In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic that’s wreaking havoc around the globe (including Malaysia), credit provider Aeon Credit has announced that they’ll be offering a one-month deferment for loan payments, which include motorcycle and auto financing. (more…)
KTM has officially unveiled the 2020 KTM 890 Duke R via an online YouTube presentation due to all the restrictions placed by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Determined to not stop them in their tracks, the latest big boy Duke was presented with the nickname “Super Scalpel”. (more…)
Just not long ago, we posted that the Ducati Diavel 1260 won the Red Dot Award for design excellence. Now, it’s the turn for the 2020 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade.
The Red Dot Award is a yearly design award. It covers 49 categories from house appliances to vehicles, judged according to design, innovation, durability and functionality.
As you know, the new CBR1000RR-R was launched at EICMA last year and has since garnered lots of interest. The previous generations of CBR1000RR were great sportbikes, encompassing Honda’s Total Control Concept but are more street – or more accurately, everyday bike – focused. The RR-R, however, while still adopting the Total Control Concept, is more track focused.
Being the premier production superbike racing series, the World Superbike Championship allows manufacturers to showcase their development and innovations on bikes that you and I can buy at a dealership. MotoGP, on the other hand, features completely prototype machines made up of unobtainium parts and components.
Honda is tired of getting beaten in the series as their last title was in 2002. It’s thus against this background that Big Red built the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade.
The bike was co-developed with HRC just like the previous VFR750R RC30, RVF750R RC45 and VTR1000 SP RC51. However, Honda has plenty of lessons to draw on from the all-conquering RC213V MotoGP bike now. Hence, the frame, engine, aerodynamics, electronics of the CBR1000RR-R were adopted from the GP bike.
We were slated to test the bike in the second half of March, but the Movement Control Order has derailed our plans. Stay tuned as we bring you the full test and review of the bike.
By the way, congratulations Honda.
One of the best ways to promote a certain bike is to organize a one-make race and that’s exactly what Kawasaki Motors Japan plans to do next year for their 2020 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-25R. If you had doubts about the new 250cc inline-four sports bike before, perhaps this carbon fibre race version will seal the deal for the title of “Coolest 250cc sports bike of all time”. (more…)
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected a lot of folks around the world, including major motorsports organisations like MotoGP. With so many cancellations and postponements announced earlier on, the Petronas SRT (Sepang Racing Team) offered their statement regarding the unprecedented situation. (more…)
Motorcycle names can be as interesting as the bikes themselves. Manufacturers usually choose them based on heritage, branding, range or the kind of emotions they allude to.
There are too many to think about, so we’ll put in what comes to mind. Here’s Part 2.
It’s named Softail because the rear part of the frame performs the role of a swingarm. Traditional (vintage) bikes were “hardtails” without swingarms. The Softail takes on the look of the hardtail, but shock absorbers sit horizontally underneath the frame to provide damping.
The Honda Valkyrie was a cruiser based on the Gold Wing’s flat-Six engine. If you’re a fan of the Marvel Universe, you’ll know what a Valkyrie is. According to Norse mythology (which includes Thor), Valkyries are female, horse riding warriors.
The Varadero was the successor to the Africa Twin in 2001. It’s supposed to set the dual-sport market on fire, what with the VTR1000 superbike derived engine. But it was just too heavy. Anyway, Varadero is a resort beach in Cuba. That’s rather far from the Sahara…
The Ninja name is now a trademark of Kawasaki sportbikes and sport-tourers. The ninja were mercenaries and assassins during the feudal period in Japan. Ninjas operated in stealth and speed.
Let’s include a number of manufacturer’s names while we’re at it. Bimota is a mix of the names of her founders, namely Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe Morri and Massimo Tamburini. Using the first two letters of the last names resulted in the famous marque i.e. BIachi MOrri TAmburini.
