#JohnBurns

Yamaha’s TMAX scooter hit Europe in 2001, and the OG “maxi-scooter” has been hard at work transporting people and their stuff ever since. The beat goes on for 2017, with three models: TMAX, TMAX SX and TMAX DX. The TMAX is described as  a ‘blank canvas,’ for customers who want to add their own parts and accessories.  Sporting special colors and ride modes, TMAX SX is designed for sports-oriented customers. Then there’s the top-line TMAX DX, complete with extensive electronic control technology including D-MODE and Cruise Control – also an adjustable screen and heated grips and seat.

This is the other concept bike Honda’s Rome R&D group presented at EICMA this year, alongside the CB1100TR. The Africa Twin Enduro Sport concept gets enhanced off-road ability thanks to lighter chassis parts snagged from Honda’s CRF racing models. The Enduro Sports concept, say the Romans, is designed to be “Queen of the Off-Road!”

This concept by Honda R&D of Rome didn’t appear as part of Honda’s main EICMA presentation, but it just might be the coolest bike with a Honda badge at the show.

Husqvarna’s new Vitpilen 401 is focused on “providing a pure riding experience.” Using a 373cc Single borrowed from KTM’s 390 Duke housed in a stripped-down layout with clip-on bars, Husky says it will appeal to “an entirely new generation of riders looking for an honest and highly accessible machine.”

After showing us Fireblade SP and SP2 versions last month at Intermot, today the all-new base Honda CBR1000RR made its debut in Italy. The high-end Öhlins and Brembo components from the SPs are swapped for less-spendy Showa and Tokico pieces.

If you missed Ducati’s live-streaming event from Milan this morning, you missed a lot. According to CEO Claudio Domenicali, 402,000 Ducati fans saw the new model presentation on Facebook this morning. We expected most of the new models that were introduced; one we didn’t really is the new Multistrada 950.

As you’re reading this, I am doing something I haven’t done in about 10 years, not officially anyway: being on vacation! That’s right, I’m motorcycleless up in the eastern Sierra Nevada of California, possibly half-heartedly attempting to catch a trout, clambering around over boulders, soaking in hot springs, emulating fine beer commercials, probably humming to myself David Bowie’s final musical vanishing trick, “Look up here, I’m in Heaven.”

Wow, we’ve been waiting more than a year for Schuberth’s new modular to get here if the date on this MO story from last year is correct, but now it’s finally here, a brand-new E1 in Hunter Blue (one of 15 available schemes) in this case. At that coming-out party last September, Schuberth said the new E1 is a lot like the C3 modular it’s been manufacturing for years, but with an adjustable visor to make it an “Adventure” helmet. Mission accomplished!

Dear MOby,

Seriously, after a while the parade of hot new bimbos grows old. They’re all great, but they all have their own demands, their own need to have their buttons and controls manipulated in the one certain way that makes them happy – a requirement older bikes just don’t have.

Dear MOby,

Oh, this is cool. To be sold alongside the standard Honda CB1100 in Europe, the new CB1100 RS is:

The first Vespa to bear the name Primavera, that’s “springtime” to you and me, made its first appearance in 1968 and was revolutionary: small, agile, powered by a brilliant engine. Primavera placed wings on several generations and was produced without interruption until 1982, making it one of the widest commercial successes in Vespa history. Its new incarnation is a star in its own time, says Vespa: Youthful, innovative, technologically ground-breaking, agile and dynamic, with an eye to the protection of the environment, inheriting all the freshness and joy of living from its predecessor.

We were definite fans of  the GSX-S750 when it was new to the U.S. two years ago, and now that Suzuki appears to have addressed our chief complaints, we’re prepared to be even bigger ones.

If a new GSX-R1000 isn’t exactly what you had in mind, maybe something in a heavily revised Suzuki V-Strom? Both the 650 and 1000 Stroms received a lot of attention, including this V-Strom 650 XT above, complete with wire spoke wheels. They’re 19- and 17-inches of course, to accept more serious rubber for the serious off-road adventure rider. The non-XT version comes with cast wheels.