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Spy Shots: Honda Crosstourer Caught Testing

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The Honda Crosstourer is getting closer to production, as the Japanese adventure bike was caught testing by the eagle-eyed lens of Brenda Priddy & Company. Sans some panniers, and with a cover over the bike’s crash bars/fairings, it looks like the Honda Crosstourer has remained largely unchanged from its 2010 EICMA debut.

Based around the same V4 motor that can be found in the Honda VFR1200F, the Crosstourer looks to be fairly off-road capable, and will compete against bikes like the BMW R1200GS and Yamaha Super Ténéré. It’ll be interesting to see how the dual-clutch transmission on the Crosstourer fares in off-road duty.

You can check out the spy shots of the Honda Crosstourer over on Edmunds Inside Line.

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Racing

HRC NSF250R Moto3 Race Bike to Debut at Catalan GP

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Honda has done a pretty good job of teasing out its HRC NSF250R, which is set to race in the Moto3 Championship in 2012. Replacing the 125GP, Moto3 class is based around four-stroke 250cc race bikes, and should be a more affordable and leveling playing field for new riders to enter into GP racing. HRC has teased us with images and videos of the new NSF250R, which takes its core cues from the its RS125R predecessor (both current factory Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso won their lower Championships on the Honda RS125R).

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Casey Stoner Tests the 2012 Honda Prototype at Jerez

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Casey Stoner was on the 2012 Honda MotoGP prototype race bike today, taking laps at Jerez under the sunny Spanish skies. Originally the test had included both Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, but with the Spaniard’s broken collarbone at the French GP, only the Australian was aboard the new HRC machine today. HRC test rider Shinichi Ito took the new 1,000cc bike out to the track in the morning, while Stoner swung his leg over the Honda later in the day.

“Everything has gone very well, very positive. It’s just nice to ride the 1000cc again, to feel the engine and the power,” said Stoner. “I had a lot of fun, I enjoyed the first day because everything we’ve tried seems to be working, so no complaints. The biggest disappointment is that Dani is not going be here to test as he is important to the development of this bike. I hope that soon HRC can get his input as well because we need as much data as possible, in order to be ready for next season.”

“We didn’t focus on anything special today, just tried to understand what the bike is doing, how it reacts on the brakes and things like that, also considering some the issues we have with the 800cc right now. The braking point seems to be stronger, stability in the front going into the corner seems to be very good, and of course we want to understand how the power delivery is, and it is very smooth so no problem . In general, we haven’t changed too much from the set up we have on the 800cc right now and the feeling is very similar, so it’s pretty good”.

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MotoGP: Sacré Bleu During Racing at the French GP

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To say that the French GP got off on the wrong foot might be the understatement of the season. Between the statements between riders about each other, and the Casey Stoner/Randy de Puniet punch incident, the pre-race antics were at a fever pitch in Le Mans. The off-track drama in MotoGP is clearly seeping into the on-track racing action, and accordingly the French GP was filled with several incidents that should give the pundits something to talk about for the coming three weeks before the Catalan GP.

Meanwhile qualifying showed that the Hondas ruled the roost, with the firm’s four factory supported bikes sitting in the top four spots on the starting grid. With Casey Stoner commencing from the pole position, Marco Simoncelli qualified just barely second to the Australian, while Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the front row.

Directly behind Stoner was Dani Pedrosa, who has had some tremendous starts from the second row in the past, and surely couldn’t be counted out of today’s race. Eyes were also on Randy de Puniet, who counted Le Mans as one of his least favorite circuits, despite it being in front of his home crowd.

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Gresini Says No to Marco Simoncelli in WSBK, for 2011

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In an effort to get out ahead of rumors suggesting Marco Simoncelli would be participating in World Superbike racing in 2011, his Gresini Honda MotoGP team has definitively stated that he will not be doing so. Though he appeared at the WSBK Monza round just this past weekend, Simoncelli will not be repeating his 2009 wild card performance at Imola or any other rounds this season. There, he placed third in the second race on an Aprilia, after not finishing the first race.

Simply put, there will be no extra racing for Simoncelli in a MotoGP field already marred by riders suffering health problems from extracurricular racing. However, Gresini Honda will be providing their star rider with a Honda CBR1000RR that he may test at his and the FIM’s discretion.

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Banter

Video: Casey Stoner Helps Hock Some Hondas

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It’s been a while since we had a motorcycle advert to critique, but with the thawing of winter’s ice, we should have a plethora of videos to show in the coming motorcycle friendly months. First up for the new riding season is Honda with this CBR1000RR ad that features MotoGP star Casey Stoner, and what appropriately looks to be Oz’s Repsol Honda Casey Stoner race replica that he is riding.

As far as motorcycle marketing goes, this clip is a pretty good effort by Honda Australia. Star GP rider, good production quality, and a demand generation focus all make for a compelling advert. Honda will need all the help it can get though, as it’s hard to sell the same bike that’s been out for four years, albeit with some fresh paint and some minor tweaks here and there.

In a market segment where dyno graphs and high-tech gizmos rule the sales sheet, here’s to hoping that quality in adverts can make up for quantity on the dynamometer in the Land of Kangaroos. Check it out after the jump and let us know what you think.

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News

Honda Q1 2011 Sales Up 13% – Revenue Down 3%

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It would seem the motorcycle industry has found the bottom of the recession, with first quarter sales in 2011 showing 7% growth over 2010’s numbers here in the United States. Ducati has already posted strong numbers for Q1 2011, and BMW is posting its best quarterly results ever. Even Harley-Davidson is showing some signs of life with a 3.5% sales increase so far this year. However the good news does not extend to Japanese behemoth Honda Motor Co.’s motorcycle division.

Selling 300,000 more units in the past three months than it did in Q1 of 2010, Honda’s 12.7% sales growth was not enough add more to the top line (and bottom line) compared to last year’s financial figures. Seeing a 3% drop in revenue, one can surmise that while Honda is selling more units in 2011, those units sales are coming from cheaper models, presumably scooters, and not from pricier full size models.

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First Look at the 2012 Honda MotoGP Race Bike

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While we were busy filing our taxes last week, HRC was busy at the Suzuka circuit shaking out its yet-to-be-named 2012 MotoGP race bike. Details are a bit sparse, but motogp.com is reporting that HRC test riders Kousuke Akiyoshi and Tady Okada were at the helm of the new bike, and the website shows a solitary photo that craftily doesn’t give away too much about the machine. The private test is a prelude to Honda’s factory riders hopping on the machine to likely greater media fanfare, which will most likely happen at the MotoGP test scheduled after the Mugello round.

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Dani Pedrosa Has Successful Second Surgery

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As planned, Dani Pedrosa went under the knife after the Spanish GP, hoping to relieve the pain in his shoulder caused by the plate that was decompressing his left subclavian artery. The procedure was preformed by vascular surgeon Dr. César García-Madrid and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joaquim Casañas at the Teknon Medical Center in Barcelona, and the operation has been considered a success after tests showed a return of subclavian flow.

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Bikes

Honda CBF1000 by Luca Bar Design

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We must have missed this April Fools render done by Luca Bar Design for the Italian site MotorBox, as Luca has once again flexed his skills with the pixels with his vision for motorcycles. Drawing on the idea that Honda would update its sport-touring line with a new version of the half-faired CBF1000, Bar explains that he has already been pondering the idea of an update for Honda before being set to his task of penning an April Fools bike.

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