Maverick Viñales chased down 10 riders to take the win at COTA, GasGas’ Pedro Acosta was his last victim. (MotoGP/) Human minds are always seeking a pattern. When it looked as though Francesco Bagnaia would repeat last year’s ascent to consistency, we were stunned by Jorge Martín’s leap from King of the Sprint to actually winning on Sunday. As first practice for this weekend began it was natural to imagine a Martín repeat. But no! Instead, two forces in MotoGP, each known for inconsistency, came thunderously together: Maverick Viñales and Aprilia. They won everything with apparent ease while ..read more

Indian Motorcycle Factory Rider Troy Herfoss Secures First-Career King of the Baggers Victory (Indian Motorcycle/) Indian Motorcycle Press Release: In what proved to be an exciting weekend at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) during MotoGP, Indian Motorcycle factory rider, and three-time Australian Superbike Champion, Troy Herfoss secured his first-career King of the Baggers (KOTB) class win aboard the S&S Indian Challenger. In his first season racing baggers, Herfoss has proved to be a fierce competitor for the series championship, sitting second overall through four races. Starting the wee ..read more

The Rapid K-1988 was shown at the Bangkok International Motor Show. (@RapidThai/) The Kaneda bike from the Akira manga series and the anime movie of the same name has inspired plenty of one-off copies over the last four decades. But relatively recent acceleration in electric-motorcycle technology and manufacturing means something very similar is finally more viable on a larger production scale. Rapid, an electric scooter brand overseen by Thai company Smartech Motor, has unveiled its K-1988 as a production-intended concept bike at the Bangkok International Motor Show, and while it’s white rat ..read more

Harley-Davidson Factory Racer Kyle Wyman Sets a New Track Record and Wins in Texas (Harley-Davidson/) Harley-Davidson Press Release: Harley-Davidson® Factory Racing rider Kyle Wyman made his mark at Circuit of the Americas with a dramatic win, a new class track record, and the MotoAmerica® Mission King of the Baggers points lead. Wyman, aboard his race-prepared 2024 Road Glide® motorcycle, finished the doubleheader race day with second and first place finishes. His Harley-Davidson® Factory Racing teammate, James Rispoli, is third in points after hard-fought fourth and third place fi ..read more

Bajaj’s design illustrations show how the single-cylinder engine is laid flat to make room for the compressed natural gas cylinder and backup gasoline reserve tank. (Bajaj/) India’s Bajaj is one of the world’s biggest motorcycle manufacturers with ties to big name brands including Triumph and KTM, and this year it will launch the first production model to be powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). CEO Rajiv Bajaj confirmed plans for a range of CNG bikes earlier this year, with a launch scheduled for June, and prototypes have been spotted on test in India. Now new patent applications from the ..read more

Indian Motorcycle Announces Sponsorship of Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin With 2025 Scout Demos (Indian/) Indian Motorcycle Press Release: Indian Motorcycle, America’s First Motorcycle Company, today announced sponsorship of the renowned Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin, Texas, taking place April 12-14. In conjunction with the show, and in celebration of riding season, Indian Motorcycle will kick off its 2025 Indian Scout demo tour, host its first 2024 Rider Series owners ride, and showcase a lineup of artfully designed custom motorcycles. The Handbuilt Motorcycle Show presents an awe ..read more

Everything is Ready in Pontedera for the Vespa World Days 2024 (Vespa/) Vespa Press Release: With a week to go before kick-off, everything is ready for the 2024 edition of the Vespa World Days. The most spectacular Vespa rally in the world, held for the first time in Pontedera - the town where Vespa was founded and the site of its manufacture since 1946 - promises to be one of the grandest in its seventy-year history, which began with the first event back in 1954 in Paris. Fans representing thousands of Vespa Clubs (with 660 in Italy alone) will flock from countries including Australia, Canad ..read more

Kawasaki’s Z500 is the successor to the Z400. For 2024, the platform receives a larger engine and new styling. (Kevin Wing/) A motorcycle can’t be for everyone, right? Is it possible to be approachable and manageable for a beginner but entertaining and capable for an expert? Well, Kawasaki came very close to that magic mix of an easy-to-ride naked with plenty of performance and sportiness to entertain even the most experienced riders with its Z400—and now it delivers those same attributes that made it a Cycle World Ten Best with a slightly larger engine displacement in the Z500 and updated st ..read more

Kevin Cameron has been writing about motorcycles for nearly 50 years, first for <em>Cycle magazine</em> and, since 1992, for <em>Cycle World</em>. (Robert Martin/) If you are using a flow bench to measure exhaust flow, you have the test cylinder head mounted on a dummy cylinder that is in turn attached to the bench. In the test, you blow air past the partly open exhaust valve and outward through the port. Normally you have built a device to hold the exhaust valve(s) at the desired lift (just as not all real-world flow occurs at full lift, so flow testing must test at v ..read more

Airbag Equipped Harley-Davidson Smart Vest Offers Advanced Protection (Harley-Davidson/) Harley-Davidson Press Release: The new Harley-Davidson® Smart Vest combines comfort and style with advanced airbag protection to offer riders peace of mind. Powered by proven D-air® from Dainese Technology, the Harley-Davidson® Smart Vest is designed to instantly deploy in the event of a collision on the chest and central back area to add potential impact absorption. The Dainese D-air airbag technology is backed by more than 30 years of research. A series of sensors monitor what’s happening arou ..read more