#TomRoderick

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness. – Sacha Guitry

Up until now Kawasaki’s Ninja 650 has been recognized as a genteel gateway drug to the company’s true supersport model, the ZX-6R. For 2017 Kawasaki has further distilled more performance from the beginner-ish Ninja while maintaining the bike’s streetable mannerisms. In other words, the 2017 Ninja 650 is a more potent sportbike capable of shredding a twisty canyon road or closed course race track on the weekends, while performing commuter duty during the weekdays.

Last week came the announcement that Victory Motorcycles was being shut down, but Victory’s death knell actually tolled in early 2011 following the announcement Polaris Industries had acquired Indian. All the good will in the world to keep Victory afloat is no match for bottom-line data, and in just a few short years the Indian brand has eclipsed Victory in growth, profit potential, consumer popularity, and overall coolness.

Last week we published our interview with two-time MotoAmerica Superbike champ Cameron Beaubier. While at Blu Cru’s headquarters in Cypress, California, we also sat down with 2016 MotoAmerica Supersport champion Garrett Gerloff. Both were being inducted into Yamaha’s Wall of Champions. You can honestly say that last year was a good year for the Yamaha roadracing team!

For anyone who held out purchasing a Triumph Street Triple on a hunch the current model was being replaced by a newer, faster, better, more powerful version, you were right to do so. Today Triumph launched three new versions of the popular mid-displacement Triple, and by the looks of it, the new model appears poised to dominate a niche occupied by only the MV Agusta Brutale 800 and Yamaha FZ-09.

We recently sat down with two-time MotoAmerica Superbike champ Cameron Beaubier at the bLU cRU’s headquarters in Cypress, California. Besides a little disappointment at not having his 2016 championship-winning bike parked underneath the Christmas tree, Beaubier has been busy sliding a YZ450F around his new flat track and is anxiously awaiting the chance to defend his title in 2017.

Each new naked demands of us another shootout. The catalyst this time around is Yamaha’s R1-powered FZ-10. Introduced in July as a 2017 model, the new FZ-10 stands as the only liter-size Japanese streetfighter offering enough performance and attitude to bring the fight to the currently dominant nakeds. Add to that a rare appearance by an EBR 1190SX, and two stalwarts of the class, Aprilia Tuono V4 1100RR and Triumph Speed Triple R, and we’ve the ingredients for a spicy streetfighter omelette.

As soon as you begin mentally mapping the featureless layout of the Losail International Circuit, it gets dark, the floodlights come on and the track layout changes in a surreal manner. A desert haze drifts through the infield, and in addition to remembering if the approaching corner is the slow left one or the fast left one, you’re also now looking through faceshield glares and the occasional glimpse of you passing your own shadow. Steadfast among all these nocturnal distractions is the familiarity of the Super Duke R’s performance, its booming exhaust note, and that deliciously torquey V-Twin.

Beginning with Intermot on October 3rd, moving on to AIMExpo October 12th, and EICMA November 4th, we come to the final rounds of the moto show season, the Progressive International Motorcycle Show (IMS) leading off in Long Beach, California. For the moto-public the Progressive IMS tour has six more dates ending February 12th in Chicago. With all the new 2017 machinery to be seen, we recommend attending because the Progressive IMS is the only place you’ll find everything motorcycle under one roof.

It’s time once again for the annual conundrum of what to gift to the motorcyclist in your life. As always, we begin our annual Holiday Gift Guide on the affordable end of the spectrum with a selection of some practical, and some not-so-practical gift ideas. This year’s list begins at $5, and ratchets-up in incremental dollar amounts to our $50 limit. If you don’t find something here, and are willing to bestow a more financially substantial gift on your beloved biker, other MO editors will be following this list with $50 to $100, $100 to $250, and above $250 lists in the coming weeks. Happy shopping!

If you’re in the market for a brand new, 100-horsepower, street-legal dirtbike, Ducati’s Hypermotard 939 and Hypermotard 939 SP are pretty much the only game in town (at least, until the updated Aprilia Dorsoduro 900 arrives). Upgraded for 2016 with the 937cc Testastretta 11° L-Twin, compared to last year’s 821cc model, the Hypermotard gains a wee bit more, completely unnecessary, intensity. Like, as if, the outgoing model wasn’t fun enough.

Hot on the heels of its popular new Africa Twin model introduced last year comes a lighter-weight adventure-focused motorcycle from Honda, the CRF250L Rally. The Rally is based on the updated-for-2017 CRF250L and inspired by the factory CRF450 Rally machine raced in the Dakar by Team HRC.

With a pocketful of spy shots as proof, we sleuthy MOrons proudly scooped the news a few months ago that Ducati was planning to produce a new air-cooled Monster ( 2017 Ducati Monster 800 Spy Shots). Today at EICMA, Ducati presented the production version. The 2017 Monster 797 borrows the air-cooled 803cc L-Twin from Ducati’s Scrambler models and repackages it for use in its newest naked.

Even though cargo shorts faded from acceptable summer style years ago, I continue wearing them. The fashion police aren’t dictating to me that I can no longer wear comfortably fitting shorts with enough pocket space to house my entourage of bric-a-brac. Thank God the same fashion faux pas doesn’t apply to cargo pants or Drayko may have passed on producing a pair for motorcyclists.

Baby Einstein is my favorite, but I also like watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians with mom. Dad says there’s nothing better for turning your mind to mush than reality TV, and he tries to undo any damage every chance he gets by reading to me from books. He went so far as to dig out his own ancient baby books, which is cool, but I think he enjoys them more than I do. A new book we’ve been reading is called The Adventures Of Mimi and Moto The Motorcycle Monkeys. It’s a book we both enjoy.