Yamaha is putting an end to years of intense speculation, the company has finally confirmed that they are planning to launch a 250cc motorcycle in the Asian market soon.

Speaking to the press, a Yamaha spokes person, recently stated that while the Japanese company would be focusing on scooters for the next two years in Asia, they would also launch a powerful, sporty, 250cc motorcycle in the Asia market in the meantime. The Yamaha spokes person also added that there was a good market for a 250cc sporty motorcycle which Yamaha Motor would like to get into.

It's believed that the new 250cc motorcycle will be a continuation of Yamaha's sporty YZF series, which should ideally give it the name YZF-R25 – a fully faired, quarter-liter, high-performance model.

For 2013 Honda have introduced a trio of Special Edition CBR250R sportsbikes. Taking inspiration from Honda's racing history, the special editions cover the iconic brands of Repsol, Mugen and Moriwaki.

Powered by the standard 249cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder with a four valve, DOHC cylinder head, PGM-FI fuel injection and more, the Honda CBR250R delivers nimble handling, a broad spread of power and excellent fuel efficiency. The three Honda Special Edition CBR250Rs will also be available with Combined ABS braking.

Honda Repsol CBR250R

The Honda/Repsol connection began in 1995, with Mick Doohan, Alex Criville and Shinichi Itoh riding Honda's NSR500 with the new instantly recognizable blue, orange and red livery of the Spanish petroleum company. Doohan became inextricably linked with Repsol throughout his time in 500cc racing, before the torch was passed to Criville, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa and finally Casey Stoner, who delivered Repsol Honda's most recent premier class World Championship in 2011.

For 2013 MV Agusta, the Italian manufacturer, known for making motorcycles as art, ventures into the motard world with their latest model: the MV Agusta Rivale 800, powered by a 798cc engine, which is based on the three-cylinder 675cc engine the company introduced mid 2012, with counter-rotating crankshaft used in MV Agusta F3 and the Brutale 675. The same triple-cylinder 798cc engine would also power the new 2013 MV Agusta Brutale 800.

Just like the Brutale models, the MV Agusta Rivale also has a steel trellis frame with aluminum side plates. The Rivale 800 also comes loaded with MV Agusta's Motor & Vehicle Integrated Control System electronics package, which includes ride-by-wire throttle and selectable engine maps.

Two months ago Malaysia was painted red by Ducatistis from over 10 countries – the largest Asian assembly of Ducati owners and enthusiasts celebrating the Asia Ducati Week 2012. This incredible gathering witnessed owners and enthusiasts from China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, not to mention participants from Australia and the UK as well.

The Asian Ducati Week 2012 was kick-started with a welcome party at the famous Butter Factory Disco in downtown Kuala Lumpur. VIP guests at the party included 2012 Ducati Team riders, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, who took to the stage for the special signing ceremony of a Ducati Superbike 1199 Panigale Tricolore. The following day, Paolo Pirozzi – the man who completed 500,000km astride on his Ducati Multistrada, joined a convoy of Ducati motorcycles riding to one of the most attractive locations in the historic state of Melaka. The evening saw the motorcycles gather in central Kuala Lumpur for a spectacular Ducati Street Party, in which the passion and enthusiasm of so many Ducati owners powered a night of music and exciting motorcycles.

New for 2013 in the Ducati line-up is the Ducati Diavel Strada. Ducati says that the Diavel Strada is a brand new model that: 'Blends power cruiser performance with touring comfort and functionality.'

Now, we have long been in love with the Ducati Strada so we'll be very keen to see how the new motorcycle stands up. Basically, the Ducati Diavel Strada now sits alongside the Diavel Carbon, now exclusively in carbon red and the standard Ducati Diavel in three new color versions.

While the Ducati Diavel Strada's screen blends into the Diavel's lines for improved wind protection, the rider's posture is further tweaked for long-distance with 15mm higher handlebars swept back towards the rider a further 60mm and larger seats with revised foam cushioning.

In Indonesia Honda is introducing the CB150R, a nakedbike version of the CBR150R, this month. According to insiders Astra-Honda has received pre-orders for more than 3,000 CB150R bikes.

Honda Indonesia has set as goal to sell about 15,000 units of Honda CB150R Streetfire each month. The model seems to be high on demand and Honda has high expectations from the new model.

Technical the Honda CB150R is a naked version of the CBR150R, with a liquid-cooled, 150cc, twin-cam DOHC, single-cylinder engine with Honda's PGM-FI (fuel-injection). The front on the Honda CB150R is by upside-down hydraulic forks while the rear suspension is identical to the CBR150R.

Extending your mobility for most people in Thailand means buying a motorcycle or scooter, Thailand has therefore one of the highest number of 'new' motorcyclists – people who never touched a two-wheeler when visiting Thailand rent or buy a motorcycle.

Riding a motorcycle is easy, but still lots of people will agree with me that it seems easier than you first expected. Therefore it's a good idea to follow our tips before you get started with riding a motorcycle.

The first tip is to read a few books, magazines, and visited a few motorcycle websites and forums, like the one you're now looking at and find out what's hot and what's not in motorcycling. Decent publications will have advice on a lot more than motorcycles. Motorcycle gear, safety, riding technique and mechanics will all be covered.

Some time ago, we reported that Jonway Motorcycles had entered the Thai motorcycle market, the company had big plans, with innovative ideas and good quality products. The distribution and cooperation contracts were signed in Pattaya, and everything was looking good..

The Thai distributor had the hard working approach, and at the first Jonway dealer in Pattaya business was quickly picking up. Because the Jonway scooters were a bit bigger than the average Thai scooter lots of foreign potential buyers showed up in the showroom, of which a good amount bought a Jonway scooter.

One of this new owners was a German national who lives in Pattaya, Mr. Fritz, bought the best, and most expensive, scooter Jonway had available. After three days of enjoying his new ride the brand new Jonway scooter started to have some minor problems. Mr. Fritz, while more than capable to fix it himself, did what any owner of a 3-days old scooter would do, going back to the dealer. At the dealer Mr. Fritz was in a bit of a hurry and the mechanics where all busy, so the showroom manager offered a loaner scooter, which was the cheapest model from the Jonway Thailand line-up – but Mr. Fritz was told that his own scooter would be ready tomorrow – so the loaner scoot was just to ride back home and come back tomorrow, Mr. Fritz had no problem with that.

Hot on the heels of the stock and S model Ducati 1199 Panigale comes the one one we've all been waiting for – the Ducati 1199R. This is the super trick homologation model, built to tick the box so that Ducati can go racing with it in 2013. Of course, Ducati has a long history of R models, so we can expect the factory to hit the ground running when it comes to racing.

The Ducati 1199R model isn't however, the Ducati Panigale RS, the race ready machine debuted at the Cologne motor show. That model is the straight-from-the-crate racer from the Ducati Corse department, a model for race teams to be almost track ready with so they don't have to mess about with taking the road kit off. To buy one of these, you'll be expected to have a pit garage in World Superbike Racing at the very least and be ready to drop the best part of 5 million Baht on one.

As announced by BMW Motorrad President Stephan Schaller in his speech at the international motorcycle show EICMA in Milan, BMW Motorrad will be presenting a new model with air-cooled 'boxer' engine in 2013 as a special way of marking the '90 years of BMW Motorrad' anniversary.

As long ago as 1923, the very first BMW motorcycle - the BMW R 32 - provided what was to become the genetic basis for the BMW Motorrad boxer series over nine decades: an air-cooled 2-cylinder 4-stroker 'boxer' engine with longitudinally mounted crankshaft and shaft drive to the rear wheel. Always combined with innovative technology and thrilling design - and with one priority above all else: sheer riding pleasure.