on them – quite successfully, we might add – Carl Fogarty.
As such, the Ducati Panigale V4 25° Anniversario 916 model will come with some nods to Fogarty’s racing legacy, while also reminding two-wheeled fans of Ducati’s rich history in the WorldSBK paddock.