This time last October, I was flying through serpentine roads in the foothills of the Sierra just south of Yosemite on board a Ural Gear Up (okay, I was hardly flying) to meet some of my closest friends for a camping trip prior to getting married the following weekend. The temps began to drop rapidly as we ascended in elevation, making me all the more happy to have chosen the REV’IT! Westport Overshirt as my jacket of choice for the ride.

You can find a cheap motorcycle phone mount all over the internet these days, but pricing versus quality don’t seem to run entirely linear. After a bit of digging the evidence is clear; yes you can spend $50-60 on a higher end mount that will be rock solid, but there are also a few great well-built buys out there that don’t break the bank. Enter the  Roam Universal Premium Bike Phone Mount for Motorcycles—a simple and sturdy mount currently on sale for $12.98 with free shipping via Amazon. with over 4,700 customer reviews and an average score of 4.4 out of 5, this mount is tough enough to do the trick on a budget. If you do a fair bit of off-road riding, even if just on bumpy logging roads, we’d suggest going the heavy duty route, but if you’re a commuter/highway cruiser there’s no sense breaking the bank here.

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A drag racer crossed with a fighter jet. That’s the claim. That’s some pretty serious marketing-speak coming from our friends in Milwaukee. The FXDR 114 is something like a mashup between the Motor Co.’s dearly departed Dyna and V-Rod model lines. A brutish power cruiser that can still thrill when the going gets twisty. How does it hold up to those claims? Well, we went to Harley-Davidson’s hometown to find out.

Earlier this month, Harley-Davidson announced plans to take the company in some new and somewhat surprising ways. We’ll have to wait a little longer to see the products of this new direction, such as electric LiveWire and Pan America 1250 adventure bike, but in the meantime, and perhaps to ease the transition for more traditional Harley riders, we have the new 2019 Harley-Davidson FXDR 114 power cruiser.

The Bonneville family continues to expand with its 2018 Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster. The new Speedmaster builds on the Bobber and Bonneville lines to offer a versatile cruiser with a level of refinement and finish that has become synonymous with Triumph’s recent model releases.

As technology races towards the future, style is moving the opposite direction, regressing to the past. Fortunately for us motorcyclists, the two aren’t mutually exclusive, which means we can have it both ways. Take the 2018 Triumph Bonneville Bobber Black, for instance – it’s a juxtaposition between modern technology and post-WWII style. The bobber style, for those of you who aren’t familiar, harkens back to the 1940s when American riders would get rid of anything they could to shed weight by cutting and removing bodywork and ‘bobbing’ the fenders. The desired effect was to be able to keep up with the lighter, faster British and Japanese bikes that began to flood American shores.

The fastest-selling Triumph ever produced is going dark, as Triumph introduces the new Bonneville Bobber Black. The 2018 Triumph Bonneville Bobber Black is more than just a new color option, as Triumph has added a fat front wheel, dual disc brakes, thicker forks and a number of other upgrades.

Related: 2017 Triumph Bonneville Bobber Review

The Bobber has been a big success for Triumph, with more than 6,000 units sold worldwide to date since it arrived in dealerships in the Spring. Those who are still on the fence about the Bobber may want to wait for the Black version to arrive.

Triumph revealed its new Speedmaster, a modern British cruiser that shares many similarities with the Bonneville Bobber but with more practical versatility. The 2018 Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster is targeted for those who like the Bonneville T120 but want more touring capability and cruiser styling or a Bonneville Bobber but want seating for a passenger.

Related: 2017 Triumph Bonneville Bobber Review

I’m not much of a cruiser guy, but this past July Motorcycle.com sent me to my first media launch for the 2018 Indian Scout Bobber ( which ended up being pretty rad). As I have mentioned in previous articles, I am a gear nerd and have amassed plenty of jackets, pants, boots, helmets, etc., over the past 10 years since I began riding. With all of that gear I still found myself without a subtle jacket that one might classify as a cruiser jacket. The folks here at MO tasked me with finding a jacket that might fit the bill and suggested I look at the new line-up from Rev’it!.

On August 22, 2017, Harley-Davidson turned the motorcycling world on its ear by announcing that it had scrapped the entire Dyna line of motorcycles and rolled it into a completely revamped Softail line. When the dust settled, eight new Softails – four of them available with the buyer’s choice of a Millwaukee-Eight 107 or optional 114 engine – stood as the heart of a completely new cruiser lineup. The names of the Softails were carryovers from the previous generation, and for the most part, the new models were easily distinguishable as their previous generation’s namesakes. In the case of the 2018 Fat Bob, this wasn’t necessarily a given. Yes, once you knew you were looking at the new Fat Bob, it made sense, but at first glance, the 2018 Fat Bob elicits wows – followed by what the hell is that?

The changes made in the 2018 Harley-Davidson Softail line were so numerous we couldn’t fit them in one article! To read about the hows and whys of the changes, check out “ Harley-Davidson Introduces All New 2018 Softail Line.” This article is strictly an adjunct to that text which is intended to let you know what happened to each individual member of the completely revamped Softail line. Strap on your helmet; this is gonna be quite a ride.

When Harley-Davidson released its updated 2017 touring line with the new Milwaukee-Eight engine, it didn’t take any insider information to figure out that the new powerplant would eventually propel all of Harley’s Big Twins. Well, that time has arrived with the announcement of the Motor Company’s 2018 model lineup. While the engine upgrade itself isn’t much of a surprise, the way HD chose to craft an all-new Big Twin chassis around the Milwaukee-Eight is huge news. We’ll let Paul James, Manager, Product Portfolio for Harley-Davidson explain:

“In model year 2000, when Softails got the Twin Cam engine, the mantra was ‘We changed everything without changing a thing.’ Those bikes were all new and different, yet they cut the same style and look as the bikes they replaced. That was not the intent here. Our intent was to move this design language along.”

Here’s our weekly guide to the upcoming motorcycle events and rides that are happening within the next thirty days.

Here’s our weekly guide to the upcoming motorcycle events and rides that are happening over the next several weeks.

Here’s our weekly guide to the upcoming motorcycle events and rides that are happening over the next several weeks.

After seeing the new 2018 Indian Scout Bobber on Friday, I called Editor Duke to brief him on the new model. After explaining that it was, mechanically, very similar to the original Scout with mostly cosmetic changes, he asked me a simple but important question: “Well, would you rather buy this one or the old one?” The answer was easy: I would definitely rather have this new Scout Bobber.

Touring Europe on a motorcycle can be a trip of a lifetime, but how do you know where best to go? Well, here’s a thorough and easy to digest European motorcycle trip itinerary that will offer an unforgettable ride through five countries spanning two weeks. Many people wait for the perfect time in their lives to take a life-changing trip like the one below, but sometimes life gets in the way and it never happens. You may not have the time or you may not have the money. In my experience, sometimes you just have to go for it. Comparethemarket.com has compiled the hard part for you, bringing you one step closer to a trip never to be forgotten.

Begin press release…

Blessed with beautiful weather year round, weekend mornings at the Rock Store of southern California can rival the best bike shows around the globe. Eclectic characters come out of the woodwork every weekend to enjoy riding through some of the tightest, twistiest, off-camber, up- and downhill roads motorcyclists dream of. Their owners are pretty interesting, too. It’s not uncommon to see Jay Leno on one of his bizarre and rare machines or other celebrity motorcyclists such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matt LeBlanc or Laurence Fishburne.

And while tourists and visitors may be enthralled with the celebrities, to locals there is nothing more enjoyable than an early morning cruise up Pacific Coast Highway, heading into the canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains followed by a hot cup of coffee at one of motorcycling’s most famous locales. That brisk early morning chill while moisture hangs in the air. The sunlight peeking its way through the oak trees as it rises in the east. The way the light hits the Rock Store just perfectly through the trees.

It’s unfortunate when a motorcyclist ends up on the ground, and it’s especially cringe-inducing to watch a motorcyclist wearing minimal gear hit the ground this hard and slide for as long as we see here. A speed wobble can be devastating, and this head-shaking scenario recorded on California’s Interstate 80 near Sacramento is one the rider will never forget. We probably won’t, either… 

Here we have an unmistakably British satirical video about the making of the Triumph Rocket III. The video appears to have been commissioned by  Triumph back in 2007, and it’s sure to raise a smile on the face of gearheads who appreciate dry English humor. Witness how engineers added its center of gravity, an engine grown from an embryo, and power being dropped in by the spoonful to create Triumph’s XL  cruiser.

Having just graduated college, I had my father’s jalopy of an R1 repo’ed back to him – leaving me bike-less in San Diego as I began my full-time cubicle dwelling life at a large biotech company. It has been a rough transition into the downhill portion of life that has stripped me of my ability to wake up at 11am and spend the occasional weekday of my choice playing video games alongside the cheapest 12-pack the gas station on my block has, which is usually High-Life and I’m okay with that.

Father’s Day is looming on the horizon, and those of you who have motorcycle loving fathers are (hopefully) looking for a way to tell Dad how much you appreciate all he’s done for you and the family over the previous year. If he’s like most fathers, dad has probably avoided buying or doing things that he wanted to, just because the needs of the family outweighed his own desires. For families like that, you already know what to get him – just order that thing he decided not to get for himself. However, if Dad’s moto-needs are a mystery to you, take heart. We’ve put together a listing of stuff that’s bound to make your riding father quite happy. The prices range quite a bit here, so you’re sure to find something within the range of greenbacks contained in your wallet.

Bridgestone knows a thing or two about motorcycle tires. After all, the company supplied control tires to MotoGP for seven seasons. Another thing most riders should know but may not is that Bridgestone manufactures tires across every niche in the motorcycle industry, from state-of-the-art race tires to scooter rubber. However, the product development folks realized that, while metric cruisers were covered with the Exedra Max line, the Japanese tire manufacturer had not developed tires specifically for the American-made V-Twin cruiser market. So, Bridgestone’s engineers set out to remedy this situation, and the result is: “The Battlecruise H50 tire, the first of its kind from Bridgestone, expands the company’s motorcycle tire portfolio with a performance tire offering that is specially designed for large-displacement, cruiser-style bikes, which account for 50% of motorcycles on U.S. roadways.”

Discovery Channel’s newest motorcycle-themed mini-series, Harley and the Davidsons, airs this Monday, September 5th, at 9pm. Previews of the show depict what looks to be an entertaining, and somewhat historically accurate presentation of Harley’s early days, and the dangerous sport of motordrome racing. Discovery’s website dedicated to the mini-series offers a wealth of videos, historical photos, information, and this super-cool 360 VR video.

From Discovery: A Harley-Davidson is more than a motorcycle. It is a symbol of Americana, built from the ground up by founders Walter and Arthur Davidson and their friend Bill Harley. But the road to success was not exactly smooth – it was filled with innumerable obstacles, ruthless competitors, and extraordinary risks. Together these three young men, the sons of blue-collar immigrants, gave everything they had to ensure the survival of the company they founded. But just how far would they go to reach the ultimate American dream?

Based on a true story, Harley and the Davidsons charts the birth of this iconic bike during a time of great social and technological change beginning at the turn of the 20th century. Walter, Arthur and Bill risked their entire fortune and livelihood to launch the budding enterprise. Each of these men faced very different challenges, but it was the motorcycle that united their dreams and ambitions.

Walter, Arthur, and Bill cemented Harley-Davidson’s reputation as a builder of bikes that go anywhere, can ride hard and ignore all the rules. It’s a legacy that has endured over 100 years – and at the heart of the brand and its loyal riders.

Wearing black leather on summer ride can very quickly turn a protective garment  into a sauna when not actively riding. A long stoplight can be torture enough to make some riders swear off wearing proper riding gear. Without putting too fine a point on it, let’s just say that they’re fools.

The predictable discomfort of overheating at a stop pales in comparison to the pain of sanding off your skin in a 50-mph slide – an experience which is then followed by the ER scrub to get the gravel out. Jackets with zippered vents provide places for air to move over a rider’s body, providing evaporative cooling, but fully perforated leather is required for maximal ventilation. Still, this does little to ameliorate the suffering that cruiser riders – known for their love of black leather – must endure at a stop. Black Brand motorcycle gear has decided to minimize this problem by combining perforated leather and specially treated, heat-reflecting KoolTeK leather.

If you’ve been salivating over Harley-Davidson’s Breakout since its CVO introduction in 2013, you’re in luck. After a year hiatus, the Breakout returns for 2016 in CVO form with a variety of changes (upgrades?), and for a price tag $800/$1,200 less than its predecessors ($26,499/$26,899 MYs 2013/2014 vs $25,699 MY 2016). There’s the standard Breakout for $18,799, but we’re going big, and when you go big you go CVO.

We’ve been following the creation of the Victory version of a bike with the Indian Scout engine with great interest. Well, it’s arrived in the form of the 2017 Victory Octane and not without a little controversy from our readers. Whether or not the Octane is the motorcycle you wanted Victory to build with its engine, we think the Octane is a very good motorcycle.

2017 Victory Octane First Ride Review

The engine had its displacement increased to 1179cc and has new pistons, cylinders, heads, camshafts, and all it covers. The gearing was lowered, and the EFI was tuned for maximum responsiveness in the lower rpm. In the end, fully 65% of the Octane’s parts are unique with only the remaining 35% being shared with the Scout. After three days in the Octane’s saddle, we can firmly state that the bikes are quite different in character. We are looking forward to testing the Octane side-by-side with the Scout and the other cruisers in its displacement class as soon as we can gather them together.

For now, here’s a look at the Octane in moving pictures and sound.

Harley-Davidson doesn’t ask for much, says U.S. PR Manager Jen Hoyer, only to: “1. Lead in every market. 2. Grow the sport of motorcycling in the U.S., in part by growing the number of core customers and growing U.S. outreach at a faster rate. 3. Grow U.S. retail sales and grow international retail sales at a faster rate. 4. Grow revenue and grow earnings at a faster rate through 2020. 5. Outperform the S&P 500.”

The spinning steel drum does not lie: Ducati claims 156 horsepower at 9500 rpm for the XDiavel’s new 1262cc DVT (Desmo Variable Timing) L-Twin, and the MotoGP Werks Dynojet bears that out. The old rule of thumb is that rear-wheel hp (what the dyno measures) is generally about 10% less than crankshaft hp (what the manufacturers claim) on a chain-driven bike, and if that still applies then the Ducati is actually a few horses ahead of the game. Compared to the old Diavel, which never felt anything like slow, you’re looking at 10% more horsepower and 9% more torque.

The 16th Annual V-Twin Expo commenced on an uncommonly sunny February day at the Duke Energy Convention Center in the heart of downtown Cincinnati. Around 180 different exhibitors from Japan to Florence, Kentucky were doing business in the hustle and bustle of trade-show booths, demonstrations, and seminars. The future of the V-Twin motorcycle industry was being laid out and displayed in the 200,000 square feet of floor space and several annexed conference rooms.

Cincinnati seems like an odd place to be ground zero for arguably the biggest V-Twin business event in the world, but more V-Twin business happens within the 500-mile radius of Cincinnati than any other place on Earth.

Personally, I feel like five speeds is plenty for a cruiser, really. Who wants to be shifting extra gears when they’re cruising relaxationally along feeling all Lee Marvin, having their chassis “further complimented by stout forks and shocks” like the press material for the new bike says? Why, thank you, forks and shocks, you’re not so bad yourself…

Moto Guzzi unveiled two new mid-sized cruisers powered by a new 850cc V-Twin engine. The new V9 Roamer is the spiritual successor to the Moto Guzzi Nevada while the V9 Bobber adds a blacked-out bobbed cruiser to lineup. both V9s will be available in the U.S. as 2015 models but we’ll have to wait a little while for MSRPs.

We saw both new V9 models earlier this year in spy photographs, assuming they were using the V7 II line’s 744cc Twin. Now we know the V9 uses an air and oil-cooled 850cc V-Twin with an 84mm bore and 77mm stroke. Moto Guzzi claims a peak output of 55 hp at 6250 rpm with torque peaking at 45.7 lb-ft at just 3000 rpm.

Struggling to figure out how to make inroads into the U.S. cruiser market, with the new XDiavel, Ducati has finally decided that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That’s not entirely true of course, because the new XDiavel retains plenty of performance. But it’s also the first Ducati ever with belt final drive, and the first ever where any Ducati official (Domenicali) has made a big deal of embracing the appeal of Low Speed Riding.

In the great old US of A, lightweight motorcycles have traditionally garnered little respect – though that is changing with the recent focus of major manufacturers on developing modern, exciting motorcycles in the less than 500cc class. Still, while the 250cc cruiser market may be almost as minuscule as the displacement in the United States, this class of cruiser shouldn’t be ignored. World-wide, the class carries much more importance thanks to tiered licensing and tariffs on large-displacement motorcycles. Additionally, the 250 class is also extremely price conscious, challenging manufacturers to make the tough decisions to build a quality, desirable motorcycle for a diminutive MSRP. This is the environment that spawned the Hyosung GV250 Aquila.

Yamaha unveiled a few new models yesterday afternoon in Irvine, California, and told us to stand by, there may be another new street model yet to come later this year. We were kind of expecting the XSR700 that Yamaha teased back in July, so maybe that will be the missing model?

2016 Yamaha YZF-R1S Certified by CARB

The YZF-R1S, in the lead photo, is one of the new models it did reveal. The R1 and R1M were so well-received, says Yamaha, that it wanted to extend the reach of those highly track-focussed machines to riders who are a bit less track focussed. Substituting less expensive metals in a bunch of places means the weight of the S model goes up a bit, but the price goes down: Instead of titanium con rods it get steel ones, instead of Ti headers it gets stainless steel ones, instead of magnesium wheels it gets aluminum ones, etc. – and winds up nine pounds heavier than the standard R1, says Yamaha. It does get the six-way IMU and all the electronic aids of the R1 except the quickshifter (QSS in Yamalingo), which is available as an option. (We’d have definitely gone for some higher clip-ons on our S version, but that would’ve required a whole new fairing, so the riding position remains the same.)

The steel rods don’t let the S engine rev quite as far as the Ti-rodded engine, but peak power is supposed to be very similar anyway. Those extra nine pounds save you $2k; the S model will sell for $14,990, and only the discriminating Yamaha spotter will know you cheaped out, since there’s no S on the bike to identify it – especially if you go for the Matt Gray version, a paint scheme it shares with the regular R1.

Sportsters have always been the rawest, most bare-knuckled of Harley-Davidson’s motorcycle models, delivering an ultra-minimalist rendition of the famous marque. Every one, save the 1200 Custom with its dual saddle and the Superlow 1200T (dual saddle, saddlebags, and windshield), are essentially an Evolution engine, a basic, often abbreviated chassis, and a solo saddle. Call it back-to-basics motorcycling that’s been a force for pulling both newbies and experienced riders into the H-D fold.

Within the Sportster line, however, Harley launched the Dark Custom line in 2008 as not only motorcycles, but also a lifestyle, complete with its own clothing line, aimed at attracting young adults in the 18–34 age bracket to motorcycling. As Marketing Manager Jen Hoyer put it in the press briefing, “The Dark Custom, for us, it’s not just about the motorcycle. It’s about growing the sport of motorcycling.” For 2016, the Dark Custom Sportster models, the Iron 883 and the Forty-Eight, receive styling makeovers in addition to the upgrades made across the Sportster line – most notably new forks and shocks.

The idea of Ducati creating a cruiser-style motorcycle seems odd, but the Diavel, introduced in 2011, was an attempt to expand the appeal of the Italian brand to riders who value style and low seat heights over ultimate sporting potential. Diavel sales were initially decent but seem to have tailed off in recent years.

2011 Ducati Diavel Review

The spy shots seen here indicate Ducati is attempting to reinvigorate the Diavel platform with a complete redesign, including a new frame, swingarm and LED headlight, plus the unexpected introduction of a belt final drive replacing a chain. We also expect improved performance from the engine by using the DVT variable timing system as seen in the latest Multistrada. The exhaust system is also fresh, exiting through two large outlets in front of the rear wheel.

Moto Guzzi flew us to its factory in Mandello del Lario on the shores of Lake Como to sample the two latest members of Guzzi’s popular California line of motorcycles. In this video, we take the Audace through its paces in the towns and mountains near Guzzi’s legendary facility.

2016 Moto Guzzi Audace – First Ride Review

In case you haven’t yet read our review of the Audace, here’s a quick primer. The Audace is based on the California 1400, which won our 2013 Best Cruiser Award. Utilizing the same 90° V-Twin – updated to Euro 4 emissions – the Audace’s power is the same torque-filled bottom end and silky smooth vibrationless powerplant on the open road. With electronic rider aids usually reserved for top-shelf sportbikes, the Audace has sorted the throttle response to a much more refined level than previous generations of this engine.

If you’re lucky, you’ve got at least one friend like this guy. You know, the one who’s always the ring leader, the one with the mad glint in his eye, always the center of attention, talking a little bit louder – OK, a lot louder – than everyone else, but unlike some people who behave the same way and seem obnoxious, this guy pulls it off. It’s the gravitational pull of his personality. Everybody gets along with him and goes along with him and, every so often, gets in trouble with him (though not as frequently as they did 10 years ago). Still, when it’s all over but for the storytelling, he wraps the narrative around all the participants, making the tale – and by extension, everyone involved – larger than life.

2015 Victory Magnum Review

Victory set out to build a bike for that charismatic guy. He wouldn’t ride a subtle bike. It would be flashy. And loud. And when necessary, it would kick some ass.

Riding an exotic custom motorcycle with actor Keanu Reeves seems an unlikely scenario, yet there I was on the twisty roads in the hills above Malibu aboard a machine bearing the initials of the film star. The KRGT-1 translates into the first production bike from the partnership between Reeves and veteran custom builder Gard Hollinger in a venture called Arch Motorcycle.

Star Motorcycles has added to its pair of performance bobbers, the Bolt and Bolt R-Spec, with the 2015 Bolt C-Spec. However, when you have a model line that’s selling well, you don’t want to change it too much. So, Star massaged a little cafe racer into the Bolt’s attitude. While the power train remained the same, the pulled back bar was tossed and replaced with clip-ons. The pegs were moved 6 in. rearward, and the passenger accommodations are swapped for a sporty seat cowl. The front and rear suspensions were bumped in length a tad to gain some cornering clearance, resulting in a Bolt that likes to go around corners a little more than its older siblings.

Kawasaki recently allowed us to ride the 2015 Kawasaki Vulcan S ABS, and and the innovative cruiser hybrid impressed both me and our female tester, Vicki Gray.

2015 Kawasaki Vulcan S First Ride Review – Female Perspective

The newest Vulcan not only breaks new ground as far as what a cruiser can look like, but also unveils Kawasaki’s Ergo-Fit system for tailoring the motorcycle’s rider triangle to the various body types of riders. In a nutshell, two handlebar options, three seat options, and three rider peg locations give tremendous flexibility in massaging the Vulcan S into a perfect fit for riders from 5-feet to over 6-feet tall.

Motorcycle.com’s Evans Brasfield reviewed Kawasaki’s Vulcan S last week, and this week we get a different perspective of the versatile new cruiser from Team Green. -Ed.

2015 Kawasaki Vulcan S ABS – First Ride Review

What do women really want in a motorcycle? And what is it that new women riders seek when buying their first ride? The answer is straightforward – fit. For most, not being able to reach the ground or the controls easily results in a sense of not being in control, and that can be intimidating. Kawasaki takes us beyond those boundaries with the new 2015 Kawasaki Vulcan S and its 18 adjust-to-fit options. The aptly named Ergo-Fit Center tailors the Vulcan S to meet your personal ride adjustments before you ride away.

Unlike the El Dorado, Audace and Touring SE, the three  Moto Guzzi California 1400 variants on display at EICMA, the MGX-21 appears only to be a concept model. At least for now. The avant-garde design seems to pull some styling bravado from Victory, a few cues from Harley-Davidson’s Fat Boy and Street Glide, with an enclosed tail section borrowed from the Arlen Ness style guide.

Moto Guzzi revealed three new California 1400 variants joining the returning Custom and Touring models. Taking the stage at EICMA were the Eldorado (pictured above), the muscle bike styled Audace and the California 1400 Touring Special Edition.

Harley-Davidson’s 2015 Night Rod Special is one of the coolest OEM performance cruisers available today. Its DOHC, four-valve, liquid-cooled, 60-degree V-Twin pumps out a measured 107.6 rear-wheel horsepower and 71.5 Ib-ft of torque. It’s straightline performance dominates most other cruisers regardless of engine capacity. Which makes sense considering the Rod’s affiliation to H-D’s Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Pro Stock machine. They’re only similar on the surface, but it gives the Night Rod some extra street cred.

Introduced in 2007 to fill the space in the Star Motorcycles lineup left by the departure of the V Star 1100, the V Star 1300 has stuck around, relatively unchanged, for the past seven model years. In that time, it’s grown to include a pair of spruced up siblings: the V Star 1300 Tourer and the V Star 1300 Deluxe. Despite the passing of the years, we haven’t revisited the unadorned V Star since our first ride report from the Asheville, NC introduction. Has time been kind to this workhorse of the Star line, or is it time to put it out to pasture?

Yesterday,  Moto Guzzi announced a September on sale date for the 2015 Griso 1200 8V SE and the 2015 V7 Stone. Hot on the heels of  our recent test of the Griso (and just days before the publication of a shootout including the roadster), Moto Guzzi updates the Griso’s tough guy image. Additionally, Moto Guzzi’s best selling model, the V7 Stone (which just so happened to win the  HepCat TooCool Millennial Shootout just two weeks ago), also receives some updates for the new model year. In case you might be wondering how we feel about having bikes we just tested become obsolete before the paint is dry on the stories’ pixels: We’re stoked! Now, we have to test these motorcycles again.

Read on for Guzzi’s press releases:

This week,  Harley-Davidson announced its 2015 models, including four CVO – that’s Custom Vehicle Operations to the rest of us – models to carry the banner of the most premium motorcycles the company manufactures. To this rarefied atmosphere, the Motor Company brought three models based on the touring chassis ( CVO Street Glide, CVO Road Glide Ultra, and CVO Limited) and one Softail-based model, the CVO Softail Deluxe. While it is notable that all four models are touring bikes, the Softail is more of a light-duty tourer that can easily be stripped of its windshield and saddlebags to become a boulevard-focused motorcycle.

In recent years, the cruiser market has been caught up in chasing the perception of authenticity or heritage or history or whatever buzzword you care to use, but regardless of the name attached to it, the result has mostly come in the form of the motorcycle’s styling. While it’s nice to call on the past – and it certainly shouldn’t be ignored – there comes a point where the current retro styling exercises risk crossing over into a caricature of the very thing they’re trying to evoke.

When  Indian revealed the 2015 Scout, yesterday, the company made a bold move that is sure to frustrate Indian traditionalists and pique the interest of riders who have wanted a smaller, lighter, less-expensive Indian. In the process, the design crew has shown that there is more than one way to interpret history.

Even for those of us who came up on Japanese bikes, the new Harley-Davidson Street 750 – the Motor Company’s first new model since the V-Rod of 2001 – is perfectly acceptable. All six gears click in and out with nary a bang, and you don’t even need the light-pull clutch past about third. Steering’s quick and light, and ergonomics are really close to standard if you’re not tall.

Cruisers have always been about the essence of motorcycling, stripping motorcycles down to their core: an engine, a seat, a pair of wheels and little else. Naturally, when thinking about the essential elements of motorcycling, thoughts of the open road come to mind. The dream of packing just what you need on your bike and pointing the front wheel towards destinations unknown looms large in many cruiser riders’ hearts.

The leather baggers segment of cruisers gives the purest physical form to that dream, presumably offering only what you need to live out that simple dream shared by all motorcyclists. When Triumph introduced the Thunderbird LT, we knew it was time to take a close look at these motorcycles since there were now a pair of new members to the category.

It’s so nice when a plan comes together, especially one bound together with the tiniest thread of logic. The Brenham, Texas, tourism people were promoting their lovely Washington County and the upcoming Bluebonnet Festival (a member of the Lupine family), and they invited us to cover it. Then we remembered that our Indian press relations guy is based in Austin, not too far from Brenham. And that Indians are available in Springfield Blue. Bluebonnets! Blue Indians! Red State! Bingo!

The Honda Valkyrie has always held a special place in my heart. First, the Valkyrie was initially released in 1996, the year I started scribbling about motorcycles for a living. Second, the cruiser magazine I worked for had a long-term Valkyrie for the better part of a year. I commuted on it, took canyon rides, toured, did pretty much everything on that bike. I even took it from stock to a custom bike over that time. (After it was returned to Honda, I heard stories of it spending time on the Bonneville Salt Flats pursuing land speed records – purple anodized fork and all.)

Victory Motorcycles, while still a relatively small manufacturer, has found a way to efficiently produce its cruiser line. All of its cruiser models utilize the same engine and the same basic chassis design, allowing the development costs to be amortized across many more units than if each bike were developed independently. While this is hardly unique among the OEMs (most break up their cruiser lines along displacement categories), what makes Victory different is that a single engine configuration is used for every bike they make. Additionally, the entire cruiser line (seven models) uses the same basic chassis.

As we previously noted, Kawasaki organized a “Bike Nite in the Daylite” on Friday, March 14th at the Daytona Int’l Speedway. With around 40 bikes assembled for the four prize category, all those involved with the show felt like it was a success.

This year marked the first time that the Most Unique Bike category was included in the mix. In previous years, the folks at Kawasaki noticed there were many bikes that didn’t fit the Best Cruiser, Best Sportbike, or Best Vintage Bike classes. So, they approached MO to see if we’d be interested in being a sponsor. Since we feel MO readers are unique among motorcyclists, we immediately signed up for the duty.

The entries in the Most Unique category ranged from KZs of various sizes to a ER–6N to a Concours to even a KLX250 in motard trim. The selection of the category winner was left to the folks in attendance who then submitted their ballots to Kawasaki reps. At stake was a 16 GB iPad and a cool trophy created by hand by Kawasaki employees. The Best in Show (with its trophy and $500 MasterCard debit card) would then be selected from the category winners by four judges from Cycle News, MO, Motorcycle Cruiser, and Sportbikes Inc. Additionally, MO partnered to offer our “Most Unique” category winner a free set of METZELER or Pirelli tires. Not bad, eh?

News flash: Women are physically different from men. Women also constitute one of the fastest growing segments in motorcycling. Consequently, motorcycle manufacturers want to find a way for their products to appeal to more members of the matched chromosome set. Since the average height for an American woman over the age of 20 is 5’4” (a good 5.5 in. less than the average American man), designing a bike that acquits itself to a woman’s shorter stature would certainly make it more appealing – and probably sell more to that up-and-coming market.

When Victory Motorcycles announced the Gunner, we were frankly a little perplexed. The Gunner was listed as a bobber, but Victory already had a bobber in the Judge. What made this motorcycle different? Who was it designed for? Our readers added another question to the list when they claimed that the Judge wasn’t really a bobber. So, when Victory contacted us to see if we’d like to ride the Gunner during Bike Week, we gave an unequivocal yes as our answer.

When introducing a new motorcycle, many manufacturers lead off with all the technical marvels they’ve packed into their latest offering. Harley-Davidson often begins with talk of the style of its new motorcycle and how it ties to the company’s history. Being one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers in the world certainly says something about the success of the motor company’s development model.