The Honda CBR250RR is getting closer to breaking cover, with a teaser video of the quarter-liter sport bike coming to us this week from Honda’s Indonesian importer.
The video doesn’t give away too much on its face, but it does confirm the “RR” status of the new bike, and shows that many of the details that we have seen already on the Honda “Light Weight Super Sport” concept have made it into the production machine.
This bodes well for small-displacement motorcycle fans, with the upcoming Honda CBR250RR likely being the bike that many hoped Honda had initially produced, instead of the Honda CBR250R and Honda CBR300R combo.
If you’re like us, the debut of the KTM RC16 MotoGP race bike cannot come soon enough. The machine will officially be unveiled at the Austrian MotoGP round, which is the first race after MotoGP’s summer break, on August 14th.
We can expect to see the KTM RC16 take its first public hot laps at Valencia later this year (Austria should see some parade laps on the course), the post-season test also being Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro’s first chance to ride the new race bike.
Until all that happens though, we will have to suffice with the testing photos we get from KTM, as test riders Mika Kallio and Tom Luthi continue to hone the V4-powered machine.
If you believe the hype from KTM, the RC16 is a beast – making in the neighborhood of 270hp already.
Making the horsepower might be the easiest part of the project though, as KTM will not only have to ensure that reliability exists in its engine design, but also make sure all that the RC16 can get all that power down to the tarmac.
As such, the KTM RC16 was out spinning laps at Mugello last month. We don’t need much of an excuse to bring you massive high-resolution photos of this machine, so we won’t make you wait any longer.
Enjoy them after the jump, there is a new computer desktop background or two for you in the collection, for sure.
Normally, we would roast a brand for bringing a “bold new graphics” model to market, but in the case of the 2017 Montesa Cota 4RT260, we will give the Spanish firm a pass…purely because we think trials riding is AWESOME.
So, yup…for the 2017 model year, Montessa is brining basically the same machine to market, with the big changes being the red, white, and blue HRC-inspired color scheme, along with the chromed fork tubes that have black-painted lowers.
If it counts as a technical change, the kickstarter lever has been made longer than on what is found on the 2016 model, and of course there is a “race replica” version, which drips in carbon fiber, Showa suspension pieces, and has the traditional Repsol livery.
If you missed our teaser on the Bottpower BOTT XR1R, then you are in for a real treat, as the race version Spanish firm’s street tracker is a very fetching machine.
The Bottpower BOTT XR1R is the bike that Harley-Davidson should be building right now, and it’s the kind of machine that actually would have benefitted from Buell’s “innovations” for street bikes.
With 150hp and a target weight of 150kg, the BOTT XR1R should be plenty of fun on tight circuits, but still powerful enough for longer courses.
And then of course, once you’re done flogging the XR1R for the day, you will still want to spend a couple hours drooling over its titanium frame, carbon fiber bodyworks, and modern-day electronics.
We have always been a fan of Bottpower’s work, but it still feels strange to say that the Spanish builder has created the bike that America has been dreaming of for the past decade or more.
If you have been following Asphalt & Rubber for the past week, you would know I was just in Italy for World Ducati Week. A bi-annual gathering of Ducatisti from around the world, for three days the Misano circuit and surrounding areas are flooded with Ducati motorcycles.
The tagline for WDW2016 was “More than Red” and part of that credo is a nod to the addition of the Scrambler Ducati line, with the yellow-colored “Land of Joy” sitting in prominence at the circuit’s entrance.
With the Scrambler too came a new event for World Ducati Week, flat track racing, which featured eight GP and SBK riders competiting on Misano’s TT-styled flat track course. In competition were Andrea Dovizioso, Troy Bayliss, Tati Mercado, Davide Giugliano, Danilo Petrucci, Yonny Hernandez, and Alessandro Valia.
The racing was head-to-head, with a pair of riders battling against each other over three laps, from a staggered start of 100 meters or so. It was good fun to watch, and the crowd seemed into it. I only took a few shots from the races, but thought I’d share them with you.
Above “Desmo Dovi” on the gas, and on his way to a race win. There’s more after the jump.
Ducati is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, with the culmination of that celebration happening right now in Misano, at World Ducati Week. As we previewed already, Ducati would give a sneak peak of a new model at the event, and debut a limited edition machine as well.
Well, we have had more than a sneak peak of the upcoming Ducati Supersport model, and now we get the full monty of the Ducati 1299 Panigale S Anniversario – a special superbike that commemorates 90 years of Ducati motorcycles.
The Ducati 1299 Panigale S Anniversario is more than just a cosmetic exercise, with only 500 motorcycles getting its limited edition paint job, gold-colored metal pieces, and bevy of technical upgrades
One interesting new feature though is the debut of the EVO version of the Ducati Traction Control (DTC) and Ducati Wheelie Control (DWC) systems.