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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast #158 – Austrian GP

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Episode 158 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and it sees us covering the incredible Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

As such on the mics, we have David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Steve English, as the trio discusses the latest round of the MotoGP Championship.

The guys have no shortage of topics to discuss for this one, and right off the bat there is the conversation about the incident between Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli, and the massive controversy that the crash created.

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Bikes

So Many Photos of the MV Agusta Superveloce 800

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Fresh with its new livery design, MV Agusta sent us these photos of the Superveloce 800, which is just now starting to make its way out of the Italian company’s factory in Varese.

While the basics of the motorcycle center around MV Agusta’s modern 145hp, 800cc, three-cylinder platform, the exterior of the Superveloce 800 is what is grabbing headlines, as the retro-modern look of the sport bike is quite the head-turner.

Therefore it should go without saying that we needed little convincing in order to publish the 98 high-resolution phots of this machine.

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Rumors

Wings Are Coming to the Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 for 2021

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The Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 seems set to get wings for the next model year, as the eagle eyes at GPone have caught the Italian streetfighter testing with a MotoGP-inspired aerodynamics package.

Caught spinning laps in Imola with test rider Lorenzo Savadori at the control, what we see here is surely coming for the next model year, but the question is whether it will be a street bike or not.

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Bikes

The New Honda CBR600RR Will Not Be Coming to the USA

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Sad trombone. The new Honda CBR600RR that we have been so excited about is destined not to come to US soil, American Honda has told us.

As we knew already, the 2021 Honda CBR600RR would not be coming to the European continent either, making the 600cc supersport a rather odd duck in terms of where it will be for sale.

Honda has confirmed to Asphalt & Rubber that the new CBR600RR will come to the Japanese market, and perhaps some other select Asian markets, primarily for racing homologation purposes, meaning it likely will be made in a small production volume.

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Racing

This Year’s Suzuka 8-Hours Has Been Canceled

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One of our favorite events each year, the Suzuka 8-Hours is perhaps one of the most important races on the motorcycle calendar, as the Japanese brands jockey to prove who is the best on their home turf.

However, the legendary Japanese race is not immune to the global situation relating to the outbreak of the coronavirus, and from that we saw its original July race date moved  to the beginning of November.

Now with new concerns, the endurance race and finale of the FIM Endurance World Championship calendar has been unfortunately canceled altogether.

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News

Dirt Bikes Sales Lead US Motorcycle Industry to a 6.4% Gain for the First Six Months of 2020

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Motorcycle sales in the United States have had a tumultuous year so far, starting Q1 off with a 9% sales decline from 2019. That figure didn’t tell the whole story though, as not all segments were reacting similarly to the coronavirus lockdown.

While street bike sales were down 23%, off-road bikes were up an astounding 30% (dual-sport sales split the difference, and were down 5% for the first quarter).

That dichotomy has continued onward as 2020 marched on, with the MIC now reporting that dirt bike sales continued to impress this year with a 50.3% gain, when tallying the first six months of the year.

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Bikes

More Photos of the New Honda CBR600RR Emerge

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Honda gave us quite the surprise last week, announcing that there would be a new Honda CBR600RR sport bike for the 2021 model year.

While we are still another week away from the official debut (and thus when all the details will be revealed), we learn more about the supersport with each passing day.

Today, we get a fresh batch of photos (which we first saw on Italian website Moto.it), which give us a better glimpse of this restyled CBR600RR.

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Recall

Third Time’s a Charm? Indian Scout & Bobber Recalled Yet Again for Braking Issues

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Welcome to round three of the Indian Motorcycle brake recall for the Scout and Scout Bobber motorcycles, where we now see the American brand recalling 2,742 motorcycles in an attempt to correct this defect.

After the first and second instances of this recall, we see that at the core of this trio of recalls is still a manufacturing issue that allows air to get into the ABS components on the motorcycles.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Will Finish Its Season in Portugal at Portimão

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When MotoGP announced that it was adding a 15th round to its 2020 calendar, it was not exactly the best-kept secret in the MotoGP paddock that the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão would get the nod.

Today, that news becomes official, with the Portuguese GP set to take place November 20th to 22nd.

Of course, in  a season that has seen a bevy of cancelations and postponements because of the coronavirus outbreak, any race schedule has to be taken with a modest amount of uncertainty and skepticism.

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Bikes

BMW R18 Dragster Custom by Roland Sands…With NOS

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One of the motorcycle launches that was swallowed by the coronavirus outbreak was the debut of the BMW R18 – the german company’s giant air-cooled cruiser model.

There is a bit of irony in that fact, considering how long the German brand teased the bike in its near final form, only to see it production debut overshadowed by a global pandemic, but that’s the tough reality.

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