It is with heavy heart that we must share some tragic news with you today.

Losing a friend is never easy, and recently the MV Agusta community lost one of its own. Motorcycle.com has no affiliation with the rider or his motorcycle, but when we came across this post from our sister site MVAgusta.net, we felt we had to pass it along. For sale is his nicely kept and tastefully modified 2007 F4RR 312. Back when it was introduced in 2007, the F4RR 312 was the ultimate F4. Backed by its 1078cc inline-Four, the RR was capable of going 193 mph – or, you guessed it, 312 kph.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Ducati is preparing a new touring-focused version of the Supersport 950, based on a filing released by the California Resources Board for a “Supersport T” and “Supersport S T”. Motorcycle.com can confirm that the CARB filing is real, but everyone seems to be getting what the “T” stands for wrong.

If it weren't for the Suzuki Hayabusa, the Honda Blackbird would be far better known. A case of bad timing, I guess. Still, that doesn't take away from the fact the Blackbird was, and still is, one fast motorcycle. And much like the 'Busa, with the right accessories, it makes for one hell of a sport-touring rig, too. This is the perfect example.

Boots: Alpinestars Supertech R Vented

Loyal Motorcycle.com readers will know I have a soft spot for the Suzuki SV650 – as many people do. A lot's been said about what a great bike it is and how it can please riders of all ages and skill levels. Many of us are also of the mindset that the earlier, pre-Gladius and pre-SFV650, versions are more desirable. The problem is that, as time goes on, earlier models are getting harder to find – at least in good condition.

The approach to turn one at the Brno Circuit comes at the end of a long straight. A series of marker boards alert you to the start of the turn. First there’s a 300-meter marker, then 200. The throttle’s been pinned for a few seconds already by the 300m board, and you keep it there at 200m, too. The punchy 890cc parallel-Twin is screaming at the top of fifth gear, and it’s not until the moment you pass the 100m board that you let off and reach for the brakes. It’s scary at first, as the first apex is coming at you quickly, but you learn to trust the brakes.

You just can't beat a scooter when it comes to good, practical commuting. And the Suzuki Burgman 650 is a great representative of the category. With ample power from its 650cc Twin, it's equally at home getting you to and from the office as it is going on a touring ride – with a few choice upgrades. Mainly proper backrests. Backrests, mind you, this 2006 Burgman 650 comes with.

Harley-Davidson had a pretty eventful second quarter of 2023, with the launch of two new CVO models, the Fast Johnnie Enthusiast collection, the Electra Glide Highway King Icon model, as well as a pause in production due to part supply issues. And, of course, Harley-Davidson just held its big 120th anniversary homecoming celebration, though technically that happened during the third quarter. Putting that big shindig aside, it was quite a busy few months for the Motor Company.

Riding through the little village of Samarate in Varese, Italy, the roads are narrow, with flats adorning one side – usually two or three stories high – and fields and trees adorning the other. Cars parked along the road make the narrow street even tighter, and the foot traffic marching to the church can clog the streets on a Sunday. It’s a sleepy little town and is remarkably easy to miss. You can ride right on through, from one end to the other, and dismiss the town entirely. Except for the little house with a helicopter – four, actually – resting on the lawn under canvas tarps. They’re so out of place in this little town that it’s hard not to stop and wonder what they’re doing there. That’s when you realize you’ve reached the Museo Agusta, or the MV Agusta museum.

Rare motorcycles are always fun to talk about, and this 1975 MV Agusta 750S America is no exception. One of only 200 built over a two-year production run, the 750S America was lobbied into existence by racer Jim Cotherman and distributor Chris Garville who traveled to Italy, in 1974. There, they convinced MV's management to evolve the existing 750S into a limited-edition luxury sport bike tailored for the American market with more power and styling cues from MV's contemporary race bikes that dominated racing in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Hence the 37-star graphic on the fuel tank celebrating 37 world championships.

For years, if you wanted to be protected by Alpinestars, you could get all kinds of coverage from your toes all the way to your… neck. The single piece of protective gear missing – and it was a glaring hole in the company portfolio – was helmets. The dirt guys got their wishes answered a few years back with the Supertech M10 helmet, but street and track riders were still missing out.

This is a cool find, especially for vintage BMW heads. Here we have not one, but two BMWs – and the newer one is 50 years old! The first is a 1970 R50/5 and the second is a 1973 R75/6. Both are located in Vermont, and surprisingly, the owner says these were daily riders. In fact, they'll continue to be until someone buys them from him.

Was it a simulation?  The brilliant sunshine, cloudless skies, zero precipitation, and 70-degree daily temperatures for the entire fortnight of 2023 Isle of Man TT was the best weather I’ve ever experienced in 14 trips here. Hell, it was the best stretch of weather I’ve ever experienced on a vacation, anywhere. And it made for a memorable TT for the tens of thousands of enthusiasts on the annual hejira to this unequalled motorbike racing festival.

Tires, oftentimes, are the unsung heroes of the motorcycling world. We use ’em – sometimes abuse ’em – and then toss ’em in the gutter and go buy another. When you consider the demanding burden that these black hoops are expected to manage, and now, more than ever, multitask, it’s an arduous assignment that rarely gets its due. It’s easy to forget the amount of time and money dumped into R&D to make tires what they are today.

Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman, Dean Harrison. These three riders have been dominating the podium at the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races, pushing each other relentlessly for up to 226 miles per race around the most punishing course in all of motorsports, thrilling the fans that line the roads on hedges, grandstands and pubs.

The 1980s may not have been a particularly good era for Harley-Davidson, but that doesn't mean some of the bikes that came out of Milwaukee haven't withstood the test of time. Here, this 1982 Harley-Davidson Tour Glide is a perfect example. Its cream paint and brown seat are fantastically 1980s Harley and it looks to be in good shape, too – all the way down to the 80ci V-Twin with, get this, 365,000 miles! This Tour Glide was upgraded with some choice bits like the radio, Sharknose fairing, luggage rack, and much more. All this for $5,000. You can decide for yourself whether that's a deal or not, but it sure would be fun to see this Harley cover another 365,000 miles.

We rode together a lot, as a young couple. But later, when we were married and beginning to build a family, Julie found she wasn’t as interested in motorcycles. As our children grew into adulthood, she became interested again, but with caveats involving comfort: The ride mustn’t be too hot, or too cold, or last more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

Greetings from the Isle of Man, where I am bathing in unprecedented warmth and sunshine for the 2023 TT races, my 14th trip to this remarkable event. Qualifying week has seen immaculate conditions. Michael Dunlop, Dean Harrison and Peter Hickman are all turning 134 mph laps (UPDATE: Dunlop has now set an unofficial lap record of 135.531 mph during the last day of Superbike qualifying! -Ed.). Hickman hit an unprecedented 202.3 mph at the Sulby speed trap. Dunlop has unofficially smashed his own SuperTwin lap record by five seconds, and the sidecars are hitting nearly 120 mph per lap. In practice sessions! It is going to be a mega- TT, and you should subscribe to TT+ streaming.

Unless you’re a world-class rally racer, an afternoon spent riding with Red Bull Factory KTM’s Toby Price aboard his booming 450 isn’t a common experience. Note I said riding with, and not alongside Price. The only time I was alongside the man was when he stopped and I caught up. End the day with a cozy fireside chat including Price, Monster Energy Honda’s Ricky Brabec, and Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Skyler Howes and you’ve the ingredients for memorable uniqueness.

Imagine doing what you do for a living and at the end of the day being thrilled you’re still alive. - Lee Johnston

Scam or steal? You decide.

Today's Friday Forum Foraging feature comes to you from MO's very own classifieds section, and the most expensive motorcycle I could find currently listed: a 1937 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead EL in which the seller is asking for a cool $110,000.

2008 R1200 GSA.

By the time you read this, this ultra-clean 2009 Suzuki V-Strom 650 could very well be sold. If it's not, and you're looking for one, this looks to be a great buy. This example comes to us from our sister site stromtrooper.com. The V-Strom 650 needs no introduction, as it's one of the most versatile street bikes ever made. Power comes from Suzuki's workhorse – the 645cc V-Twin first seen in the SV650, with iterations of the same basic engine still in production today, 20-something years later.

Harley-Davidson reported its 2023 Q1 numbers today, and the financial results were generally positive, with significant increases in motorcycle shipments, revenue, net income and earnings per share compared to the same quarter of 2022. The news wasn’t all rosy however, as retail sales were down, and LiveWire has yet to find its footing since branching into a separate brand.

Even when I'm not on the hunt for something, I like the thrill of finding a (potentially) good deal. What we have here could possibly be that bike. This 1998 Honda Valkyrie comes to us from our sister site/forum F6CForum.com, where for the measly sum of $2500 US dollars, you could walk away with this mostly complete Valkyrie with less than 4,000 miles on the clock.

Where do we even start with this one? Found on our sister site, CTX1300forum.com, there’s a lot to talk about with this CTX1300. Though I suppose we could start with the CTX1300 itself. If you don’t remember, the CTX1300 is a little bit like a space-age cruiser. You’ve got that long and low appearance we’re used to with cruisers, but with a very distinct, almost futuristic, style that clearly can’t be lumped in with your traditional cruiser. Honda was going somewhere with this, we’re just not sure where. Then there’s the engine. Based on the VFR1200 V4, this compact four-cylinder packed a healthy amount of power and driveability, along with a very cool soundtrack to boot.

You don’t get a name like Elite without earning it (or buying it in this case), and today Indian has introduced two model lines to get the Elite treatment: the Pursuit Elite and Chieftain Elite. What makes these models Elite? All you have to do is look at them to figure out what sets them apart from the standard models. For the Pursuit, this is the first time it will be getting Elite treatment, which consists of Super Graphite Metallic and Black Metallic paint schemes nicely offset with bronze details throughout to exude an air of exclusivity the base models can’t touch.

No matter where you are in the world, it’s practically impossible not to have noticed the yearly trend of dapper looking people riding their motorcycles. What started out as a local event in Sydney, Australia by Mark Hawwa in 2012 to bring people together, wear nice clothes, and raise awareness for men’s health, the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride has grown to become one of the world’s largest road riding charity events. Today the DGR’s global reach spans over 800 cities, 90,000 riders, and has raised over $37.5 million for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health.  

Digging deep into our archives, we bring you this First Ride review of a legendary motorcycle: the 1995 Suzuki GSX-R1100. The GSX-R1100 became super popular in drag racing circles and for good reason – that 1074cc four-banger was made to zip you in a straight line quickly. If it was handling and circuit performance you were looking for, the GSX-R750 was the bike to choose. The 1100 was the sport tourer of the time even if it wasn’t supposed to be. At least we’d consider it one now thanks to its smooth, powerful engine, clip-ons above the triple, and comfortable seating position.

Well, here’s something a little different, and it comes to us from our sister site psychobike.com. If you’ve ever wanted to give proper drag racing a try, this rolling chassis of a Hayabusa drag bike could be the perfect starter package. If you don’t know what a rolling chassis is, well, it can mean many things. At its most basic, a rolling chassis is just that – a chassis/frame and the required pieces to fit wheels on it so it can roll and move around. What we have here appears to be a complete motorcycle, minus an engine.

Writing about Ducati’s 2023 Streetfighter V4S is nice and all, but while at the Andalucia racetrack riding the bike, I also attached a GoPro to my helmet and spun some laps. This happened for a few reasons: first was so you, the viewer, could hear the amazing roar of an 1103cc V4 at 13,000-plus rpm. Next was to get an idea of the different challenges the Andalucia track poses. The camera doesn’t quite do it justice, and I never did figure all of them out, but the experience reaffirmed just how remarkable the 2023 Ducati Streetfighter V4S really is.

Crashing sucks, but getting hurt because you weren’t wearing the right gear stings just a little bit more. You all know to wear your helmets, jackets, pants, gloves, and boots – but what are you wearing under all that? If you’re not wearing at least a back protector then you’re missing out on a relatively inexpensive piece of kit that can make a big difference. Add in a chest protector, and you have two components that can further absorb some of the impact energy of hitting the ground before your body does. 

Polaris has launched a new online marketplace for buying and selling Indian motorcycles and other Polaris products. The Polaris Xchange portal allows customers to do all of their shopping online, with access to thousands of powersports vehicles across a network of participating dealerships. The Xchange also includes products from across the company’s powersports portfolio, including Indian, plus Polaris’ ATVs, side-by-sides, snowmobiles, and Slingshot auto-cycles.

It’s posts like these that helped spawn the idea for these Friday Forum Foraging posts in the first place. This particular one comes from one of our sister sites, NinjaH2.org. We don’t know the seller, nor do we know the life circumstance that has caused them to sell this basically new 2022 Kawasaki H2 Carbon with only four miles on it, but this is definitely out of the ordinary. And that’s what we like around here.

Alan Cathcart’s conversation with Stefan Pierer continues, as the PIERER Mobility president and chief executive officer discusses electrification and other future technologies. —ED.

Alan Cathcart’s conversation with Stefan Pierer continues, as the PIERER Mobility president and chief executive officer discusses his motorcycle brands (namely, KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas), and some of their competition. This includes MV Agusta, of which PIERER gained a stake in 2022. —ED.

You might be familiar with Bring a Trailer for its selection of cool cars that are up for auction, but did you know BaT also has a motorcycle page? Just as with the cars, the moto page is filled with cool and interesting submissions, including this 1958 BMW R/60 modified to accept a Geko sidecar and PAV single-wheel trailer.

As the Coronavirus pandemic gradually disappears in the rear view mirror of history, in its aftermath the global motorcycle industry continues to experience rapid and sustained growth. Leading this charge among European companies is the KTM Group, whose parent company PIERER Mobility AG finished 2022 on a continued high, after a 12th successive record year which saw sales of its three current brands KTM, Husqvarna, and GASGAS continue spiralling upwards to 375,452 motorcycles in 2022, an increase of 13% compared with the previous year’s 332,881 units. Of those, 268,575 of these motorcycles carried the KTM badge, 75,266 were Husqvarnas and 31,651 were GASGAS motorcycles, a sales volume of 375,492 motorcycles. Add to that the 118,465 pedal cycles and E-bicycles sold in the same period under its Husqvarna, GASGAS, Felt and R Raymon labels (up 15% compared to 2022’s 102,753 bikes), and the company’s overall revenues increased to EUR 2.437 billion in 2022, up 19% year-on-year.

After years of success with the 765 cc Moto2 spec engine, Triumph would be foolish to ignore all that it has learned on the international racing stage, and the 2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R and RS are proof that the engineers have been paying attention. While most of the focus was on increasing power, some select chassis changes made it into the mix. My ride on the roads of southern Spain and on the track at the Circuito de Jerez made it clear that Triumph wants to dominate the middleweight naked class.

In honor of the beginning of the 2023 racing season, MotoAmerica, North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series, has agreed to give two lucky entrants a subscription MotoAmerica Live+ for the 2023 season and a pair of three-day passes to the MotoAmerica event of the winner’s choice. For those who don’t know, MotoAmerica is officially sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), and its racing series features seven classes of motorcycle road racing: Medallia Superbike, Supersport, SportTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Yuasa Stock 1000, REV’IT! Twins Cup, Mission King Of The Baggers, and Mini Cup by Motul. The 2023 calendar features 10 full weekends of the best roadracing to be found on the continent. While it’s always preferable to see racing in person, most of us don’t have the time to travel the country to attend every event. MotoAmerica Live+ makes it possible to stream six to eight ours of coverage per day for each race weekend. This means fans can watch practice, qualifying, racing, and special features from the comfort of their couch.

The Harley-Davidson vs. Indian rivalry is a great American classic on par with the likes of Army vs. Navy, Lakers vs. Celtics, Ford vs. Chevy, Pepsi vs. Coke, and even…Google vs. Bing? Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the point. Harley and Indian have been at each other’s throats going back over a century, save for a 50-odd-year pause in the middle when Indian originally closed its doors. But when Polaris bought the keys to the palace and opened the doors again, the fight resumed as intense as ever when the FTR750 flat tracker started beating Harley’s legendary XR750. Repeatedly.

Kawasaki’s answer to the Suzuki Hayabusa, the ZX-14R was all about straight-line speed – up to 186 mph, or 300 kph – the speed all the Japanese manufacturers had a gentleman’s agreement on for a speed cap. Legendary in drag racing thanks to the likes of Ricky Gadson, the ZX-14 carved quite a niche for itself alongside the ‘Busa for being fast. Like the ‘Busa, the ZX-14 was also an underrated sport-touring bike, too. With some luggage on the back, many found the large ride to be comfortable, and even quite good, at chewing up big miles.

Indian pulled no punches and left no doubt when it came to the bike it had in its crosshairs when developing its latest model. Usually at press intros, we all know what other model(s) could be considered competition, but it’s very rare to have the host manufacturer come out and say it. They usually resist the urge to talk about their competitors by name – and especially won’t mention a specific competitor model – when hyping up their new product.  

Today’s Friday Forum Foraging post comes to you from New Salem Borough, Pennsylvania and the KTM forums, where we find this fine example of a 2019 KTM Super Duke R. Looking at the pictures alone, it seems like this owner has taken good care of his SDR. Having long been one of our favorite streetfighters, the Super Duke R is a thrill machine. Starting with its 1301cc V-Twin, the outrageous engine is anything but short for power. Coupled with a strong WP suspension and Brembo brake package, the SDR lives up to KTM’s Ready to Race mantra.

If you are lucky, you have that one friend or neighbor who always seems to show up at your shop or garage door at the best possible times to offer help, advice, or even a spare part or two for your latest project. This guy or gal always seems to know the little tips or tricks that make the difference between a one-hour job and a four-day ordeal. With the advent of the internet, finding the right advice for your build should seemingly have gotten easier, but instead, you’re faced with a mountain of info you have to sift through to weed out the correct answers from the bad advice.

In 2021, Buell claimed it would have 10 new models by 2024. While that seems highly unlikely as of today, we now have our first look at the latest offering from the American manufacturer, which was brought to life by none other than Roland Sands Design. The Buell Super Cruiser concept unveiled to the media in Long Beach, CA on February 10, combines existing Buell componentry, including the 1190SX’s motor, into an entirely bespoke chassis developed by RSD. Cruiser faithful will likely recognize the FXR-esque silhouette of the Super Cruiser, but the performance should surpass anything seen yet. Of course this is only a concept model, so when the Super Cruiser hits the production line, we’ll have a better idea of what to expect. 

With no US publications invited to the press launch of the BMW CE 04 more than a year ago, we had to enlist the help of our friend Bertrand Gahel to send us his thoughts in the form of his First Ride Review. Thirteen months later, we finally got our hands on the BMW scoot.

Who doesn’t love a good BMW GS story? This one is especially good. Today’s example is a 2005 R1200GS – ironically, listed at the V-Strom forum  StromTrooper.com – with over 100,000 miles. If the ad (reposted below) is any indication, the bike has 133,600 miles to be exact. The GS has been known to be virtually bulletproof, and this bike is driving home that point.

The problem with the Ducati Diavel has always been the inability to adequately describe the type of motorcycle it was. Power Cruiser never came close to encompassing the bike’s capabilities. Similarly, Muscle Bike implied the brute force it’s capable of quite well but overlooked the finesse with which it could be applied. With the addition of the V4 Granturismo engine, the Diavel has matured into the bike it was always meant to be, the Mega-Monster. The 2023 Ducati Diavel V4 has reached the point in its design and performance that it leaves all vestiges of cruiserness in its dust.