Motorcycle news

For 20 many years, Indiana based Tuscany Motor Company would often give us enthusiasts Harley-Davidson special limited-edition trucks based out of Ford’s most famous pickup, the F-150. Ford never had a factory kit directly, but Tuscany customized these cosmetic packages under the direction of the Milwaukee firm, reflecting notable and iconic features of a cruiser almost every year.

For 2020, Tuscany has shed the Ford badge to a brand new GMC Sierra and have launched the Harley-Davidson GMC Sierra Truck, with the Fat Boy being the inspiration for this build. The limited run of 250 examples will include over 65 proprietary components designed alongside Harley-Davidson to uplift the vibe and the character of the already striking Sierra truck.

It’s finally coming. Leaked information and pictures from a special event hosted by Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali gave us the first glimpses of the Panigale V4 Superleggera. And the specs are going to blow your mind.

What goes into moving a particular motorcycle into the “Historically Significant” category? That depends upon whom you ask, of course. What their priorities are, how far back in history they are interested in delving and even upon which surfaces the bikes are built to travel. Verily I say unto thee; the possibilities are legion. With that in mind, I want to tackle that question myself today, but first I will qualify what it means to me for the purpose of this article. Some will be mechanical marvels of their time, and some will be rather mundane yet have astronomical sales figures as an indicator of consumer popularity. I’m going to stick to street/road bikes and exclude off-road machines, plus I’m going to leave scooters alone as well ’cause they have their own history and deserve to be looked at as a major branch on the two wheeled-tree unto itself. As far as how deep I’m willing to go into the annals of history, I’m going to say “all the way.” Let’s get to it.

Back in 2018, the MotoGP organizers Dorna and the FIM made a new call to make it compulsory for riders to wear a suit under the riding jacket that would expand with air upon impact. Just like the airbags in your car.

Much before that, the top tier safety gear manufacturers, Alpinestar and Dainese have been at it to develop safety equipment for riders across the world, including such airbag systems. For 2020, Alpinestar has released its brand new "Tech-Air 5", which is a “slim, self-contained wearable airbag vest” that can be worn under just about any riding jacket. Dainese, however, debuted its “Dainese Smart Jacket” system in 2019 itself.

When a global luxury fashion, beauty, and lifestyle honcho from Hong Kong asked the most blood rushed custom motorcycle boutique of Vietnam to give their machine a do-over, no one expected this off the bed.

This Bandit 9 EVE 2020 is what happens when profanity takes the high road with Lane Crawford. A ravishing blacked-out rendition of the EVE, it gets a new engine cover and front cowl that hits the futuristic tone, all with a dark intent showcasing a menacing character. Let me remind you, all of this is road legal somehow.

With the dawn of electric supremacy into the motorcycling world, multiple possibilities have opened up for embedding technology and innovation to make riding safer than ever before. A lot of companies are pouring in cash like water into developing future automobile technologies to be able to minimize accidents and deaths on the road. Governments of countries are vying to call their roads the safest and are devising various strategies to do so.

Practically being one of the first to bring those innovations onto the roads is this Canadian tech startup - Damon Motorcycles. Unveiling their brand new product, the 200 hp Hypersport electric motorcycle, Damon unleashed the world’s safest, smartest, fully connected electric motorcycle employing sensor fusion, robotics, and AI. All of this while still carrying a powertrain with 200+ miles of range, Brembos’, Ohlins’, a carbon-fiber swingarm, and more.

He’s 22, he drives for my favorite team, he’s from the home that runs my favorite circuit, he’s the youngest to win the Pole Trophy, he’s Charles Leclerc.

A precocious champion with breathtaking talent and ballistic pace, Charles has been fast-tracked into the money-can’t-buy race seat at Ferrari. Raking up the space left by Scuderia’s last world champion, Kimi Räikkönen, he promptly scored more race wins and points than his teammate, an established number one, Sebastian Vettel. That’s some profile!

Out of the car, Leclerc is modest and thoughtful and apparently loves seeing the world go past by like flashes of strobes, even on two wheels.

He recently commissioned a cool custom build of a Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 from one of the fanciest French builder, Bad Winners . It’s got ten more horses, is 60 lbs lighter and goes by the name - "The Apex 2.0"⁠.

After being rebranded as “Curtiss Motorcycle Co.,” the firm went head-on with making full-blown exquisite electric-powered motorcycles. They showcased the "Zeus" concept a couple of years back, and most recently, the “Hades” concept came out with an unusual and wild, phallic induced design form.

Honestly, this created hilarious responses within the industry scribes and the readers, taking us back to the grade school jokes and pranks. Fortunately, Curtiss has responded with subtle tweaks to give it a little modesty just before the Spring 2020 production slot. Phew!

If you’ve been on the tech front page, you might have heard about Honda’s Riding Assist-e, a small personal mobility technology which had a self-balancing multidirectional movement capability.

Now, an Indian based EV startup - Liger Mobility - have come up with a proprietary self-balancing gyro force technology for two-wheelers changing the dynamics in terms of safety and experience, without losing the fun aspect of riding one. Also, it has a “call” function that comes to you when you call for it. Fancy eh.

If the Fast & Furious franchisee ever made a movie with a scooter trying to run away from the cops or the bad guys, this ANX Sprint Racer could just be their best hope to get away with. Oh! It can also slide under truck trailers for that.

Started life as a puny scooter from the mid-2000s—a Piaggio NRG, now it runs nitrous ( or what we love to call as NOS ), makes five times its original power, and weighs less than the skinnies girlfriend you’ve ever had.

The future of personal transportation is heading down the path of electrification. As more EVs begin to hit the streets, the challenge of charging convenience will become paramount to the consumer, and as a matter of fact, it already has. Charging your electric motorcycle means having to pull out a cord physically, and plug-in to your machine for hours together. This might not be the most convenient way to do that.

BMW Motorrad has probably come up with a more natural way to do this, and the technology is not particularly new even. Remember wireless charging your smartphone on a charging pad?

The Italian manufacturer, Vins, is a pretty new entry into the world of two-wheels and is made up of ex-Ferrari F1 designers who love playing the techie God. Why? Because they managed to make the Duecinquanta, a 250cc 2-stroke carbon-fiber sportsbike with Euro-IV compliancy.

Now, they are in the pursuit of speed with an electric mill instead and have been busy working on their prototype. Making use of Zero Motorcycle’s biggest powertrain bolted under the Duecinquanta chassis, they announced the EV-01—short for “Electric Vins.” It is a 70hp sportsbike that is powered by a 14.4 kWh battery pack “that aims at the lightness, sustainability and technology innovation in perfect Vins’s style.”.

After being the first to market a ’full size’ electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, the American brand took new strides and entered the trail and streetfighter segments as well with the Pan-America and the Bronx. Looking for low displacement fishing grounds, they got on board with a Chinese firm Qianjiang to produce small, affordable, low-power bikes. They are the same chaps who now also own the Italian Benelli.

Bringing back the sweet-four in a 250cc motorcycle after two decades, Kawasaki’s all-new entry-level sportsbike will go against the likes of the Honda CBR 250RR and the Yamaha R25. The 2020 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-25R is touted to be the most prolific quarter-liter machine in the category with a top-spec equipment list, electronic aids, and a smothering power mill that has touted to be the highest-revving motorcycles on the market.

Self-Balancing personal transport solution specialists Segway was picked up by the Chinese electric mobility house Ninebot recently. At the 2020 CES show in Las Vegas, they plan to pull the wraps off three future products, including a concept sportsbike and a production-ready scooter. At the moment, however, the company has revealed the first looks of these products, and honestly, have peaked a few eyeballs.

Remember watching Vin Diesel in the sci-fi Babylon A.D.? If you do, I pity the plight you had to sit through for it was a pile of steaming and smelly goo. But there was a motorcycle in it amongst other custom vehicles which ended up in a crash, and it was nothing but a 1999 Yamaha R1 made by Frenchman, Ludovic Lazareth.

The same madman has now delivered the limited edition LMV 496 La Moto Volante, which translates to “The Flying Motorcycle.” Defying all odds, including gravity, this Jet powered machine is an updated artistry from yet another mind-bending machine – the LM-847, a tilting four-wheeler built around a fire-breathing 470-horsepower Maserati engine.