Latest Posts:
Asphalt & Rubber
Tag

photos

Browsing
Bikes

Norton V4CR Prototype Reveals the Brand’s Café Racer Intentions

By 20 Comments

Big things are moving in the Norton Motorcycle company. After the company’s purchase by TVS, the Norton V4SV superbike program has been rebooted, with some pretty substantial changes and updates to the platform.

The British brand is set to bring a naked version of its superbike as well, showing a prototype of what is being called the Norton V4CR café racer.

True to the ethos of the café racer genre, the Norton V4CR is very much a superbike without fairings, including clip-ons rather than an upright handlebar.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Stark VARG Electric Dirt Bike Debuts with 80hp and 242 lbs

By 30 Comments

Stark Future is the newest electric two-wheel maker on the market, debuting their electric dirt bike, the Stark VARG.

Despite being a new outfit, Stark’s electric motocross machine boasts some impressive stats right out of the gate, with a claimed 80hp power figure and a 242 lbs ready-to-ride weight.

Perhaps most importantly, the Stark VARG looks the part of a serious dirt bike – electric or otherwise.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati MotoE Electric Race Bike Revealed Testing on the Track

By 41 Comments

A bit of a Christmas surprise landed in our inbox today, as the Ducati MotoE project is further along than expected, with their “V21L” prototype bike caught making laps at the Misano World Circuit.

The bike is the first iteration of what will be raced in the MotoE World Cup, starting in the 2023 season.

And while Ducati just announced its intent to takeover that series a few months ago, the Italian brand is clearly far from the beginning stages of that project.

Keep Reading
By
Reviews

Gone Riding: Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak

By 72 Comments

After a hectic handful of weeks, I sincerely hope today is my last press launch for 2021 – my Delta SkyMiles status is doing just fine for the next two years.

But, don’t take that as a complaint, as this edition of “Gone Riding” sees us getting ready to ride the new Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak adventure-sport, which brings the 17″ wheelset back to this popular ADV machine.

The launch is taking place in Palm Springs, California – but this sunny SoCal getaway has a bit of rain on the forecast for our street ride today. Even so, I don’t think that will stop us from seeing if this 167hp beast can do the business.

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind will be whether the paint and goodies on the Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak is worth the $29,000 price tag, which is more than a $3,000 premium over the Multistrada V4 S model.

I hope to find that out, and also to see whether Ducati has captured the spirit of its Pikes Peak heritage, which started with a Hypermotard, and ended with a Streetfighter V4.

Per our new review format, I will be giving you a live assessment of the new Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak right here in this article (down in the comments section), and I will try to answer any questions you might have about this exciting motorcycle. 

Here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride the Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak, before even our own proper review is posted. As always, if I don’t know an answer, I will try to get a response from the Ducati personnel. So, pepper away.

You can follow our thoughts on the bike live via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting on social media by looking for the hashtag #MultistradaV4 #PikesPeak

Spec-Sheet Comparison of Relevant Models to the Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak:

  Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak Ducati Multistrada V4 S BMW S1000XR KTM 1290 Super Duke GT
Power 167 hp 167 hp 165 hp 175 hp
Torque 92 lbs•ft 92 lbs•ft 84 lbs•ft 104 lbs•ft
Weight 527 lbs (wet) 529 lbs (wet) 498 lbs (wet) 497 lbs (wet)
Engine 1,158cc / V4 1,158cc / V4 999cc / Inline-Four 1,301cc / V-Twin
Price $28,995 $25,795 $21,090 n/a

Photos: Ducati

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati DesertX Debuts for Your Dual-Sport Desires

By 98 Comments

The Italians left the best for last on their six-part motorcycle teaser campaign for the 2022 model year, as today we finally get to see all the details about the Ducati DesertX adventure bike.

In a way, we already knew the important bits about the DesertX, having seen the concept bike at the 2019 EIMCA show.

The idea has involved since that Milan unveiling, however, with the air-cooled motor it showed with in Milan now being replaced by Ducati’s venerable water-cooled 937cc Testastretta 11° engine.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Our EICMA Pick for Best in Show: Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello

By 35 Comments

Every year, the EICMA show awards its “most beautiful bike” of the Milan event, and every year the winner is unsurprisingly an Italian machine.

Whether you attribute that to the Italian manufacturers being superior in their motorcycle designs, or if perhaps there is a home-team bias in the EICMA crowd, we will let you decide for yourself.

More often that not though, we take umbrage with EICMA’s picks, as the selection seems to rarely stray from a couple Italian marques, while also overlooking a more worthy recipient.

That is fine and all, and this year’s pick, the MV Agusta Superveloce Ago is a very good looking motorcycle – no doubt about it.

But 2021 is one of those years where we differ once again from the EICMA voting masses, as we would have picked the Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello instead.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Too Many Photos of the 2022 Ducati Panigale V4 Superbike

By 10 Comments

In case you missed our “Gone Riding” preview of the 2022 Ducati Panigale V4 S, we are in Spain right now getting ready to swing a leg over Italy’s newest superbike (we ride on Thursday).

To help us gear-up for the event, and prime our tackling of the Circuito de Jerez with over 200hp of fury, I thought it best to upload these high-resolution photos of the machine (our original post on the bike was a little lacking in this regard too).

An update to an already potent machine, the 2022 Ducati Panigale V4 S boasts more power, but more importantly, more features to help the rider use all of that power.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

You Secretly Want the Honda ADV350 Adventure Scooter

By 19 Comments

The idea of an adventure scooter is…kind of ridiculous. And yet deep inside, we know you secretly want one. However, the 150cc displacement on the Honda X-ADV can be a tough sell in western markets.

But, what if there was a bigger, more powerful option to getting your dual-sport scooter action on? Enter the 2022 Honda ADV350 scooter, which just debuted at the EICMA show in Milan.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

The Aprilia Tuono 660 Gets the “Factory” Treatment for 2022

By 4 Comments

How do you make a bike like the Aprilia Tuono 660 better? It seems like a tough task to undertake, considering the potency of this “naked” sport bike.

Well, the folks in Noale found a simple way to do it – they made an Aprilia Tuono 660 Factory.

For its “factory” badge, the 2022 Aprilia Tuono 660 Factory gets fully adjustable suspension (41mm KYB forks, and a Sacha rear shock), a lightweight lithium-ion battery (curb weight is now 399 lbs / 181 kg), and in the European market the bike gets a power boost to 100hp.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

MV Agusta Lucky Explorer 9.5 – A Modern-Day Elefant Debuts

By 30 Comments

If you want proof that the middleweight adventure category is red hot right, look no further than MV Agusta, as the Italian brand has not one, but two machines for us this EICMA show that are designed to travel whatever road the world can throw at it.

Part of the larger “Lucky Explorer Project”, this lineup of ADV machines showcase the Italian brand’s two new engine platforms: a 930cc triple, and a 550cc parallel-twin.

If the you couldn’t figure it out on your own, the MV Agusta Lucky Explorer 9.5 is the larger of the two bikes on offer, and seems set to tackle the premium end of the Western market.

Keep Reading
By