Prices for the KTM 790 Adventure and and KTM 790 Adventure were released by KTM Malaysia recently.
KTM intends to revolutionize the dual-sport market with the new bike.
The 790 Adventure is priced from RM 78,800 while the 790 Adventure R is priced from RM 84,800.
Prices for the KTM 790 Adventure and and KTM 790 Adventure R were released by KTM Malaysia recently
KTM had listened to the wishes of adventure and dual-sport riders around the world in creating the new bikes. Consequently, both variants are “different” when compared to dual-sport motorcycles in its middleweight and of capacities, as well.
But it wasn’t a case of just building an adventure bike with two variants. The Austrian manufacturer wanted to “revolutionize the dual-sport market.”
The engine is shared with the 790 Duke naked sportbike, but tuned for smoothness and tractability, especially in the rough. The new LC8c parallel-Twin allows KTM engineers to place it in the frame for optimal weight distribution, hence easier handling characteristics. Another benefit is the lower seat height.
Next, the fuel tank is moved downwards to the sides of crankcase. Doing so moved the bike’s centre of gravity downwards. There are two benefits to this: 1) It makes the bike more stable and not top-heavy; 2) It allows the rider to move around easier when standing up in the rough.
790 Adventure (left) and 790 Adventure R (right)
The 790 Adventure (without the “R”) is more road-biased and intended for riders who tour and include some light off-road in their itinerary. The 790 Adventure R, on the other hand, is more off-road biased.
As such, the 790 Adventure R includes a Rally mode where the rider could choose the level of traction control and throttle response on-the-fly.
The 2019 KTM 790 Adventure is priced from RM 78,800 while the 2019 KTM Adventure R is priced from RM 84,800. The prices are inclusive of SST but not on-the-road.
Please follow KTM Malaysia’s official Facebook page for more up-to-date information.
Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki finally ended Alvaro Bautista and Ducati’s WorldSBK 2019 winning streak.
Rea won in Race 1 at the Imola circuit in Italy.
Bautista finished second after winning the first ten races of the year.
Four-time and reigning WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea and his Kawasaki team ended Alvaro Bautista and Ducati’s winning streak in Race 1 at Imola, Italy.
Bautista and Ducati have scored a perfect ten out of ten races in five rounds prior. However, Rea proved the spoiler when Bautista tried to adapt to the tricky Imola circuit. It was the latter’s first race there. Rea had been strong throughout the practice sessions only to be pipped by Bautista’s teammate Chaz Davies in Superpole for pole position.
Come race day, Rea took the lead as soon as the lights went out, but passed by Davies soon after. It looked like the pair was going to resume their hard battles and rivalry through the last few seasons. Unfortunately, Davies’s bike encountered a problem and forced the Welshman to retire. In so doing, he handed second place to Bautista.
A battle soon erupted behind them.
Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) sat in third, while Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) fought up to 4thfrom 8thon the grid. Van der Mark’s teammate Alex Lowes followed in 5th, ahead of Rea’s teammate Leon Haslam. Independent rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Purcetti Racing) moved in 7th.
At the front, Bautista had no answer to Rea’s pace. The Kawasaki man began to pull away at 0.7s per lap.
Photo credit Visordown
On a day of seeing front runners suffering bike problems, Tom Sykes’s BMW started to slow and eventually retired. At the same time, Lowes started to slip backwards.
With the final position suddenly available, van der Mark and Razgatlioglu battled tooth and nail. The pair swapped paint and traded blows on the penultimate lap to the stage of colliding twice. But it was the Turkish rider Razgatlioglu who presevered to cross the line in 3rd.
There was no problem for Rea, conversely. It was his eighth win at the track and 72ndin WorldSBK. It was Kawsaki’s 128thwin in the series.
Race 2 continues today at 8pm Malaysian local time.
Ducati posted a 5% increase in sales for the first quarter of 2019 vis-à-vis the same period in 2018.
The biggest selling segments were the Hypermotard/Multistrada and Scrambler.
The Supersport/Superbike category saw a large drop.
Ducati posted a 5% increase in sales for the first quarter of 2019 vis-à-vis the same period in 2018.
The number equals a total of 12,541 motorcycles compared to 11,949. That’s good news considering the global motorcycle sales slump.
However, the model which drove the sales was of a surprise. The Italian manufacturer had hoped the new Diavel 1260 will drive sales in 2019, but it was the new Hypermotard 950, instead. The Hyper’ contributed an 18.6% growth. Ducati grouped the Diavel and Monster in the same “naked” category which dropped by 1.13%. The Hypermotard is in the same category as the Multistrada, on the other hand.
The other contributor is the Scrambler line-up, which saw a 14.8% increase. Ducati shored up the yellow-bike family with a slew of new models for 2019.
As for the Supersport/Superbike category, it posted a 13.5% drop after the huge success of the Panigale V4’s success in 2018.
The manufacturer is yet to launch further 2019 models. We shall see how these will do by the first half of the year.
He was charged with using his mobile phone while driving.
The driving ban is in effect for six months.
We wanted to not publish this story, but the temptation was too great. David Beckham was handed a driving ban by a British judge.
A member of the public spotted Beckham using a mobile phone while driving his Bentley in Central London. He then lodged a report against the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and LA Galaxy star.
Beckham’s counsel, Gerrard Tyrrell said his client had “no recollection” of the incident. However, Beckham pleaded guilty anyway.
The celebrity already logged six points on his driving license for speeding previously. The District Judge handed out six more points for the mobile phone offence, bringing the total to 12 that’s needed to lose driving privileges. The ban is in effect for six months.
Besides owning a bevy of exotic cars, Beckham also owns many motorcycles but his favourites are Triumphs. One of his motorcycles is a customized Triumph Bonneville on display in the Triumph Factory Visitor Experience in Hinckley.
David Beckham and his Triumph – Photo credit harrolds.com.au
Malaysia’s largest e-wallet, Boost and Shell Malaysia announced the availability of the e-wallet payment service at 800 Shell stations nationwide.
An exclusive promotion offers 2 times RM5 cashback with the spending of RM40 at selected Shell stations.
The e-Boost app is available for iOS and Android.
Malaysia’s largest e-wallet, Boost, and Shell Malaysia today officially announced the availability of the e-wallet payment service at 800 Shell stations nationwide. The partnership aims to enhance customers’ retail experience at Shell stations by providing them with an alternative payment method.
With this collaboration which began in April 2019, the e-wallet service is now available in more than 80% of the Shell stations across the country. The response to this e-wallet payment option has been encouraging, motivating both Boost and Shell to make this service available at all Shell stations nationwide by end May 2019.
The CEO of Axiata Digital Services Sdn Bhd, parent company to Boost, Mohd Khairil Abdullah shared the inspiration behind the collaboration, “Boost was first launched for mobile prepaid users to reload their mobile credit but since getting our e-Money license from Bank Negara Malaysia, our e-wallet features have gained a lot of traction. We are excited to play a leading role in turning Malaysia into a cashless society, in-line with the Government’s ambitions.”
“We wanted customers to be able to pay for their goods and services in a convenient and safe manner. As such, we see this partnership as providing more convenience to our users, because now they can use our e-wallet at Shell stations nationwide,” he added.
Shairan Huzani Husain, Managing Director of Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd and Shell Timur Sdn Bhd echoed the sentiment, “Our customers are digitally savvy and technology plays an important role in their day-to-day lives. Hence, partnering with the nation’s leading e-wallet enables us to offer them the additional option to pay with their Boost e-wallet when fuelling up with Shell fuels and grabbing their favourite treats at Shell Select.”
“We are constantly looking to offer Malaysians a more convenient and enhanced retail experience, to help make their life’s journeys better,” Shairan stated.
Customers can enjoy hassle-free payments, easy money transfers, e-vouchers, e-gifting and prepaid top ups through the Boost e-wallet, which can be downloaded from the App Store (for iOS users) or the Google Play Store (for Android users). The local e-wallet platform now has over 4 million registered users and over 80,000 merchant touchpoints, and growing.
To celebrate this partnership, Boost and Shell are rewarding Malaysians with an exclusive promotion from 14 May to 14 June 2019, customers to enjoy a two (2) times RM5 cashback if they spend RM40 with their Boost e-wallet at the selected Shell stations.
KTM CEO Stefan Pierer said, “Johann Zarco is a disappointment.”
It follows Zarco’s outrage by calling the RC16’s frame and delivery “sh*t” in Spain.
But Pierer conceded that the bike needs more work.
The KTM MotoGP saga continues with KTM CEO Stefan Pierer saying, “Johann Zarco is a disappointment.”
Pierer uttered the statement following Zarco’s struggle to achieve better results. The two-time Moto2 champion’s best was 13th in Austin, Texas. He placed 15thin the season opener in Qatar and Argentina, and 14th in the Spanish round last week.
Zarco has said that he couldn’t adapt to the KTM RC16, a bike which he said, “only goes well down the straight and only wants to go straight.” He had also been caught on camera calling the frame and power delivery as “sh*t” in Jerez, Spain. This, coming from one of the nicest MotoGP riders was certainly something.
But his statements didn’t go well with KTM’s management.
KTM CEO Stefan Pierer told Speedweek, “Johann is a big disappointment and I’m very sorry about that. We hired him so that he and Pol (Espargarò) could push one another but the opposite happened. Espargarò is on his own.”
The other KTM rider pushing Espargarò was new signing Miguel Oliveira in the Red Bull Tech 3 KTM Racing team, instead. Apart from struggling in Jerez to finish 18th ahead of his teammate Hafizh Syahrin, Oliveira had come home in 17th, 11th and 14th, respectively. KTM was so impressed that they’ve extended Oliveira’s contract through 2020.
Photo credit Autosport
In addition to struggling with a completely new bike, Zarco had to contend with his manager and mentor (and friend) Laurent Falon switching camps to Honda. Falon had kept Honda’s offer a secret from Zarco and team through 2018.
“When an athlete at this level doesn’t have everything under control, then he has a problem. They told me that he was already very rude in the garage in Texas and the situation worsened in Jerez. But I want to say that we will do all we can to improve this year. We’ve already got the new materials, following his indications, and he’ll be joined by Jean-Michel Bayle,” added Pierer.
But Pierer was quick to add that KTM is not seeking to end Zarco’s contract. The French rider was signed also through 2020.
“We still have 15 races to run this year. Going from Yamaha to the KTM requires adaptation and that takes time. There are two different kinds of bikes in MotoGP: Yamaha and Suzuki with the inline 4-cylinders and Honda, Ducati, KTM and Aprilia with the V4. With the latter, you have to ride a certain way. You need to be bold and throw the bike down into the corners, you can’t go easy. Consider how, post Stoner, it took Ducati from 2010 to 2016 to find someone else who could win with their bike.”
On the other hand, Pierer didn’t deny that the RC16 needs more development. He revealed that the bike needs to lose another 4 to 5 kilograms and that the electronics are still an issue.
But what Pierer didn’t mention was the KTM RC16’s chassis architecture, which uses a steel-lattice frame and WP suspension. All MotoGP bikes use Öhlins suspension and aluminium frames. Ducati had suffered with the carbon monocoque for many years (including with Valentino Rossi) before swallowing their pride and reverting to an aluminium frame. It may not make a difference to you and I who ride on the streets and in the occasional track days, but it does for riders who push their bikes to the limits.
Why not change riding styles then? Both Zarco and Syahrin are suffering with turning into corners. Syahrin, Espargarò and Oliveira have all stated that one needs to be “aggressive” with the bike, echoing Zarco’s call.
Zarco has stated before that changing his smooth riding style will result in the team having with too much inconsistent data, especially while developing a new riding style. Setting up a bike is based on how the bike reacts to the rider’s inputs, after all. The best rider to illustrate this was Jorge Lorenzo who also rides with the “traditional” smooth style. He had suffered to no end during his first year with Ducati before the team solved his woes for his second year.
Changing a riding style, especially one that had brought past successes is not easy. The last thing a rider needs to concern himself about is his riding style in the heat of competition. It is the team’s job to provide the rider a bike that he doesn’t have to worry about, to allow him to concentrate on his race strategies i.e. lap times vs. tyre degradation, him vs. his opponents, etc.
The KTM factory had better come up with some solutions fast because all the new riders are at their mercy, rather than the other around.
