#Eicma2017

Have I died and gone to motorcycle heaven? Pretty much. EICMA is the world’s biggest motorcycle trade show; anyone and everyone who has anything to do with motorcycling is there. From all the OEMs, to aftermarket performance parts manufacturers to riding gear and apparel companies – it’s all there in unimaginable abundance. I was tasked to sniff out the top five coolest things at EICMA this year and thought – well, that ought to be easy! Boy was I mistaken…

At EICMA, Kawasaki pulled the covers off a special edition version of the Ninja ZX-10R, featuring the company’s first application of electronic suspension.

Among the brand new motorcycles it showcased at EICMA, Yamaha announced a couple of small, but not insignificant updates to its YZF-R1 and YZF-R1M.

We can’t say that we blame Aprilia since the RSV4 is, according to the Book of MO, one of the greatest sportbikes – perhaps ever. Need proof? In the last year, the Aprilia RSV4 RR won both the street and the track portions of our superbike shootout on its way to the overall win. Then it notched a MOBO (and not its first, mind you) as Best Sportbike Of 2017. So, like we said, we can’t blame Aprilia for sitting on its laurels a tad when it came to updating the RSV4 for 2018.

BMW Motorrad raised some eyebrows when it introduced a new middleweight scooter at the 2017 EICMA show in Milan on November 7th. The new scoot, the C400X, is designed to stand apart from its competition with interesting features, higher build quality and high-fashion styling.

Sometimes OEMs just like to show off how cool they are, and this year, Honda featured the work of its R&D facility in Rome. The featured project was this tasty-looking CB4 ‘Interceptor’ Concept.

So, you’ve got a 2017 (or are planning on buying a 2018) Aprilia RSV4 in an RR or RF configuration and you know what it really needs is more performance. Well, Aprilia’s got just the thing for you in the form of the Aprilia Racing Factory Works Kit. The special parts are developed by Aprilia Racing in conjunction with superstock and superbike championships around the world to assure their compliance to series rules. Racers (or riders with deep pockets and a disregard for street legality) who want to take their RSV4s to the next level should take a gander at these parts which are directed towards “maximizing engine performance, reducing overall weight, and improving aerodynamics.”

First the good news: KTM confirmed what we already knew, thanks to spy photos: The 2018 KTM 790 Duke was going to be a production model. The bad news: It will arrive in the United States as the 2019 KTM 790 Duke – meaning we’ve got to wait a bit longer, though hopefully not until the calendar clicks over to 2019. What we’re jonesing for is one of the most anticipated middleweight motorcycles to enter the naked/streetfighter class in years.

Moto Guzzi expanded its entry-level lineup with three new variants of the V7 III: the Milano, Carbon and Rough. The new models offer more choices to account for personal style, with the same practical, fun and friendly character of the other V7’s, the basic Stone, swanky Special and café-styled Racer. Think of the V7 line as Barbies (or GI Joes if you have inflexible gender roles) that you can use to dress up according to your mood.

BMW presented a new model in its K1600 lineup, this time a full-dressed version of the K1600B. And just like the bagger, BMW clearly has the U.S. heavyweight touring market in its sights with this bike. Just look its name, the “2018 BMW K1600 Grand America.”

Mostly known for off-road machines, Husqvarna ginned up more interest in its burgeoning street line by displaying its Svartpilen 701 scrambler concept at the Milan EICMA show on November 7th, 2017. It’s still just a concept, but it’s eye-catching and exciting for fans of edgy, simple, fun-to-ride street-biased  thumpers.

How much do we MOrons love the KTM Super Adventure R? Enough to name it the Best On-Off-Road/Adventure Motorcycle of the Year in 2017! So, imagine how excited we were when our super-sleuth, Dennis Chung, uncovered CARB documentation on the Super Adventure S. Now, KTM has made it official, saying that, after previously being available in Europe, the S will hit the North American market in 2018. And a great celebration was held throughout the land!

Husqvarna presented the production version of its Vitpilen 701 at EICMA alongside a concept version of its sibling, the Svartpilen 701. We’ll have more on the flat track-inspired Svartpilen 701 in a separate post, but here’s what we know about the “White Arrow” Vitpilen.

To the rest of us, 2021 my seem like its a long way away. For Moto Guzzi, the year – and the company’s centenary – are close enough to start planning for. Case-in-point is the Moto Guzzi Concept V85, the first example of a new line of motorcycles that the folks in Mandello del Lario are developing for the celebration. This line of motorcycles will fall between the V7 and V9 families and the 1400 cruiser line. The cut of the Concept V85 is distinctly adventure-oriented. What many riders may not know is that Moto Guzzi has a long history with off-road motorcycles – though its recent offerings may be lacking much in that regard – that reaches back to the four gold medals won in the Six Day Reliability Trial in 1939 through to the Paris-Dakar rallies in the mid-1980s. The V85 is designed to appeal to riders “who, while never ceasing to dream of Dakar, yearn for a bike that revives the spirit of adventure on their daily journeys.”

After first announcing the Vespa Elettrica project at EICMA a year ago, the electric Vespa is now ready for production, with Piaggio confirming it will be available worldwide, with orders being accepted in the spring.