Honda XL75 Motorcycles in Michigan, page #46

Moto blog

Honda Reports Q2 2012-2013 Results

Honda reported a 1.8% increase in motorcycle sales in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2012, including a 13.2% increase in North America. According to the company’s second quarter report for its 2012-2013 fiscal year, Honda sold 3.879 million motorcycles over those three months, up slightly from 3.811 million units from the same period last year.

Behind the scenes at Bond movie Skyfall

Everyone's talking about the new Bond movie, Skyfall. Did you know the opening scene features a motorcycle chase through a Turkish street market? Bond and the villains are riding modified Honda CRF250Rs across the rooftops of Istanbul.

Will the road-going RCV look like this?

Honda announced in a dry-as-you-like press release that a new bike was coming.  Not another motorcycle-cum-medical aid like the DN-01 or Integra, this is going to be a proper bike. A bike in a similar vein to previous bikes in the RC series, the RC30, RC45 and RC51, aimed squarely at winning races. So what's it going to look like?

2013 Honda CBR500, CB500R and CB500X Spied in Commercial Shoot

Spy photographers have captured Honda‘s new three-bike 500-series in the midst of filming for a commercial at the Piazza Garibaldi in Naples, Italy. The images, published on Il Centro, reveal Honda‘s new sportbike-styled CBR500, the naked CB500R which we first revealed in September, as well as an adventure-styled model bearing the name CB500X. The three new models are expected to share the same  engine, believed to be a 470cc parallel twin.

Sheepish Maverick Vinales Returns to Blusens, Issues Apology

A contrite Maverick Vinales has returned to the Blusens Avintia Moto3 team days after his brash, and admittedly hasty departure at this past weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The FTR Honda rider quit the Blusens team on Oct. 10, returning home from Sepang without once hitting the track.

Maverick Vinales Quits Blusens Avintia Moto3 Team

Maverick Vinales seems to be living up to his name, announcing he is leaving the Blusens Avintia team despite sitting second in the Moto3 World Championship with three rounds to go. Vinales traveled with the team to Sepang for the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix but did not take part in Free Practice and later announced the split. You may remember Vinales from last season when he raced in the former 125cc Grand Prix World Championship for the Paris Hilton-sponsored Blusens-BQR team.

Repsol Riders Racing Electric Minimotos – Video

Spanish oil company and noted motorcycle racing sponsor Repsol recently gathered its cadre of riders from MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 and the Spanish CEV championship for a special race – on electric minimotos. Honda MotoGP riders Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were joined by Moto2 racer Marc Marquez, his brother Alex Marquez and his fellow Moto3 racers Miguel Oliveira and Alex Rins and CEV racer Maria Herrera in the minimoto race. Hijinks ensued as racers grappled for position in the low-speed race.

Hopkins to Sit Out 2013 Racing Season to Recover from Injuries

American John Hopkins announced he is taking a sabbatical from racing for 2013 to recover from a number of significant injuries. Hopkins’ once very promising racing career has been hampered by both a series of bad luck and injury. It seems so long ago that Hopkins finished fourth overall in the 2007 MotoGP Championship with Suzuki.

US Motorcycle Thefts Down 6% in 2011

Americans reported 46,667 motorcycle thefts in 2011, a 6% decrease from 49,791 stolen motorcycles in 2010, reports the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Despite the drop in reported thefts, the non-profit organization representing nearly 1100 property and casualty insurance companies says the theft rate still averages out to one motorcycle stolen every 11 minutes in the U.S. The numbers were published in the NICB’s 2011 ForeCAST Report which examined theft reports as well as recoveries.

WSBK: 2012 Magny-Cours Results – Championship Decided by Half a Point

You would think carrying a 30.5 point lead into the final round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship would be a safe enough margin to win the title. Aprilia‘s Max Biaggi made it interesting, inexplicably crashing out of the first race at the finale in Magny-C0urs before scoring a fifth place finish in Race Two to give him a 0.5 point margin over Kawasaki‘s Tom Sykes to win the title. The 358 to 357.5 point difference is the narrowest finish ever in WSBK.