Australian Motorcycle News

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THERE’S SO much happening right now I hardly know where to start. The racing action this past weekend was as plentiful as it was action packed, with Round 2 of ASBK at Sydney Motorsport Park, Round 2 of MotoGP at Portimao and Round 2 of WorldSBK at C

REMEMBER ROYAL Enfield’s 883cc V-twin KX cruiser concept revealed in late 2018? Benda has created a 250cc knock-off and has type-approved the V-twin. It looks every bit the 2018 concept, right down to what appears to be a girder-style front suspensio

LIVEWIRE – the electric motorcycle brand that was spun off from Harley-Davidson – has unveiled the second machine on its new ‘Arrow’ modular platform in the form of the S2 Mulholland cruiser. Joining the existing S2 Del Mar and the original LiveWire

NEW PATENT applications from Suzuki show the company is working on a new small-capacity parallel twin with variable valve timing and lift thanks to a VTEC-style system. Suzuki is no stranger to variable valve timing, having used an unusual, centrifug

CFMOTO’S NEW XO Papio Trail and Racer have shown a light-hearted side of the Chinese motorcycle industry that has parallels with some of the more frivolous Japanese bikes of the 1980s – and now rival Zongshen is homing in on the same market segment w

THE RR660S isn’t the only new bike heading to production from Voge in 2024 – the company has also type-approved a small V-twin cruiser under the ‘CU250’ name. The bike is powered by a liquid-cooled, 250cc V-twin with under-square dimensions: a 53mm b

BRIXTON UNVEILED a rugged-looking concept model during EICMA 2022 called ‘Storr’, which used the same 486cc twin-cylinder engine as its existing Crossfire 500 models. Now it’s heading into production virtually unaltered as revealed by new type-approv

THE YEAR WAS… In the 1957 International Tourist Trophy races in the Isle of Man last week, marking the Golden Jubilee of the most famous of all motorcycle races in the world, history was made in the establishment of record speeds in all five TT races

Wilfred Steward Lamont was but 15-years-old when Johnnie Hoskins ‘invented’ speedway at West Maitland in December 1923. Speedway was much later defined as ‘racing motorcycles on oval dirt tracks by professional riders in organised leagues on single g

ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT ISSUE AN AMCN NECK SOCK EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS AND ADDRESS TO AMCN@AMCN.COM.AU FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN ■

YAMAHA’S POWER Tuner was launched 16 years ago as a plug-in tool before it became the first off-road brand to offer connectivity via a smartphone in 2017. Seven years later, the newest version of the app – which is available for both Apple and Androi

$55,800 (ride away) $36,910 (ride away) $43,999 (ride away) ■

PRICES START from $39,280 (ride away). Three colours combine into two colourway options: Light White/M Motorsport or Blackstorm Metallic/M Motorsport for the optional M Competition package, which comes in at about $7500 extra and includes a 3kg weigh

ACCESSORISING YOUR pride and joy is the best form of retail therapy and an essential part of the motorcycling journey. Let’s face it, you’ll only spend the money on coffee and donuts anyway, so why not give your bike a boost of self-esteem and yourse

CHOOSING BETWEEN these two pint-sized city slickers should be easy. Are you an urban explorer, or urban roadster. Do you dig scramblers or crave cafe racers? They both come with the same electronics, engine performance, brakes and suspension. Both ar

$10,490 (plus on-road costs) $7544 (plus on-road costs) $8965 (ride away) $11,390 (ride away) ■

ONCE UPON a time, the Supermoto class was huge with almost every manufacturer producing a dedicated model. This included Honda, Suzuki and Aprilia plus specialists like Vertemati and Husaberg. The list was huge and we were spoilt for choice. But in r

$19,840 (ride away) $20,195 (ride away) $20,400 (ride away) ■

I THOUGHT it was all over, too, but there’s more to the seat saga. It’s been six months! However, I am now pretty sure the story of the BMW’s bench has reached its exciting finale and, as soon as we’ve absorbed the lessons learned, we can move on… We

AFTER ONE year, opinions about Sprints remain split. Fans love them. Riders? Maybe not so much. A few (Jack Miller springs to mind; plus the most frequent Sprint winner Jorge Martin) relish the chance to go racing twice as often. Others (Fabio Quarta

IN ORDER TO succeed first you must fail. Dani Holgado (Tech3 GasGas) proved the motto to be true as he righted the wrongs from his opening round performance by holding on for victory despite a last-gasp attack from Jose Antonio Rueda (Ajo KTM) in Por

THREE RACES IN Catalunya, three full races as they were planned after Phillip Island’s short-race weekend festival, underlined how close WorldSBK is in 2024 and how exciting it can be when things fall into place. Toprak rode his heavily-winged BMW ch

ADRIAN HUERTAS (Aruba Ducati) kicked a second goal in Superpole qualifying, after his first-time success at Phillip Island. He made his next career step by winning Race 1, after some early troubles fighting off Can Öncü (who would eventually drop to

WE HAD A first round/first time Superpole winner, in the shape of Julio Garcia Gonzalez and the Chinese Kove. The Saturday ‘race winner’ Inigo Iglesias Bravo (Kawasaki) was penalised by a three-second time addition, after causing a T5 accident. That

JOSH WATERS and the McMartin Racing Team leave Sydney Motorsport Park with the round win and points lead in the Australian Superbike Championship courtesy of solid dry pace and daring in the wet. A clean sweep was spoiled by the determination of Yama

THE RACE AND Road Supersport 300 championship kicked off with Kiwi Jesse Stroud taking his Kawasaki to the opening race win ahead of local Joshua Newman (Wet4U Race Fairings) and Valentino Knezovic (Motocity). Stroud had dropped as low as tenth befor

FERMIN ALDEGUER is the latest Moto2 hotshot to be signed up by Ducati for its MotoGP program. The Spanish teenager will ride for the Pramac squad after signing a two-year contract, with Ducati having an option to extend that for another two campaigns

MANY EXPECT Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia to challenge for the 2024 MotoGP title and their controversial crash toward the end of the Portuguese GP could be the first of many throughout the year. Unsurprisingly, the pair were in disagreement over who

MAVERICK VIÑALES was just a lap away from crowning the best weekend of his Aprilia career, but a gearbox issue caused a dramatic late crash, which denied him a sure second place. “Basically after the uphill on the finish line, I tried to put sixth, b

THE PORTUGUESE GP was momentous in many ways. Firstly, Pedro Acosta became the third-youngest premier class podium finisher in history at 19 years 304 days of age. Only Randy Mamola (19 years 261 days old - Finland 1979) and Eduardo Salatino (19 year

AFTER BEING scheduled to ride a Yamaha YZF-R1M Superbike for this round of ASBK, Tom Toparis and his Stop and Seal team did an about turn and stuck to the familiar Supersport option for Round 2. Toparis won both races and obliterated the lap record.

A LOT OF people will be wondering what is going on with Arthur Sissis this year. After being a podium threat last season, this year he looks right off the pace and not his normal self. Arthur tells us there has been a persistent electrical/electronic

THE PRESTIGIOUS Peter Craven Memorial meeting is always a highlight of the opening weeks of the British speedway season and in 2024 there was another Australian rider taking the win – not surprising after four Australian riders made it to the six-rid