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Bimota Tesi 3D RaceCafe – Hub-Center Steering Café Racer

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Bimota has a number of things to debut at next week’s EICMA show, the biggest being the company’s latest model: the Bimota Tesi 3D RaceCafe.

The concept seems pretty simple, take the hub-center steering design of the Bimota Tesi 3D, and style it to look like the café racer of the future – if that oxymoron makes sense to you.

The above image is the teaser for the Bimota Tesi 3D RaceCafe, which shows a more traditional headlamp on the futuristic machine. Other changes include the use of Ducati’s air-cooled 803cc v-twin engine, which is currently powering the Ducati Scrambler line.

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2016 Triumph Speed Triple Models Revealed

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We already showed you leaked photos of the 2016 Triumph Speed Triple, and now the British marque is ready for you to officially see its streetfighter model.

Though Triumph is speaking too much about technical details, we can see that the now-called Triumph Speed Triple S and Speed Triple R don’t deviate too far from the previous iteration of the venerable street-bike model. They do boast some important improvements though.

As is readily apparent, the two Speed Triple models have an updated look, but a closer inspection of the spec-sheet reveals an updated engine as well.

Triumph says that it has made over 100 changes – 104, to be precise – to its 1,050cc three-cylinder power plant, which include a new combustion chamber, new cylinder head, new machined crank, new piston design, and new ‘ride-by-wire’ throttle bodies.

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A New “MT” from Yamaha, But What Is It?

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Yamaha is teasing a new model to its MT family (that’s the FZ family, for American readers), but the teaser doesn’t tell us much beyond that a new model is coming. Yamaha’s video says that the new model is a “Ray of Darkness” which continues Yamaha’s “Dark Side of Japan” tagline from previous years for the MT line.

What model Yamaha has up its sleeve is an interesting thought exercise, as the Iwata brand has already debuted a 125cc and 250cc single-cylinder models, a 689cc two-cylinder model, and a 847cc three-cylinder model under the MT name. In the North American markets, the FZ-01 rounds out the FZ family with its 1,000cc four-cylinder engine.

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Ducati Teases Its New “X” Cruiser

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Ducati has nine new models to show us at EICMA, one of which is surely a feet-forward cruiser design that’s based off the Ducati Diavel. The teaser campaign for this new model has been going on for quite some time now, but we have been ignoring it since there was absolutely no substance to what Ducati was showing…until now.

Finally giving us a glimpse of what the hell the Italian brand has been saying with its “This is…” tagline, Ducati isn’t exactly showing the full monty, but it’s enough for us to recognize the belt-driven cruiser model that we’ve seen in spy photos.

We are not sure how such a model is going to be received by hardcore Ducatisti, but clearly Ducati is looking to expand its reach of new customers, and is looking to take a little bit of Harley-Davidson and Victory’s action.

Time will tell if it pays off – expect to see this new Ducati unveiled in one week’s time at the EICMA show in Milan.

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Here are the First Photos of the 2016 Honda CB500F

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Here is your first look at the 2016 Honda CB500F, which like its other Honda brethren, will get a bit of makeover for next year. American Honda is teasing the new model now, but says it won’t release more information until the EICMA show in Milan, on November 17th.

We don’t think Honda will stray too far from the current Honda CB500F, with most of the modifications being cosmetic refinements that enhance the street-standard’s appeal to riders.

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The Ducati Scrambler 400 Spotted?

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Italian magazine Motociclismo has what it says are the first spy shots of the rumored Ducati Scrambler 400, the small-displacement sibling to the current Ducati Scrambler.

While normally it is easy to distinguish a new motorcycle model when it’s on the street, the photos from Motociclismo offer us little insight into how the Scrambler 400 is different from its 803cc kin. Checkout the photos on Motociclismo.it, and you will see what we mean.

This would suggest that we can expect to see a very familiar looking motorcycle make its debut at EICMA in two weeks’ time, with the most noticeable different being the Scrambler 400’s lack of upside-down forks.

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Benelli Teases the Return of a “Legend” – A Scrambler?

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Benelli is very much the forgotten Italian marque in the motorcycle industry, with Ducati, MV Agusta, and Aprilia (in that order, perhaps) taking most of the attention when it comes to motorcycle that hail from a country shaped like a boot.

The brand has made some fantastic modern models, like the Tornado, TnT, and Tre, and of course Benelli is steeped in a rich history that has some classic motorcycles. Those are the elements that have always attracted us to the brand, and what keeps us longing for more from Benelli.

However, ownership under the Qianjiang Group has proved difficult for motorcycle enthusiasts, with the company’s sexy Italian-designed motorcycles giving way to practical simple people movers. The Benelli TnT25 proves that point.

It seems though that things are slowly coming around for Benelli and its Chinese owners though, with the Italian-born brand sending the above teaser with the message “The Legend is back…” So we dug a little deeper.

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Are You Ready for the Ducati Scrambler 400?

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We have been hearing rumors of a smaller displacement Ducati Scrambler since the 803cc machine dropped on us last year. The rumors have varied in detail, with some quoting a v-twin engine, and others saying Ducati might finally bring back a single-cylinder engine to its lineup.

The displacement figure has also varied, with sizes quoted between 300cc and 600cc. In fact, only two things have been constant in the rumors we have heard: that Ducati is working on a smaller Scrambler, and that it would be cheaper than the current $8,500 Scrambler Icon, thus creating a better entry point into the Italian brand.

All of that has been too vague to publish, but there seems to be some clarity now on the new model, with a Ducati Scrambler 400 widely expected to debut in a month’s time in Milan.

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The MV Agusta Lewis Hamilton Dragster RR is Coming to a Burnout Near You

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You remember the MV Agusta Dragster RR right? The Brutale 800 without a tail section? Of course you do…it was pretty bold design from MV Agusta, which is probably saying something, considering that the Varese brand tends to lead with design, rather than follow.

It turns out that Lewis Hamilton is a bit of a fan of the machines from MV Agusta – it also helps that AMG has a 20% interest in the Italian brand, and Hamiliton is the team’s star F1 driver, at least when teammate Nico Rosberg isn’t around – so, in true MV Agusta fashion, a special limited edition machine must be produced, right?

Behold, the Lewis Hamilton Dragster RR: a collaboration between the F1 World Champion and the Italian motorcycle marque. MV Agusta hasn’t quite revealed the machine yet, but this teaser video does a pretty good job of getting the point across. We took some stills, just in case the edits were too much for you.

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More Supercharged Motorcycles Coming from Kawasaki?

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The internet motosphere is buzzing right now with the idea that we will see some more supercharged models from Kawasaki for the 2016 model year.

The wave of news is really just the parroting of a report from Japanese publication Young Machine, which has a hit-or-miss record with predicting new models from the Japanese OEMs.

And as usual, some publications are mistakenly taking Young Machine’s photoshop renders as the genuine article, so we should dismiss this tom foolery out of hand, right? Not so fast.

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BMW Concept Stunt G 310 Hints at 300cc Models to Come

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At EICMA this year, BMW Motorrad is expected to unveil its first of many 300cc motorcycles that it is developing with Indian partner TVS. While we have known about this news for some time, the German company is just now giving us the official nod, showing today the BMW Concept Stunt G 310 in Brazil

At the core of the Stunt G 310 concept is a single-cylinder engine, likely punched out to 310cc in capacity, given the name. Making things interesting, the cylinder head has been reclined back towards the rider, and rotated 180 degrees in order to create a super-short wheelbase, with an extra-long swingarm, for the concept.

Also of note is the placement of the exhaust silencer, which is mounted vertically, right next to the rear shock. BMW says this is to protect the exhaust can from getting damaged in a crash, though we imagine it’s at the expense of suspension fade.

We doubt much that BMW will keep much of the Concept Stunt G 310’s colors and styling when the German brand’s small-displacement bikes arrive, but clearly BMW Motorrad has younger riders on its brain with the design. Having Chris Pfeiffer help one last time hock the company’s wares helps too.

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