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Honda Becoming Its Own Hero in India

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We know it’s a cryptic headline, but there’s a big HUGE move happening today in India as far as motorcycles are concerned, and we couldn’t help being overly dramatic. Holding a 26% stake in Hero Honda, Honda announced that it will be selling its position in Indian joint-venture, the world’s largest two-wheel manufacturer, to the Hero Group’s founders, the Munjal family, and various investment funds.

Honda in turn will be pumping its resources into its own fully-owned subsidiary in India called Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI). Buying its stock back at a discounted rate, the Honda will be selling the stock to Hero Honda for $1.2 billion, presumably in exchange for a larger percentage of the company’s early revenue (Honda currently takes home 2.5% of Hero Honda’s yearly revenue).

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2011 Honda CB1000R Priced at $10,999

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More news from American Honda, as the 2011 Honda CB1000R will be priced at $10,999 when it finally comes to American soil in the new year. The Honda CB1000R goes up against the industry-wide belief that naked sport bikes don’t sell here in the United States (there might be a point to that line of reasoning), and the CB1000R will have to contend with another new but not-so-naked liter-bike contender: the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 (Z1000SX to our European friends, or misguided Americans).

There certainly is more than one motorcycle manufacturer competing for the hearts and minds of riders who are looking for a sporty bike, without the sporty sitting position. As for the incumbents, Honda seems to have priced itself slightly above the Yamaha FZ1 ($10,490), and Kawasaki Z1000 ($10,599), which isn’t terribly shocking and sticks to their usual pricing scheme. True to American fashion, you can get the 2011 Honda CB1000R in any color you want, as long it’s black. Photos and technical spec’s after the jump.

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2011 Honda CBR250R MSRP Set at $3,999

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American Honda announced today the official pricing on the 2011 Honda CBR250R, the company’s 250cc beginner bike. With base pricing on the CBR250R starting at $3,999, the ABS equipped model will cost an additional $500, with an MSRP of $4,499. This price point goes right after the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, which is also sold for $3,999 MSRP. The Honda tips the scales a full 15 lbs lighter than the Kawi, and is equipped with fuel-injection.

We expect Honda’s strategy with the Mini-Me CBR is to offer more performance and features for the same price as the Kawi, which should make things in this part of the market very interesting (Aprilia is trying to play here too with its 125cc Aprilia RS4 125, which will likely cost more than these two bikes). Photos, video, and technical specifications of the new Honda CBR250R after the jump.

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Bikes

Honda NRS 250 Gets a Little Brighter

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Honda continues to taunt us with its upcoming Moto3 contender, the Honda NRS 250. Shedding some more light (that would be literally, not figuratively), on the 250cc four-stroke GP racer, Honda still hasn’t released any details on the machine, but you can expect an 81mm bore and a maximum weight (with rider) of 326 lbs, per the Moto3 regulations that were recently released. Moto3 is scheduled to replace 125GP racing in 2012, but we imagine Honda will divulge info on the NRS 250 well before then. The original and super-enhanced photos of the Honda NRS 250 are after the jump.

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Racing

Ruben Xaus to Ten Kate Honda

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After being booted from the BMW factory World Superbike team at the end of the season, Spaniard Ruben Xaus has landed himself a new job with the Ten Kate Honda WSBK squad. The Captain of Crash in the 2010, Xaus and the BMW S1000RR seemingly couldn’t come to an accord on the fastest way around the race track, which often resulted in Xaus ending up on wrong side of the gravel traps.

With murmurs starting early in the season that the WSBK veteran would be given the boot, there was little fanfare or surprise when Xaus was replaced by Leon Haslam in the BMW World Superbike team for the 2011 season. Finding a place in the Ten Kate Honda team, Xaus in many ways is moving up in the WSBK paddock, as Ten Kate’s Honda CBR1000RR has been consistently competitive in World Superbike racing. Xaus will join Johnny Rea for the 2011 season, where the duo will fight again for the World Championship. The season’s opening round will be Xaus’s 200th start in World Superbike.

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Honda Confirms Three-Rider Team and Repsol Sponsorship

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After declaring its intention to field a three-man team in the 2011 MotoGP season with riders Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Casey Stoner, HRC went immediately into circles about how it would pull-off such an arrangement when the money to finance a larger factory squad did not materialize. Exploring avenues that would see a second, single-bike, factory team (rumored to be sponsored by Red Bull) centered around Andrea Dovizioso, Honda also tried to stick the Italian rider inside the Gresini Honda satellite squad (with the promise of factory support), but both efforts came to no avail.

With Dovizioso holding his ground, and Honda bound by a contract, questions regarding how the Japanese manufacture would handle its predicament were a common source of conjecture in the MotoGP paddock. This speculation has finally come to a conclusion though, as HRC has announced it has secured Andrea Dovizioso in the factory team for 2011, which will will continue to be sponsored by Repsol Honda.

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Bikes

Honda Mid Concept – Is This The Year of the Scooter?

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Want further proof that the maxiscooter segments is poised to move in the next five years? Honda has also released its own take on the crossover market segment that sits between scooters and motorcycles, dubbed the Honda Mid Concept. With the upright and feet-forward sitting position of a scooter, but the 17″ wheels, dual-clutch transmission, and Pro-Link suspension of a Honda motorcycle, the Honda Mid Concept is another stab at looking for vehicles that fit the wants and needs of future motorcyclist and commuters.

It seems pretty apparent by now that motorcycle manufacturers foresee gasoline prices increasing over the coming years, as the finite resource becomes increasingly scarce. With transportation in urban settings already drastically changing (try driving into downtown London sometime), motorcycle companies are looking for practical, yet sophisticated responses to our transportation needs. Enter the maxiscooter segment.

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2011 Honda CB1000R Coming to America

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While the tri-color paint scheme might still be too cool for the United States, Honda has finally seen the light, and decided to bring the 2011 Honda CB1000R to the America after all. Based-off a de-tuned CBR1000RR, the CB1000R is Europe’s fun street-naked from the Honda brand that brings some punch to the table (even more when you bring it back to RR specification). While the headlight might remind some of a certain Star Wars bounty hunter, the single-sided swingarm and radial brakes bring a stylish and sporty emphasis to the CB name (that exhaust pipe is a whole different issue though).

Available in any color you want, as long as it’s black, the white and tri-color paint schemes will stay in the EU for now. Honda is still finalizing the technical specifications on the 2011 Honda CB1000R (likely for emissions purposes), so it will be interesting to see if the CB1000R gets further restrictions to meet EPA noise and pollution standards like the 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. Expect to see the 2011 Honda CB1000R in dealerships in Spring of 2011. Photos and technical specifications after the jump.

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2011 Honda CB1000R – Paint That’s Too Cool for the USA

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The 2011 Honda CB1000R gets only minor revisions for 2011, but still the naked version of the CBR1000RR continues to be “too cool” for the United States is finally coming to the United States, and flaunts that fact with its revised color scheme and revised LED front head lamp. While Europe will get the cool tri-color paint scheme, Honda America will only be importing the black version of the CB1000R. CB fans have been clamoring for the Honda CB1000R to be brought to the US, especially with the growing popularity of the street-naked segment.

The fact that the CB1000R’s biggest rival, the Z1000 is available in the USA as well, has helped fuel that fire, and it appears Honda has finally comes to its senses, and pulled the trigger. The CB1000R looks great in black (once you ditch that exhaust rain gutter of an exhaust pipe), but we’re partial to the heritage behind the tri-color paint. We’ll just have amuse ourselves by drooling over these photos. Check them out after the jump.

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Bikes

2011 Honda Crossrunner

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Finally unveiled, this is the much-hyped 2011 Honda Crossrunner that Honda has been releasing sketches of for the past month. A 782cc 90° V4 that’s derived from the VFR800 series, Crossrunner’s liquid-cooled, DOHC motor makes 102hp and 54 lbs•ft of torque. Honda hopes the Crossrunner will fill in a gap that is a cross between a naked street bike and an adventure bike, but has been very clear that it intends the Crossrunner to be a road-only machine (the Honda Crosstourer Concept should fill the off-road need just fine).

Sans a shaft-drive, the Honda Crossrunner will come with a chain final drive, uses an evolution of the VFR’s VTEC valve system for its 16 valves, and features Honda’s combined-ABS braking system. Road warriors get excited because the 2011 Honda Crossrunner comes with a 5.68 gallon tank. The only downside? The Honda Crossrunner is 530lbs when its on the curb. Photos and technical specifications after the jump.

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