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Harley-Davidson Q2 2020 Sales Take a 27% Dive in the USA

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The second quarter sales results for Harley-Davidson are in, and once again the American brand is seen floundering with its sales, not only in the United States, but also abroad.

For Q2 2020, Harley- Davidson sees its American sales dropping by 27% compared to Q2 2019 – the same can be said of Harley-Davidson’s worldwide sales for the same time period, which fell by the same percentage.

Added to the already lackluster results from the first quarter of the year, Harley-Davidson sales have sunk 22% for the first-half of the year, with worldwide sales diving 23% so far this year, compared to last.

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Bikes

The KTM 200 Duke is Coming to the USA, And It’s Going to be Cheap

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The Bothan Spies of Asphalt & Rubber have been hard at work during the recent months, and they bring us news from Austria: the KTM 200 Duke will be coming to the USA as a late 2020 model.

The KTM 200 Duke is not a new model in the Austrian brand’s lineup, as it is available in various markets world, and most notably in the Asian markets where tiered licensing and cost-of-ownership constraints make the 25hp motorcycle a great choice for street riders, but it is a new and curious model for the United States.

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Rumors

This Week’s Honda CBR600RR-R Rumor – The August Edition

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Hello and welcome to our third installment of “This Week’s Honda CBR60RR-R Rumor” – a name that has so many R’s in its moniker that you probably missed the fact that we left a zero out. Your move, Honda.

This time around, we are calling this the “August Edition” of the Honda CBR600RR-R (count the R’s, count the 0’s) rumor, as that is precisely what the latest gossip is all about: an August reveal date.

Considering that August officially starts in five days, that makes this pretty big news indeed…if it’s true.

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News

Don’t Believe the Spin, KTM Sales Down 33% for First-Half of 2020

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While the MIC and the motorcycle industry at large tries to spin a narrative where motorcycle sales are thriving throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the cold and hard numbers don’t lie, and they paint a different story. Today is a continuation of that trend.

Case in point, we have the mid-year sales report from Pierer Mobility, the company behind the KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas brands, and for the first six months of 2020, the Austrian group is touting only a modest (for the times) sales decline of 8% compared to last year.

That would be a decent and expected figure, considering the turbulent year with the coronavirus, if it wasn’t a complete fabrication and a contradiction to the company’s own reported sales numbers.

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Rumors

The Four-Cylinder Yamaha YZF-R25 Rumors Have Begun

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I guess this was bound to happen once we saw the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-25R become a real thing, as we are starting to hear murmurings that Yamaha may follow suit with a four-cylinder variant of its 250cc sport bike offering.

The rumor comes to us from Indonesia, with local site Iwanbanaran the first to report the story. Since then, the rumor has done the rounds in Europe, and now is making its way to North America.

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News

BMW Celebrates 40 Years of the GS with Special Edition Motorcycles

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It is the name that started a whole new way to motorcycle, and it is turning 40-years-old this year.

The iconic “GS” (short for Gelände/Straße) is a category defining series of motorcycles from BMW Motorrad, and to celebrate its birthday, the German brand is releasing a flurry of special edition middleweight models.

The unique BMW F750GS, BMW F850GS and BMW F850GS Adventure models are easy to spot with their special yellow and black livery, but the Bavarians have also packed a few features into these machines to help them party.

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News

MV Agusta Launches Monaco Design Studio for the Ultra-Wealthy

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Interesting news from MV Agusta, as the Italian brand has launched a new design studio in the Principality of Monaco, which will operate in addition to the Castiglioni Research Center that is San Marino.

The Monaco Design Studio is an off-shoot of the MV Agusta dealership in Monte-Carlo, which is run by notable Italian motorcycle racer Virginio Ferrari.

The purpose of the Monaco Design Studio is to cater to the über-wealthy that call the principality home, providing them with a boutique and bespoke customizing experience in direct relationship with the Italian factory.

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Bikes

KTM 450 Rally Replica Debuts for the 2021 Racing Season

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Not everyone can be like Toby Price, and enjoy the benefits of a factory seat inside the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team, but you can at least get pretty close to having a true Dakar race bike, thanks to KTM offering a replica of its rally raid race bike.

Now with the latest installment of that customer-racer machine, we say hello to the KTM 450 Rally Replica for the 2021 racing season.

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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast #154 – Spanish GP

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Episode 154 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one sees David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Steve English finally talking about some on-track action, as the first round of the MotoGP Championship has finally taken place.

With an eventful weekend in Jerez, the crew has plenty to discuss from the Spanish GP, the first topic of which is Marc Marquez’s miraculous save, blistering pace through the field, inevitable crash, and the consequences thereof.

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Reviews

Gone Riding: Ducati Superleggera V4

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With only 500 being made worldwide (and maybe 100 or so of them coming to the USA), the chances of getting to swing a leg over the Ducati Superleggera V4 are pretty slim. Riding one around Laguna Seca in anger? Even slimmer.

So naturally when Ducati North America called and asked if we wanted to do exactly that, the answer was an obvious yes.

That brings us to this moment, where on Thursday Asphalt & Rubber will get a chance to ride a $100,000 carbon-fiber-everything superbike around one of the most iconic race tracks in America. Sometimes, this job is really, really tough.

Funny enough, this is a rare case of the coronavirus actually causing some positive changes in the motorcycle industry, as normally the US would only get to send one publication to the press launch for a bike like this.

But instead, Ducati North America has the ability to host its own event, while the European magazines were forced to slum it at Mugello for a day. Hence, here we are.

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