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2011 Honda CRF250R Project Bike Update 1

Every year during shootout season we get asked which motocross bike is best for off-road. We leave our motocross comparisons on the track because that’s where the OEMs designed them to work. However, we’d be stupid not to acknowledge that MX bikes get ridden in the desert, woods and everything in between. We’d also be liars because we like to ride them there too! So, we snagged the 2011 Honda CRF250R and dedicated it to multi-use. After blasting around the SoCal motocross circuit we carted it off to Oregon. Our 2011 250 Motocross Shootout winner has been swallowed up by the MotoUSA garage as a long-term project bike. After a couple rides in stock trim we started ordering parts and bolting on accessories to help make the transformation a little easier. Here’s what we’ve scraped together so far.

2011 Honda CRF250R Project Bike Update 1

2012 Honda Gold Wing Quick Ride

When Honda first released the Gold Wing for the 1975 model-year they didn't really know what it was. The bike didn't have a fairing at the time and the powers-that-be at the Japanese company didn't originally set out to produce what would become the world's all-time best-selling tourer some four decades later. But it didn't take long for consumers to start installing Vetter and various other aftermarket fairings, something Honda eventually took note of in 1984 by installing factory-option fairings and hardbags. It then focused the 'Wing directly at the mega-touring sector and never looked back.

2012 Honda Gold Wing Quick Ride

2011 Yamaha YZ450F GNCC Race Test

We’ve tested the Yamaha YZ450F repeatedly since the new version was introduced in 2010 and reemerged in 2011 unchanged. It constantly impresses with a slew of go-fast characteristics that have made it popular with regular Joes and has it currently fighting for a Supercross title in the hands of James Stewart. But what about the rest of the dirt racing community, those sporting enthusiasts who don’t spend their time on a manicured motocross track? Yamaha offers the WR lineup for trail riders and it’s a fantastic machine, but not exactly what the racing community has been seeking. Top programs like the Am-Pro Yamaha squad have tried both models and settled on the new YZ-F. We picked up an invite from Yamaha to try out a nearly stock YZ450F at the Steele Creek GNCC in North Carolina. Not knowing quite what to expect from a burly open-class MX bike in a two-hour cross-country setting, we packed our bags and headed East.

2011 Yamaha YZ450F GNCC Race Test

Electric Superbike Racing: Brammo Part I

Electric Superbike. If you’re a diehard motor racing fan, such as myself, a word pairing like this seems almost an oxymoron. We motorheads eat, breath and sleep for the opportunity to swing a leg over the highest horsepower and fastest possible internal-combustion machine we can get our hands on. It gets our blood boiling and makes the pit of our stomach tingle; it’s what makes us feel alive. So how can something with an oversized toy train motor do the same? Thoughts along these lines came floating through my head upon getting the invite to race for electric motorcycle manufacturer Brammo at the upcoming TTXGP opening round May 14-15, sharing the racing schedule at Infineon with AMA Pro Racing. But there’s some that think we could potentially see this emergence as a totally new form of top-level motorsport. Brammo does. So I guess there’s no better way to find out than being the one behind the windscreen, right?

Electric Superbike Racing: Brammo Part I

2011 Triumph Speed Triple First Ride

We are very familiar with the Triumph Speed Triple. Over the years it has been a fixture in our Streetfighter Shootouts and has been one of the most popular naked bikes of all time. In fact, it is the original OEM Streetfighter if you want to get serious about things. Well, Triumph just got a little more serious after going for an in-depth redesign of its iconic model for 2011.

2011 Triumph Speed Triple First Ride

2011 Superbike Smackdown VIII Street

Motorcyclists seeking the highest-level of road performance need look no further than the Superbikes. These open-class sport bikes offer exhilarating acceleration and pin point handling wrapped in flamboyant street-legal packages. State-of-the-art multi-cylinder engines displacing at least 1000cc are controlled by highly advanced engine management systems, some of which include traction control, all of which are fuel-injected. The signature high-horsepower engines are integrated with the latest race-bred chassis designs which combine to offer nigh on absurd levels of performance. All of this is what makes the liter bikes so entertaining on the streets.

2011 Superbike Smackdown VIII Street

2012 Kymco Downtown 200i First Ride

As gas prices creep ever closer to the five-dollar mark, the American public will once again look for ways to cut fuel costs. Not only is the latest escalation in the price of refined crude a reason to be frugal, but it also presents an excuse for previously hesitant two-wheel buyers to step up to the dealership finance desk. I can hear it now, “Of course I need to get this, dear; it gets much better fuel mileage than my truck.” No matter the reason or excuse, two-wheeled purchases will increase as the price as the pumps do the same.

2012 Kymco Downtown 200i First Ride

Electric Superbike Racing: Brammo Part II

MotoUSA got its second taste of an electric superbike on the racetrack, having participated in another testing session aboard the Brammo Empulse RR. This time around we headed a bit further south of our first shakedown location, Thunderhill, for a trackday at the site of our upcoming real-world racing test – Infineon Raceway. With the first TTXGP race of 2011 right around the corner (May 15), we'll keep Part II of the Brammo Empulse RR racing update short and to the point. But don’t worry, this coming weekend is for all the marbles against Brammo’s electric rivals, and that will surely breed a major story with full feature video!

Electric Superbike Racing: Brammo Part II

Honda XR650L Project Bike Ride Report

Getting home from a trip last Friday, I found that my weekend plans fell completely through and was left sitting in an empty house with two days of freedom in front of me. Fortunately, some longtime friends had rented a Forest Service cabin and I had just brought our 2009 Honda XR650L Project Bike home to do some tire testing. It didn’t take long for my brain to put the two together and it was off to the store for an Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (best 20 bucks ever spent!) and a card to drop by my folks’ place on Mother’s Day.

Honda XR650L Project Bike Ride Report

2011 Suzuki GSX1250FA First Ride

The new 2011 Suzuki GSX1250FA is based off of Suzuki's very successful Bandit platform, a naked standard-style motorcycle that we will no longer be seeing Stateside. Over its two-decade lifespan the 1200 Bandit was considered a wild, tire-smoking beast of a motorcycle with a much more naked, street-fighter-type look to it, but that bad-boy is a European-only model now. We get the newest addition to the Suzuki family: The GSXF1250FA, which is equipped with a full fairing that offers good wind protection and gives the bike a sporting appearance that the American motorcycle consumer seems to prefer over the naked bikes.

2011 Suzuki GSX1250FA First Ride

2011 Triumph Tiger 800 XC First Ride

Triumph used teaser marketing to build so much hype around its new 2011 Tiger 800 XC adventure bike that it almost defeated the purpose. It was promoted so heavily, and so far in advance, it became tedious. Well, after riding the Tiger 800 XC for over 300 miles in the California desert, mountains and urban streets, we’ve quickly forgiven the British brand. Yes, the Tiger XC was worth the wait.

2011 Triumph Tiger 800 XC First Ride

2012 Kymco People GT 300i First Ride

It’s been 11 years since Kymco, aka Kwang Yang Motor Co., jumped into the U.S. scooter market with just a handful of models available. In those early days the Taiwanese manufacturer struggled to gain credibility in the market when compared to the Japanese Big Four and the well-established European scooter mills. Kymco was often unfairly heaped into the same bucket as the cheap Chinese knock off scooters sold at strip malls and auto part stores. If you want to start a fight with a Kymco executive or engineer just claim China and Taiwan are one in the same. As I have come to learn, although they may speak Mandarin, that is about all the Taiwanese manufacturer has in common with Chinese scooter copycats.

2012 Kymco People GT 300i First Ride