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Wherefore art thou, Honda Africa Twin? For years now we have been lamenting Honda's inclusion of a true middleweight ADV offering in its lineup, to go up against bikes like the BMW F850GS, and newcomers like the Aprilia Tuareg 660 and Yamaha Ténéré 700. Today, that wish has been answered.

On paper, the Honda Transalp fits the bill, though I reserve some judgment until I see US pricing and availability.

My only serious gripe with the spec sheet is the bare-bones suspension pieces, but a cut-throat price tag could help me swallow that pill (along with some nice drop-in cartridges in the aftermarket).

Instead, most of my thoughts on the Transalp actually concern the Africa Twin.

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Big news today regarding Pierer Mobility (the parent company to KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas) and MV Agusta, as the Austrian company is set to take a 25.1% ownership stake in the Italian manufacturer.

The news comes just a couple weeks after it was announced that KTM North America would takeover distribution of MV Agusta's motorcycles in the United States, and quells rumors that have been circling about KTM's interest in the Varese brand.







Through a terse press release, the two companies have released few details on their strategic alliance, but it does seem that the ownership stake in MV Agusta comes with a lifeline of capital to keep Italian factory churning out exotic sport bikes.

The press release also explains that Pierer Mobility will takeover the supply chain and purchasing for MV Agusta, and that KTM et al will handle distribution for MV Agusta in certain unnamed markets - like what has already been announced in the USA.

Source: MV Agusta







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The debut of the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 was the headline event from 2021 - with the Bar & Shield brand offering its first motorcycle that truly deviated from the company's cruiser lineup.

An integral part of Harley-Davidson's "Hardwire" plan to restructure the company for the future, the Pan America 1250 is a conquest bike for the American bike-maker, with an eye on scooping up some sales from rival European brands.

Was it a success? That depends on whom you ask. American publications certainly seemed to think so, with the Pan America 1250 taking top honors in several of their shootouts last year. Meanwhile, the European press was less-enthused.

We will let you decide if home-team bias, on both sides of the pond, are at play there. For our money, we'd put the Ducati Multistrada V4 S in our garage before the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250, but reasonable minds can easily disagree on this thought.

Shootouts don't balance the account's books however, and for the bean-counters, the true measure of a motorcycle's success is on the showroom floor.

To that end, Harley-Davidson sold just over 2,500 units of its Pan America lineup in the USA last year, according to our Bothan spies.

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I had originally intended to follow-up my preview for the 2021 EICMA trade show in Milan with daily round-ups, but after witnessing what was produced in the first two days, that clearly was unnecessary.

There were question marks on what the 2021 show would be like, after last year's cancellation and with the specter of COVID-19 still hovering over Europe and the motorcycle industry as a whole.

We have that answer now, and it is not a good one.

In the 13 years that I have covered the largest motorcycle industry trade show in the world, I can tell you definitively that this year's EICMA was by far the most disappointing.

EICMA, as we know it, is dead.

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The 2021 EICMA show is nearly upon us, with the first media day kicking off on Tuesday in Milan, Italy. After a break from it last year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the show is back this year...sort of.

I say this because this year's edition is a bit strange in itself - several big brands are missing from the lineup, and because of the ongoing COVID-19 situation, and the effect its having on global supply chains, manufacturers are rethinking their timelines for new-bike launches for the 2022 model year.

As such, this year's preview of the show is just as much about what we expect to see in Milan this week, as it is an overview of what we don't expect to see at EICMA 2021.

So without further ado, let's get into it and see what's in my crystal ball for EICMA 2021.

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Starting next Thursday, Ducati will be debuting a new motorcycle for the 2022 model year every two weeks.

The releasing event culminates on December 9th, and we already know what bike will capstone Ducati's new model debut: the Ducati DesertX.

For those that didn't get the memo, the following is the schedule and teasing title for Ducati's six-part unveiling schedule online:

  • September 30, 2021 - "Your everyday wonder"
  • October 14, 2021 - "Mark your roots"
  • October 28, 2021 - "Rule all mountains"
  • November 11, 2021 - "A new Fighter in town"
  • November 25, 2021 - "The evolution of Speed"
  • December 9, 2021 - "Dream Wilder - DesertX"

As we can see, Ducati is being less obvious with some of its debuts than others, but with some insight into what the Italian brand has been up to, and which bikes it updated and debuted last year, we can reasonably discern what to expect in the coming weeks.

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The KTM RC 8C just dropped, and it is quite the stunner. More so, the bike is destined to be an absolute blast to ride on the track, since it is built upon the Kramer GP2 890R platform.

With the Austrian firm's 890cc parallel-twin engine at the heart of the machine, and making close to 130hp (94 kW), it would be easy to get infatuated with the bike's brawn, but it is really its nimble nature that makes the RC 8C such a weapon.

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Yamaha is in the midst of redefining its sport bike lineup. The first step was to kill off the popular and iconic YZF-R6 supersport, but that left a massive hole between the R3 and R1 models.

To help fill that void, Yamaha recently debuted the Yamaha YZF-R7, but while the 75hp / twin-cylinder platform makes for a good stepping stone from the R3, an R6 replacement it is not (and never was supposed to be).

That duty will likely fall to another machine, whose name has been spotted in government documents: the Yamaha YZF-R9.

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By now, the dust has settled on the commotion surrounding the Yamaha YZF-R7 debut - one of the more surprising and interesting motorcycles to debut so far this year.

This fully faired middleweight-twin takes the Yamaha MT-07 platform, with its 689cc parallel-twin engine, and prepares it for Yamaha's "R" world of sport-focused, track-ready, motorcycles.

This week, we will see the first real life assessments of the new R7, and of course the reviews will be glowing pieces of literature - because those are the only kind of reviews that Yamaha USA will now tolerate.

Don't let that detract from what the R7 represents, however. Like its naked sibling, the YZF-R7 will disrupt the middleweight-twins category, which has long been stagnating on the vine with bikes like the Suzuki SV650.

This stalwart bike has long been the go-to entry point for new riders and veteran racers alike, but the SV650's decades of service have seen little in the way of deserving and meaningful change.

The means that the opportunity for a little disruption is ripe, and the Yamaha YZF-R7 is just set to be one of the key bikes to satiate our appetite.

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It was strange to see another press release from Ducati Motor Holding about the 2020 sales year - you would think that the Italian brand would like to forget about the 9.7% sales drop it reported for last year.

Like virtually every other motorcycle brand in the industry, last year was tough on unit sales, though there were some very promising trends later in the season. As such, everyone is trying to spin the events and put their best foot forward - Ducati included.

So while it is at least strange to see the Bologna brand touting its cash flow results for 2020, one can at least understand why they are doing so.

What is more interesting though are some of the tidbits Ducati released in the process, which shows an insight into the company's operations and trends.

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The news that the Buell Motorcycles name would return from the shadows of the motorcycle industry has certainly stirred the two-wheel world . The American brand was not without its rabid fans, but it garnered plenty of detractors as well over the course of its history, and through its various incarnations.

Never quite at home inside the Harley-Davidson family, the Buell Motorcycle Company was shuttered in October 2009. Not one to quit though, Erik Buell continued the company's ideals in another self-branded endeavor: Erik Buell Racing.

This startup would be short-lived though, bringing only two models to market, in its roughly five-year run. Despite being unshackled from Harley-Davidson, EBR foundered in the marketplace, and floundered on the race track.

At the conclusion of both of these separate ventures, there was Liquid Asset Partners - a Michigan-based company that makes its business from buying the assets of bankrupt companies and flipping them to buyers for a profit.

But for Bill Melvin (the CEO of LAP), the motorcycle brands of Buell and EBR were not business as usual.

At the end of EBR's road under Erik Buell's management, LAP continued its operations, albeit in a very limited manner, assembling motorcycles from the plethora of parts LAP had acquired in the bankruptcy proceedings, and selling them to EBR's remaining enthusiastic customers.

When the chance came to buy the Buell name from Harley-Davidson, LAP didn't hesitate. The two estranged motorcycle companies of Erik Buell could now merge under one roof, and Buell Motorcycles was born again.

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