Australian Motorcycle News Vol 68 Issue 25

EVERY DAY ELECTRIC-POWERED vehicles develop further and many 20-year-olds are all googly-eyed about it – they will happily power a 40km/h electric bike down a busy road in shorts and t-shirt, yet consider motorcycles ‘dangerous’. All this effort into inventing new forms of transport does bamboozle me – we already have the ideal transport. Motorcycles. They have been invented already. I can save all these people a lot of time. Just buy a motorcycle. Fuel efficient (and they will get better), space saving, easy to park, relatively inexpensive, the list goes on. They already are the bomb. But motorcycles have one big minus, and that’s years of being perceived as too dangerous. They can be, for sure, but the same generation worried about motorcycle safety apparently have no qualms about a future…

THE MARKET FOR insanely powerful nakedbikes has just been turned into a battlefield of brands. Ducati will fire the first shots at the upcoming Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, one of the world’s most challenging races. WE’VE BUSTED KTM’S FINAL VERSION OF THE SUPER DUKE R It will send last year’s winner, Carlin Dunne, on a Streetfighter V4 prototype, up the 20km course, which has over 155 corners and finishes at a height of 4300m. Meanwhile, we’ve busted KTM’s final version of its soon-to-be-released all-new 150kW-plus Super Duke R. Not long ago the 130kW KTM Super Duke R was considered ridiculously powerful for a road-going nakedbike. Now we know that the upcoming MV Agusta Brutale, which we tested last issue, and Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 have raised the bar to over 150kW. Also joining the…

Ducati Streetfighter V4 prototype revealed! THERE'S NEVER BEEN much doubt that Ducati’s 1103cc Panigale V4 engine was going to be used in more bikes and now the first machine to benefit from that trickle-down technology has been revealed, in the form of the 2020 Ducati Streetfighter V4. At the moment it’s still officially a prototype, unveiled now because the firm wants to prove its mettle in competition at the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb at the end of this month. But Ducati has confirmed that a near-identical production bike will be unveiled at November’s EICMA show in Milan and is expected to reach dealers in March 2020. It shares virtually all its major components with the existing Panigale V4 S and no doubt there will be both a base and S model available…

LAST WEEK THE UK joined several major European nations, including industrial powerhouse Germany, by declaring it is aiming to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Several smaller countries have nominated 2030 as their target date. India, the world’s largest motorcycle market, has already pledged to have only electric cars sold as new models by 2030 and all new motorcycles sized up to 150cc be electric powered by 2025. These commitments to a different form of personal powered propulsion are driving a design revolution Australians are just noticing. But AMCN has kept tabs on this over the past year and we’ve also noticed that this shift is running parallel to new rider-assist technology. Similar to what we’ve seen appearing in cars, the motorcycle versions have not been developed in-house. Until now. Our industry sleuth Ben Purvis has…

“I just held my breath and put it out there” Davo Johnson describes how he held off road-racing legend Michael Dunlop to achieve his first TT podium. We chat to Davo on page 126 BONZA BORIS We salute top bloke Boris Struk, who founded Muscular Dystrophy Australia last century, has raised $42m over the past three decades, and also organised the annual pioneered Harley-Davidson giveaway. This great guy is retiring from the top job next month. 5,000,000 Harley-Davidson has just sold its five-millionth Hog, a Heritage Classic that rolled off its Pennsylvania assembly line. GIRLS ON THE GAS The recent 2019 Australian Classic Dirt Track Championship, run by the Harley Club of Victoria at Broadford, included the first-ever running of the Evolution Women’s All Power Class, with Tayla Street becoming the inaugural winner. CAPTAIN CHAOS RETURNS Remember Captain Chaos? Well he’s back…

HONDA IS SET to take on BMW’s F850GS, KTM’s 790 Adventure and Yamaha’s Tenere 700 in the booming mid-sized adventure bike market. We understand Honda will first launch a larger Africa Twin next year, the CRF1100L, and then a smaller CRF850L will join the range in 2021. Japanese media is excited about the prospect, even publishing a cover image of what it thinks the new model will look like. While Honda’s current international-market adventure bike range is extensive, it’s heavily slanted towards road-oriented models like the CB500X, VFR800X and VFR1200X. The CRF1000L Africa Twin Honda broke that mould, using a purpose-made twin-cylinder engine and a chassis developed specifically for off-road use. It’s reaped the rewards since, snapping at the heels of BMW’s best-selling R1200GS/R1250GS for the top-seller spot in many adventure-bike markets. Our Japanese…