Australian Motorcycle News Vol 73 Issue 06

PECCO’S FORTUNES WERE IN STARK CONTRAST TO TEAMMATE ENEA BASTIANINI’S WHAT AN absolute cracker of a fortnight of racing! Back-to-back GP rounds, WorldSBK, BSB and more… And talk about conflicting fortunes! After watching Pecco Bagnaia’s massive highside and subsequent pummelling beneath Brad Binder’s KTM RC16 at Catalunya, it seemed there would be little chance the championship leader would be back on track the following weekend at Misano. But MotoGP racers are a tough lot, and with physical damage limited to “severe polytrauma”, not only was a limping Bagnaia back in the paddock at Misano, but he soon had the medical go-ahead to race, and ended the weekend with podiums in both the Sprint and Sunday’s GP. Talk about damage limitation! Pecco’s fortunes were in stark contrast to teammate Enea Bastianini’s,…

The 675SR and 500SR are the most high-tech machines yet from CFMoto, which were previewed at the annual CFMoto Day at the Zhuzhou International Circuit, adding three-cylinder and inline four-cylinder models to the brand’s armoury. Both were lapped at the 3.8km circuit in front of some 1500 fans at the unveiling, which also included a statement of intent from CFMoto that it plans to compete in MotoGP’s premier class in the future. The two bikes share a similar style, and while the bikes were given wraps that hid detail of their designs it’s easy enough to see they have a resemblance to the 450SR sportsbike. Both have exaggerated side winglets, not unlike the setup used on the Honda CBR1000RR-R, and use MotoGP-style air intakes around their front brake area to…

THE 250CC TWO-STROKE sportsbike era might have shrivelled away a quarter of a century ago but Aprilia is summoning its spirit with the new RS457. While the popularity of 250s, which peaked during the 1980s, was driven by various licence, tax and insurance rules around the world, the RS457 has been very specifically designed to make the most of the the restricted A2 category used across Europe, which requires bikes with less than 35kW of power and a maximum power-to-weight ratio of 200kW/tonne. Unsurprisingly, the new bike, powered by a clean-sheet-designed liquid-cooled, DOHC, eight-valve parallel twin makes precisely 35kW, and its kerb weight is 175kg – giving a power-to-weight ratio of exactly 200kW per tonne. That’s not great news for would-be Australian owners on their restricted licence, because in this country,…

IT’S ALWAYS been clear Suzuki will expand the parallel-twin model range that it started this year with the GSX-8S and V-Strom 800DE and now it’s been revealed that one of the new additions will be a faired GSX-8R – and it will be launched very soon. The bike has reared its head in European type-approval filings, where it’s listed as ‘GSX800 (8R)’ to distinguish it from the GSX-8S, which goes by the title ‘GSX800’. The documents also show key technical details including its dimensions, performance and weights. The documents confirm that the 776cc parallel-twin engine is unaltered, with the same 61kW (82hp) at 8500rpm and 78Nm at 6800. Despite the same power and torque, the GSX-8R models are faster than the unfaired GSX-8S. The GSX-8R tops out at a claimed…

The F 850 GS, F 850 GS Adventure and F 750 GS have all been culled from BMW’s lineup and replaced with enlarged models under the F 900 GS, F 900 GS Adventure and F 800 GS names for 2024. Of the three new models, the F 900 GS has by far the most changes, sporting a completely new look and packed with technical changes that make it 14kg lighter than its predecessor and more capable off-road thanks to suspension that now matches that of the Adventure version. The new names reflect, at least in the case of the F 900 GS models, the headline update across the range, which is the adoption of the 895cc parallel twin that was previously reserved for the F 900 R and F 900…

LAST ISSUE we showed the latest images of Can-Am’s planned Origin and Pulse electric motorcycles – both due to be launched in late 2024. The specifications of the bikes remain a closely-guarded secret but the image files were labelled ‘35kWh’ – a figure that, as we explained, seemed impossibly high for an electric bike. Can-Am has since confirmed that the labelling was an error and doesn’t represent the battery capacity of the Pulse and Origin, reiterating that specifications will be announced sometime towards the middle of next year. How the specific ‘35kWh’ number appeared on the image titles remains unclear. One believable possibility is that they might be rated at 35kW of power rather than 35kWh battery capacity; in 2019 Can-Am’s parent company, BRP, bought select assets of defunct electric…