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Two Enthusiasts Podcast – Episode 24 – It’s A Brap

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Episode 24 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, for your podcasting pleasure. In this episode of the show, Quentin and I have a chat about the race week at the Isle of Man TT, which is split between talking about the races themselves, and the evolution of racing motorcycles.

We then focus our attention to my recent trip to Los Angeles, where I saw first-hand the 2017 Yamaha SCR950 and FZ-10 street bikes from Yamaha North America. Next, we talk about the second part of my trip, which involved riding the Energica Eva electric street bike.

To finish the show, Quentin talks about riding a motorcycle that belonged to a good friend, who died not too long ago. It’s an interesting story that involves a very special motorcycle and getting back out on the track. We think you’ll enjoy it, and the rest of the show.

As always, 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. Enjoy the show!

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Bikes

Ducati Debuting Two New Bikes at World Ducati Week

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If you’re attending this year’s World Ducati Week, then you’re in for a treat, as Ducati is set to debut two new bikes at the gathering in Misano.

Details are thin at the moment, but we do know that one of the machines will be a limited-edition motorcycle that celebrates Ducati’s 90th anniversary.

Meanwhile the other bike is a new model to the Ducati range, which will be shown in a “closed room” setting as a sort of sneak peak before its official launch.

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Bikes

2017 Yamaha SCR950 – Bolting into a Scrambler

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We knew last year at the 2015 EICMA show that scrambler and other post-authentic models would finally be coming from the major manufacturers, especially as the Japanese OEMs caught up to the trend du jour.

At the time, the worry was that this marked motorcycling’s “jumping the shark” moment when it came to these throw-back machines, with the mainstream pushing out the fringe adopters, who would move on to their next counter-culture statement.

Today, we see the first of that momentum, with the 2017 Yamaha SCR950 – a scrambler-type model, which is based off the Yamaha Bolt cruiser platform.

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Bikes

Ducati Sold 54,800 Bikes in 2015 – Another Record

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As expected from earlier sales reports, Ducati Motor Holding is posting a banner year for 2015. The Italian motorcycle maker says that it sold 54,800 bikes last year, a 9,683 unit (+22%) increase over the number of bikes sold in 2014.

Helping break the 50,000 units barrier, the Ducati Scrambler line accounted for virtually all of Ducati’s sales growth in 2015, with over 16,000 Scrambler models sold worldwide. As we have reported before, this paints an interesting picture of what is going on behind Borgo Panigale’s walls.

“The record sales of 2015 are the result of our company’s courage and skill,” said Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding.

“Ducati closes 2015 with record volumes and also a substantial growth of 22% over 2014. During the year Ducati not only launched successful new motorcycles, but also a new brand, Ducati Scrambler, which immediately won global acclaim with over 16,000 sales worldwide.”

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Bikes

2016 Moto Guzzi V7II Stornello Scrambler

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It was 1967 when Moto Guzzi first introduced the Stornello scrambler to the US market, and now for 2016 the Stornello scrambler returns.

Using the Moto Guzzi V7II platform for this rebirth, the 48hp 2016 Moto Guzzi V7II Stornello is a fetching motorcycle with dubious off-road ability – not that the latter really matters in this all-show, no-go space.

Honestly, we can’t fault Moto Guzzi for trying, as the Italian brand seems to be gravitating towards the heritage demographic, which is currently inundated with “post-authentic” retro models, and as such the scrambler is the moto du jour in the industry – the 2015 EICMA show is proof of that.

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Bikes

2016 Benelli Leoncino Brings Back the Lion Cub

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Benelli is not a brand we usually talk about with great reverence, as the Italian company has steadily lost its luster since its acquisition by China’s Qianjiang Group.

Benelli’s motorcycles were never known for being terribly reliable, and unfortunately the artful designs that they exuded have slowly eroded away over time.

The big announcement for Benelli at the 2015 EICMA show is the new Benelli Leoncino, the “lion cub” model that’s rooted in Benelli’s post-WWII history.

This modern take on the classic Benelli Leoncino is an attractive scrambler model, which makes 47hp from its 500cc parallel-twin engine.

This also means that the Benelli Leoncino a well-suited A2 license machine in Europe, and its wire-spoked wheels are 19″ in the front and 17″ in the rear, and should make the Leoncino surprisingly adapt at light off-road use.

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Bikes

Bimota Tesi 3D RaceCafe Is “Pinnacle Weird”

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If you’re not listening to the Two Enthusiasts Podcast, you should…there is some good two-wheeled gold in the show. So, with a hat-tip to my co-host Quentin Wilson – whose new favorite phrase is “pinnacle weird” – we present you with perhaps the strangest motorcycle to debut at the 2015 EICMA show.

The Bimota Tesi 3D champions the hub-center steering chassis design, and is one of the more unique motorcycles in the industry right now. Its design is positively futuristic, so it is a little strange that Bimota is trying to make the Tesi 3D into a café racer with the launch of the Bimota Tesi 3D RaceCafe.

Powered by the same 803cc air-cooled v-twin engine that’s found in the Scrambler series, you can tell that Bimota is trying to latch onto the post-heritage trend that is dying a slow death in the motorcycle industry, but hasn’t quite figured out how to do it yet.

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Bikes

BMW R nineT Scrambler Mega Gallery

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BMW Motorrad says that the BMW R nineT Scrambler model revives a chapter in the German brand’s storybook, where BMWs of the 1960’s and 1970’s were fitted with knobby tires and high-mount exhaust, and were prominent on both road and trail.

The scrambler heritage model is a popular one nowadays, and BMW Motorrad is using one of its few remaining 110hp, 1,1700c, air-cooled engines to power the retro-styled BWM R nineT, and now the BMW R nineT Scrambler.

In an unusual move for BMW, the R nineT Scrambler features telescope forks, which are mounted right-side up. The front wheel is a cast 19″ unit stock, while the rear is 17″ hoop. Both wheels are stopped with ABS brakes that are axially mounted, and can be replaced with laced wheels.

The bike is Euro4 compliant, but we think would-be owners are going to be more concerned with the accessories packages available for the BMW R nineT Scrambler, which take the Scrambler from road bike to trail machine.

We’ve got 90 high-resolution photos of the BMW R nineT Scrambler after the jump, for your viewing pleasure.

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Ducati Scrambler Sixty2 – 400cc of Hipster

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The eagerly awaited 2016 Ducati Scrambler Sixty2 is the small-displacement machine we have been waiting for from Ducati, and it has finally dropped at this year’s EICMA show in Milan. The Scrambler Sixty2 joins the Scrambler Flat Track Pro as one of the two new Scrambler Ducati models for 2016.

Accordingly, the Ducati Scrambler Sixty2 takes the basic Scrambler chassis and re-sleeves the machine’s air-cooled v-twin for 400cc of displacement, with a 72mm x 49mm bore and stroke (compared to the 88mm x 66mm bore and stroke on the 803cc models).

The result is a bike that Ducati says is better suited for new riders with its 41hp and 368 lbs dry weight. That’s only a 7 lbs reduction from the the 803cc models, so the Scrambler Sixty2 is still a bit heavy, but the Ducati Scrambler Sixty2 does fit into Europe’s A2 license format, so there’s that.

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Ducati Scrambler Flat Track Pro – When Hipsters Go Racing

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Debuting today in Milan, Italy – just ahead of the EICMA trade show – Ducati has announced the Ducati Scrambler Flat Track Pro. The model comes from Ducati’s foray into the flat track realm, where Troy Bayliss made a tough return to motorcycle racing.

Ducati’s flat track race bike hasn’t really mimiced anything in the Italian company’s lineup, until now of course. Behold the first new model to the Scrambler Ducati brand, the Ducati Scrambler Flat Track Pro.

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