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Brap Talk Podcast #17 – 105

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Episode 17 of the Brap Talk podcast is now out for your two-wheeled audio pleasure, and this is another topic-packed show that runs the gamut of the motorcycling experience.

As such, this show is full of highs and lows, and we start out with a conversation about a motorcycle that is near and dear to both our hearts, as the Ducati Streetfighter V4 prototype has finally broken cover. Ready to race at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, we speculate about what the production version could look like.

From there we talk about racing at the Bol d’Oregon – a six-hour endurance race outside of Portland, Oregon that is put on by the Sang-Froid Riding Club. An event we highly recommend, there is nothing more fun than riding a slow motorcycle fast.

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Bikes

Here It Is, The Ducati Streetfighter V4 Debuts in “Prototype” Form

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All the rumors and speculation can now stop. Here it is. Here is the Ducati Streetfighter V4 prototype that will be racing at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Record-holder Carlin Dunne will pilot the Streetfighter V4 prototype for Ducati, in a bid to set a new outright motorcycle record on the Mountain. 

In the announcement, Ducati acknowledges that we will see the Streetfighter V4 properly debut at the EICMA show later this November, and that the production model will be in dealerships by March 2020.

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Podcast

Brap Talk Podcast #16 – The Church of Brapistan

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Episode 16 of the Brap Talk podcast is now out for your two-wheeled audio pleasure, and this is another two-hour show to sooth your two-wheeled aches.

We start the show off when Shahin’s trip out into the Washington BDR trails, on his Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro. The Shah also got a chance to throw a leg over a Walt Siegl Ducati adventure bike, which made him giddy with delight.

Meanwhile, Jensen was busy at the Barber Motorsports Park, riding the 2020 BMW S1000RR superbike. Giving his thoughts on that new machine, and the general state of the liter-bike category, you won’t want to miss his review. Additionally, the “Yensen” score for bikes is progressing nicely, which leads to a fun conversation.

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Rumors

The Ducati Streetfighter V4 Will Debut at Pikes Peak

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We have already told you as much as this headline conveys, so apologies to our more loyal readers if this story seems redundant, but we wanted to definitively tell you that the Ducati Streetfighter V4 will debut later this month, at Pikes Peak.

The news comes fresh after a teaser that Ducati posted, which says to us that “the gloves come off at Pikes Peak” and then gives the date June 13th, which is the day of the motorcycle tire test for the historic hill climb.

“The gloves” is surely a nod to the “Streetfighter” name, though we have seen more than a few hints from Ducati and its CEO that we should expect such a model before the year’s end.

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Racing

Ducati Preparing a Naked Ducati Panigale V4 R for Pikes Peak

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Earlier this year we spotted something interesting in the Pikes Peak entry list, as Ducati was listed running a bike in the exhibition class, with Pikes Peak expert Carlin Dunne at its helm.

That Ducati would team up once again with Dunne is not a surprise. The former outright record holder for motorcycles at Pikes Peak, Dunne has brought Ducati victory on every outing of his to the Colorado mountain.

What was interesting in the entry list though was the choice of running in the exhibition class, which would only be done if Dunne & Ducati were electing not to use the Multistrada 1260 platform once again.

Our suspicion was that Ducati intended to use a stripped down version of the Panigale V4 R superbike, or perhaps even a Streetfighter V4 prototype. It would seem that our first guess was correct.

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Racing

Michael Dunlop Will Race the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

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This year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb continues to get more interesting with each passing. First, there is the news that Ducati will show up with an unnamed “exhibition” bike with Carlin Dunne onboard, which very well could be a prototype for the widely anticipated Streetfighter V4 model.

And now, we get word that Michael Dunlop – one of the hottest riders at the Isle of Man TT races right now – will race to the clouds this year as well, riding on a 2019 model year BMW S1000R.

Dunlop will be joined on the Wunderlich MOTORSPORT powered by ProKASRO team by 2018’s rookie of the year (with a 10:21.932 run) Lucy Glöckner, both of who will be racing in the Heavyweight class at Pikes Peak.

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Podcast

Brap Talk Podcast #7 – Blood Moon Rising

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Episode 7 of the Brap Talk podcast is out for your two-wheeled audio pleasure, and it is a marathon show. This is for good reason, as Shahin and I will be traveling the coming week, and thus will be a little late in getting Episode 8 out to you.

Don’t worry though, we have some good things lined up ahead, and this show is packed with some good motorcycle conversation.

In it, we get our hands on Ducati’s new models for 2019, and discuss what we like and don’t like about the Bologna brand’s offerings for this year.

Then, we head into some current news, starting with Harley-Davidson’s paid-for study about why motorcycles are so awesome.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #81 – Sex Panther

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Episode 81 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and it is a marathon show – right at 2.5 hours in length. Because of that duration, we cover a huge range of topics, the first of which is a little news about Harley-Davidson, and the growing American trade war.

From there, we move to Jensen’s recent trip to Italy, where he rode the new MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 Lusso SCS, which features a new auto-clutch for sport bikes, made in partnership with Rekluse.

Jensen’s travels then took him to Milan, where he visited Pirelli’s world headquarters and testing facility, which was a unique experience in seeing how tires are evaluated and produced.

Lastly came a trip south to Sicily, to visit the Metzeler/Pirelli R&D testing facility, where Jensen rode the entire Metzeler tire range up a volcano…no seriously.

Back home in the USA, Quentin was doing a bit of racing, as he lined up on the grid in OMRAA’s 250 Ninja Cup. He then played on the other side of the wrench in his travels to Pikes Peak, spinning wrenches for Michael Woolaway, who raced a custom Ducati Hypermotard up the Colorado mountain.

At the same time, Jensen was in Laguna Seca for the World Superbike weekend, and the following Pirelli track day. There, Jensen got to ride two very unique motorcycles: the Kramer HKR EVO2 and the BMW HP4 Race. A short review: they did not suck.

Since Quentin recently also got a chance to ride the Kramer, the two trade notes on the show about this interesting single-cylinder motorcycle, and how much fun it is to ride smaller-displacement motorcycles on the track.

Like we said, it’s a marathon show, but we think you will find all the topics not only interesting, but the stories entertaining.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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Racing

Watch Carlin Dunne Skid & Slide to the Top of Pikes Peak

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The “Race to the Clouds” consists of 156 turns, 12.42 miles of tarmac, and a summit for 14,110 feet. It is no small undertaking. To prove that simple point, one only needs to watch the on-board footage from Pikes Peak racers.

Today’s example comes to us from Carlin Dunne, who last weekend took his Ducati Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak race bike to the top of America’s Mountain, with a race-winning time of 9:59.102.

The Pikes Peak race course proved challenging for all of the competitors involved, and you can see from the on-board videos that Carlin has more than his fair share of close calls where he loses traction – especially in the top half of the course.

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Racing

Carlin Dunne Wins Nail-Biter at Pikes Peak

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Today saw the 96th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, with riders and drivers once again racing to the clouds, just outside Colorado Springs.

This year’s race was framed as Ducati vs. KTM, with the Australian claiming the outright record at Pikes Peak, after Chris Fillmore took his KTM 1290 Super Duke R up to the summit in 9:49.625.

Looking to reclaim its crown, Ducati came back to Pikes Peak after a short hiatus, enlisting the help of Carlin Dunne (of A&R fame) and Codie Vahsholtz.

The duo would square off against Cycle News test editor Rennie Scaysbrook, who would ride again on his KTM 1290 Super Duke R, while Chris Fillmore would take on the middleweight class with a KTM 790 Duke, in a quest to post a sub-10 minute time on the smaller bike.

With the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb framed as one of the most exciting in recent memory, the event surely didn’t disappoint.

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