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Jensen Beeler

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The Yamaha YZF-R7 is coming back as a 2022 model, according to filings made with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), but before you get too excited about the news of this iconic motorcycle name, you should understand it’s not what you think.

Spotted by the eagle eyes at Motorcycle.com, the CARB filing tips that the 689cc motorcycle will use the parallel-twin engine found in the Yamaha MT-07.

As such, today’s news would seem to confirm the rumor that we were first to publish, that Yamaha is working on a full-fairing version of the MT-07, to compete in the growing middleweight twins segment.

Ducatisti who bemoaned that the Multistrada V4 would come with a 19″ front wheel and a double-sided swingarm should be happy about today’s news, since a 17″ version of the ADV bike has been spotted, with a single-sided swingarm to boot. 

Spotted by our friends at Moto.it, the model is being tipped for a 2022 debut, and could be the rumored “Pikes Peak” bike that has come out in US government documents.

KTM North America is recalling 521 units of its 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R for issues with the routing of their wiring harness.

According to recall documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the wiring harness located in the rear of the motorcycle may be routed incorrectly, which could result in wiring damage and an electrical short-circuit.

A special treat for our Paddock Pass Podcast listeners this week, in addition to our regularly planned show that will come out Wednesday, today we are sharing with you one of our shows made just for the Paddock Pass Podcast Patreon supporters (say that three times fast).

In this one, we have Steve English and David Emmett on the mics and they discuss what to expect from the MotoGP teams as we head into the opening round at Qatar, with a preview of what we’ll see at the test (which happened this past weekend).

For a variety of reasons, the MotoGP team unveilings have become a dreadful boring affair in the recent years.

It used to be, that these events would be our first chance to see the new bikes from the coming season, but now these new bike revisions have become too secret to show before the racing started.

Instead, the events have become a release of new livery designs, plastered on last year’s bikes. The liveries rarely change though, and with the current rules package, the same could be said about the machinery.

That is not the case with the factory Aprilia Racing squad, however. Developing the Aprilia RS-GP at a rapid pace, we are witnessing a constantly evolving motorcycle.

Episode 188 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one covers the launch of the Petronas Sepang Racing Team and the dynamic between the squad’s two riders: Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi.

On the mics, we have Steve English, David Emmett, and Adam Wheeler, along with some audio from Franco Morbidelli’s media scrum from the Petronas Yamaha launch event.