2001 Honda Xr200r on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Honda Raises MSRP for 2013 NC700X But Lowers Price for DCT Option

The big news from Honda last week was the introduction of the new CTX700 and CTX700N cruisers. Flying a little under the radar however was a change to American Honda‘s pricing structure for the 2013 NC700X which sees a price increase for the base model but a price cut for combined anti-lock brakes and a dual clutch transmission Honda introduced the NC700X last year at an impressively low price of $6999 for the base model and $8999 with ABS and DCT. The low price point was one key advantage we awarded the 2012 NC700X over the $7899 Kawasaki Versys in our recent Middleweight Multi-Tool Shootout.

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.

2013 AMA Supercross Houston Race Report

Ryan Villopoto captured his fifth-consecutive AMA Supercross win and sixth in seven rounds with a victory in the main event at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider passed holeshot-taker Mike Alessi on the opening lap and led the rest of the way for the win. Alessi, riding the Motoconcepts Racing Suzuki RM-Z450, remained in the hunt for the first few laps but soon gave way to a group including Team Honda Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard, Red Bull KTM‘s Ryan Dungey and Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart.