Australian Motorcycle News

“THERE WILL BE PLENTY MORE SUBPLOTS IN ALL FORMS OF ROAD RACING THROUGHOUT 2023” THE ROAD racing season is nearing and I’m bloody excited. The WorldSBK riders have already hit the track for the first test of the season aboard their ’23 bikes at Jerez on 25-26 January; by the time this issue hits newsstands, the first official ASBK test will have taken place under lights on 1-2 February at Sydney Motorsport Park; and this weekend the first MotoGP test of the year takes place on 5 February at Sepang. Of course, the big news for Aussie WorldSBK fans is Remy Gardner’s debut in the series for the GYTR GRT Yamaha squad. After the testing was done and dusted at Jerez, Remy found himself inside the top 10, just 1.2 seconds off…

The Breakout 117, Nightster Special and Road Glide 3 join a line-up of seven anniversary models across Harley-Davidson’s Custom, Touring, Trike and CVO ranges. The American giant has much to celebrate. The fact that it reached its 50th anniversary before Suzuki, Kawasaki or Yamaha had made their first bikes puts its long history into perspective The year-long 120th party has started with these new models and some brief information on the big rally at its Milwaukee headquarters. Expect more model and event news as the year unfolds. COINCIDENCE?! Although H-D’s first V-twin didn’t go into production until 1911, 112 years ago, 2023 marks the 120th anniversary of V-twin production in America. Read our in-depth historical feature starting page 78! BREAKOUT 117 Now packing the biggest, 1923cc 117ci version of the Milwaukee-Eight, the returning Breakout takes its…

Of all China’s motorcycle brands CFMoto comes closest to being a mainstream player on the global market with an increasingly impressive range. In the time it has been in Australia CFMoto has sold well over 25,000 units, and its alliance with KTM has now moved up a gear – the parallel-twin 800MT adventure range already a big hit locally. Now it’s starting to really rock as it enters into what it promised last September would be a year of new models. We’ve seen documents that confirm the 300SR sportsbike is about to get reworked into an even better package, while a supernaked is also under development using KTM’s 1279cc V-twin. Expect to see these revealed as production models late this year. Looking ahead, CFMoto is developing a V4 Superbike-style engine. It’s…

METEOR A SHOOTING STAR Royal Enfield has taken significant pre-orders for its new Super Meteor 650 range, expected to be delivered in April. Its new 350 Hunter is also a sales success, especially among the younger, inner-city demographic and older riders returning to two wheels. CAPE CRUSADER RETURNS Popular demand has brought Suzuki’s DR-Z400E Cape York Edition back on sale. No wonder because Suzuki has sold over 20,000 DR-Z400 models in Australia and the CY Edition comes loaded with hard kit. Full test starts page 50. VARIETY A BASH The fully supported 2023 Variety Adventure Ride starts at Dubbo, NSW, on 19 March and takes a loop on outback roads and tracks that include the Gammon and Flinders Ranges, Strzelecki Desert and Cameron Corner. It ends at Lightning Ridge on 25 March. More information at…

“At some point in time, Harley-Davidson will be all-electric but it’s not something you do overnight”CEO Jochen Zeitz predicts a decades-long transition. Meanwhile fellow American icon Ford (with its all-electric F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E) has set a 2030 target of 40 percent electric vehicles, while Chevrolet (Bolt, Blazer and Equinox) plans a complete transition to electric vehicles by 2035. 01 After winning both the MotoGP and WorldSBK titles last year, Lenovo Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia and Aruba.it Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista have opted to run the number-one plates for their championship defences. But the last GP rider to successfully defend his title using the number-one was Mick Doohan! Read more about the so-called Curse of the Number One Plate in Michael Scott’s column, page 107. MENTAL TWISTIES Our hardest quiz in a while has turned…

Piaggio has fired up its R&D team to reinvent its leaning trike and also come up with yet another alternative to a motorcycle’s front fork. After 15 years of making three-wheeled scooters it has applied for a patent that keeps the front fairing nose upright while the rest of the scooter tilts. This will solve the aerodynamic issues in the current MP3 model where not only is the nose taller and wider than a two-wheeler, air passes between the two front wheels, making it even less aerodynamically efficient. Piaggio’s solution is surprisingly simple. Instead of mounting the nose fairing on the main chassis, it’s bolted to the parallelogram-style linkage that connects the uprights of the front wheels. This section remains parallel with the ground even as the MP3 leans, and so does…