We all know Yamaha as one of the world’s leading motorcycle manufacturers, but what’s often forgotten is the Tuning Fork company’s work in the automotive sector. Yamaha has a long history of producing engines and other components for automakers such as Toyota and Ford.

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.

1981 was just slightly before my time, when I was still in the “lusting in my heart” but “unable to obtain” stage of motorcycling. I do remember the XS Eleven being the fastest thing at the dragstrip there for a while, in spite of its shaft drive, but I don’t know if I ever knew of the Venturer version of the bike, lovingly semi-restored by Ric McKinsey, of Crescent City, California. The saddlebags are genius. Take it away, Ric.

The beleaguered Norton Motorcycles has been bought out by India’s TVS Motor Company. Norton, which was put into administration in January, was purchased by TVS through a subsidiary in an all-cash deal worth 16 million British pounds (US$20 million).

And so it is written: Everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it. August in the high desert is normally high time for cursing the heat. Strangely, none of our intrepid testers so much as mentioned it, so excited were they to ride the Ducati 996 against the new Honda RC-51 and Aprilia Mille at Willow Springs 20 years ago. Forgive them, father, for the big jugs and porn star banter; in 2000 they knew not of “me-too.”

I don’t know why I assumed the new baby KTM 390 Adventure would be more of a milquetoast little beginner bike, like most of the other wannabe ADV bikes in its class, but I kind of did. It’s nothing of the sort. We’ve seen the photos (and maybe I failed to read the words), but in the flesh at KTM’s Murrieta, California, HQ, I was a little surprised. Say, this mini-Adventure looks like a full-size ADV bike, not a kiddie toy. Personally, I’d prefer something a bit lower, but as it turns out, looks can be deceiving. Though the 390 looks a lot like the acclaimed new 790 Adventure, it is way lighter.

Back in the era of my misspent youth, things used to be so much simpler. You’d take your new motorcycle home, bolt-on a “Closed Course Only” aftermarket exhaust, and (if you were smart) install a jet kit in the carburetors. The result was significant power gains and weight loss. Today, things are a little more complicated. Carburetor jet kits are illegal in some states, and the OEMs are making it tougher for EFI piggyback systems to alter what the EPA dictates your air/fuel tuning should be. Additionally, it is much more difficult to get aftermarket exhausts in some places.

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.

Yikes! $18,895 was a lot of money for a motorcycle 20 years ago, but not enough to keep friend of MO Michael Cottam from bringing home a brand new MV, flogging it for a few thousand miles, and living to tell the tale. Verily, I’m going to have to take a look at what these things are going for on the used market… it’s a good day for resurrection.

[Our Canadian MO compatriot, Justin Mastine-Frost, gives us his perspective on the Yamaha XSR900. Since he can’t shoot photos and ride simultaneously, we’re providing the photos from our Yamaha XSR900 Corral shootout. – EB]

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.

It’s important to keep things in perspective; the coronavirus isn’t the first disaster to befall us and you know it won’t be the last. Well, I mean it could be… Wherever you live, you can probably find all kinds of things that have gone spectacularly tits up over the years in your own backyard. The bigger the town, the bigger the pile of massive cock-ups, as the English like to say. It’s a good word. Especially now that there’s no traffic, and we have motorcycles, why not let’s go visit? Our deepest condolences to those of you living in places where you’re not allowed to ride.

Gary Corde tells us about his eye-catching 1997 Suzuki Savage cafe racer:

Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?  And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these dang Suzuki Bandits. O ye of little faith in thy brand new crispy yellow Aerostich suit, Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Where is the cruise control? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Since May of last year, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the official reveal of the BMW R18. We’ve had hints from BMW. We’ve had spy photos. But we haven’t had anything for sure. Well, that time is at hand. Today, BMW officially unveiled the 2021BMW R18. What does it have other than the “Big Boxer” engine? Read on and find out.

Listen to sport riders talk about a corner on the track, or maybe their favorite road, and you’ll hear things like “I come in hard on the brakes, bang a couple of downshifts, and then bend it into the corner.” Let’s just focus on the word “bang” here. Riders are broken into a couple of different categories when it comes to downshifting technique. On opposite ends of the spectrum, you’ll find the ones who flex their ankle, precisely snicking each shift with the toe of their boot, and then there are the stompers who use their whole leg. Most of us are somewhere in between, neither babying nor beating our motorcycle’s transmission. No matter how strong modern transmissions are, they still contain parts that you can bend or break if you abuse them. That’s what Rottweiler Perfomance’s Transaver is supposed to prevent. 

One nice thing about the motorcycle market’s troubles is a resurgence of the kind of fun little cheap bikes the codgers are always pining for. Case in point: the MT-03, the naked version of Yamaha’s sweet little YZF-R3, and the newest member of its “Masters of Torque” naked-bike family – here to take the fight to the KTM Duke 390, Kawasaki Z400, BMW G310R…

In my 24 years of road testing motorcycles, I can count on one hand (with fingers left over) the number of bikes I’ve tested that I genuinely disliked, and in the case of the 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard, the list has grown by one. Take an otherwise solid motorcycle, give it an abysmal riding position, and it is possible to create a machine that sucks all the joy out of riding, which is saying something since the Softail platform, updated in 2018, is typically quite amenable. 

By all accounts, the KTM 790 Duke is a great little motorcycle. Light, nimble, and with a healthy amount of middleweight power, when MO was given a 790 Duke to test, it was so much fun our own Evans Brasfield bought the damn press bike. He then proceeded to turn the bike into his version of what a 790 Duke R should be (you can read about his exploits elsewhere on this site). Little did he know KTM was doing the same halfway across the globe in Austria.

Harley-Davidson has filed designs with the European Union Intellectual Property Office for two more models using the liquid-cooled Revolution Max engine powering the Pan America and Bronx. The two new designs, one a cafe racer and the other a flat track-inspired model, further add to the modular concept promised with the new engine platform.

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. 

Honda revealed a new concept model based inspired by the CB900F. The Honda CB-F Concept is based on the Neo Sports Café-styled CB1000R, but with a decidedly more retro vibe. The CB-F Concept was originally intended to be a part of Honda’s display at the Osaka and Tokyo Motorcycle Shows, but due to COVID-19, was instead revealed in an online “Virtual Show” along with other models like the new CT125 Hunter Cub.

Poor Ducati. It seems as though the mystical powers that be simply have something against its new model, the Streetfighter V4. After all the hype surrounding a naked version of the mighty Panigale V4, nothing has gone to plan. First was the death of Carlin Dunne while en route to a commanding victory at the Pikes Peak hill climb, then came the cancellation of the international press intro for the SF V4 at the Ascari Circuit in Spain due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Since the 2021 CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP was announced in November, we’ve been eagerly waiting for  Honda to release horsepower figures for the U.S. market, hoping it wouldn’t be far off the 215 hp claimed for the European-spec model. Thanks to VIN documentation Honda submitted to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, we can now report the American-spec CBR1000RR-R will only produce 188 hp.

Honda officially confirmed the CT125 minibike is going into production as the CT125 Hunter Cub. At the moment, the 2021 Honda CT125 Hunter Cub has only been announced for the Japanese market, where it will be available for 440,000 yen (US$3952).

On Wednesday, March 25 at 10:30 am PST (1:30 pm EST), Ducati will be live-streaming a presentation about the new Streetfighter V4, straight from the designers, engineers, technicians, test riders, and everybody else involved with making it come to life.

My greatest fear was of not taking the chance, of wimping out, of being that half-drunk guy at the bar, many years in the future, mumbling about the special whine of straight-cut gear-driven overhead cams, or staring at the floor in embarrassment, unable to pronounce “homologation” on the third try. Everyone who’s ever had a dream bike can tell you a story about it; most of them end with the words, “I wish I had it back.”

A touring version of the BMW R18 cruiser has been spotted by spy photographers, sporting a fork-mounted windscreen and leather saddlebags. A potential competitor to the Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic, this touring model joins the cruiser and fairing-mounted bagger versions we uncovered in design filings in late February.

At Daytona, Polaris loaned me a Slingshot for a few hours and I’m not even sure the three-wheeled Slingshot should be in Motorcycle.com, but that’s Evans’ problem. I just do the typing. The 2020 Slingshot is mostly new from the brake pedal forward. The driving experience is 80% automotive, 20% ATV Quad, and 100% motorcycle when it rains. It’s going to take me more than a few hours to acclimate to the oddness of this gearbox and the three-wheeler’s handling characteristics.

Harley-Davidson announced it is suspending most of its U.S. production through March 29 after one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The temporary suspension in production affects the company’s York Vehicle Operations in Pennsylvania, and the Tomahawk Operations and Pilgrim Road Powertrain Operations facilities in Wisconsin.

Once in a blue moon, Honda likes to flex its muscle and remind everyone that it’s Honda, and when its team of engineers and designers want to, they can produce cool motorcycles capable of completely blowing your socks off. Bikes like the RC35, RC45, RC51 (arguably), the oval-piston NR750, and who can forget the road going MotoGP bike, the RC213V-S? And though we haven’t ridden it yet, the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP promises to carry on that tradition, at which point those same designers and engineers can go back to their usual business of coming up with things like the DN-01 and NM4.

Just because they cancelled South by Southwest doesn’t mean MO would let a little thing like a global pandemic keep us from our appointed rounds, and so it was off to Austin, Texas, to ride Yamaha’s new entry-level Master of Torque last week. (Or maybe it should’ve deterred us, since on my day to fly home again, we got word that the US MotoGP round, scheduled for April here in Austin, was also postponed due to coronavirus. Then the IoM TT, then the run on toilet paper… And now my throat’s a little scratchy… maybe this thing is not a Chinese hoax?)

With the whole world largely on hold for the foreseeable future thanks to the Coronavirus, we finally have time to revisit some projects that have been sitting on the back burner. In this case, the Energica Ego Corsa MotoE racer. If you remember, I wrote some words about the bike and my experience riding it, but never got around to posting the video. Several reasons factor into this: the holidays, other projects, procrastination, and just life in general pushing the ball down the road one more day. But the big reason this video comes to you so late is the fact I wasn’t able to get as much footage as I would have liked.

The phrase “Super-Mid” is about as meaningless as they come in motorcycling, but nonetheless, Ducati has used it to label its smaller displacement sportbike; in this case the Panigale V2. Essentially the previous Panigale 959 with a facelift and V4-level electronics, this odd-displacement sportbike not only has a weird engine size – 955cc – but it’s  a V-Twin to boot (and no need to “correct” me about not calling it an L-Twin, because even Ducati calls it a V2 now), putting it in a distinguished field of outliers in the sportbike class, joining the Suzuki GSX-R750, Kawasaki ZX-6R and its 636cc engine, and the now-discontinued Triumph Daytona 675. We’re not counting the Triumph Street Triple 765 since it’s not really a sportbike.

Honda has registered designs for the production version of a new CT125 model. Honda showed off a concept version of the CT125 at the Tokyo Motor Show last fall (pictured below), but the new design contains details indicating a production-ready model.

We first learned about the impending release of the 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard thanks to the excellent sleuthing of MO’s Production Editor, Dennis Chung, who dug the information out of the dark recesses of the CARB website.  Only ten days later, Harley confirmed the Softail Standard, and now, as we take delivery of one for the full MO-review treatment, we thought you might like a little information about the newest member of the Softail family. 

The pie, everyone agrees, is shrinking, and nobody can agree on how to bake a new one. Many, if not most industry people seem to have concluded millennials are just cell phone-addicted slackers, though slackers is not the word many of them use in private conversation. What it’s all about now, then, is conquest sales, and when the Germans start talking conquest, people listen. One way to conquer is by lowering prices, which would seem to suggest the slackification could be a money-related issue, wouldn’t it? I can’t remember the last time BMW admitted to taking aim at a specific competitor, but for the new F 900 XR in our lead image, it’s the Yamaha Tracer 900. For the barer-boned F 900 R, it’s the Kawasaki Z900 – both rich targets and great bargains. 

Harley-Davidson has filed trademark applications for two potential new logos for electric two-wheelers. The two trademarks were filed today with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, for use on either electric bicycles or electric motorcycles (plus “structural parts therefor”). We expect similar filings to pop up on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office any day now. [UPDATE: As expected, Harley-Davidson has filed trademark applications for these two logos with the USPTO. This also gives us a higher-resolution look at the two symbols.)

One score and five years ago, Motorcycle Online was one year old and full o’ beans, broadcasting squawkily but surely to hundreds of early-adopter nerd motorcyclists over the interwebs. Who knew what a monolith it would become? Well, Brent Plummer and his early band of acolytes knew; unfortunately they didn’t have time to hang around while the world caught up, bless their hearts, or to afford a camera. Sounds like Andy Saunders, who wrote this excellent BMW review, packed up and moved back to England. Good on him, and Godspeed to all.

Lately, it’s like time travel around here. A couple years ago we put the then-new Kawasaki Z900RS up against the Suzuki GSX-S1000 in a slightly apples-to-oranges comparo, Retro or Not(ro), which the Kawi won by a hair. Now that Suzuki has their own retro based upon the GSX-S in the Katana, we felt like we had to do it again. Our duty.

While we continue to wait on the slow drip of official news on BMW‘s 1800cc cruisers, we’ve gotten our mitts on design filings for what appears to be the production models of the R18 in cruiser and bagger form. [UPDATE: BMW announced the R18 production model will be revealed on April 3. The announcement suggests just a single bike, a cruiser, will be revealed. No word on when we can expect the bagger version.]

A couple of weeks ago, you had the opportunity to read the book. Now, thanks to the tubes of the internet, you can see what the introduction of the 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R looked like in all its HD glory. See the day start in pea soup fog before moving to scenic coastal highways. Later, watch the SDR handle the challenges of the Portimao circuit. Finally, watch Evans tie it all together in the end-of-day briefing in front of a picturesque backdrop. There’s even some talk about this being the film to beat in next year’s Oscar race.

Harley-Davidson officially announced a new Softail Standard model for 2020, confirming news we first broke earlier this month after the cruiser was certified by the California Air Resources Board.

The Honda ADV150 may soon be coming to the U.S., as the California Air Resources Board has certified the scooter for the 2021 model year. [UPDATE: Honda has submitted VIN data for the ADV150 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, further confirming it will be coming to the U.S. as a 2021 model]

According to various online weather services I looked at prior to jumping on a plane to Bahrain, the desert country only gets about 10 days of rain for the entire year. With those kind of odds it’s no wonder Ducati chose this location to hold the international press launch of its new and improved 2020 Panigale V4 S in the middle of January; with beautiful sunshine, a world-class Formula1 track, and stacks of Pirelli tires at hand, it’s every track rider’s dream, and a perfect venue to test the improvements Ducati have made. 

It’s easy to take for granted the dynamics involved in creating a fairing for a motorcycle. Sure, you could easily mold a piece of plastic or resin and create a shape, but what thought process and research goes into such a mold? We take something like fairings for granted because they’re so commonplace. Big OEMs have the resources to hire big-name designers to create something that’s easy on the eyes, then study the fluid dynamics behind the designer’s sketch to see how different lines bend and shape the wind as it flows through it. Then these big players can utilize finite element analysis to dictate the strength of a part or component and adjust as needed for a given application. But nobody talks about these things anymore because this is simply something we expect. We’re numb to it. But when we stop and think about it, the fit and finish of a motorcycle determines its legitimacy.

As a flat softball-sized boulder flipped up from beneath the rear tire of the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro I was following, the ringing of the krakebs from the previous night’s festivities grew louder and louder in my ears as I braced for impact. Subconsciously, I rolled off the throttle if only for a brief moment slowing myself enough to not make contact with the hurtling stone. Then back on the gas quickly to launch the 450(+)-pound motorcycle into the air over the rocks embedded in the road. Through bustling city squares, desolate tiny villages, and long barren stretches, our time onboard the Triumph Tiger 900 had been nothing short of an adventure. An experience of a lifetime; one perfectly suited for the Triumph Tiger 900.

And at that time the serpent had told Calvin and Minime that they could have any flavor of horizontally-opposed twin BMW they wanted, but that they were not to even think about a lighter or higher-performance BMW, or they would be cast out of the garden of MO, the World Trade Center would fall down, and the earth would be cast into 20 years of really interesting times. And not in a good way.

Harley-Davidson appears set to add another cruiser model to its lineup, with the addition of a new Softail Standard. This development comes to us thanks to an updated executive order from the California Air Resources Board which certifies a 1746cc 2020 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard, along with a Stage 1 upgrade.

When one thinks about Las Vegas, thoughts naturally tend towards gambling, bright lights, overpriced restaurants (or buffet food), and desert heat – not standing beside the road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the temperature on the wrong side of 40° while a 200-hp beast idles its way to operating temperature. This is the type of scenario where having track rubber with tire warmers would be significantly less desirable than the Pirelli Diablo Rosso III street tires the 2020 Kawasaki Z H2 I was about to mount was sporting. The first lap would suck the heat out of those toasty warm sticky track compounds rendering them useless. Street tires, however, have a much broader operational temperature envelope.

Eicher Motors has filed trademark applications for two potential models: “Royal Enfield Flying Flea” and “Royal Enfield Roadster”. The trademark applications were filed yesterday with the European Union Intellectual Property Office for use on “motorcycles; parts and fittings therefore,” as well as for various clothing items.

Updated February 2020

Triumph announced updates for the Street Triple R for 2020, with an updated engine, a up-and-down quickshifter and revised styling, as well as a lower MSRP than the 2019 model.

For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, who satteth at the right hand of Taglioni. Yea verily, what is a nice original 748 going for these days? The 916 is the collectible Ducati all the collectors want, yet were it I doing the collecting, the higher-winding banana-yellow 748 is the bike I’d want to ride out once or twice a year to forgive all iniquity, heal all  disease, redeem life from the pit,  crown with steadfast love and mercy and satisfy with good so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Is that so much to ask?

Don’t you ever get tired of reading track comparisons from guys that are riding at international race-winning levels? From guys who have been racing their entire lives and who drag elbow like it’s their job (literally)? Me neither, but the guys here at MO and I thought there might be someone out there who could appreciate insight from what a novice track rider might experience when comparing some of the latest 600-class supersports. The two most recently updated of which happen to be the Yamaha R6 and Kawasaki ZX-6R.

How do you top a 221 hp, wing-sprouting beast like the Panigale V4 R? If you’re Ducati, the answer is to add more winglets and replace the V4 R’s fairing and chassis with carbon fiber and reduce the weight by 35 pounds to a claimed dry weight of 351 pounds. Top it off with a paint scheme inspired by the Desmosedici GP19 MotoGP bike’s livery and you get the 2020 Ducati Superleggera V4. A limited edition model (only 500 individually numbered units will be produced), the Superleggera V4 is billed as the “most powerful and technologically advanced production Ducati ever built.”

The KTM 1290 Super Duke R has always been a sledgehammer of a motorcycle. While the blunt instrument approach to producing power has its fans, there is something to be said about using a little finesse when dishing out a gut punch. With the development of the 2020 model, which KTM has dubbed “The Beast 3.0,” the focus was on refining the techniques the Super Duke R uses as it brutalizes the laws of physics. And I think that it will produce even bigger smiles on the hearty souls who choose this mount to beat their local tarmac into submission.

How can any red-blooded American not love Suzuki, the blue-collar working motorcycle so many of us thrashed as youths, left parked in alleys with no loss of sleep, covered in fur for a brief period there in the (I think) ’90s… In spite of all the abuse we dished out, Suzuki’s loyalty was never in question.

For the 2020 model year, Indian is giving its ultimate touring bike, the Roadmaster Elite, a few significant updates – a bigger engine, more powerful audio system, and custom paint sure to stun. Here’s the catch: Indian is only making 225 units. However, if you’re one of the lucky 225 who shell out the $38,999 retail price in time, what you’ll get is the cream of the crop in the Indian Touring lineup. Let’s highlight the major changes.