#videos

With 23 teaser videos spread between the no-limits Ninja H2R and street-legal Ninja H2, Kawasaki has done a masterful job of hyping the two H2 models. At EICMA 2014, Team Green took the wraps off the H2 model, and even though those in attendance practically knew what to expect, practically nobody could take their eyes – and cell phone cameras – away from the Ninja H2. MO’s Editor-in-Chief, Kevin Duke is at EICMA, and was one of those left in awe from the H2. in this video he explains what makes the latest Ninja so special.

Honda is being super-secretive about its RC213V-S prototype, revealing almost no information except its name and its ties to the company’s MotoGP program.

Outfitted with the Race and Dynamic package, the 2015 BMW S1000RR is an HP4 in all but name. More importantly, what BMW has recreated with the 2015 iteration of the S1000RR is the world’s most user-friendly 200 horsepower sportbike in the history of sportbikes.

Hyped up on residual adrenalin from the previous day’s track outing at the Circuito Monteblanco, and feeling a little light-headed after visiting the open bar in the captain’s lounge at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (one hour flight delay), I began typing my 2015 BMW S1000RR review. Oh, S1k double-R, how I love you, let me count the ways: Gear Shift Assist Pro, Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), Dynamic Damping Control (DDC), Cruise Control …

MO E-i-C Kevin Duke offers his first-hand look of the new 2015 Star Bolt C-Spec, a café racer-ish cruiser that debuted today at AIMExpo in Orlando.

MO E-i-C Kevin Duke offers his first-hand look of the new 2015 Yamaha YZF-R3 right from the AIMExpo show floor.

The BMW S1000RR won our Bike of Year and Sportbike of the Year awards in 2010, and Sportbike Honorable Mention award in 2011. A revised S1000RR again won Sportbike of the year in 2012, and in 2013 the HP4 version of the RR, took Best Sportbike. Twenty fourteen is, in fact, the first year since the RR’s launch that it has not gone home with a MOBO award.

Like any proud papa, Jean-Pierre Legris, Lito Green Machine’s founder and president, enjoys talking about his kids. The name Lito is, in fact, a combination of the names of his children, Eli and Teo. In this case, however, we’re discussing the Sora (Japanese for “sky”), Lito’s first production motorcycle from the company’s industrial park address across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada.

It’s easy for us to get carried away in the spirit of the MOment, no matter what kind of motorcycles we’re testing here at the MO. Manufacturers are constantly showering us with the latest greatest machines: $30,000 six-cylinder sport tourers? We love them. $15,000 retro nakeds? Fantastic! Cruisers? Fresh surprises every year, including the new Indian Scout.

Beginner bikes. Save for the obscure cruiser-ish thing you rode during your MSF courses, the two we hear more often than not for learning the moto-trade, especially if sporty-type riding is your thing, are the Kawasaki Ninja 300 (and formerly 250) and Honda CBR250R, now to include the CBR300R. However, we’re here to remind you there are other, potentially better, options.

Typically, the most fascinating sportbikes have high price tags and outrageous levels of power. KTM’s playful new RC390 has neither but, nevertheless is almost irresistibly appealing.

One of these three motorcycles is commemorative, the other retrospective, and the third, uniquely orthodox relative to the company’s ethos. Probably not hard to ascertain which bike is being referenced. They seem equally comparable yet disparate in the same moment.

There is nothing else quite like KTM’s new RC390. Sure, there are some sporty motorcycles displacing less than 500cc, but none of them are as sharply edged or as exotically styled as the RC390. America’s bigger-is-better mentality doesn’t usually give much credence to a single-cylinder sportbike, but the RC390 has the visual appeal and sporting cred that may change some minds.

Looking at the current state of American motorcycle road racing and how bleak it has become, it’s remarkable to think, just over a decade ago, our national series was widely regarded as the best in the world. Riders like Mladin, Duhamel, Gobert, Bayliss, Hayden, Spies and many others carved out a name for themselves here, piloting ferocious superbikes better than, arguably, anyone else in the world.

About four months ago I acquired my motorcycle permit and until recently it sat folded up in a drawer in my dresser, alone and afraid. With school and my lack of employment a motorcycle didn’t seem like something that was going to happen to me unless somehow my dad were to find some turd of a bike in a dumpster and bring it home one day. Then something beautiful happened, summer began and my old man informed me Harley-Davidson was releasing a steezy dank ass dope motorcycle for the hip younger generation, something cheaper and easier to ride. I was all like “damn dad that’s pretty chill, now get out of my room, you’re ruining my life.” As I slammed the door and began to light up a marijuana cigarette, he also yelled, in a desperate attempt to connect with me, that I may be able to borrow one to test ride for some time. Schoolgirl levels of excitement began to set in.