This is our fourth installment of teaser videos for the new Suzuki Katana, and this time we actually get something to chew on, as the new sport bike makes an appearance this time around.
It is a brief look at the Suzuki Katana, but the lines are clear. This will be modern take on the popular Katana, similar to the concept we saw last year.
Is it INTERMOT yet? Because that is the only way that we will get Suzuki to stop teasing what is almost definitely a new Katana motorcycle. Giving us the brand’s third installment on a teaser video series (1 & 2), this time around we see the fuel tank of the machine in question.
The shape doesn’t tell us too much. It is clearly for a street bike, and it has some sporty curves to it. Though, we are obligated to say that you shouldn’t read too much into that analysis. The part at the end though, where a katana sword is being drawn, well…yeah…ok.
Expected to be built off the GSX-R1000 platform, the Katana should be a more comfortable sport bike option to the venerable superbike, with an anticipated retro flare from the 1980s, which should help differentiate the motorcycle from the Suzuki GSX-S1000(F).
Here is the second teaser video from Suzuki, getting us hyped for a new motorcycle release at the INTERMOT show in Colgone, Germany. Like the first video, this one features a blacksmith creating a Japanese sword…a Katana, if you will.
As such, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to imagine that Suzuki’s teaser campaign is for anything other than the rebirth of the Katana motorcycle. We have seen the name trademarked in various markets, including the United States, there have been concept models of restomod creations shown at numerous times, including in Suzuki’s own show booths.
Lastly, there have been links to the Suzuki Recursion concept becoming the new Katana lineup, which would feature a turbocharged twin-cylinder engine.
Triumph continues to tease its big model reveal for the 2019 model year, the new Triumph Scrambler 1200. Releasing yet another teaser video (above) we get our first glimpse of the new machine.
Our sources tell us that the Triumph Scrambler 1200 will be a capable full-sized dual-sport, and it will be fitted with the “high torque” version of Triumph’s 1,200cc parallel-twin engine, which makes 80hp and 77 lbs•ft of torque.
Two model variations are also expected. One will be road-going, and have cast wheels and street-focused rubber. The other will have spoked wheels and knobby tires. We expect both bikes to have a robust electronics package (straight from the Tiger series, if our Bothan spies can be believed).
Yesterday, Suzuki posted this teaser video, gearing us up for a reveal at this year’s INTERMOT show in Cologne, Germany. If you watch the clip above, you can tell why…I mean, it has all sorts of sword references, and Suzuki has been doing quite a bit with the “Katana” name as of late.
Recently trademarking the name in the United States, as well as partnering with custom bike builder on resto-mod versions of the GSX1100, Suzuki has gone out of its way to remind us of this iconic motorcycle from decades passed.
With the video ending with a cursive writing “斬” – Japanese for “slash” or “kill with a sword” – the subject of this teaser should be obvious…or so it seems.
To compliment the Husqvarna 701 Vitpilen becoming a production model, Swedish marque Husqvarna will show a new concept bike at this year’s EICMA show in Milan. Unsurprisingly, that bike will be the Husqvarna 701 Svartpilen.
We know this because Husqvarna had not-so-subtley teased the new model on its Instagram account: giving us the name, size, and numerous detail shots of the motorcycle concept.
As such, we know that the Husqvarna 701 Svartpilen will carryover many of the design elements found on the Husqvarna 701 Vitpilen. Like the other Svartpilen models though, the 701 Svartpilen will be a scrambler-styled bike, complete with Pirelli MT60 RS tires.
Given its preamble in Milan, we can expect that Husqvarna 701 Svartpilen to be a 2019 model year motorcycle…that is, if Husky can get its act together, as we are long overdue on the two 401 models becoming available, after their release at the 2016 EICMA show.
On its Instagram account, Husqvarna is teasing the fact that its next Vitpilen model is finally going prime time. That’s right, the Husqvarna 701 Vitpilen will be unveiled tomorrow at EICMA as a production.
This shouldn’t be too big of a surprise for anyone following the Swedish brand (or who read our EICMA preview story), but considering the reception that the Husqvarna 701 Vitpilen concept got at last year’s show, we would expect the Husqvarna stand to be pretty crowded in Milan.
The reactions to the new Ducati Panigale V4 debuting at the EICMA show seem to be split, with some Ducatisti excited to see what the new V4 platform can bring to the table, while others are less-enthused about the movement away from Ducati’s v-twin tradition, and the V4’s very similar aesthetic to its predecessor.
Wherever you fall on that spectrum, the Panigale V4 looks the business on paper in terms of power, weight, and electronics. Helping whet our superbike appetites further, Ducati has posted a video of the company’s test riders flogging the 1,103cc machine around the Mugello circuit.
Get ready for the ripping and the tearing, because this is what 214 horses of desmodromic power looks like when its shredding Pirelli tires at speed (we can’t even fathom what 226hp looks like). Love it or hate, this looks like an epic bike to ride.
Oh, we through in some ultra high-resolution shots of the 2018 Ducati Panigale V4 S too, just for good measure. You’re welcome.
BMW Motorrad is set to debut four new motorcycles at this year’s EICMA show, and surely one of those news machines will be the BMW F850GS.
How do we know this? Well, BMW was pretty obvious about the new model in its latest teaser video (watch it, after the jump). It also helps that the revised middleweight ADV bike has been caught numerous times by spy photographer.
Also helping this conjecture is the fact that the BMW F800GS was last updated for the 2013 model year, with a visual refresh for the 2016 model year. As such, the model is due for an overhaul.
Expected to have a bit more punch than the outgoing F800GS, the 2018 BMW F850GS should provide a bit more stratification in BMW’s adventure-touring range, which gets a bit confusing when you get to the models below the venerable BMW R1200GS.
Triumph looks set to update its ADV range, as the British marque is teasing a new Tiger adventure bike in its latest YouTube video.
Touting that the three-cylinder platform has been “transformed” and is packed with more “technology”, Triumph’s teaser is deliciously vague.
What we do know is that Triumph has fallen behind greatly with its modern motorcycles, with the Hinckley brand hyper-focused on its heritage lineup of Bonneville variants.
As such, the Triumph Tiger 800 has remained largely the same, since its 2010 debut, though was updated in 2015 with an improved engine, ride-by-wire, and traction control. The Tiger Explorer 1200 on the other hand was released in 2012, and given modest updates for the 2016 model year.
Both machines however have been overcome by continued pressure from other brands in the middleweight and heavyweight ADV categories, with BMW, Ducati, and KTM all releasing competing models that have been refreshed since the Tigers’ inception date.
Hopefully this teaser video signals that we will see Triumph’s entire lineup overhauled for the 2018 model year. It desperately needs it.
We are pretty confident that Suzuki has some interesting motorcycles for us at this year’s EICMA show. This is not one of them.
Part of the “me too” movement that the Japanese manufacturers are going through in order to have heritage motorcycles in their lineup, the 2018 Suzuki SV650X is exactly what you think it is: the company’s popular street bike, dressed in a vintage aesthetic.
There isn’t anything wrong with that, per se, as we have seen some great builds using the same formula, like the Yamaha XSR900 and more recently the Kawasaki Z900RS and Honda Neo Sports Café concept.
However, we know exactly what we are getting with the Suzuki SV650X, and it’s not pretty. With the concept already getting unveiled at the Tokyo Motor, we expect its debut for the Western markets to happen in Milan, Italy. Look for it next week.