Latest motorcycle news, reviews, and editorials

Harley-Davidson has officially revealed the X 350 for the Chinese market, a small displacement flat track-inspired roadster produced with Qianjiang Motor (QJ Motor). As of this writing, the X 350 is only confirmed for China, though a modified variant known as the X350RA will be used in Harley-Davidson Rider Academy programs in the U.S.

I’ve been wearing Alpinestars Copper Denim Pants in one form or another for seven years, and while I’ve been quite happy with how they looked like traditional jeans and provided comfort off the motorcycle, none of our staff of MOrons have put them to the ultimate test until now. If you’ve read my recent 2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R/RS Review, you know I did a little pavement surfing on an Andalusian highway. Naturally, to further my embarrassment over my first crash at an introduction since 2015, I need to document the condition of every piece of gear that contacted the pavement so that you, dear reader, can judge the efficacy of the protection provided by my riding kit. The short version is that the Alpinestars Copper 2 Denim Pants sacrificed themselves so that my legs could escape unscathed. 

MO Tested: Alpinestars Copper Denim Pants

2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R/RS Review – First Ride

Fresh off of winning the 2022 MotoAmerica King of the Baggers championship, Indian has gone and done it – Indian is offering a super-exclusive opportunity to actually buy yourself a Challenger RR. This is an exact replica of the bike Tyler O’hara used to win the KotB championship. Yes, an exact replica. Meaning if you had the skill that Tyler has, you could go and win bagger races with it. This is a full-on, non street legal, racing machine that just happens to look like an Indian Challenger (well, loosely…).

How exclusive is this? Indian is only making 29 of them, in honor of O’Hara’s racing number. Hurry up and buy them before his competitors do. What’s the price, you ask? Oh, just a healthy $92,229. The number play with O’hara’s race number is thick, but there’s a number of you out there that have mentioned that Indian should make one of these available to the public. Well, be careful what you wish for.

My love for the KTM 790 Duke has been well documented on MO, but the reality is that had KTM been a little less tight-lipped when I was laying down my hard-earned cash for the bike, I might never have owned it. Instead, an 890 Duke R would probably be parked in my garage. That doesn’t lessen my attachment to the 790, but it helps to explain my desire to squeeze as much power out of the parallel-Twin as I can, while maintaining its social acceptability on exhaust sound. (OK, maybe being mocked in the comments when the Akrapovic slip-on resulted in slightly lower peak power has a little to do with my search for power, too.) Regardless, my unspoken goal for my performance modifications has been to get as close as possible to a stock 890’s mid-range power. From the moment Rottweiler Performance released its Rally Edition Full Intake System for the 790/890 Adventure, I’ve been salivating at the prospect of installing an adapted version on my Duke. Well, with the release of the Rottweiler Performance Intake System for the KTM 790/890 Duke, that wait is over, and man, does it kick some butt. 

KTM 790 Duke Project: Building A 790 R

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.

Indian Motorcycle and Jack Daniel’s have once again partnered together for a limited edition model. Developed once again in partnership with Klock Werks Kustom Cycles, the latest model is based on the Indian Chief Bobber Dark Horse, and will be limited to a production run of just 177 motorcycles worldwide.

Like the previous models, the 2023 Jack Daniel’s Limited Edition Indian Chief Bobber Dark Horse comes in an exclusive custom paint scheme. For the first time, however, the Jack Daniel’s connection goes further than simple branding: the Super Graphite Metallic paint itself is mixed with Old No. 7 whiskey.

The dark paint is offset by the Indian Motorcycle Script “I”, giving it a throwback look, while the non-machined cylinders and heads, Cloud Silver painted rockers and pushrod tubes help create a raw metal look.

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.

I’ll be honest; the reason you’re seeing this 1995 road test of the BMW R1100RS is largely because I’m surprised our servers haven’t lost this story from MO’s very early days. Motorcycle.com was only a year old when this test debuted. It’s fun reading through these irreverent days of the site combined with the motorcycles of the era. It’s interesting to note how the OG’s of MO were dealing with some of the same issues we deal with today: accepting emissions compromises while equally bemoaning how much they sap performance. Then there are the usual BMW quirks which seemingly haven’t changed. Speaking of not changing, check out that Aerostich suit!

American Honda officially announced the XR150L dual-sport for the U.S., alongside the returning Navi and an expanded CRF300L lineup that now includes a new low-seat height variant.

We’ve known the XR150L and the low-seat CRF300LS were on the way, after the two dual sports were included on a list of motorcycles certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Both models add to Honda’s burgeoning small-displacement on- and off-road models, alongside the CRF300L and CRF300L Rally. Together with its miniMOTO lineup, which includes the Navi, Honda now offers nine street-legal motorcycles with engines displacing less than 286cc.

For the previous week, I’d anxiously checked the weather reports for updates. Sandwiched in between swaths of little sun icons were two little black clouds spewing raindrops. Naturally, those were the scheduled dates for the US press to ride the 2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R and RS on the Andalusian backroads and the famed Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto in southern Spain. 

2020 Triumph Street Triple 765 RS Review – First Ride

2017 Triumph Street Triple RS Review: First Ride

2013 Triumph Street Triple R Review

2012 Triumph Street Triple R Review

2008 Triumph Street Triple 675 Review

And my wishes were granted. The rain plowed through the night before the first ride day, leaving drying roads and temperatures gradually rising from the mid-40s to the low-50s through our street ride. Once the day’s photography was done and with the tarmac finally dry – if a bit dusty – the pace picked up to the point that I felt, rather than tiptoeing around the wet spots,  we were really getting to sample the engine’s new power delivery and chassis’ refinement. The roads, though bumpy in places, were an intoxicating mix of extended sections of high-speed sweeping corners with brief, more technical portions to feel the chassis’ sprightliness. In a short series of esses, I aggressively rolled on the throttle at the exit of a second gear, 50 mph left hander, my ears full of the seductive growl of the 765cc Triple, a smile growing on my lips, and without warning, the front end folded…

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.

This brings us to our Friday find of the week. With only 2,714 miles on this 2009 ZX-14, chewing up miles doesn’t appear to be what this bike was used for – that comes out to about 200 miles per year! The good news is that, with so little miles on the clock, the bike still looks to be in pristine condition. The seller says it has lowering springs, so that should come out in favor of the stockers if sport-touring is your jam. It’s too bad this poor guy has to let the bike go due to age and injury, but at least he’s still willing to ride if a Gold Wing came along. For $9,000, this seems like a fair price for a virtually untouched motorcycle. See the ad below:

Second owner with 2,714 miles. Stock apart from the Muzzy’s rotor (I have the OEM rotor) installed by the original owner. I have the clear screen, seat hump, radiator guard, all black bodywork inserts if you don’t like green, owners manual, shop manual. It has a Shorai battery and I’ll include the charger. I also have a tail tidy and air filter, and lowering fork springs. I hurt my neck when I bought it and hoped physical therapy and time would make things better but my 62 year old body is not happy. I might trade for well maintained fuel injected Goldwing. I can send more pics if needed.

See the forum post here.

Flying over the second largest island in the Mediterranean gives a view of rocky coastlines, lush greenery, small villages, and surprisingly stout topography with mountains stretching more than 6,000 ft. into the sky. Idyllic yet rugged, the isle of Sardinia boasts addictively serpentine asphalt and endlessly challenging off-road terrain. This is where we would get our first test of the 2023 Suzuki V-Strom 800DE. An exciting new model for Suzuki, particularly due to its all-new powerplant, the 800DE carries on its shoulders both a legacy and an expectation of what a middleweight adventure bike should be in the modern era.

As we expected, Husqvarna announced a new Norden 901 Expedition, adding a more adventure-capable model to its lineup. Equipped with longer-travel suspension and coming standard with a number of accessories such as waterproof luggage, the Norden 901 Expedition carries an MSRP of $15,799, a $1,300 premium over the regular Norden 901.

I love camping. I’ve been doing it my entire life. My family would camp numerous times per year for most of my childhood and as soon as my friends and I had our licenses, we were out in the woods or at a lake in the Midwest enjoying the great outdoors more weekends than not. Once motorcycles took a stranglehold on my life, it was only natural that the two would be intertwined. From solo camping during long motorcycle trips to pitching a tent closer to home with friends, there really aren’t too many things in life I enjoy more than moto-camping.

We’ve covered some of the motorcycle camping basics. Evans even brought us beyond the basics with a peek into some extra equipment to step up your camp game. One thing is for sure, not all campers think alike. Some won’t be caught dead without their espresso maker in the morning while others feel a tent and sleeping bag is all you need. I’ve tried plenty of camping gear over the years, used numerous products on the hunt for the best, and overpacked my bikes in silly ways during moto-camping trips. I’ve managed to slim down my pack considerably since those first few trips, but there are still a few things I grab every time. These are my top 10 motorcycle camping essentials.

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.  

Victory had enough staying power that I actually thought it was going to give The Motor Company something to worry about. With the might of Polaris behind it, that theory actually had a little weight to it. We all know how that turned out, though one can make the argument that the challenge is stronger than ever with Polaris resurrecting Indian.

Nevertheless, nipping at the heels of the Harley Softail in 2009 was the Victory Vegas 8-Ball. Coming at Harley with a cheaper price tag, its 100 cubic-inch V-Twin (of which the aesthetics I have always liked), and its stealth black treatment, the Vegas 8-Ball got a host of updates for 2009. Here, former E-i-C Kevin Duke takes one for a spin in and around the beaches of Daytona and tells us what it’s like to ride.