Latest Posts:
Asphalt & Rubber
Tag

concept

Browsing
Bikes

Officially Official: KTM 790 Adventure R Prototype

By No Comments

We were the first outlet to bring you photos of the KTM 790 Adventure R prototype, but now this 799cc trail-shredding machine is out in the wild, and we can share with you more specs, details, and higher resolution photos.

The first point is the obvious, the KTM 790 Adventure R will not be a 2018 model, but instead will debut for the 2019 model year.

It shares a parallel-twin engine with the KTM 790 Duke, which also debuted today at the EICMA show in Milan. The 105hp engine is a fully stressed part of the steel-tube chassis, which means there should be excellent weight savings for the 790 Adventure R.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Moto Guzzi V85 – A New Platform, A New Enduro

By No Comments

A quirky bike in its own right, the Moto Guzzi Stelvio had a strange cult following behind its bulky adventure-touring frame. As such, it was missed when it disappeared from Moto Guzzi’s lineup.

Well, now it’s back…sort of.

The following is what’s being called the Moto Guzzi V85 concept. It’s a loud enduro model that picks up where the Stelvio left off, and it also boasts a new 850cc engine platform from the Italian brand, which with its 80hp, will sit between the V7/V9 family of bikes, and the big 1400 cruisers.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Indian Scout FTR1200 Teases a Coming Street Tracker

By No Comments

Indian Motorcycle dominated this year’s American Flat Track series, and what a better way to celebrate the success of the Wrecking Crew than with a custom street tracker concept.

The Indian Scout FTR1200 shares the name with the donor bike it comes from, but in reality it aims to look and feel like the American brand’s 750cc flat track racer. Though without the über-trick 750cc v-twin engine found on the Indian Scout FTR750 race bike, this 1200cc variant looks pretty good too.

Word is, we might see it go into production…just not for the 2018 model year. As such, don’t hold your breath – but also, never say never.

Indian created the Scout FTR1200 in house, wedging the 1,133cc v-twin engine from its production Scout into a custom frame that resembles its racing Scout.

Built like a race bike, the Indian Scout FTR1200 shaves massive amounts of weight, compared to its production counterpart – to the tune of 117 lbs. This means that the Scout FTR1200 hits the scales at only 427 lbs.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Things We Like, Part 2: Honda CB4 Interceptor Concept

By No Comments

Honda Motor Europe is quickly making a name for itself when it comes to drool-worthy concept designs for Europe’s motorcycle shows, and this latest example at the 2017 EICMA show is proof of that statement.

This is the Honda CB4 Interceptor concept, and it makes our Hormone Monster want to do dirty, dirty things to the computer screen.

A continuation of Honda’s Neo Sports Café design aesthetic, which brought us Honda’s first CB4 concept back in 2015, this new edition focuses on a “Sport Endurance” idea from Big Red.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Yamaha Ténéré 700 Is Still A Prototype ADV Model

By No Comments

Last year, we were teased with the Yamaha T7 concept, a bike we expected to become a 700cc Yamaha Ténéré adventure machine. A year has passed now, and finally we can see the new Yamaha Ténéré 700 at this year’s EICMA show…or so we thought.

Based on the parallel-twin engine found in the Yamaha FZ-07, the Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Raid promises to bring a potent middleweight adventure bike to Yamaha’s dual-sport lineup. But instead, it is yet another prototype teaser from Yamaha.

We are Jack’s utter disappointment.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Say Hello to the Trail-Shredding KTM 790 Adventure

By No Comments

The big industry trade show in Milan is still a few days away, but our story-breaking Bothan Spies are working hard to be the first to bring you an advanced look at the new motorcycles for the 2018 model year. As such, we have the first photo of the new KTM 790 Adventure.

Sharing a platform with the KTM 790 Duke (another bike that we expect to see in Italy next week), the KTM 790 Adventure uses the same 800cc parallel-twin engine as the smaller Duke, though that seems to be where the similarities end.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Why You Should Own a Monkey

By 1 Comment

The Honda Grom is a motorcycle I cannot explain. I don’t know why Honda built it; I don’t know who that bike is for; and I don’t know where you would actually ride a Grom…I just know that I want one.

Interestingly, the Honda Grom shares an ancestry with the Honda Monkey lineup – a series of small-displacement, and curiously sized, Z-series motorcycles from the 1960s and 1970s.

Now paying homage to the Monkeys of yore, Honda has one last concept from the Tokyo Motor Show that we need to cover: the obviously named Honda Monkey 125 concept.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Motus Working on a V4 Streetfighter, And It Sounds Goood!

By No Comments

Motus Motorcycles looks to be working on its second motorcycle model, as a naked prototype of the Motus MST has been making appearances on the American brand’s social media channels, including a very tasty video of the bike testing a 4-2-1 Akrapovic exhaust on the dyno (watch it, after the jump).

We reached out to Motus about its latest project, and the company confirmed its interest in making a naked version of the Motus MST sport-tourer, though it is waiting to see the feedback from other Motus owners and potential customers before committing to make the machine.

Still, Motus is teasing some very intriguing performance specs and design elements, which is more than whetting our appetite.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

More Details About Yamaha’s AI-Powered MOTOROiD

By No Comments

Artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR)…these are the three bid buzzwords of Silicon Valley right now. So, it shouldn’t surprise us to see the motorcycle industry blindly latching onto them, in order to keep some sort of relevance in the space.

From the manufacturers, we have seen more than a few mentions of how the motorcycles of the future will use artificial intelligence to improve the two-wheeled experience, though with virtually none of the brands talking about how an AI-powered motorcycle would be better…or even work.

Yamaha has finally made the jump though with its MOTOROiD concept, taking AI and viewing the technology through the company’s long-term focus with “kando” – the Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

The Honda Neo Sports Café Concept Is Quite the Looker

By No Comments

After much teasing, Honda quietly debuted its Neo Sports Café concept at the Tokyo Motor Show today. Releasing nary a detail about the simple but modern motorcycle design, we are left to draw our own conclusions about the machine.

We had hoped that the Honda Neo Sports Café would lead to a retro-styled version of the Honda CB1000R, much in the same vein that the new Kawasaki Z900S is a hipsterfied version of the popular Z900 street bike.

It’s not clear if Honda intends to produce the Neo Sports Café concept, but its design is intriguing, especially when you consider the now ancient four-cylinder engine that resides in its chassis, which is of course derived from the previous generation Honda CBR1000RR.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Yamaha’s New Leaning Car Concept…The Future?

By No Comments

Remember the Yamaha Tesseract? The four-wheeled concept is about as close to a motorcycle that something with four wheels can get. And now, the Tuning Fork brand is building upon that idea, but with a fully enclosed vehicle concept that picks up where the Tesseract left off.

Called the Yamaha MWC-4, this four-wheeled concept brings the idea of the Tesseract’s leaning chassis and multi-wheel design into a more practical form for everyday use, and it’s debuting at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show.

Keep Reading
By