Australian Motorcycle News Vol 66 Issue 22

 AT THE RIDERS’ briefing for the third round of the ASBK series at Winton Raceway, Clerk of Course Tom Williams was explaining Sunday’s racing schedule and the extended live television coverage of the action on SBS. “V8 Supercars had better look out,” he said. Motorcycling Australia has done a brilliant job of reviving ASBK, now it needs to take the package to the fans as a great weekend of entertainment for the whole family It’s a comment that shouldn’t be scoffed at. There was a time when touring car racing in Australia appeared dead in the water. At its lowest point, small crowds were attending race meetings, which were then televised a week after the event. Tony Cochrane took the reins and built V8 Supercars into the multimillion-dollar mega entertainment…

RECAP The original Recursion was powered by a 588cc parallel twin, with a single overhead camshaft and a turbo blowing through an under-seat intercooler. Power was stated as a neat 75kW while torque was an astounding and equally neat 100Nm at just 4500rpm. The motor sat in an alloy beam frame wrapped in retro-modern, café racer-inspired styling. NEW PATENTS FILED in the US reveal the most detail yet of what’s likely to be the showroom-ready descendant of the 2013 Recursion concept bike (pictured). It’s a story that’s been played out through patent filings since the Recursion appeared as the star of the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, and in the latest ones we see a bike that still resembles the Recursion in its profile, but which has otherwise developed beyond recognition.…

THESE ARE THE first pictures of the next generation of Benelli’s four-cylinder and they show that it’s transforming into a full-on tourer. The existing Benelli 600 is sold under a variety of names – BN600, BJ600, TNT600 and various other monikers in different parts of the world. Whatever the badge, though, it’s a four-cylinder 600 that comes as a naked bike or a half-faired GT, both sharing the same part-aluminium, part-steel frame. Now we can reveal there’s a new version on the way, and it’s a fully fledged tourer. These (unofficial) pictures show a prototype that’s clearly very close to being ready for production. The frame and 60kW engine are from the existing 600cc model and the fork appears to be the same homegrown 50mm upside-downer offered on the current…

NOT FOR THE first time, rumours are swirling that Volkswagen is considering selling Ducati as it refocuses its operations in the wake of the dieselgate emissions scandal. VW has been hit with billions of dollars in fines in America, along with even higher costs – close to US$15 billion – buying back cars that can’t achieve its claimed emission results. The company is also reorganising its core car business to shift away from diesels and towards electric vehicles, with development costs that will again run to tens of billions. Reuters says VW is now considering the sale of Ducati, which it bought for just under US$1 billion in 2012. The news agency says that investment banking company Evercore has been brought in to consult on the possible sale. The Ducati…

YOU JUST MIGHT be looking at the bike that finally drags electric power into the mainstream – a realistic roadster with a familiar badge and an established dealer network that just happens to be battery operated rather than petrol powered. It’s the electric KTM Duke. Spied on test at the firm’s own facility, it’s clearly in the prototype stage. The hand-me-down 390 Duke bodywork, wheels, brakes and suspension show that it’s still a testbed, but the electric drive unit and transmission look suspiciously like production-ready parts. The use of 390 Duke suspension and brakes suggests that the bike’s performance – and, importantly, weight – are in the same ballpark as that machine, which has 32kW and comes in at just 154kg wet. The electric machine is probably heavier, but could…

AUSTRALIAN TECH COMPANY Motorcycle Innovation has received further financial assistance, giving the firm the resources to not only send its innovative Motoinno TS3 Shockwave machine into limited production, but to also forge ahead with the planned build of its TS3 Moto2 racebike. Buoyed by a recent $250,000 cash injection from private Australian angel investor ACAC Innovation, Motorcycle Innovation has now received confirmation of a matching $250,000 manufacturing grant from the Queensland Government through its Ignite Ideas Fund. Both machines employ the patented TS3 Triangulated Steering and Suspension System chassis technology which, according to the firm’s Colin Oddy, creates a bike with superior inline stability that can brake later and harder into corners, and turn tighter but with less lean angle than a conventional machine, giving the rider the ability to…