Four years ago, I bought my first real dirtbike (the 1978 Suzuki TS185 my friends and I passed around as kids didn’t count). It was a 2009 Kawasaki KX250F modified for desert trail riding. Foolishly, I bought that bike before I had a way to transport it to the desert that it had been modified for, or anywhere else really. At that point, I hadn’t owned a truck or any other four-wheeled vehicle for nine years. As numerous motorcycles made their way in and out of the garage over that time, I hadn’t felt the need or interest to own anything more than a few streetbikes thanks to southern California’s year-round riding season.

This Sabbath the Wayback Machine (Google) spat up a 20-year old scroll we don’t remember seeing before. We already looked back fondly at the original RC-51 track introduction earlier in Church, but this priceless archive speaks to what’s more important to most of us most of the time. What’s it like to ride every day? Actually, it barely gets around to answering that, but still fun to look back at one of the sweetest sportbikes Honda ever built.

You all know the saying, “You get what you pay for.” It’s an important life lesson that rings true for many aspects of life. Like cheap tools, the pleasure we get for the minimal cost outlay quickly evaporates as soon as it breaks much sooner than it should. Shoulda bought the good one is what we inevitably say to ourselves every time.

Interesting things appear in the Inbox now and then, and this was one of the more interesting ones. Jeffrey Krause’s dad, Darrel W. Krause, was one of the first people American Kawasaki hired when it came to America, at just about the same time the Mach III 500 made Kawasaki a large blip on our radar screen.

GasGas announced its 2021 model lineup, its first fully under the auspices of Pierer Mobility, with a range of 18 models for the North American market.

We’ve all been there, dragging out the hose to try and get rid of a plague of bugs we collected on our latest ride. The process is always the same: hose down and scrub away at chrome, lenses, and pretty much any surface that has become coated with dust, dirt, and grime from the last ride out. But what if there were a different way? What about doing all that, without any water?

The team and I have been grounded longer than usual this year. It’s not all bad. Some of us actually enjoy being with our family, and it’s given us time to complete those long-standing projects around the house while simultaneously creating new ones. That said, it’s only a matter of time before the antsy feeling of wanderlust starts to creep in. Nothing quite satiates a much-needed break from the day-to-day (especially the day-to-day of 2020) like a lil’ camping and a lil’ motorcycle riding. 

As I write this, Southern California is under an excessive heat warning, with the next three days bringing temps that can soar up to 110ºF (that’s 43ºC for you non-Americans) in my area. Honestly, when the temps get that high, I’d rather hop in a pool than ride a motorcycle. But even if you’re riding on a nice day, engine heat can radiate right to your feet. No matter how the heat gets to your toes, it’s times like these when a highly breathable shoe is a godsend.

You know what they say: If it flies, floats, or fluctuates, you’re better off renting. Is that true of motorcycles too? Not long ago motorcycles needed lots of love and personal attention just to keep running, in the same way a toddler or puppy needed constant guidance and assistance with personal hygiene. New bikes, though, seem sprung from the womb fully formed and ready to be emancipated. They need fresh oil now and then and other normal wear items. But for the most part, you just hit the button and go.

It seems like most non-Japanese dealers are up for offering at least short test rides, which are way better than no ride at all. But the advent of more motorcycle rental services means you have the opportunity now to give nearly any motorcycle you’re interested in a more thorough shakedown before you pull the ownership trigger. Ride-sharing companies like Twisted Road and Riders Share give you the chance to rent all kinds of bikes from their owners for a day or three. And now even Hertz is branching out into motorcycles (just BMWs for now), like EagleRider has been doing for years with Harleys – but now also a smattering of BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, etc… Having test-ridden more than our share over the years, here’s our best advice about how not to do it.

A strange thing happened after publishing both the written and video reviews of the Ducati Superleggera V4. A surprising number of people responded – why? 

Holy of moleys, the miracle isn’t that the VMax is still around, but that Yamaha wants to sell you one for $1501 less than in 2010 – a deflationary $17,999. The Triumph Rocket III of yore could’ve been yours for just $13,999. The reinvented 2020 Rocket 3 has much more kept up with inflation, but also with modern technology, and would no doubt give the old VMax an even rougher run for its money. Let he who is without 160 horsepower cast the first throne.

So you’re thinking about renting a motorcycle? Maybe you’re planning a vacation to a far off land where transporting your own motorcycle would be cost-prohibitive or perhaps you’re looking to get some seat time on a potential purchase. Whatever the reason, motorcycle rental is a great way to try something new or add some riding potential to a vacation. There are dozens of motorcycle rental companies around the world, some big, some small, but usually the process is relatively similar when it comes to the rental experience. We’ve put together what we believe to be the major points you should consider when looking to rent a motorcycle. 

We’ll have to quit making little-bike jokes about the 390 Duke, because KTM just released details of its new 200 Duke naked. You know how much we all love the 390 (also the 390 Adventure), and we have no doubt the KTM 200 Duke will be just as much fun albeit at a less rapid pace. 

“This might be the best quality chrome on a production bike I’ve seen to date,” quipped Pete on the 2010 Indian Chief Vintage’s high-luster shiny stuff. Indeed, the future “looks bright,” as Indian focuses on top quality, sticks to its guns, and lets the top-of-the-range Chief Vintage lead the way toward continued pride in the company’s slogan: “America’s First Motorcycle.” Verily, it is always sunniest before the axe falls: One year later, Stellican folded its North Carolina wigwam and sold Indian to Polaris.

Unlike cars, it’s not as easy to walk in to your local motorcycle dealership and take a bike for a test ride. And what do you do if you’re looking at buying a used model you can’t easily find in dealerships? Well, wonder no more. Thanks to the internet and the share economy it has helped create, companies like Riders Share let you easily rent a wide variety of popular motorcycles with a few taps of your phone screen, allowing you to test drive til your heart’s content. Go ahead – give it a try! But once you’ve got the bike in your hands, what sort of things should you be paying attention to?

With Motorcycle.com HQ based in sunny southern California, we know a thing or two about lane-sharing. Heck, for the first nine years that I lived in California, my only mode of transportation was motorcycles. It’s a much faster way to get around. Moving from the cornfields of Illinois with its single-lane highways and sparse traffic to the sprawling population-dense metropolis of Los Angeles was a culture shock to my 19-year old sensibilities and the idea of lane-sharing my way through it was daunting, to say the least. I was timid the first time. Fast forward 11 years and I now feel safer and more comfortable sharing lanes than I do sitting in the middle of them.

There’s really not that much to wrap, frankly. It’s been mostly drama-free. The Suzuki Burgman 400 entered my fleet in mid-March with just 70 miles on the clock, and now sits at 731. That’s not many miles, but you have to understand that Burgman trips mostly happen 4 or 5 miles at a time, the nature of the suburban scooter’s life. Unlike many scooters, though, the Burgman’s size and firepower mean you can take it on extended journeys when you feel like it, which we did at least once, and would’ve done more if the garage didn’t also contain a revolving fleet of bigger bikes that also needed “testing.” With a top speed over 90 mph and an excellent seat for rider and passenger, you really can go places on the Burgman. The linkage-type rear suspension is preload-adjustable, and helps the Burgie ride more like a motorcycle than a scooter.

Two weeks ago we attempted:  Indian vs Harley, Five Ways to Pick the Motorcycle That’s Right For You, and that was kind of fun. But it didn’t really delve much into the psychology of the thing much more than to observe that the love of any motorcycle is a more subjective thing than most major purchases.

Adventure riding and adventure motorcycles are all the rage right now worldwide. While the idea of blending some of the off-road styling into scooters isn’t an entirely new idea, Honda has taken this approach to an entirely new level with the X-ADV, a 750cc Parallel Twin scooter with a dual-clutch transmission. Sadly, we won’t be seeing that model stateside any time soon thanks to US regulation of what constitutes a scooter versus a motorcycle (Honda says the X-ADV can’t be considered a scooter and without foot controls, it cannot be considered a motorcycle).

It goes without saying that motorcycles are inherently more dangerous than cars, but that hasn’t stopped motorcycle manufacturers from trying to reduce the safety gap as much as possible. It’s often worth looking at the safety systems in the car world to get a glimpse into what might be coming down the pipeline for motorcycles.

Following in the footsteps of the Turismo Veloce 800 Lusso SCS, MV Agusta is adding the Brutale 800 RR SCS, Dragster 800 RR SCS and Dragster 800 RC SCS. In case you were wondering, SCS stands for the Smart Clutch System – essentially a clutch system that doesn’t require you to use the clutch at all, even at a stop. Dirt riders might be familiar with the technology as American company Rekluse has been offering clutchless options for ages.

Trials is an incredible sport. What those competitors manage to do on two-wheels seems to disregard the laws of physics. I have to admit though, while I find the feats of trials riders’ gravity-defying moto acrobatics mind-boggling, I’ve maintained only a passing interest in trials that has rarely strayed further than spending more time than I should watching videos of Toni Bou, HRC’s 26-time world trials champion, on Instagram. That said, when the invite came through the MO inbox from GasGas to attend its inaugural California Trial Invitational in Murrieta, CA, I was more than willing to accept the assignment. 

Dear MOby,

In its second quarter 2020 presentation, Harley-Davidson provided an update on its Rewire strategy, clarifying specific details about the plan, and offered a few hints about its follow-up, the newly-christened Hardwire plan which will carry the company through 2021 to 2025. Moving forward, Harley-Davidson plans to reduce its model lineup by 30%, will concentrate its focus on 50 markets, and will proceed to launch its first adventure-touring model in 2021.

It’s an age-old question in America – or it was, at least, until Indian threw in the towel in 1953. But now it’s back again, ever since Polaris bought Indian and started cranking out modern new versions in 2013 (based upon its nearly 20 years experience building Victory motorcycles). Either way, both Harley-Davidson and Indian are genuine USA royalty, right up there with Coca-Cola, Levis and the Trump Organization – and as such, both enjoy an authenticity that non-native brands can only envy when it comes to penetrating the American market. Here are some things to consider if you’ve decided to take the plunge.

Last week, I read a Facebook post from noted moto-journalism gadfly Peter Jones who shared an ancient motorcycle safety film, Uneasy Rider starring Peter Fonda and Evel Knievel, of all people. As a former motorcycle safety instructor, I was intrigued and much impressed by the entertaining and friendly nature of the film (as well as the groovy ’70s dialog, man). In fact, I was so smitten by the film that when the credit for producer/director appeared at the end, I had to Google it to see what other films he had done.

As electric vehicles (EVs) become more mainstream thanks to the automotive industry, we see more and more information swirling around the internet. Unfortunately, not all of that information is up to date or correct at all. With battery tech improving drastically over the past decade, it can be hard to keep up with the current facts. Additionally, with so much information available, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff to discern what’s true and what isn’t. 

If you’re a MotoGP fan, you probably weren’t able to escape the fact that Joe Roberts became the first American to win a pole position in ten years at this year’s season opener in Qatar (after he’d set a new lap record in practice). Okay, well, it was Moto2, granted, but that’s still a big deal, given that today’s Moto2 champs are tomorrow’s MotoGP ones – and also given that Joe’s the only American riding in any MotoGP class. Roberts went on to a fourth-place finish at Qatar, which is another big deal, given that there are 30 riders ding-dong battling it out in Moto2, and he even led for a lap or two. And suddenly the season was halted. What fresh hell is this?

Something about California’s central coast never gets old. It’s not just a single something though, rather a whole lot of somethings. The color palette plays a part for me. The way the wind-swept Monterey Cypress’ deep green leaves contrast with its pale gray bark as it hangs hundreds of feet above jagged cliff faces. The ominous dark blue of the ocean that transitions to turquoise in the shallow waters where the Pacific meets the coast. And the coastline itself, a melange of Franciscan assemblage topped with golden coastal prairie scrub. 

The rear brake is probably one of the most taboo subjects in motorcycling, second only to the black art that is motorcycle suspension. The truth is neither subject has to be any more intimidating than you make it to be, and the rear brake is actually very useful. Granted, the front brake(s) carry the majority of the workload when it comes to slowing down and stopping, but knowing how to use the rear brake effectively will serve you better when it comes to bike control rather than simply scrubbing speed.

Despite the fact that, virus-wise, the U.S. is starting to resemble Dante’s Inferno, over in Europe things appear to be trending well. MotoGP/Dorna has been itching, for obvious reasons, to get some kind of season started and in the books. The sheer amounts of money involved in canceling an entire MotoGP season are unimaginable. They need to get a 2020 season, this kind of MotoGP Lite thing, going, and soon.

Any motorcycle reviewer will tell you it takes a long ride and several miles to really understand how good – or bad – a motorcycle is. This is especially true when the motorcycle in question is a model refresh and not an entirely new machine. But this might be the first time I can remember where just riding from my house to the stop sign at the end of my street left an impression that would last my entire time with the bike. The updated, 2020 Honda Africa Twin is good. Really good.

During its first quarter report in late April, Harley-Davidson announced it was changing course on its “More Roads” business plan, replacing it with the new “ Rewire” strategy. While Harley-Davidson has only described the new plan in broad strokes, we’re already seeing some signs of Rewire falling into place. As the Rewire plan continues to develop, we figured we’d look back at the previous plan to help us figure out where Harley-Davidson goes from here. (UPDATED: July 9, 2020: Harley-Davidson says it will provide more details about Rewire with its Q2 results later this month. Harley-Davidson also says Rewire “set the foundation for a new 2021-2025 strategic plan which is expected to be shared in Q4.”)

In the wake of our 2020 Polaris Slingshot SL Review, we present the latest Sean Matic production delivering moving pictures straight to your autocycle-loving eyes. It was an interesting experience, my few weeks with the Slingshot SL. Out of all of the expensive, exotic, and high-performance machines I’ve had the opportunity to scoot around on, none have elicited the inquisitive stares, hurried cell phone pictures, and general curiosity of the Slingshot. As a motorcyclist, it makes me kind of sad, but I get it, the thing looks like the Batmobile – at least from the front. The greater population can relate to this thing more than some red sportbike – even if that red sportbike is a Ducati Panigale V4 that’ll blow the doors off of most production vehicles you’re likely to find cruising the city streets.

Beau Horton is a self-confessed Honda RC51 lover, as are many folks out there. Here he regales us with his personal love affair with Honda’s direct challenge to Ducati – the RC51. 

This week’s exciting Reader’s Ride is in memory of our dearly departed Rocky Stonepebble, who I think claimed to be Scottish, didn’t he? When he wasn’t busy flinging poo through the bars to incite anarchy and hockey. Kriss and his BMW reside in the Scottish highlands.

Has everybody but me already seen this guy’s work? I bumped into his latest, simply named the Adventure, when I was slurking around the web looking at Ducati ADV bikes. Not sure how this works, since the brand new Scrambler 1100 Sport PRO we just tested tipped our scales 457 pounds worth, with 4 gallons of gas. Walt claims his Adventure, also packing an 1100 Ducati motor, weighs 350 pounds. With 6.5 gallons of fuel. Light is right.

Jacob Jablonski tells us the story so many of us already know by heart. This is Jablonski’s personal account of his relationship with his first motorcycle, a Buell 1125R:

Laverda, in Italian, means “wash your hands,” and that’s what Piaggio did after it acquired the small Breganze brand circa 2000 – washed its hands of the entire brand. (Piaggio bought Moto Guzzi at the same time.) Seven years earlier, though, one Francesco Tognon had bought the brand and produced the bikes you see here, based around an updated 668cc version of a pre-existing parallel twin. Some brave people from Texas, Laverda USA!, brought some bikes to California for the motorcycle press to crash. Why not? They were expendable.

Dear MOby,

Terry Hopkins tells us the tale of “the orange bike” whose powerplant narrowly escaped a fate worse than death – slowly rotting away in a dark dank Florida shop corner – only then to be stuffed into an exhumed Honda CB frame. The resulting build is more impressive than you might think: 

A reading from the book of Schvetz: On this very day [almost exactly 20 years ago] I have been running errands in city traffic, cruising effortlessly on the highway, carving some canyons and trail riding on the same machine for you, the lazy mouse dragger, upon a strange yet captivating combination of curvaceous lines, purposeful looking parts and some really tacky details. Yea, and verily – BMW used to make some very nice big Singles.

The setting is a small Midwestern college, the type that pretty much constitutes its own dot on the map, with brick-paved streets downtown, hardwood shade in the park, and colonial architecture peppered about campus. At its periphery: the house where you are presently sleeping, nestled between manicured quads and second-growth forests, a pastoral acropolis and the amber cornfields beyond. This house is, in contrast, a structure most easily defined as a festering sore bandaged with aluminum siding. Its insulation, for instance, is shredded newspaper. Winter heat circulates via a fan suspended from coat hangers affixed to a stained drop-ceiling above a gas stove with broken igniters. The walls are so rampantly mouse-infested, you’ve resorted to putting an overturned pot with peanut butter on it in the center of the flooded kitchen sink each night – a system devised because it’s easier to run the floating rodents down the disposal than to empty a hundred traps every morning before class.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” Which is interesting, because at the millennial, when Kawasaki updated its sweet ZX-6R, I was 66.6% as old as I am now. Coincidence?! I think not. I have to say, though motorcycles really have cometh a long way, everything else seems to be slipping backward. COVID 19, killer hornets, a springtime with no MotoGP… Washeth thine hands, friends, amen.

When you think of a 1000cc Honda V-Twin sportbike from the start of the millennium, what comes to mind? Naturally, it’s the VTR1000F, right? Wait, what’s that? You’re thinking of the RC51? Well, Micky Garneau wasn’t. Granted he was looking for a street bike, but the time, effort, and money he’s put into his VTR1000F Firestorm, otherwise known as the Superhawk in the US, rivals that of many racebike builds we’ve seen. Here’s Part 1 of Micky’s bike build.

Yes! I mean No! The correct answer is maybe. It all depends on if you care about money at all, the love of which is the root of all evil. If you’re not worried about your income stream or getting the absolute best deal on a new bike, now is as good a time to buy as any and better than most since it’s springtime, and all the pretty new horses are out!

I couldn’t take it anymore. My surroundings were whizzing past my eyeballs quicker than my brain could process. Instead of relenting and slowing down, I thought maybe an upshift would bring the engine speed lower and give me a moment to recalibrate. But before clicking up a gear I had to glance down at the tach to see how fast the engine was spinning. It was somewhere around 10-11,000 rpm. That’s pretty fast for most motorcycles, especially those displacing 1103 cc – but the Desmosedici Stradale inside the 2020 Ducati Streetfighter V4S I’m piloting shows an (indicated) redline of 14,500 rpm. I still had over 4,000 rpm left to melt my brain! Incredible.

Are you sick of us talking about KTM Dukes yet? And by “us” I primarily mean Evans. Anyone who’s followed this space knows he bought a 790 Duke and has modified it to his version of what an R model should be. The list is relatively short and sweet, and covers the primary weaknesses of the 790. So let’s go down the list:

When I initiated this project with MO’s long-term 790 Duke, my goal was simple. I just wanted an excuse to keep the bike as long as possible before I would be required to give it back to KTM. However, even before I considered buying the 790 for myself, I hatched another plan. I was going to build my vision of what a 790 Duke R would look like. Now, KTM has let the cat out of the bag and proved that a 790 Duke R really was never planned, meaning that it decided on an 890 Duke R instead. While it is beyond my capabilities to bump up the engine’s displacement (and retune the counterbalancers or shorten the shifter throw, among other things), as I run down the list of changes I applied to my 790, I don’t think that, although I was just trying to craft my conception of the ideal naked middleweight Twin, I strayed very far from where KTM has taken the 890.

The AGV X3000, if you hadn’t noticed, is AGV’s heritage-inspired line of full-face helmets. What sets the X3000 apart from others cashing in on the retro resurgence is the fact that this helmet is designed to replicate AGV’s first full-face helmet that donned the head of none other than the legendary motorcycle racer, Giacomo Agostini in 1969. The fact that Ago himself helped design the original helmet that the X3000 is based off gives this nostalgic lid a bit more street cred than your run of the mill vintage brain bucket.

Motorcycling is a niche activity, with sportbikes comprising a small niche within it. Track-only sportbikes make up such a miniscule niche within a niche within a niche that they’re almost not worth talking about. Until one so cool comes along that we’re forced to pay attention. The Kramer HKR-EVO2R is such a machine. This is its story.

If you know only one thing about Don Emde, it is probably that, with his 1972 Daytona 200 victory, he became the first – and only – son of a Daytona 200 winner to duplicate the feat. Since those days, Emde has devoted his life to motorcycling. He was the publisher of Motorcycle Dealer News from 1985-1990. For the past 26 years, he has been Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of two magazines for LeMans Corp: Parts Magazine and Drag Specialties Magazine. Ten years ago, his portfolio was expanded to include a third title, Parts Europe Magazine, for its Trier, Germany-based warehouse.

Robert Perkins tells us the tale of his hopped-up 1990 Honda NS144F:

The spiritual heirs of the Bimota Tesi are still at work over there on the Adriatic coast, in Italy, creating their own Vyruses in spite of the corona one. This latest hub-steered creation, in the works for nine years, uses an all new HWSS (Hydraulic Wired Steering System) in yet another valiant effort to overcome the limitations of the telescopic fork. Ducati has supplied 20 special Superquadro 1299 engines, which we suppose means 20 Alyens will be built. The price, Vyrus says, is “not available.” I didn’t really need to be told.

Nope, this is not a First Ride review. Yes, I’m annoyed too. But hey, COVID-19 is affecting everyone in different ways. I won’t whine about not getting to ride new motorcycles for X number of weeks if you folks promise not to whine about, “Where’s the Ninja 1000 SX review!” I understand your anticipation, we feel the same way over here. When our comprehensive Ninja 1000 SX data dump (basically just a giant Kawasaki press release) was published last November during EICMA 2019, Kawasaki spilled all of the beans on the new model. Last week we had a “virtual press launch” which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there was no new information to publish since Kawi had already released it all.

I credit my early foundations in motorcycling to my beloved Suzuki SV650. Like with any sport, you need to learn the basics before you can progress to the more advanced stuff, and while my motorcycling career progressed on a number of different motorcycles over the years, my foundation was solidly built on my humble little SV.

The internet is full of riding advice, isn’t it? Do this. Do that. Hang off. Knee down. Elbow out(!). You get the picture. Now, allow me to add my two cents to the armchair debate, on the subject that’s arguably the most controversial among internet rider coaches everywhere – whether or not to trail brake. The short answer is yes, you should be trailing the brakes. But we’ll get to the reasons why in just a moment.

(WARNING! This is an opinion piece by MO’s Senior Content Editor and does not represent MO’s official position on anything at all.)

The title of this story pretty much sums it all, doesn’t it? Today’s flagship literbikes are getting increasingly expensive, putting them out of the realm of all but the most well off among us. So, let’s look at sportbikes at the lower end of the price scale, shall we? Mainly the Ducati Panigale V2. Ducati’s last V-Twin sportbike, the super-mid comes in at 955cc and $16,500 (well, $16,495 at the time I’m writing this). I had lots of good things to say about it when I got to sample it around the Jerez circuit at the end of 2019. Mainly, I was impressed with how easy it was to ride (a refreshing thing after hustling 200 hp beasts around lately. I know, I’m spoiled) and how well the electronics work.