A little over 10 months ago, we brought you the first news about KTM’s planned mid-sized lineup, with KTM CEO Stefan Pierer spilling the beans that his company was working on a new 500cc twin-cylinder platform.
Now it seems, the first of these “490” models is getting close to prime time, and we can expect five motorcycles in total to come from this new parallel-twin lineup.
There has been plenty said about the next generation of the Honda CBR1000RR, and lately the rumors have been heating up.
Solid news of an all-new machine for next first started in the WorldSBK paddock, where it was tipped that HRC would come back into the paddock with a factory team for the 2020 season – and on a new motorcycle.
Since then, we have seen some patents hinting at possible features of the new Fireblade, the most impressive of which is the idea that the 2020 Honda CBR1000RR could have active aerodynamics.
Now, we get word from our German colleagues at Speedweek that the new Honda Fireblade will debut sooner than we thought, making its arrival in October at the Tokyo Motor Show.
This means that we could see the 2020 Honda CBR1000RR as soon as October 23rd, instead of having to wait several weeks longer to see the bike debut at the EICMA show in Milan.
Now that we have the arrival of the new BMW S1000RR superbike in 2019, our gaze looks deeper into BMW Motorrad’s lineup for the 2020 model year.
Specifically, our attention is on the company’s inline-four sport bike lineup, which always takes its cues from the Bavarian brand’s superbike offering.
As such, a new S1000RR superbike necessitates a new S1000R streetfighter and S1000XR adventure-sport – at least, this is how it has worked in the past.
If you listened to the rumors coming ahead of this year’s new bike season, then we surely are about to see a new BMW S1000XR debuting at the EICMA show in Milan this November. But, what about an updated BMW S1000R? Not so much, it seems.
There has been no shortage of rumors about the “new” Honda CBR1000RR superbike. It is a story that pre-dates even the start of this publication, ever since Honda updated its liter bike offering for the 2008 model year.
And now, we seem finally set to see a new chapter in the Fireblade story, with the 2020 model year widely tipped to see the introduction of a new superbike from Big Red.
The machine has been rumored through movements in the WorldSBK Championship, the FIM Endurance World Championship, and other domestic series, and those stories have been supported by a series of patents found worldwide.
Now today, the eagle eyes of Ben Purvis at Cycle World have spotted another patent, one with an intriguing proposition – active aerodynamics.
There has been a bit of back and forth on internet rumors regarding when the so-called Ducati Multistrada V4 would debut, and now we have another piece to that puzzle.
While we know that we will see the new Streetfighter V4 debut at Ducati’s unveiling event in October, it is less clear if the Italian brand will also debuted a V4-powered ADV bike.
The eagle-eyes at Moto.it though have seen EPA filings for a 2020 Ducati Multistrada 1260 GT, which doesn’t seem like a big deal on its face (the model generally just adds items from the Ducati Performance catalog to the Multistrada model), but it does suggest some interesting things.
When we rode the Moto Guzzi V85 TT in Sardinia, it was made clear that the Italian brand saw its new 850cc air-cooled v-twin engine as more than a one-trick pony.
Part of Moto Guzzi’s ability to offer the V85 TT at such an aggressive price is centered around the larger plans at hand in Mandello del Lario.
Namely, this strategy centers around several models sharing Moto Guzzi’s new engine platform, and it seems we are set to see the next iteration of the V85 lineup later this year.
This is because rumors are starting about Moto Guzzi debut its next V85 model at November’s EICMA show in Milan.
According to the eagle eyes at BikeSocial, it would seem that Ducati has two new Scrambler models coming for the 2020 model year.
The two models were spotted in filings with the EPA, and are listed as “Pro” versions from the 1100 line – the “Ducati Scrambler 1100” and “Ducati Scrambler 1100 Sport Pro”.
What exactly is so “Pro” about this machines is not clear, but we are pretty certain that we will see the new Scramblers at Ducati’s special event in October, held on the Rimini coast.
It’s currently the long WorldSBK summer break, which means that the superbike paddock has more than enough time to wheel and deal…and then of course gossip.
There are a number of rumors coming for 2020, but none of them are nearly as good as the talk about Alvaro Bautista jumping ship from Ducati, to the factory-backed Honda squad.
That news comes along with the rumor that Honda will have a new superbike for the 2020 model year, which is something we have seen speculated about for some time.
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.
When it comes to rumors about Harley-Davidson, everything is up for grabs. The Bar & Shield brand has done a complete about-face on its business paradigm, which means that no idea is too crazy for those in Milwaukee.
So, when we hear talk about a 250cc model from Harley-Davidson (supposedly an XR250 street tracker bike), we have to give it some credit, whereas before we might have dismissed it out hand for being crazy talk.
We know that Harley-Davidson is looking at electric models; we know that Harley-Davidson is looking at mainstream segments outside of the cruiser spectrum; and we know that Harley-Davidson will be looking at markets abroad for future growth.
What does this all mean? A 250cc model is almost the worst kept secret in Milwaukee.
The 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 has been the subject of much rumor lately, as it appears the Japanese brand is getting ready to bring a new version for the next model year. What the bike will entail though is subject to some debate, however.
Over in Europe, there has been no shortage of speculation about the new superbike, fueled by patent applications from Yamaha over the past few years.
Reading those rumors now, our own Bothan spies from within the Iwata factory’s ranks have reached out to us, in an effort to set the record straight. The news is a mixture of good and bad.