Australian Motorcycle News

IT SEEMS there’s nothing quite like the topic of electric vehicles to get some keyboard warriors fired up. Regardless of your thoughts on whether electric motorcycles make sense or not, I find it strange that some people so vehementley detest them. A

Editor Dean Mellor Deputy Editor Kel Buckley Sub Editor Hamish Cooper Founding Editor George Lynn Art Director Brendon Wise Sir Alan Cathcart, Michael Scott, Ben Purvis, Mat Oxley, Neil Morrison, Adam Child, Gold&Goose, Gordon Ritchie, Paul Young, Pe

AT MILAN’S EICMA show last November, CFMoto revealed the MT-X concept and now the production version has been type-approved, revealing not only how the showroom model will look but giving away key technical details. Importantly, apart from the additi

In his 13th season in BSB, Aussie Jason O’Halloran has notched up his 27th win and 73rd podium in a thrilling four-way fight for Race 3 victory at Donington Park. Benelli’s new TRK 702 and TRK 702X adventure bikes are on the way, starting at $12,990

It only takes a quick look at Italjet’s 65-year history to understand why someone believed they needed to take designs and componentry usually reserved for high-end exotica and apply it to an outrageously styled 181cc scooter. That someone is Massimo

Anthracite/White/Red Black/Grey Anthracite/Yellow $9990 (ride away) Tricolor $10,490 (ride away) Malossi Edition $10,490 (ride away) First Edition replica $POA ■

• Malossi MHR Race Exhaust $1499• Malossi Transmission Kit $555• Malossi Torque Converter $449• Malossi 205cc Cylinder Kit $1290• Malossi O2 controller $239• Malossi Force Master 2.1 $865• Malossi Pod Air Filter Kit $125• Labour (1.5 days) $1700 Tota

$16,909 (plus on-road costs) $20,100 (ride away) $26,690 (ride away) ■

YOU COULD argue that Yamaha’s Sport Heritage line-up started back in 2015, with the retro XJR1300 and SR400, but it wasn’t until 2016, for me anyway, that the company came up with truly convincing heritage offerings in the XSR700 and XSR900, both wit

CVO IS Harley-Davidson’s Custom Vehicle Operation and after 25 years it’s usually where you see the stuff that’ll come out on ‘standard’ models farther down the track. The higher-spec CVO Road Glide looks like it’s designed to impress bagger racers w

Hinckley’s 600cc sports offering met mixed reviews due to glitchy fueling, but still offered decent performance from its 80kW inline-4 engine. New Daytona 600 hits the market with much improved dynamics, weighing only 165kg dry and with the inline-4

ON OUR TRIP from Tailem Bend to Adelaide we went through the town of Strathalbyn - where a steel monument commemorates the legendary Australian road racer Ken Blake. Known as the ‘Mr Nice Guy’ of road racing, it was Blake’s attitude as much as his ex

649cc inline four 70kW @ 12000rpm 64Nm @ 8500rpm 207kg (wet, claimed) $13,893 649cc parallel twin 53kW @ 8500rpm 64Nm @ 7000rpm 211kg (wet, claimed) $12,998 689cc parallel twin 56.4kW @ 9000rpm 68Nm @ 6500rpm 188kg (wet, claimed) $15,649 776cc parall

Do riders dream of electric bikes? Looking at the latest sales figures from around the world the answer appears to be a resounding ‘no’ as battery-powered motorcycle registrations drop in both the West and the East. That’s going to be a shock, with n

IT’S NOT EASY to get a detailed breakdown of every make and model of bike that’s sold each year in many countries but we can get an insight into the sort of electric motorcycles that are finding buyers by looking at new models registered in the UK. I

HONDA SAYS it will have 30 electric motorcycle models in its range by 2030, with global sales of four million per year. The plan is to have battery-powered models in all the major classes, including supersports, nakeds, kids’ bikes, off-road bikes an

FRANCESCO PONS was a young man when he emigrated from Majorca to Australia in 1966. Unlike many of his fellow émigrés, Pons didn’t settle in one of Australia’s booming capital cities or major regional centres. Speaking very little English, he figured

TROOPS BRYAN HINDLE’S DEFEAT of Agostini was a watershed moment for local motorcycle racing. Not only did it show that an Aussie could beat one of the true legends of the sport, it inspired a new generation of racers to simply go out a have a go, lik

ROOTHY NEEDS to go for another ride to sharpen his blunt brain, I reckon. It’s true when he says I have a plush fourby, but if he’d racked his brain he probably could have dobbed me in for worse. And it’s true that I use a camera for work but he forg

MOTORCYCLE RACING for me has been a whirlwind. I was a professional cricketer in my early 20s, a bit of an all-rounder, reaching the heights of playing County cricket in the UK. I wasn’t too bad at football either, so I’d play footy in the winter and

THE TROUBLE with MotoGP? It’s too fast. That’s not what world championship racing should be about. Sounds ridiculous? Bear with me. Only relative speed matters. As in: Why hurry a good race? Because MotoGP riders aren’t going for the land-speed recor

THIS SHOWCASED the best – and worst – of Moto2. For Sergio Garcia (MSI Boscoscuro) took advantage of some early chaos to establish an advantage. From there, the Spaniard eked out a comfortable lead over Joe Roberts (ART Kalex), Alonso Lopez (Speed Up

DAVID ALONSO (Aspar CFMoto) bounced back from his Jerez disappointment by scoring a brilliant last-lap victory over chief rival Dani Holgado (Tech3 GASGAS). The pair were embroiled in a fine 10-rider scrap, with Collin Veijer (IntactGP Husqvarna) jus

MOTOGP SERIES ORGANISER Dorna is pushing to freeze engine development for 2026 in a bid to reduce costs. Its reasoning is the five MotoGP factories will be developing new prototype machines for 2027, so reducing spending on engine development the yea

JOAN MIR’S FUTURE remains up in the air as Honda’s desperate struggles continue apace. The 2020 world champion is assessing an offer from HRC to stay beyond 2024 but has also been heavily linked with the seat at Trackhouse Aprilia, where former Team

GLENN IRWIN (PBM Ducati) has taken three Superbike wins at the North West 200, making him the most successful Superbike rider in the event’s history. Irwin now has 11 wins at the 14.4km road circuit, surpassing the previous record held by the legenda

HARRISON VOIGHT has endured a tough FIM JuniorGP round at Catalunya, recording a DNF in both Moto2 races and not lasting longer than the third lap. Voight had qualified 10th and was running strongly in sixth in Race 1 before crashing out. Archie McDo

TAYLA RELPH has made history at the first official test for the inaugural FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship held at Cremona Circuit, Milan, Italy. Relph topped the initial session on a rain-hit opening day, before ending the test in sixth

THE NSW POST Classic Racing Association received a letter from One Raceway last week saying that the circuit formerly known as Wakefield Park would not be ready in time for the NSW Historic Titles scheduled for August. A PCRA endurance event that was

THE 2024 Australian Senior Track Championship was held at the Mick Doohan Raceway over 4-5 May. Big fields for the MX Open and Pro 450 classes meant four rounds of heats before the repechage and final. Jarred Brook was the unbeaten top qualifier in b

CHRIS WARWICK added another set of iconic buffalo horns to his collection on 5 May when he took out the Kamfari wet season enduro on the Cox Peninsula, with 36 riders taking part. With the water table dropping early in the start of the dry season, th