The last couple of weeks of 2016 and in the first week of 2017, I forced myself to ride a motorcycle only. So one week I had the Triumph Street Twin and the next a new Triumph Tiger. One I used for a slightly longer ride for a round trip to North-East Thailand and the Tiger I commuted to work on. Both are brilliant, despite me using them the other way round. The Tiger I should have ridden to North-East Thailand for the weekend and the Street Twin for daily commuting to work. Nonetheless, both kinds of motorcycles turned out to be tremendous fun. Clearly, they showed me what I was missing and what I was gaining.

Motorcycles have always held a dear place in my heart, and I will continue to yearn to own one. When that will happen is anyone’s guess, but someday I will go down that road. This story, however, is not going to focus on that aspect of riding but what I learned from those two weeks of riding.

First off, the longer weekend ride which happened the night before Christmas. The ride was with some friends, and turned out quite nicely. All of us on the ride bonded pretty well, and it clearly showed me that I just have to get out and ride some more. And that is exactly what I tried to do the following week, hoping to start off by at least riding to work. Turns out the commute is hell, and here on I’m going to think a hundred times before I ride to work. So what happened to turn me off this bad?

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Ducati and Diesel unveil an important new initiative for their partnership: the exclusive Ducati Diavel Diesel, a motorcycle that seamlessly merges elements of the past and future.

The Ducati Diavel Diesel – of which only 666 numbered units will be produced – is the fruit of collaboration between Andrea Rosso, Creative Director of Diesel Licenses, and the Ducati Design Center.

To create the Ducati Diavel Diesel, the two style centers were inspired by a hyperkinetic dynamism of a post-apocalyptic, retro-futuristic world.

The result of this new collaboration was unveiled during the Milan Men’s Fashion Week at an event whose emotion-charged setting and music (performed by the Bloody Beetroots) provided the ideal backdrop for the new motorcycle. It will go on sale to the public, worldwide, starting from April 2017.

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Honda unveiled their Riding Assist Technology at CES 2017, held in Las Vegas. This technology utilities Honda’s robotics expertise to create a self-balancing motorcycle that considerably reduces the possibility of falling over while the motorcycle is stationary.

Taking a tangent from the conventional gyroscope technology, which adds a great deal of weight and alters the riding experience, the Honda Riding Assist motorcycle incorporates technology originally developed for the company’s UNI-CUB personal mobility device.

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Ducati CEO, Claudio Domenicali last week revealed that Ducati is working on a four-cylinder engine for a road legal motorcycle that we should be seeing in two to three years. Claudio Domenicali was speaking at the firm’s race team press conference, confirming that technology from the new generation of MotoGP machines will be trickling down to their road legal superbikes. There are also huge ramifications for the World Superbike team, which will also get the new four-cylinder motorcycle for 2019.

When Claudio Domenicali says ‘four-cylinder’, he means a V4, and it seems probable that the capacity will be different for road and track, as it is now within the Ducati Panigale range.

While he wouldn’t put a finite time-frame on the project, WSB racing boss Paolo Ciabatti confirmed that the V-twin Ducati Panigale would continue to be developed for the next two years before being replaced. ‘We will race with the Ducati Panigale for 2017 and 2018, so obviously we will keep developing the engine to be competitive,’ Paolo Ciabatti said.

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For 2017 no manufacturer is hitting the retro trail harder than Triumph, and with the timeless, classic appeal of the chrome clad Triumph Bonneville, why not?

The Triumph Bonneville, which is approaching the 60th anniversary of the celebrated ‘59 classic, is back as the Triumph T100, its gleaming blue-over-white fuel tank at the center of all of that chrome. There is also the Triumph T120 family, with Bonneville styling, whose models come in red and gray or blacked-out, each powered by Triumph’s new ‘high torque’ 8-valve, 1200cc engine.

More nostalgic yet might be the new Triumph Bonneville Bobber, which could just as well have been called the ‘Brando,’ for its 50’s lines. It is aimed squarely at the Gen Y crowd.

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Ducati unveiled a pair of new sportbikes in October last year, the Ducati SuperSport and SuperSport S. Both very well received the Ducati SuperSport has an excellent performance and ideal for everyday use, while the Ducati SuperSport S has other higher specification components.

Both models have identical spec engines and transmissions. Engine is a 937cc (94 x 67.5), 12.6 to 1 compression ratio. Testastretta L twin with 4 valves per cylinder, Desmodromic and liquid cooled. Output is 113 horsepower with 967Nm of torque.

The Continental EFI has 53mm Mikuni throttle bodies with full Ride-by-Wire while the exhaust system is lightweight 2-1-2 with catalytic converter and twin Lambda probes and twin silencers to pass the latest exhaust emission standards. Transmission is comprised of a 6-speed gearbox with straight cut gears, wet multiplate clutch mechanically operated with self-servo action on drive and slipper action on over-run.

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Eighteen months after it was revealed that Triumph was planning to replace its Street Triple with a range of near-800cc machines, the British motorcycle manufacturer has done exactly that.

The new line-up sees the motorcycle upped from 675cc to 765cc thanks to a 1mm increase in stroke and a 4mm wider bore, with a new crankshaft and pistons. For 2017, the Triumph Street Triple R gets 86kW from its 765cc engine, up from 78kW last year. And above it in the range sits a new Street Triple RS with 90.5kW, again from a 765cc powerplant.

While the new motorcycles look familiar, and indeed have much the same chassis as before, there’s a new swingarm and reworked styling that includes new lights, side panels and a revised tail, as well as a new bellypan on the Triumph Street Triple RS model.

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Polaris Industries, the giant American company behind Victory Motorcycles and Indian Motorcycle, have announced that they will immediately wind down the Victory Motorcycles brand.

Victory Motorcycles, founded 18 years ago, the Victory brand has been a strong presence in the market, and was number four in the North American market on market share, but global sales were only running at just over 10,000 units per annum. The process of winding-down the company start immediately, and is expected to be complete in 18 months.

‘This was an incredibly difficult decision,’ said Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine. ‘We have invested not only resources, but our hearts and souls, into forging the Victory Motorcycles brand, and we are exceptionally proud of what our team has accomplished.’

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The popular Honda CRF250L dual-sport has been updated for 2017. Visually, new graphics match the Honda CRF450R motocross bike. Technically, the liquid-cooled, PGM-FI fuel-injected 249.6cc single-cylinder engine gets a larger 38mm throttle body (up 2mm) along with new version of the PGM-FI and a new ECU, redesigned airbox, reshaped air boot, new exhaust muffler and larger diameter exhaust header to provide improved response and power in the low and midranges.

The meter assembly, taillight and license plate holder have all been updated as well.

They also unveiled a new adventure-focused model, the 2017 Honda CRF250L Rally, which is inspired by the factory CRF450 Rally that’s raced in the Dakar by Team HRC.

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Indian manufacturer Bajaj have pulled the covers off their new Bajaj Dominar 400, which features their DTS-1 triple spark technology. Yes, three spark plugs, on a single-cylinder engine.

Aside from their own motorcycles, Bajaj holds 48% stake in KTM Motorcycles and rumored around the same amount of share in Kawasaki Motorcycle company, they also manufactures the small capacity KTMs, the new Bajaj Dominar 400 shares most of the engine with the KTM 390 Duke engine.

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