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FIM President Vito Ippolito Writes an Open Letter About Incidents Surrounding the Sepang Clash

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The Sepang Clash, as Dorna would like for us to refer to it, continues to send shockwaves down the sport; as videos emerge of altercations between entourages at the track, photos and messages of hate circulate around social media, and the latest entry with Repsol releasing a strongly worded press release that calls into question the future of the Spanish company’s involvement in MotoGP.

David has already written exhaustively about the events at the track, and we have little interest here at Asphalt & Rubber in fueling the fire that was started in Sepang. Needless to say, no one is winning in all of this, and the sport is clearly getting a black eye because of all these actions.

While hopefully cooler heads prevail, it’s clear that things are still hot and heavy in the MotoGP Championship. Addressing some of the more unsavory acts that have come as a result of the on-track action at the Malaysian GP, FIM President Vito Ippolito has penned an open letter to the various stakeholders in the world championship.

While he doesn’t speak to anyone by name, it is very clear who are the different parties that Ippolito is reprimanding. You can read his letter after the jump.

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Bikes

Tokyo Motor Show: Honda “Light Weight Super Sports” Concept Shows Off a 14,000 RPM Redline

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The first images are starting to emerge from the Tokyo Motor Show, and already we have some excitement. Naturally one of the items we are most keen to learn more about is the Honda “Light Weight Super Sports” concept, which many are saying is a pre-cursor to a Honda CBR250RR successor.

A product from the glory days of small-displacement warfare, the Honda CBR250RR was a screamer of a machine, even by today’s standards, and the CBR250RR made big horsepower from its quarter-liter engine.

While the Honda “Light Weight Super Sports” concept may not rev into the stratosphere like the CBR250RR did, reports show that the LCD dash does indicate a 14,000 rpm redline – significantly higher than the CBR250R/CBR300R.

Reports also show that the concept has a parallel-twin engine, confirming our suspicions. All indications point to Honda producing the small-displacement sport bike, though many questions about it remain.

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Bikes

2016 Honda CB500X…With You Guessed It, Modest Changes

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For 2016, we know that Honda will bring its big “adventure-tourer” the US market, known to Europeans as the Honda Crosstourer, and introduced to Americans as the Honda VFR1200X. For the 2016 model year, the Crosstourer gets some minor updates, as does its 700cc sibling the Honda NC700X.

So if you’re keeping score, that leaves one more machine to get a modest update for 2016…yup, Honda CB500X, we are talking about you!

A Goldilocks-busting lineup of street-focused ADV machines, the 2016 Honda CB500X rounds out Honda’s lineup with a lightweight and nimble machine that is also good for the A2 licensing countries.

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Bikes

Modest Changes Come for the 2016 Honda NC700X

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Modesty might be the name of the game so far for Honda’s 2016 lineup, as Big Red announces its lesser models for next year, ahead of the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, where we expect to see some interesting machines.

One of those models getting a modest refresh for the upcoming model year is the Honda NC700X, Honda’s other road-hobbled adventure-touring machine. The big change for 2016 will be “exciting new styling”, though other changes are afoot as well.

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Bikes

Honda VFR1200X “Crosstourer” Comes to the USA for 2016

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The European market has already had the Honda Crosstourer for some time, and now it will come to the American market as well, as the 2016 Honda VFR1200X.

The Crosstourer gets some updates for 2016, namely a Euro4 compliant engine, an adjustable windscreen, three levels of S-Mode for the dual-clutch transmission (DCT), and a software upgrade that detects uphill and downhill slopes and adjusts shifting accordingly.

For those who may not be familiar with the Honda Crosstourer, or the Honda VFR1200X as American Honda is calling it, the machine features the same 1,237cc V4 engine as the Honda VFR1200F, though it has been tuned to 127hp. It also has the optional DCT gearbox, which riders either love or hate.

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News

“Choose Your Own Adventure” with the Honda Africa Twin

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If you are a Gen-X male, you probably remember the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. If you don’t happen to fit this demographic, and don’t have a clue what I am talking about, don’t worry the idea is pretty simple – let me break it down for you.

Each book contained an adventure for the reader, and every dozen pages or so, the story would give a choice on how to continue. Each choice you had to make also had a certain page in the book that you would skip to, in order to continue the story on the path you desired. If you were like me, you almost always failed or died in your task. There is probably a life lesson in there…somewhere.

What does this have to do with motorcycles you may ask? Ah well, Honda has for us the modern-day version of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, using YouTube in a very similar manner. What are they promoting, you may ask? The Honda Africa Twin adventure bike, naturally.

The story found in the YouTube might not be of the same page-turning qualities as the original namesake, but we doubt you can take a wrong turn in Honda’s variable story line. Check it out, after the jump…and yes, for those keeping score, this is yet another video from Honda on the Africa Twin. Sweet merciful Jesus.

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Event

At the American International Motorcycle Expo

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The American International Motorcycle Expo (AIMExpo) was held in Orlando, Florida from October 15th to 18th. It was billed as “the show that changed the powersports industry”; the event included over 560 exhibitors from across the motorcycle world.

Additionally, AIMExpo hosted an outdoor demo area that offered rides on bikes and ATVs from 11 different manufacturers. The question is, with all that it had to offer, did AIMExpo live up to expectations?

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MotoGP

MotoGP: Jack Miller Moves into the Marc VDS Racing Team

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To the surprise of absolutely nobody, in the press conference at Phillip Island, Jack Miller announced that he would be riding for the Marc VDS Estrella Galicia 0,0 team in 2016.

It had long been known that Miller would end up at the team, but there was still the question of a few loose ends to tie up. With those tidied up, Miller’s home GP was the obvious place to announce his future plans.

The Australian will move to Marc VDS along with his crew chief, Cristian Gabarrini, and the rest of his pit crew. As Miller is contracted to and paid for by HRC, it was a simple matter for them to move the mechanics and engineers from LCR to Marc VDS.

Miller will have a standard satellite Honda RC213V next year, the same spec as that of his current teammate, Cal Crutchlow, and new teammate Tito Rabat.

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Bikes

2016 Honda CBR500R Debuts with Modest Changes

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Not quite “bold new graphics” territory, but the Honda CBR500R will get mostly cosmetic changes for the 2016 model year, as the machine made its world debut at the AIMExpo in Orlando, Florida today, as expected.

The most noticeable change comes to the fairings, which get a more aggressive design that Honda says improves airflow over the rider. LEDs will replace the incandescent bulbs on the headlights and taillights, which is an interesting upgrade to make, though a welcomed one.

Other changes include a new exhaust can design, an adjustable front brake lever, improved feel through the gearbox, and a larger fuel tank. We saved the best new feature for last though: a wave ignition key, for smoother function. Welcome to Flavor Country, people.

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Bikes

Another Africa Twin Cometh from Honda?

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Honda Motorcycles Europe has a peculiar video on its YouTube channel, which teases that “the adventure continues” starting this Friday, October 16th. The video is peculiar, because we have already seen the Honda Africa Twin, which debuted at last year’s trade shows.

The video itself doesn’t give away much, other than two riders making their way through some backcountry on a pair of Honda Africa Twin motorcycles.

Best guess seems to be that we’ll see a model variant or two from Honda, most likely including a “touring” model. More radical guesses would be a smaller displacement machine to accompany the 1,000cc adventure-touring beast.

While the latter makes a great deal of sense from a segment point-of-view, there is nothing to suggest such a thing, so we are thinking it’s more likely the prior. We won’t have to wait long to find out though.

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WSBK

PJ Jacobsen Searching for a World Supersport Championship in 2016 with a Ten Kate-Backed Ride

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American fans will have a lot of reasons to follow the World Superbike championship next year.

After Nicky Hayden confirmed that he will be switching to WSBK with the Ten Kate Honda for 2016 and 2017, today, confirmation came that PJ Jacobsen is to remain in World Supersport for next year to take another shot at the championship.

The American is to stay with his current Core Motorsport Thailand team, riding a Honda CBR600RR. Both the team and the bike will get a major boost next year, however, as Ten Kate Honda have announced they will be partnering with the team in 2016.

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