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Air-Cooled Engines Returning to the Ducati Monster Line

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Ducati’s 2017 line seems to be getting the full monty this week, with yet again more spy photos emerging of the Italian company’s upcoming motorcycles. Today’s installment sees us looking at the Ducati Monster line, which appears to be getting a third variant for 2017.

As you can see from the photo above, the Ducati Monster lineup will see the addition of an air-cooled model, likely one that shares the same 803cc lump that is found in the Ducati Scrambler.

This so-called Ducati Monster 803 will slot in below the other Monster models, which will likely include a Ducati Monster 939 and an updated Ducati Monster 1200.

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Bikes

2017 Honda CRF450R Caught in the Wild

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A reader asked me recently what I knew about the upcoming 2017 Honda CRF450R dirt bike, and admittedly I had to say “not much” – it’s called Asphalt & Rubber after all.

For the past year though, even my radar has picked up sighting of Akira Narita (one of the greatest Japanese MX racers of all time) showing up to events in Japan with a race bike that looked pretty advanced from what was currently on dealership floors.

This is nothing new in the world of Honda though, with next year’s models often ending up at events on the other side of the Pacific…usually in Narita-san’s very capable hands.

But today, we can answer more accurately what Big Red is up to with the 2017 Honda CRF450R, as the folks at VitalMX caught the new motocrosser spinning laps at an MX track in Southern California (read their expert breakdown of the new bike, here).

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Bikes

Updates Coming for 2017 KTM 1290 Super Adventure

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It looks like updates are coming for the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, as the Austrian company has been caught testing the machine.

What those updates will be though, is anyone’s guess, as the photos captured of the new KTM 1290 Super Adventure don’t reveal too many changes (see the photos here).

Most noticeable are some revisions to the front of the Super Adventure, with the fairing/headlight and windshield getting some minor shape corrections.

This is likely to improve airflow around the rider, which makes sense as KTM has fitted their test rider with a bevy of wind telltales for aerodynamic assessment.

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Bikes

Ducati 959 Panigale Spotted – Not Much Has Changed

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Ducati was all the talk of last week, after its Ducati 959 Panigale and Ducati Hypermotard 739 were outed in filings with the California Air Resources Board.

According to the CARB documents, the new “middleweight” Ducati sport bike is set to get a 955cc displacement increase, though we wondered what else would change.

Now we have a pretty good answer, as “spy photos” of the production machine are floating around the internet now, which show that the 959 Panigale is very similar in shape to the 899 Panigale it replaces.

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Bikes

New Belt-Driven Ducati Diavel Being Developed

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A new Ducati Diavel has been caught by spy photographers, making this the first proper “leak” ahead of November’s EICMA show.

Though keeping the overall aesthetic of the Ducati Diavel in place, the model has some clear visual and mechanic differences. Namely, a belt drive…yes, you read that right.

Other changes include a feet-forward seating position, revised trellis chassis, and likely Ducati’s Testastretta DVT engine with variable valve technology.

The switch from Euro 3 to Euro 4 emissions standards at the end of 2016 almost assure the DVT engine permeating its way into Ducati’s current lineup.

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Bikes

BMW Getting Closer to a Single-Cylinder 300cc Bike

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Continued reports suggest that BMW is getting closer and closer to releasing a small-displacement motorcycle single-cylinder motorcycle (codenamed the K03), which is being co-developed with Indian brand TVS.

The machine is expected to be in the 250cc to 300cc range, be engineered by BMW Motorrad in Germany, but built by TVS in India.

Pictures of the test mule have been on the internet (see above), but the final design is said to be similar to the TVS Draken concept that we saw this time last year.

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Rumors

Is KTM Planning a V4-Powered Sport Bike?

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Why would KTM be riding around on a camouflaged Aprilia Tuono V4? That is the question of the day, after a spy photographer caught the Austrian company testing in Spain with such a machine.

The answer of course points to KTM working on a V4 street bike platform, which shouldn’t be too surprising since KTM CEO Stefan Pierer already tipped the media off to the fact that it is working on a MotoGP entry that would be based around a beastly V4 engine called the RC16.

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News

First Photo of the 2015 Aprilia RSV4 RR

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Our friends at Oliepeil are at it again this year, sneaking into the EICMA showroom ahead of tomorrow’s official opening. As usual, bikes left out in the open are being spied, and first up is the 2015 Aprilia RSV4 RR — a model we should have perhaps expected, since Noale already teased us with the Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 RR model this weekend.

No word on specifications yet, though if the Tuono is any indication, we can expect a modest power boost, and additional refinements to the RSV4’s already class-leading APRC electronics package. We should know more tomorrow with Aprilia drops all the news on its 2015 models, officially.

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Bikes

Suzuki GSX-S1000 Coming with a Full Fairing Too?

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We don’t want to know how our friends at Oliepeil got onto the INTERMOT show floor ahead of its official press opening tomorrow, but the crafty Dutch bloggers have spotted a number of machines that the OEMs had laying around uncovered.

Of course we have been expecting something like a Suzuki GSR1000 for some time now, and just a few months ago, a naked bike badged as the Suzuki GSX-S1000 was spied while it was filming a commercial in Southern California.

Now it seems that Suzuki will be releasing a full-faired version of the bike as well, as it has been spotted on the INTERMOT showroom floor next to its naked compatriot.

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Bikes

KTM 1290 Super Adventure — A New Beast from Austria?

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It wasn’t too long ago that we showed you what appeared to be an updated KTM 1190 Adventure for the 2015 model year. The bike had all the bits that we’ve seen on the KTM 1190 Adventure R, though the Austrian brand had noticeably reworked the fairing to allow for more air to flow through the machine.

Getting a spy shot today though, we can understand the reason why, as the model is seen wearing a “KTM 1290 Super Adventure” livery, giving a nod to the likelihood that KTM has upgraded the Adventure with the Super Duke’s “beast” of a 1,301cc v-twin engine.

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