Latest Posts:
Asphalt & Rubber
Tag

USA

Browsing
News

Miller Motorsports Park Sale Vacated by Judge

By No Comments

Miller Motorsports Park is set to change hands, after the Miller family’s LHM Group decided not to renew its lease with Toole County on the property.

This created a situation where bids were tendered for a new operator, which lead to Mitime Utah Investment, LLC — a subsidiary of Chinese company Geely Holding Group, which is also the owner of automotive company Volvo — winning the bidding process with a sum of $20 million, two months ago.

That sale though has been vacated by Third District Judge Robert Adkins, who agreed with the petition of Center Point Management (CPM) that the company’s $22 million bid should have won, since it was higher and the County has an obligation to sell the property for the most money.

Keep Reading
By
News

MV Agusta Sales Up 30% for 2015

By 12 Comments

MV Agusta reports today that the company’s annual unit sales are up 30% for 2015, continuing the growth that the Italian brand has seen over the past years.

With nearly 9,000 units sold worldwide in 2015, MV Agusta is seeing the most growth outside of Italy, with a 140% increase in the UK, 54% increase in Spain, 26% increase in Germany, and 20% increase in France.

MV Agusta also saw strong gains in the United States, with a 50% increase in units sales reported. Interestingly, sales in Italy remained fairly flat, with a 0.1% decrease when compared to figures from 2014.

Keep Reading
By
News

US Congress Passes Favorable Laws for Motorcyclists

By 34 Comments

Don’t say that the 114th US Congress hasn’t done anything for you, as the American Motorcyclists Association (AMA) is happy to report that our legislature has passed a $305 billion highway bill – The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act – which has a number of favorable provisions for motorcyclists.

The big wins come in the form of funding for recreational off-road trails, and the prohibition against motorcycle-only checkpoints, two growing concerns that the AMA has been involved in fighting.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

The KTM 1290 Super Duke R Special Edition Is So Orange

By 8 Comments

The KTM 1290 Super Duke R Special Edition is an easy motorcycle to explain. You take the KTM 1290 Super Duke R, raid the KTM power parts catalog, slap some gold paint on the sucker, and call it done.

The extra goodies include an Akrapovi? titanium exhaust, wave brake discs, stiffer triple clamps, adjustable hand levers, carbon fiber engine cover, and of course the orange anodized paint scheme.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

2016 KTM 690 Duke Learns Some Table Manners

By 3 Comments

The KTM 690 Duke has always been a fun street bike, with a fair amount of power wedged into a relatively light package. For 2016, the KTM 690 Duke learns some refinement though, most notably with an engine overhaul that drops the buzz from the motor, and adds power to the dyno chart.

This comes about as the 690cc LC4 engine gains a secondary balancing shaft, a new crankshaft, and lighter pistons and connecting rods. All these changes come with a new cylinder head that has the exhaust valves on roller rockers, and the intake valves on the camshaft.

The result is that the 2016 KTM 690 Duke gets a modest power gain – a 73hp peak horsepower figure – and a powerband that is 1,000 rpm wider than before.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati 959 Panigale Gets Normal Exhaust for the USA

By 7 Comments

Judging by the amount of traffic the story is getting, we imagine the sight of the 2016 Ducati 959 Panigale at the EICMA show has ruffled a few feathers.

That’s understandable, since the Euro4 emission standards have forced the Italians to give the Ducati 959 Panigale an exhaust system that we’ve previously only seen on the Japanese-spec model of the Ducati 1199 Superbike.

While the shotgun exhaust isn’t as gawdy as one would think, it’s certainly a stark departure from the underslung units we are used to. We imagine it’s a moot point though, considering how many 959 Panigales will get some sort of slip-on or full-system exhaust from their new owners.

Just the same, the issue seems to be isolated to European soil, as the US-spec version of the 2016 Ducati 959 Panigale exhaust is just how we remember it. Check out the photos, after the jump, and compare it to the European-spec model (the first photo in the gallery).

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati 959 Panigale Comes with a Shotgun Exhaust*

By 27 Comments

We knew from CARB filings to expect a Ducati 959 Panigale at the EICMA show, with Ducati’s “middleweight” getting a displacement boost that puts its well into superbike territory. And now that the show Milan is finally upon us, we have all the details of the 2016 Ducati 959 Panigale.

As expected, the Ducati 959 Panigale gets a 955cc displacement increase on its now Euro4 compliant engine, via a longer stroke. This means that the 2016 Ducati 959 Panigale makes 155hp of peak power, and 79 lbs•ft of peak torque.

Suspension is done by Showa and is fully adjustable, while the double-sided swingarm remains. However, we predict it is the bike’s titanium shotgun exhaust that we think most Ducatisti will be talking about.

Keep Reading
By
News

You Can Legally Work on Your Own Motorcycle, Still

By 9 Comments

You may have not realized it, but if certain OEMs had their way, you would not be legally allowed to work on your own motorcycle. That’s right, because of a perversion of the US copyright law, it would have been illegal for you to turn a wrench on your motorcycle, all in the name of digital rights management.

The issues comes around because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law from 1998 that was originally intended to update the Copyright Act of 1976 for life in the digital age.

Of the more important provisions, the DMCA protects ISPs from copyright claims, and it defines how copyright law would work on the internet and other digital mediums.

One of the major sections of the DMCA deals with digital rights management (DRM), and attempts to circumvent digital systems that are meant to block access to copyrighted information and material. This effectively makes it a violation of the DMCA to circumvent any sort of DRM or encryption put forth by a rights holder.

The original intent of this provision was to protect record labels and movie studios, who were seeing their products shared on peer-to-peer networks ad infinitum, but crafty lawyers have been able to expand this portion of the DMCA to include just about any digital system, including your motorcycle…until now.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Finally, Here is the Husqvarna 701 Enduro

By 15 Comments

We already blew the cover on the Husqvarna 701 Enduro last month, but now the Swedish brand is officially showing the big enduro to the general public. As expected, the 701 Enduro will be the off-road compliment to the 701 Supermoto, with the two machines sharing the same 690cc single-cylinder platform.

This means that the Husqvarna 701 Enduro will make 67hp, have dual-spark ignition, and use a SOHC setup. The 701 machines also have ride-by-wire with selectable engine maps, ABS as standard, as is the ATSC slipper clutch.

For bonus points though, it is possible to get the Husqvarna 701 Enduro compliant for A2 licensed riders, which should help some less experienced riders get onto this big bike when it debuts in Europe (yes, it’s coming to the USA and Canada too).

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Benelli TnT25 Coming to the USA

By 2 Comments

Benelli motorcycles will finally be coming back to the American market, with SSR Motorsports taking on the importation and distribution duties for China’s Qinjiang Group – the owner of the Benelli motorcycle brand.

Benelli’s debut model in the USA seems set to be the Benelli TnT25, which looks suspiciously like the Benelli BN251 that we showed you back in November of last year.

If that’s the case, then it will be stark contrast to the Benelli we have been used to seeing in the US, namely an Italian brand that invokes all aspects of the Italian motorcycle heritage: utterly beautiful machines that are also notoriously unreliable.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

2016 Honda CB500X…With You Guessed It, Modest Changes

By 8 Comments

For 2016, we know that Honda will bring its big “adventure-tourer” the US market, known to Europeans as the Honda Crosstourer, and introduced to Americans as the Honda VFR1200X. For the 2016 model year, the Crosstourer gets some minor updates, as does its 700cc sibling the Honda NC700X.

So if you’re keeping score, that leaves one more machine to get a modest update for 2016…yup, Honda CB500X, we are talking about you!

A Goldilocks-busting lineup of street-focused ADV machines, the 2016 Honda CB500X rounds out Honda’s lineup with a lightweight and nimble machine that is also good for the A2 licensing countries.

Keep Reading
By