#FantasyCharacters

God bless the Brits. I mean, leave it to them – and by “them” I mean Honda UK and its British Touring Car Championship partner, Team Dynamics – to make the most of their bad weather and go after a Guinness world record. In this case, stuffing a CBR1000RR engine inside a riding lawnmower. All in search of going after the title of World’s Fastest Lawnmower. If ever there was such a thing as an answer to a question nobody asked, this is it. Usually, though, those answers are stupid. The Mean Mower v2 is the rare exception. Yeah, it’s absolutely pointless – but it’s also absolutely brilliant. And less than a dozen people on the entire planet have had the pleasure of piloting it. I’m lucky enough to be one of them.

The 2020 BMW S1000RR is what happens when government regulations ruin what is otherwise a good motorcycle. If you’ve been paying attention to the S 1000 RR (Yes, that’s its technical name, with spaces between letters and numbers. I’m scrunching them all together from here on out.), you’re already aware it’s been available in Europe for some time as a 2019 model year – and the reviews are raving. But now it’s slowly trickling into US dealers as a 2020 model, and this review won’t be quite as amazing – and it’s not entirely BMW’s fault. I wasn’t sure why there was a discrepancy, but after talking with some other journos who have ridden the European version, I think I know why. More on that later.

KTM has changed the way we look at small-displacement naked bikes with the 390 Duke. No longer is it just a learning tool for new or inexperienced riders, but now, no matter who you are, if you can’t find a way to have an ear-to-ear grin riding the baby Duke, you probably don’t have a pulse. If it’s not clear by now, we love the 390 Duke around here – its 373cc Single is anything but boring, it handles surprisingly well, and its looks are sharp enough to convince you to park it where everyone can see.

KTM made a really cool motorcycle in the 390 Duke, but it became even better in 2017 when the folks in Mattighofen gave it some much-needed upgrades. We’ve covered the 390 Duke extensively on the digital pages of MO, but if you’re new around here – or especially new to motorcycles in general – let this be a Cliff Notes guide to why the 390 Duke is a great little bike. The short reason why we like the bike so much is because it punches way above its weight. In the past if you presented us with a 373cc Single, yawns would follow. Not so with the 390 Duke. Fun is the name of the game with this little terror, and below are eight reasons why it should be on your radar if it isn’t already. Don’t get us wrong – it’s not a perfect motorcycle, and we’ve included a couple reasons why.

In this internet age, we understand everyone’s attention spans are very short. So we get (even if we’re a little saddened) if you didn’t get to read all the way through my First Ride review of the 2019 Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory. It’s a couple thousand words long, and though I thought it made for a good read, inevitably some of you didn’t get all the way through it. Thankfully YouTube exists, and while at the glorious Mugello Circuit in Italy, I recorded my thoughts and impressions of the RSV4 for the video you can view below. It’s complete with a short overview of the bike and some action footage, including a blast down the 1.1km Mugello straight where the 1100’s speedo flashed 307 kph at one point! Later, my GoPro GPS revealed my top speed to be only 180 mph, but it was still a rush all the same.

Lightning Motorcycles has finally taken the wraps off its eagerly-awaited Strike, and if the specs – and the price – are anything to go off of, Lightning’s latest creation promises to be hugely impressive.

Blah, blah, blah, we say it all the time – the Aprilia RSV4 is one of our favorite bikes ever. But seriously, it really is special. So how, then, does one improve upon a fan favorite? Give it more power, of course. That’s exactly what we have with the new 2019 Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory. On the surface, you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong in saying Aprilia telegraphed this move long ago – four years ago in 2015, actually – with the Tuono 1100, even though doing so would make the RSV4 illegal for basically every racing class out there.

Late last year, the MOron crew participated in yet another 24-hour minibike road race, this time aboard the Benelli TnT135. It shouldn’t come as any surprise, but we got spanked – like bringing a knife to a gunfight spanked. Not surprisingly, the winning team consisted mostly of kids who couldn’t reach my head even with their arms fully outstretched. Surely their power-to-weight ratio helped, but we’d be dumb to think the kids weren’t also very skilled at their craft (and a lack of fear helps, too).

In just a few days I’ll be the lucky bas—- who gets to unwind the new Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory around the legendary Mugello circuit as part of the bike’s international press launch. Stay tuned next week for my thoughts on it. However, in anticipation for that event, I thought I’d look back to see what makes the RSV4 such a darling in the eyes of the moto press. So rewind your minds back ten or so years to 2008/2009 and think about the literbike landscape back then. With the benefit of hindsight, we can say with confidence the space looked pretty bland, with the Big Four Japanese, Ducati, and KTM’s RC8 the only real players (sorry MV Agusta fanboys). The field then got a jolt in 2009 with the announcement of both the BMW S1000RR and Aprilia RSV4 – both models promising to shake up the status quo. If you’ve read any motorcycle magazine since then, you undoubtedly know each bike lives up to the claim. Personally, the Aprilia is one of my favorite liter-class bikes out there. Here are seven ways the RSV4 shook up the game.

American Honda is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2019, and as part of that celebration comes the release of the all-new Honda Super Cub. First introduced in 1958, it took a couple years before it came Stateside. Since then, Honda has sold over 100,000 100,000,000 (that’s 100 million) of the little scoots worldwide, making it the best-selling motor vehicle in the history of motor vehicles.

With 100 million Honda Super Cubs sold around the world, and counting, Honda holds the title as having the best selling motor vehicle in history. For comparison’s sake, Volkswagen only sold 23.5 million Volkswagen Beetles. The Super Cub is the machine that put Honda on the map, and as with all iconic vehicles, there’s a treasure trove of history and information stashed deep inside the Honda archives few know about – until now. With the introduction of the 2019 Honda Super Cub, on American Honda’s 60th anniversary, the company shared with us some interesting information I simply didn’t have room for in the First Ride review. So here are some fun facts about the Honda Super Cub.

It was only seconds after hopping aboard the 2019 Honda C125 Super Cub that laughter started to erupt. Despite rainy weather and cool temperatures, we journos couldn’t help but smile on the new Super Cub, and we hadn’t even left the parking lot of 4077 Pico Blvd – the site of the original American Honda HQ. This is the effect the Super Cub has on people; even those whose job it is to test ride every motorcycle under the sun. It’s cute, it’s inviting, and it’s just fun. If you can’t have a laugh on it, you’re dead inside. In a world where digital media is stealing away everyone’s attention (including yours since you’re reading this), maybe the Honda Super Cub can reinvigorate motorcycling in America just as it did 57 years ago when the original Honda Super Cub (called the Honda 50 here in the States) arrived on these shores.

In case you somehow haven’t noticed by now, Motorcycle.com has a separate YouTube channel – because sometimes (okay, most of the time) you’d rather see the motorcycles we ride in action rather than just read our words about them. Sometimes it can be even better if you can get our immediate thoughts about a motorcycle directly as we’re riding them. Of course, this means talking and riding at the same time (it’s harder than it sounds if you’re a MOron like us). The challenge is capturing good, clean audio with little to no wind noise. Bonus points if you can do it on the cheap. Say hello to the HelEquip HelMic 3.1. Since this is a microphone review after all, watch the video below to get my thoughts. Otherwise, feel free to read on.

You’ll see a theme if you scroll back the last decade or so on MO: we have a thing for the Triumph Street Triple. After numerous rides and shootouts each time it gets updated, it’s safe to say we love that little 675cc three-cylinder. The sound it makes is outrageously cool, the power it delivers is fun without being overwhelming, and the overall package is an absolute blast. Yeah, the looks are kinda polarizing, but none of that matters once you twist the grip.

Here at MO, comparos and shootouts are what we do. We strive to give our readers the most informative bike-to-bike comparisons. Whether it be two class-leading models brought toe-to-toe to duke it out, or bringing in every bike in a particular category, we’re here to bring you the knock-down, drag-out deathmatches MO-style.