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While we continue to hear news that the Honda Africa Twin will get a displacement bump to 1,100cc for next year, now we are starting to hear a new rumor from Big Red’s adventure lineup – namely, that a Honda CRF850L is in the pipeline.

The obvious play here is that the baby Africa Twin model would slot in under the 1,100cc version, as a proper middleweight option to go against the BMW F850GS, KTM 790 Adventure R, and the Yamaha Ténéré 700 (whenever it finally comes to market).

The middleweight ADV segment is very hot right now, and it makes sense for Honda to want to get in on the action. As such, this rumor makes a great deal of sense…but then, it also really doesn’t pass the smell test either.

David “Davo” Johnson is back at the TT, and the Australian keeps learning and keeps improving. The Honda rider has spent ten years keeping a lid on expectations, and he’s now keen to put his lessons to good use

The Isle of Man TT is sink or swim. Some riders take to it like a duck to water, and others realize that it is just not for them.

It is the most unique race on the motorcycle calendar. It is you against the track. It is you against the clock. It is you against yourself.

For David Johnson though, this year is different. He is a factory Honda rider for the first time, and the Australian is doing all he can to make sure that he keeps the pressure to a minimum.

Dani Pedrosa isn’t the most popular grand prix rider with American fans of the sport, but for those who have taken the time to interact with the three-time world champion likely found him to be likable, intelligent, and quietly competitive.

These attributes earned Pedrosa the nickname “The Silent Samurai” – a reference that was worn on the back his racing helmet. One of the original MotoGP aliens, Pedrosa could never be discounted on Sunday for the win.

He finished his career with 112 podiums in the MotoGP category alone, and had it not been for the plethora of injuries he sustained through that career, we wonder how many MotoGP titles he could have to his name. Three perhaps?

Summer might be upon us, but the new bike launches are still in full swing. This time around, we have a two-fer, as Honda has invited us out to try its new CBR650R and CB650R street bikes.

Built around the same 650cc four-cylinder engine, the two models offer a fully faired and naked version of the same basic idea, but what is really important about the two machines is the last letter in their names.

That new “R” means that Honda has added some more pep to the lineup, with more power, more torque, more aggressive bodywork, more aggressive riding position, well…just about more of everything.

To test these changes, and to see if the unassuming sport bikes blow our hair back, we are riding out in the Palm Desert of California.

Unfortunately, yours truly had a previous engagement in Sweden (more on that soon) and couldn’t attend this launch, so we sent racer Shelina Moreda out to sunny SoCal to tell us all about the bikes, since she’s cut from that same “call it how you see it” cloth that we so greatly enjoy here as Asphalt & Rubber.

When the Honda Grom came on the market in 2013, we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. The name came from the surf/skater community, and the bike was two-thirds the size of a normal motorcycle.

Despite its small stature though, the fun factor was there for the Grom, and the pricing was right. This made the Honda Grom an instant hit.

Now with an update under its belt, we see the Grom platform in the Honda Monkey and Honda Super Cub as well, making for a three-bike lineup in Honda’s mini-moto offering.

But, there has been something missing all this time, which we didn’t know we needed until right now. Enter, the Honda Grom sidecar.

The work of the folks at Industrial Moto, the Grom Utility Sidecar is a bolt-on kit to add a third wheel of fun to your Honda Grom lifestyle. The perfect grocery-getter, the ultimate pit bike, the coolest way to take your kid to school…we need one.

The Honda CR Electric prototype is perhaps one of the biggest stories we have seen so far this year, as it shows a very serious effort by the Japanese brand to bring an electric model to one of its most important motorcycle segments.

Very few photos and details made it out of Tokyo when the Honda CR Electric prototype, except for our rather in-depth analysis of the bike for our A&R Pro readers. If you will allow the modest plug, that story itself is worth the modest price of admission that helps support the site.

Back to the machine, we have a little more news to report, as we have proof that the electric dirt bike is indeed a runner, as the motorcycle took some exhibition laps at the first round of the All Japan Motocross Championship.

After Alvaro Bautista’s runaway success since joining the WorldSBK series, winning all six main races and all three Superpole races, mostly by a significant margin, the FIM has made the first move toward balancing out performance.

Starting from the next round at Assen, the Ducati Panigale V4R is to lose 250 revs, while the Honda CBR1000RR, which has struggled badly since the start of the year, is to given an extra 500 revs on the maximum rev limit.

The electric motorcycle segment is beginning to mature. We know this because word from Japan has Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha collaborating together on various standards for electric motorcycles.

If it doesn’t immediately strike you as such, this is incredibly big news.

The move sees the Big Four creating a consortium that will work together to bring homogenized battery, charging, infrastructure, and other items into reality so that there can be interoperability between the brands and less confusion in the marketplace. 

Are you ready? For the revolution? That is what is happening in Japan right now, at the Tokyo Motorcycle Show. We say this because Honda just debuted an electric dirt bike prototype that looks the business.

The Honda CR Electric prototype was co-developed with Mugen, a company with close ties to Honda. In fact, beyond the fairings, you would have a hard time distinguishing the Honda CR Electric prototype from the Mugen E.Rex that re-debuted this week as well.

Both bikes use an aluminum twin-spar frame, and look very “Honda” in their approach to building a dirt bike. It also doesn’t surprise us to see that Nissin supplies the brakes for both efforts, and the same goes for Showa on the suspension side. What would you expect though, considering the close ties these brands have to Honda?

This is a project that is very much still in the family, and in the case of Mugen, that phrase is meant literally, as Mugen was founded by Soichiro Honda’s son.

With Mugen spending the last eight years competing in the Isle of Man TT electric race, and racking up five race wins in the process, the tuning brand has built a cache of EV experience. Surely, this is where the Mugen-Honda connection is at its strongest. Together, these two companies are forging a new era of motorcycle design.

Did you feel that? The company that made the four-strokes the standard in motorcycle engine design just moved the earth a little bit further, releasing today the Honda CR Electric prototype.

The electric motorcycle is a 250cc equivalent dirt bike from Big Red, and broke cover at the Tokyo Motorcycle Show in Japan.

Not too many details are known at this time, beyond what we can see…but there is certainly a lot to digest when looking at this machine. 

If you believe the latest internet gossip, a new updated Honda Africa Twin is on the way. The news comes from UK site BikeSocial, which says that the potent adventure bike will get a displacement bump for the 2020 model year, among other upgrades.

More specifically, the 2020 Honda Africa Twin is said to target a new displacement of 1,080cc, which should be good for a 5hp increase in peak power, bringing the machine to just shy of 100hp.

Perhaps more importantly though, the new displacement size will help the Africa Twin deal with the power-sapping Euro5 regulations, which will make tailpipe emissions for motorcycles much more stringent going forward.