#Honda

There are a lot of ways to go for a long distance tour. These days, offerings are plentiful when choosing a steed to gallop your way across the country. There are even a few liter bikes that come equipped with cruise control, if you’re into that sort of thing. From dedicated six-cylinder sport tourers, to Dakar inspired adventure bikes, there has probably never been a better time to choose a touring motorcycle.

Sadly, the 2018 Pramac Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland lived up to its advance billing. Marc Marquez, starting from pole for the ninth consecutive year, got a little swamped by a couple of Ducatis at the start. By Lap 5 he had moved past Danilo Petrucci into second place. On Lap 13 he went through on Jorge Lorenzo into the lead. With factory Yamaha pilots Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales playing catch-up over the second half, it was a routine ninth win in a row for Marquez in Germany as MotoGP makes the turn heading for the back, um, 10 starting at Brno in August.

Niccolò Canepa is a bit of a journeyman in the racing scene. With stints in both MotoGP, Moto2, World Superbike, Superstock 1000, and Supersport 600, the Italian has now found a home in the Endurance World Championship, where he’s riding the factory GMT94 Yamaha R1. In this video, you can see why Canepa has raced in virtually all of the top-tier classes the world has to offer. In this practice session for the Suzuka 8 Hours, Canepa takes you on board as he slices and dices his way past lesser riders – all of whom would likely smoke the biggest hotshot at your local trackday.

Honda Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa announced his retirement early thursday morning ahead of the ninth round of the 2018 MotoGP season at the Sachsenring. The announcement comes on the heels of a flurry of news in the MotoGP paddock with Jorge Lorenzo joining Marc Marquez next year at HRC and the proposed Yamaha Petronas team. Not to mention Pedrosa’s own scheduled press conference at the last round in Assen where the HRC rider was unable to make his announcement for whatever reason, as he had planned.

If your name is not Marc Marquez, Round Nine of the 2018 MotoGP championship at the legendary Sachsenring in eastern Germany could not arrive at a worse moment. Bad enough that he put his hands on the throat of the 2018 title last time out in Assen, inserting 41 points between himself and Valentino Rossi, but to do so on the way to Germany, where he hasn’t lost since, like, grade school, is a little much, if you ask me.

You’ve heard the adage a lot if you’re a consistent Motorcycle.com reader – it’s more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow – and with our recent Lightweight Sportbike Shootout we’ve gone ahead and proved it. By now we’ll assume you’ve already read the shootout, seen our conclusions, and also drawn your own; but what exactly do these three motorcycles look like at speed around Laguna Seca? This is your chance to see for yourself, as we’ve captured a quick lap aboard all three bikes, courtesy of Yours Truly.

Four years ago, Honda UK came up with the crazy idea to set a new speed record for a riding lawnmower, building a rig around a 996cc VTR engine. Well, it’s 2018 and the Brits are at it again, building the Mean Mower V2, this time powered by the CBR1000RR SP‘s inline-Four.

It’s “Touring Month” here at MO, and how fitting, ’cause I’ve been riding the wheels off our borrowed Honda Gold Wing for a while now. (Just to let you know I’m not in Honda’s pocket, I’d be just as happy to be riding the wheels off the BMW K1600B, but BMW had to have it back.) I could also be happy to be riding the wheels off a Victory Cross Country 8-Ball, though a quick sweep through Cycle Trader informs me those things seem to be holding their value nicely and are still out of my price range.

MO’s resident moto-sleuth, Dennis Chung, has done it again with this online discovery of these Honda CBX design drawings, which were filed Feb. 1 and officially registered June 8 with Japan’s intellectual property office. As with all drawings of this type, they are both remarkably detailed and frustratingly vague. For example, the side covers over the electronics appear to have Dzuz fasteners holding them on, while there are no hints at all as to what is going into the space between the top of the engine and the frame. Will Honda allow that much light to pass through its motorcycle in the final design? Let’s take a deep dive into what we can surmise from these drawings.

The Cathedral of Speed gave the 105,000 crazed Dutch fans in attendance a memorable liturgy today – the most closely grouped top 15 in MotoGP history, 16 seconds separating the lot. The action at the front – six different riders led at one point or other – was so intense it reduced the announcers to mere stuttering and grunting during the last three laps, panties in a full twist. At the end, the incomparable Marc Marquez put his stamp on a signature win, one of his best ever.

Honda’s known for its iconic lineup of CBR sportbikes – the CBR600RR and CBR1000RR are two of the most legendary sporting motorcycles to ever grace a racetrack. Look deeper into Honda’s product lineup however, and you’ll find Team Red has a host of other models also wearing the CBR nameplate. Here, we’ll take a look at the CBR500R. A 471cc parallel-Twin, the 500R represents a stepping stone to the bigger, badder CBR models – or does it? After spending some time with it, here are five things you need to know about the 2018 Honda CBR500R.

It’s getting to be a bit silly what’s passing for a lightweight sportbike these days. In the beginning, it made sense: You had the Kawasaki Ninja 250. And, well, that was it. It only took twenty-odd years, but the other manufacturers eventually took notice that building small bikes to entice new or returning riders was probably a good thing for the industry, and hence, started building little bikes of their own. Honda came around with the CBR250R…just as the competition upped the ante again. Kawasaki pushed the bar with the Ninja 300, then Honda made a weak attempt to follow suit with the 286cc CBR300R. Yamaha then jumped in the game, shoving displacement rules out the window with its 321cc R3 – but not to be outdone, the brash Austrians (via India) at KTM one-upped all of them with the 373cc RC390.

The Existing World Order in MotoGP remained intact on Sunday in Barcelona. A resurrected Jorge Lorenzo won his second race in a row, from pole no less. He has shuffled the tranches more than he has the standings, as the riders look ahead to The Cathedral at Assen.

Virtually lost amidst the frenzied game of musical chairs being played in MotoGP is the fact that, pursuant to his careless crash in Italy ten days ago, Marc Marquez has returned to Earth. Though the title still appears to be his to lose, his margin of error has been trimmed. Another off in the next few rounds will breathe life into his six closest pursuers. Or, he could win the next three rounds without breaking a sweat, forcing us to start thinking about 2019. Dude records way more wins than DNFs.

After news broke yesterday that Dani Pedrosa was leaving Honda, we knew it would be just the first in a series of MotoGP contract news to come. Pedrosa has had his seat with the Repsol Honda team for 13 years, and his departure created an opening the team immediately filled by signing three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo.