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IOMTT: RST Superbike TT Race Results

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It had been talked about all through the Isle of Man TT practice week. Would we see a 134 mph lap during this TT fortnight?

It didn’t take long to get the answer, with Dean Harrison breaking the 134 mph barrier with his opening lap of the Superbike TT race…from a standing start.

With Michael Dunlop and Peter Hickman in tow, it seemed that the podium positions were a lock from the early sector times, but the six laps of the Superbike TT race proved to be a trial of miles for these road-racing gladiators.

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Racing

IOMTT: Superbike TT Race Preview

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There is no greater challenge in motorcycling racing than a superbike race at the Isle of Man TT. Wrestling over 165kg of hulking, brooding machinery around this legendary circuit is a challenge unlike any other.

For today’s RST Superbike race has the potential to be a six lap classic. With stunning weather throughout the week, there’s been plenty of time to get bikes setup, and complete lots of laps on the course, so plenty of riders have already set their fastest ever laps during practice week.

As a result, a group of riders are primed to bring the challenge to Michael Dunlop. The Northern Irishman may be the prohibitive favorite with the bookmakers, but he’s had a difficult practice week.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #78 – Princess Düsseldorf

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Episode 78 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we talk about an omnibus list of topics. 

As such, the show begins with some racing news, both for the Isle of Man TT and for the World Superbike Championship, with a conversation about Bosch’s safety thruster technology stuffed somewhere in-between those topics.

The conversation then turns to some timely news, namely the continued rumors that Honda is readying a V4 superbike, MV Agusta is building a Moto2 bike, Ducati will return to Pikes Peak, and Alta Motors entering the Erzberg Rodeo.

We then shift gears into a long conversation about the rising trend of motorcycle fatalities, when compared to total on-road vehicle deaths.

The show finishes with a look at how profitable halo superbikes can be for motorcycle manufacturers, and how that could be the future of sport bike sales.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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A&R Pro

How Ducati’s Superbike Specials Raked in the Dough

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Here is a common joke that you will often hear: “How do you make a small fortune in the motorcycle industry? Start with a large one.” Well, the next time you hear the lead-up, here is a new punchline for you: “Sell a limited edition model.”

Motorcycle manufacturers have been onto this gag for a while now, offering limited edition, numbered for collectors, pure unobtanium motorcycle models to the well-heeled masses.

There may not be that many people that can afford a motorcycle that costs as much as a modest house, but there enough of these people in the world that selling a couple hundred expensive superbikes a year is a pretty trivial feat – it helps too that many of these enthusiasts are return-customers too.

Take the case of Ducati, as our Bothan spies have provided us with some interesting information about the Borgo Panigale brand. Last year, the Italian company made more money on its special edition superbikes, than the regular models it sells.

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Bikes

This Week’s Honda V4 Superbike Rumor

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I have to admit, this rumor is more than a week old, as Japanese magazine Young Machine breathed new life into the Honda V4 superbike rumor mill about a month ago.

And of course, the reality is that this rumor is much, much older than this tiny fraction of time.

If you know your motorcycle news history, talk of a Honda V4 replacement for the CBR1000RR line has existed for almost two decades now…but hey, a broken clock is correct twice a day, right?

So what is new from the Land of the Rising sun that we haven’t heard before? The big eye-catching component to this story is that Honda has/had a two-stage upgrade path for the CBR1000RR, of which we are about to see the second phase.

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Bikes

Come Drool Over SERT’s All New Endurance Race Bike

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The winningest team in the FIM Endurance World Championship, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is the standard by which other endurance teams are measured…and that is a measuring stick that has seen a lot of use in recent seasons.

This is because the FIM EWC is a hot bed for competition right now, with a bevy of factory-backed teams capable of winning on any race weekend.

This has made it tough for SERT, and its riders Vincent Philippe, Etienne Masson, and Gregg Black, who currently sit sixth in the 2018 FIM Endurance World Championship standings.

For this season, SERT hopes that a new racing platform will make the difference, as the French team has finally jumped onboard with the current-generation Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Last year, SERT was still using the old GSX-R1000, despite the superbike being replaced with a new model for consumers in 2017.

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Bikes

Up-Close with the 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RF LE

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At the Grand Prix of the Americas, Aprilia USA debuted a special new superbike for the 2018 model year, the Aprilia RSV4 RF LE.

Limited to only 125 units for North America (100 for the USA, 25 for Canada), the big feature of the 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RF LE is the bike’s fairing winglets, which draw from Aprilia Racing’s aerodynamic progress in the MotoGP Championship.

Getting a chance to see the new Aprilia RSV4 RF LE in the flesh while in Texas, we grabbed some up-close photos of this limited edition RSV4, for your viewing pleasure, along with some other details.

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Bikes

The 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RF LE Breaks Cover with Winglets

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The first production superbike with winglets has finally dropped, ushering in what is likely to be a new era for sport bike design. As we teased earlier this week, the new machine is called the 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RF LE, and only 125 units will be made (and only for the North American market).

As such, 100 lucky owners in the United States, along with 25 Canadians, will have a chance to own the new Aprilia RSV4 RF LE, that is of course if they can afford the $24,499 USD price tag ($25,495 CDN).

For that $1,000 premium over the highly acclaimed Aprilia RSV4 RF (note the $500 price bump because of the strengthening euro against the dollar), limited edition buyers get the benefit of the new carbon fiber winglets, a special livery, and a numbered production plate on the triple clamp.

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Bikes

New Aprilia RSV4 RF LE to Debut with Wings

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The Aprilia RSV4 RF is one of the best liter-bikes on the market right now, and for 100 lucky people in the USA (25 in Canada), the V4-powered superbike is about to get a bit better.

This is because Aprilia will be bring a limited edition version of the RSV4 RF to North America. Why is this a big deal though? Because the Aprilia RSV4 RF LE will be the first production superbike with winglets.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #75 – Sandbagging

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Episode 75 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we talk about…nothing. We unfortunately didn’t have time to talk about the Suzuki Katana rumors, nor did we have time for Yamaha’s electric trials bike, which has a mechanical clutch.

We also didn’t have time for the debut of the Mugen Shinden Nana electric superbike, nor John McGuinness’s IOMTT movements. There is no time for Jonathan Rea racing at the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race on a factory Kawasaki team.

We also glanced past RevZilla’s in-house apparel brand, REAX, which debuted last week. Did we talk about MotoGP?…Nope.

We do talk a little about what it is like to ride the MV Agusta Brutale 800 RR, the Italian brand’s superbike plans, and what new bikes we can expect to see from  MV Agusta.

The show finishes with us trying not to talk about a story that has been going viral in the two-wheeled space. You can probably guess it from the title of the show, but rather than stoke the fires directly, we try and approach the subject from a more elevated perspective.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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News

Giovanni Castiglioni Explains MV Agusta’s Superbike Future

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While we are happy to report the rebirth of the Cagiva brand, and the pending launch of MV Agusta’s new Brutale 1000, we do have some bad news to report from Italy, as this will be the last year of the MV Agusta F4 superbike, for quite some time.

While the Italian brand plans to debut three new models from its four-cylinder platform over the next three years, the company’s superbike offering will be the last to be revitalized.

As such, the Brutale 1000 will debut this year as a 2019 machine, a “neo-classical” bike will debut next year as a 2020 machine, and a new “F4” will debut a year after that, as a 2021 model year bike.

This news is about to get worse, before it gets better, so let me explain further.

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