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Ewan McGregor is Moto Guzzi V85TT Ambassador

Superstar Ewan McGregor is the new Moto Guzzi V85TT ambassador.
He agreed to promote the bike only after testing and liking it.
McGregor is a long-time Moto Guzzi fan.

Superstar Ewan McGregor is the new Moto Guzzi V85TT ambassador.

The V85TT surprised us at how good it was to ride and has plenty of charm. But it wasn’t only us who liked the bike. Sales in Italy, France, Germany and the UK have surpassed expectations. Heck, it even surprised Moto Guzzi and Piaggio brass, so much so that production couldn’t keep up with demand.

Back to the story, Ewan McGregor is made the ambassador because he likes the bike. Product endorsements by celebrities is one thing but McGregor agreed to promote the V85TT on one caveat: That he has to ride the bike and like it first. And he did.

McGregor took part in the bike’s launch in southern Sicily, Italy and rode through all sorts of terrains.

It wasn’t the first instance of the actor’s involvement with Moto Guzzi, however. He had liked the brand for a long time. He stopped by at the manufacturer’s HQ in Madello del Lario at the shores of Lake Como in the middle of his road trip in the “Long Way Down.” He also took part in the 2013 launch of the California 1400 in Australia.

Does this mean McGregor will ride the Moto Guzzi V85TT, while his friend and partner Charlie Boorman will ride the Triumph Tiger 800 XCx/XCa (Boorman is Triumph’s ambassador) in the upcoming sequel to “Long Way Down”?

Aprilia RS660 Patents Leaked

The Aprilia RS660 may just kick start the middleweight supersport segment.
Its patent filings have been leaked online.
The production-ready bike should debut at EICMA 2019.

The Aprilia RS660 may just kick start the dormant middleweight supersport segment. At least, that’s what the manufacturer hopes. But are they serious in putting the concept into production? Patent filings in Australia seems to indicate as so.

The CAD drawings show a bike which adheres to the concept’s silhouette, with some differences.

Firstly, the forks look to be Sachs instead of the Ohlins fitted to the concept at EICMA 2018. The front brake calipers look to be “regular” monoblocs instead of Brembo Stylemas. The main reason for these has to be about cost savings, making the bike more affordable to the masses.

But bear in mind that Aprilia usually offers different versions of their bikes i.e. standard and Factory variants. In the case of the RSV4 and Tuono V4, the Factory variants are fully kitted out in the chassis and electronics departments. It could also be true for the RS660.

Good news is, the fairings take on aerobody applications. Going further, there’s been talk that the bike features an Aprilia Active Aerodynamics (A3) system. But what it does and how it works still remains to be seen.

Anyhow, the production model is slated to be released at EICMA this year. Hope we get to test the bike for its media introduction.

Q1 2019 Motorcycle Sales Up 23.6% in Europe

Motorcycle sales in Europe grew by 23% in Q1 2019.
The biggest growing markets were a number of former Eastern Bloc countries.
The traditional EU markets also grew.

While motorcycle sales is languishing in the United States and dropped markedly around the world, sales in Europe has actually picked up.

Q1 2019 sales picked up by a heady 23.6% in Europe against a 5% general drop worldwide. Even China and India saw a drop in the number of bikes moved, dragging down the worldwide market average.

The result surprised even KTM CEO Stefan Pierer, whose brand increased by 10%.

The fastest growing European markets were the former Eastern Bloc countries including Poland (+87.3%), Romania (+86.9%), Hungary +72%), Lithuania (+71%) and Slovakia (+54%). Many riders from other countries have taken to riding in these countries recently, perhaps sparking the local interest in motorcycles.

Traditional EU markets also saw growth including France (+31.8%), Italy (+17%), Spain (+19.1%), Germany (+22.1%), and the United Kingdom (+10%) despite Brexit fears.

By contrast, the Asian motorcycle market saw a drop of 9.9%. However, the ASEAN region recorded a 5.9% growth, spurred by a 15% increase in the Indonesian market. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam recorded reductions, on the other hand.

Honda CRF850L Africa Twin Soon?

New rumours suggest that a new Honda CRF850L Africa Twin is in the works.
Honda is currently without a middleweight dual-sport model.
The rumours also say the new bike will debut for 2021.

Honda may be the Japanese manufacturer, but they have no middleweight adventure/dual-sport motorcycle to speak of. However, that may change soon if the rumours of a new Honda CRF850L Africa Twin turn out to be true.

Honda currently has the CRF250L, CRF250 Rally and CRF1000L Africa Twin (to be bumped up to 1100cc next year) in the lineup, currently. The only other bike with a gavel mode apart from the trio is the 750cc X-Adv scooter. There is the NC750X, but it isn’t a full-fledge dual-sport bike. So, that leaves an empty spot for a middleweight dual-sport. Honda knows this and acknowledge that they are missing out on the popularity of that segment.

A CRF850L Africa Twin ought to do well given a lower price tag than the CRF1100L. It would compete head-on against the Yamaha Ténéré700 in the American market. Besides that, the BMW F 850 GS/GS Adventure, Ducati Multistrada 950, KTM 790 Adventure/R, Triumph Tiger 800 XC/XR and new Moto Guzzi V85 TT will be the CRF850L’s rivals, too.

Our guess is that the CRF850L will not be equipped with the Dual Clutch Transmission to cut down on price and weight.

Rumours suggest that the new Honda will debut in late-2020 for the 2021 model year. Honda fans will definitely be looking forward to it.

What Happened to Valentino Rossi in Mugello?

Valentino Rossi struggled immensely at the Italian MotoGP round at Mugello.
He qualified a lowly 18^thafter making mistakes in Q1.
He went off the road once and finally crashed out during the race.

To recap, it was a horrible weekend for Valentino Rossi at Mugello. He qualified 18^thon the grid, went off the road once before ultimately crashing out altogether.

Rossi had won nine times at Mugello, after all. But even when Yamaha started suffering, he qualified in pole position and led the race in 2016, only to see his Yamaha YZR-M1’s engine blow up later in the race. A year later, he finished fourth despite an injury prior to the race. Lastly, he finished on the podium last year.\

But everything unraveled at the Italian MotoGP 2019.

Although it seems that Yamaha has solved the tyre degradation problem, the bike still lacks acceleration and top speed. This is especially critical at the Tuscany track where we saw how the Ducati and Honda took the top spots in qualifying.

In Q1, Rossi was caught together with Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar). Matters were complicated by the presence of Mission Winnow Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Michele Pirro who found themselves in Q1, too, due to their botched FP3 session. Keep in mind that only two fastest riders will advance to Q2.

Rossi didn’t want to provide Rins with the all too important slipstream but neither did Rins to Rossi. Because if one did so, one rider will progress to Q2 while the other stays behind.

Then Rossi made a mistake at the end of the session. His bike developed a huge headshake while exiting a corner in fourth gear. When he braked for the last turn, the brake lever came back all the way to the handlebar. Rossi overshot the corner, thereby ruining his chance to set a good time and progress to Q2.

The headshake had forced the brake pads back like after how a mechanic pries the pads apart to re-install the calipers. Brembo has a system which brings the pads back in contact with the brake disc, but Rossi didn’t install it because the system yields a different feel at the brake lever.

In the end, Rins was stuck in 13^thwhile Rossi ended up in 18^th. Both Dovizioso and Pirro snuck into Q2.

Over to the race, Rossi came together with Joan Mir on the other Suzuki and both went into the gravel. The former kept the bike going and rejoined the race. He finally crashed at the Arrabbiata 2 corner from pushing too hard.

New Triumph-Bajaj Model to Debut in 2021?

Triumph and Bajaj signed an agreement in 2017 to produce smaller capacity bikes.
The new model ought to appear in 2021.
It will be made for the Indian market and we wonder if it will reach Malaysia.

Year 2020 will be probably the most interesting time for the motorcycle industry as manufacturers debut their new Euro 5 compliant models. Following that, the rumour of a new model born of the Triumph-Bajaj collaboration may debut not in 2020 but a year after.

Triumph and Bajaj signed a letter of intent back in August 2017 to develop and manufacture a sub-400cc to 600cc bike for the Indian market. In the deal, Triumph will design and develop the bike. Bajaj, on the other hand, will manufacture and sell it through their vast distribution and sales network.

However, the plan seemed to have been delayed in January this year as Bajaj wanted to focus on Husqvarna first.

Anyhow, Triumph have submitted the designs to Bajaj and the latter have already started mechanical development by the R&D team.

We spoke to Mr. Paul Stroud, Chief Commercial Officer of Triumph Motorcycles in February 2018 about the collaboration. More specifically, we asked if the new bike will be available in other markets besides India. Mr. Stroud commented that Triumph will survey other markets for the bike’s feasibility before making a further decision.

A “lightweight” Triumph will give Royal Enfield a run for its money. It may also offer the opportunity for riders who seek to enter the Triumph brand’s lifestyle but could not afford the dearer models, yet.