In this episode of ‘Legal Trouble with Ferrari,’ we have the Prancing Horse sending yet another cease-and-desist letter, but this time, it’s not because someone chose to modify their car egregiously, but because a very popular graphic designer got a little too creative with Ferrari’s brand.

The popular graphic designer is Kar Lee, otherwise known as Kar Design Koncepts (@kardesignkoncepts on Instagram). I’ve been following this guy for quite some time now because he comes up with some pretty wicked concepts and reimaginings. Some brands love that he’s challenging the design departments of names like Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, or BMW, but this time around, he got “caught” by the thought police, so to speak.

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A Ferrari Motorcycle? Why Not?

Back in 2024, Lee asked, “What if Ferrari built motorcycles?” He called it the Ferrari Barracuda, and it looked sick. To me, it looks like a cross between a Ducati Panigale V4, mixed in with Ferrari’s SF90 or Purosangue, and perhaps some Amalfi. If Ferrari were to make a motorcycle, it would probably not be a Ducati, however, because Lamborghini has that ‘Ducat’ out of the bag already.

This is not the first time that Ferrari has had to deal with a motorcycle. In 1952, another brand caught the ire of Signore Enzo Ferrari. That two-wheeler brand was also called Ferrari, which led several inquiries reaching Maranello about a product that never crossed Ferrari’s mind. Being a young brand, the Prancing Horse had to defend itself and called upon its (now powerful) legal team to defend the Ferrari name. The motorcycle brand had to be renamed to Fratello Ferrari (Ferrari Brothers), and thus became a footnote in history.

Ferrari also had a history with motorcycles. Early on, in 1932, Enzo Ferrari raced two-wheelers under Scuderia Ferrari, but that ship has long since sailed after Enzo decided to focus on his legend in the four-wheeled space.

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Deleted

Kind of like Fratello Ferrari, Kar Lee was told to take down his post. Scrolling all the way back to 2024, he had to click the delete button, but not before he made a follow-up post with all the Ferrari logos removed. According to his most recent update, “Ferrari (was) concerned about the use of their branding on a concept from a designer that looked believable and official.”

It’s extremely high praise for a designer to receive such acknowledgment from a legendary automaker, but at the same time, it’s a big drag, given that it’s a cease-and-desist order. Hats off to Kar Lee for making such a great concept, one that was good enough to grab Ferrari’s attention two years later.

Lee’s post actually went viral, with several news outlets and content creators covering it. According to his metrics, there were about 203,000 likes, 686 comments, and 1,162 reshares on Instagram alone. Lee also stated that across his other pages, he had accumulated “over 350,000 likes in total with thousands of comments.”

It looks like the post’s virality prompted Ferrari’s legal team to take action. Lee said that he “was disappointed,” but he was understanding. It’s a bit of a backhanded compliment here, as other graphic designers have tried their hand at creating a motorcycle concept inspired by Ferrari. It just so happens that Lee’s post was successful enough to make Ferrari worry, perhaps similar to how Fratello Ferrari ruffled Signore Ferrari’s feathers all those years ago.

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Four-cylinder engines may be the obvious motor of choice for large-capacity, performance-oriented motorcycles today, but this wasn’t always the case. It was British twins that dominated the world of high-speed motorcycles and the motorcycle industry as a whole, through most of the 20th century. Mainstream manufacturers like BSA, Triumph, and Norton ruled the mass market with their ubiquitous parallel twins, while more prestigious marques like Brough Superior and Vincent built highly exclusive V-twin-powered machines that were the fastest production bikes of their time. 

Enter the Japanese

As the British motorcycle industry reached its peak in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Japanese bike manufacturers were carving out their own niche with small-capacity, affordable, and reliable two-wheelers aimed at commuters and first-time riders. Honda set up their first US dealership in 1959, closely followed by Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki, all offering an array of simple, lightweight, and utilitarian motorcycles. Extremely popular was the 50cc Honda Cub, whose ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda‘ advertising campaign did away with the leather-clad rebel biker stereotype, and instead presented motorcycles as a fun mode of transport for just about anybody. 

Going Bigger

Having established a strong presence in the U.S. market with an array of 125, 250, and 300cc machines by the mid ‘60s, Honda now wanted to tap into the growing demand for performance-oriented motorcycles — a segment so far dominated by Triumph and BSA with their 650cc twins. Their first attempt to break into this space was with the 1965 Dream CB450, powered by a DOHC parallel twin. While smaller in capacity than the British 650s, the Honda motor was technologically more advanced, and hence delivered comparable performance while being more refined and reliable than the competition. Unfortunately, the belief that bigger was always better ran strong through the American biker community, and riders couldn’t imagine picking a 450 over a 650. As a result, the CB450 wasn’t the success Honda envisioned, and it was back to the drawing board. 

Setting Targets 

Yoshiro Harada, head of the CB450 project, wasn’t too happy with the lukewarm reception his creation received and was still looking for a way to break into the American performance bike market. He knew that they had to go bigger this time, especially having received information that Triumph was working on a high-performance 750-cc triple for the upcoming Trident. By late 1967, the decision was finally made; Honda’s large-capacity challenger would be powered by a four-cylinder 750-cc, air-cooled motor that would make no less than 67 horsepower, achieve a top speed of 120 mph, and cover the quarter mile in 13 seconds. 

The Four-Cylinder Challenge

While mainstream production motorcycles with more than two cylinders were practically unheard of at the time, Honda was no stranger to lightweight, multi-cylinder engines. The brand’s racing department had built a reputation as masters of engineering innovation, developing the high-revving four- and even six-cylinder competition machines that dominated the Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing World Championship through the 1960s. The high cost and complexity involved with designing and building multi-cylinder engines kept them confined to the racetrack, but now Harada and his team of engineers were faced with the daunting task of translating Honda’s enigmatic motorsport developments into a reliable, road-going motorcycle that could be mass-produced, affordably priced, and usable by everyday riders. 

Creating the World’s Best Bike

Harada’s brief for the CB750 was simple: better handling, braking, comfort, and refinement than any of the competition, while also being more reliable and offering longer service intervals. In essence, the team was instructed to build the best motorcycle that the world had ever seen. The landmark engine, while inspired by Honda’s Grand Prix machines and sharing their air-cooled, inline-four-cylinder architecture, was designed for comfort, refinement, and everyday usability rather than outright power and high revs. 

From Race Engine to Production Engine

Creating the CB750’s four-cylinder engine was a lot more complicated than simply scaling up Honda’s championship-winning race motor. After all, race engines are high-strung beasts that are designed to work best close to the limit, sacrificing real-world usability and durability in the pursuit of every last horsepower. 

Honda’s four-cylinder Grand Prix engine from the early ‘60s was a masterpiece at the cutting edge of internal combustion technology, revving up to over 14,000 rpm and generating approximately 45 horsepower from its diminutive 250cc capacity. On the other hand, the engine that Harada and his team created for the CB750 was a much simpler machine, designed specifically for everyday usability. While the short-stroke race engines that it was descended from were designed to rev to the moon, the new motor was intentionally undersquare with the stroke length longer than bore diameter — an architecture that prioritizes low-rpm torque generation. Similarly, the race engine got dual camshafts and four valves per cylinder to manage breathing at high rpm, while the CB750, designed to rev no higher than 8,500 rpm, made do with an SOHC, two-valve-per-cylinder layout. Also, the complex and expensive to produce gear-driven valvetrain employed in the race engines was foregone in favor of a traditional cam chain. 

The Superbike is Born

It was at the 1968 Tokyo Motor Show that Honda revealed the machine that would redefine performance motorcycles. The Honda CB750 drew massive crowds to the Honda stand, its wide, heavily-finned, four-cylinder engine mounted transversely within the bike’s frame looking downright futuristic compared to the singles and twins that had dominated so far. Aside from the motor, the CB750 was also among the first mainstream motorcycles to get a disc brake and an electric starter, while its modern styling immediately made the existing British twins look extremely outdated. And they were outclassed, too. The bike was extremely well received by the pubic as well as the motorcycle press, with Cycle World magazine referring to it as a ‘superbike’, acknowledging how far ahead of the competition it was in terms of performance, refinement, and technology, and coining the term that is used to this day to describe high-performance sport motorcycles.  

Taking Over the Market

When the CB750 hit the American market in 1969, it was an instant success that soon transformed the motorcycling landscape. That big lump of a motor with four carburettors and a row of shiny headers leading to four individual exhausts was like nothing the world had ever seen before. Sure, German bike manufacturer Münch beat Honda to a production four-cylinder motorcycle with their Mammut, powered by a 1.2-liter, four-cylinder NSU car engine, but the CB750 brought this exotic layout mainstream and made it accessible to the common man. Riders who had long accepted British twins with all their quirks now had access to a motorcycle that was faster, smoother, more reliable, and easier to live with and maintain. The smaller Japanese bikes had already proven themselves to be better built and less prone to oil leaks than their British rivals, and the CB750 brought these attributes to the large-capacity performance bike segment. 

CB750 Legacy

Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki soon followed Honda with their own large-capacity inline-four-powered motorcycles, effectively ending decades of British and European bike market dominance. What began as Honda’s ambitious attempt to break into the performance bike space ultimately reshaped the entire industry, establishing the transverse inline-four layout as the default formula for high-performance motorcycles for over half a century. 

Breather Port Defect Explained

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 88,039 motorcycles from the 2024 to 2026 model years are included in the recall. The problem originates in the airbox backplate, where a breather port may become blocked by residual material left over during production.

If that passage is restricted, pressure can build inside the engine’s crankcase. In certain situations, removing the dipstick without first easing that pressure may cause oil to be expelled from the fill opening, potentially injuring riders. At the time of writing this article, Harley-Davidson has identified one incident that could be connected to this fault.

Affected Models And Warning Signs

The recall covers a broad mix of nine different models, including the Breakout, Road Glide, Street Glide, and Fat Boy, produced between October 2023 and February 11, 2026. Motorcycles built after that date were checked under a revised inspection process to ensure the issue was addressed at the factory. These models are: FXBR, FLTRXL, FLTRX, FLTRT, FLHXU, FLHXL, FLHX, FLHLT, and FLFB.

Riders may notice several warning signs if their bike is affected, although the defect is estimated to impact only 0.4% of units. Possible indicators include smoke from the exhaust, higher than normal oil consumption, or a breather hose that has come loose. Another clear sign is a release of pressure when removing the dipstick.

Recall Timeline And Dealer Fix

Harley-Davidson began notifying dealers at the end of April, with owner notifications scheduled between May 11 and May 20. VIN lookup tools are already live, allowing owners to confirm whether their motorcycle is part of the recall. If your Harley is part of the recall, a dealer will inspect the breather port and carry out repairs if required, with most cases not needing new components.

What is the 2026 Polaris Slingshot?

The Polaris Slingshot is one of those machines that has always been easier to understand emotionally than in categorical terms. It has three wheels, side-by-side seating, no roof in most trims, no doors in the traditional sense, and the visual subtlety of a nightclub entrance. Polaris refers to it as a three-wheeled autocycle, though its technical characterization will depend upon which state or province you live in. It lacks airbags and does not meet automotive safety standards, so although a regular driver’s license is enough to get yourself behind the wheel of one of these in most jurisdictions, some places may require a motorcycle license for drivers. Helmets and visors are also required.

The 2026 lineup starts with the Slingshot S at $24,999 with the manual transmission or $26,849 with AutoDrive. From there, the range moves through SL, SLR, R, Grand Touring, and the new limited-production Signature Edition. The Slingshot R starts at $34,999 with the manual or $37,149 with AutoDrive, while the Grand Touring starts at $41,999 with the manual or $44,149 with AutoDrive. The Signature Edition, meanwhile, starts at $36,999.

Every Slingshot uses a naturally aspirated Polaris-built 2.0-litre ProStar four-cylinder engine—which replaced the GM-sourced EcoTec unit in 2020—though output depends on trim. The S and SL make 180 horsepower, while the SLR, R, Grand Touring, and Signature Edition make 204 hp. In the higher-output versions, torque sits at 149.8 lb-ft. That may not sound especially outrageous in a world where family SUVs now make 500 horsepower, but context is key. The Slingshot weighs roughly 1,600 to 1,700 pounds, depending on trim and transmission, and you sit low enough that your elbows feel like they’re skimming the pavement. For reference, a 2026 Mazda MX-5 weighs about 2,300 pounds and makes even less power.

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The Slingshot makes Miami feel even less subtle

In most cities, the Slingshot might look a bit deranged. But in Miami, it feels perfectly at home. The Grand Touring’s Viper Black and Green Venom paint made it appear radioactive under the sun, while the new Signature Edition’s Golden Steel and Black Crystal finish played a different role, its metallic flake shifting with the light and wearing its gold pinstriping like jewelry. Through the streets of South Beach, the Slingshot immediately drew a crowd. Every pedestrian had their phone out to film us, and at one point, one of Miami-Dade’s finest actually dropped his police bike, but I don’t blame him—seeing a Slingshot drive by is not unlike witnessing a purple Ghost fly past Master Chief in Halo 3. If you understand that reference, we’re getting old, man… But that’s really how polarizing they are to see in person.

I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the Morgan Three-Wheeler here. I mean, the Slingshot is sort of an Americanized alternative to that old thing, in some sense. Where the Three-Wheeler is the gentlemanly and sophisticated Brit, the Slingshot is the American that just wants to “go fast, and be free.” And man does it ever deliver. The Slingshot is like if Spring Break were a car. Motorcycle? Autocycle… Whatever, the point is this: Every time I approached the Slingshot, I became overwhelmed with a childlike giddiness, and every time a passerby’s jaw dropped as they pulled out their camera phones, I felt proud to be in one.

Down Route 1: where the Slingshot no longer feels alien

Out on Route 1, the Slingshot’s true colours began to shine through. The numbers are not shocking by modern performance standards: a Polaris-built 2.0-litre ProStar four-cylinder, 204 horsepower in the higher trims, and 149.8 lb-ft of torque. But Polaris offers something far more pure than massive power figures or sharp-shifting dual-clutch gearboxes—it, instead, offers drivers an expert-level dancing partner. You see, the Slingshot doesn’t make the whole experience about itself as a machine. Instead, it makes it about the driver. Variable-speed-sensitive electronic power steering gives your hands complete control over the Slingshot’s front axle, and electronic throttle control gives your feet complete control over the single rear wheel. Driving the Slingshot is like dancing a salsa duo with a partner you have excellent chemistry with. Toe the line, and it’ll rock your world. Misstep, and it’s surprisingly forgiving.

Perhaps my greatest compliment of the Slingshot is that it drives like a mass-produced car. Though it may sound like the opposite of what most would perceive as praise, getting into a tiny roadster with just one rear wheel and no doors can seem like a pretty frightening proposition to a lot of people. The real beauty of the Slingshot is that you don’t need to be a motocross expert just to tame one of these things. They are surprisingly friendly and intuitive to drive. Most of the time, you completely forget that it has just three wheels, and in the Florida spring sun, its lack of doors and, in some cases, a roof, is a feature which quickly becomes more of a blessing than a source of anxiety. Whether you’re on a six-lane interstate or a narrow backroad, driving the Slingshot just feels like driving.

Manual vs AutoDrive: choose the manual unless traffic makes it a problematic chore

Naturally, the Polaris Slingshot will never be most people’s daily driver. It’s designed for the weekend, or for the holiday, when you can finally leave the keys to your hybrid crossover at home and take to your favourite streets with something far more playful. So, when it comes down to choosing between the manual and the AutoDrive gearbox, why compromise engagement for the sake of having to do less work? With the added gratification of being more involved with the driving experience, piloting the Slingshot is far more rewarding in every aspect. Simply put, the manual gearbox makes the Slingshot a better dance partner. It communicates better with you, familiarizes drivers with what’s happening beneath the body panels, and actually makes for faster shifting than the automated gearbox, which is essentially the same unit but with a hydraulically actuated clutch subbing in for my left Adidas Samba, instead letting my right shoe have all the fun.

Still, the AutoDrive gearbox is not necessarily worth ruling out entirely. With its paddle shifters, the AutoDrive unit still lets drivers shift for themselves, but with the added convenience of asking the car to figure it out while you creep through the occasional traffic jam. Like an older BMW SMG gearbox, it actually shifts better if you still treat it like a traditional manual gearbox, briefly removing your foot from the throttle through each shift, and even blipping it occasionally to help rev match downshifts. Still, with as much fun as I had using the Slingshot’s AutoDrive option, I always felt the urge to get back into a model with a proper three-pedal setup whenever I had the chance.

Grand Touring: the one that makes the Key West trip possible

The Grand Touring is the trim that kept the whole Miami-to-Key-West drive route concept from transforming from suntan to sunburn. The colour-matched Slingshade doesn’t exactly convert the Slingshot into a coupe, but it does give you just enough shelter from the Florida sun to feel like you might actually survive a whole day in it. The inclusion of ventilated seats sounds almost comical in such an application until you are deep into the Keys, when the black leather seats you left exposed out in the parking lot suddenly become bun burners. Of course, this is still no Lexus LC or Bentley Continental GTC. Wind fatigue is real, noise is constant, storage requires discipline, and conversation requires radio frequencies. Pack ibuprofen and stay hydrated. But still, the Grand Touring trim gives the Slingshot enough comfort and convenience to make any journey feel playfully adventurous rather than physically taxing.

Key West arrival: the Slingshot as an event machine

By the time we made it to Key West, the roads were mostly straight, and they were littered with golf carts and scooters. Here, the rev-happy ProStar engine and the grabby Aisin gearbox were no longer the stars of the show. Here in Key West, the Slingshot’s sound system became the ultimate party trick. The available Rockford Fosgate Stage 3 Max + Lighting system uses two 8-inch side-panel speakers and two 6.5-inch headrest speakers, delivering 700 watts of power. Translation: Park one in central Key West, crank up some Vanilla Ice, and watch as the crowds gather to join the party. The Polaris Slingshot brings people together—people of all cultures, creeds, and religions—in our universal love of fun. Because that’s what the Slingshot is for, really. It’s certainly not practical, nor is it always comfortable. But it is always fun, whether you’re driving one or just happen to see one passing by. Like the bright Florida sun, the Slingshot will never fail to brighten your day.

Final verdict: not rational, but extremely memorable

The 2026 Polaris Slingshot is not a car for people who want the best car in the traditional sense. It is not even a motorcycle for those who want the best motorcycle. It is less rational than either, less practical than almost anything, and more exposed to the elements than many buyers will expect. It is loud, strange, compromised, attention-hungry, and expensive once you climb into the trims I would actually want. It is also unforgettable.

From Miami to Key West, the Slingshot did what few modern vehicles manage to do anymore: it made the journey feel like a real adventure, full of twists and turns, freshly caught fish, panoramic vistas, seven-mile bridges, and a bonding experience that brought us all together in the end like kids laughing and telling stories around the campfire. It turned strangers into spectators, bridges into scenes, traffic into theatre, and a simple road trip into something worth retelling. I would not recommend it to everyone. In fact, I would not recommend it to most people. But for the right kind of person—someone who perhaps enjoys watching Indiana Jones or Long Way Round and is always up for a new adventure, purely for the sake of adventure itself—the Slingshot makes a case for itself unlike anything else out there. Somewhere between Miami, Key West, the fresh oysters, the endless ocean, and the convoy of alien roadsters chasing the sunset, I found myself incredibly grateful for it.

The Fastest Bicycle Ever Made

The Factor ONE leans heavily into Bugatti’s obsession with performance. Factor, founded by Rob Gitelis, usually develops its bikes in-house, but with help from Bugatti, it managed to innovate like never before. The UCI-legal design features a widened fork shaped to improve airflow and reduce drag at the leading edge. That works alongside a fully integrated cockpit and frame to maximise efficiency. According to Gitelis, “This project challenged us to rethink every assumption,” which explains why the final product looks so unconventional. Supporting that is the Black Inc Bugatti Hyper 62 wheelset wrapped in Bugatti Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT tyres with a French Racing Blue sidewall. The 62 mm carbon rims weigh just 1.298 grams (less than 3 pounds) per pair, and are tuned for stiffness, power transfer, and crosswind stability. In essence, it’s the cycling equivalent of lightweight forged hypercar wheels.

Design Rooted In Bugatti History

Apart from the bright white BUGATTI logo on its side, the Factor ONE features many other Bugatti-exclusive design queues. From the two-tone split, Bugatti Blue accents, and the “Dancing Elephant” emblem, each trait references some of the most important Bugattis ever made. Even the smaller details, like its exposed 3K twill carbon weave, carbon brake rotors, follow the same lineage. Even the Alcantara-wrapped carbon fiber saddle reflects what you’d typically find in a Bugatti Tourbillon’s interior.

Collector’s Piece First, Bicycle Second

While it’s evident that the Bugatti Factor ONE bike will be a very capable racing bike, it’ll also serve as a collector’s piece. Unfortunately, much like limited-run Bugattis, many will likely spend more time on display than on the road. Despite one of these “hyper bicycles” costing more than a brand new Toyota Corolla, we reckon they’ll sell like hotcakes, and most of them will find a home in a lavish Bugatti collection.

There is, of course, a lot more to the story. From Bangle’s early influences to the designs that led BMW to overtake Mercedes-Benz in sales, Bangle’s career is full of controversy, beauty, and more than a few cars you didn’t know he penned.

Chris Bangle before BMW

Bangle was born on October 14, 1956. Born in Ravenna, Ohio, he was raised in Wausau, Wisconsin. Early in life, Bangle had another career path in mind: that of a minister. Bangle initially considered becoming a Methodist minister. However, Bangle chose instead to head off to Pasadena, California. There, he was enrolled in the famed Art Center College of Design, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree.

From there, Bangle made another big transition, packing his bags for Germany. Though this time, Bangle wouldn’t be headed to Munich to work for BMW. Instead, the designer worked for Opel. Here, he designed his first concept, the Open Junior. Bangle didn’t oversee the design of the exterior, pictured above, but rather took responsibility for the interior of the car. It featured this interesting block layout, and something a little ahead of its time: a radio that could be detached and used as a speaker, and elements of the dash could be physically removed and rearranged.

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From Opel, Bangle moved over to Fiat in 1985. Here, he worked on the second-generation Panda, as well as the Fiat Coupe, where he was chief designer, and the Alfa Romeo 145.

Bangle’s BMW years

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Bangle joined BMW at an interesting time. The brand was moving away from designs like the E36, towards more rounded shapes, like the E46 that succeeded it. The Z3 (pictured above next to the E36) is a perfect example, and one of the cars Bangle first helped with. Though it was penned originally by Joji Nagashima, Bangle oversaw work on the car. His first clean-sheet design was the Z9 Gran Turismo concept, and already, you could see Bangles inflences in the car. They’re even more evident in the later GINA concept. Both are massive departures from BMW’s previous influences, and intentionally so. Bangle said designs need to follow a cycle of a revolutionary generation followed by an evolutionary generation, with the cycle again repeating. Once you see this in his work, it’s impossible to miss.

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Bangle’s time at BMW touched nearly every aspect of the brand’s designs, including Mini’s. Bangle was behind the “new” mini in 2000, lest we forget. Again, it was a revolution of the previous model’s design. Other notable cars penned by Bangle at BMW include the M3 and M5, the 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 Series, the X3, X5, and X6, the GINA, and so many more.

The design philosophies that led to Bangle’s BMWs

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To truly understand what shaped these things, we have to dig into why Bangle made many of the design decisions he did. He famously described his work as “flame surfacing,” but its influences in deconstructivism are clear. The postmodern architectural movement spawned designs that lacked an obvious harmony, continuity, or any real symmetry. Bangle’s designs usually buck the latter, as cars are broadly inherently similar for reasons both aesthetic and mechanical. For a good example of some deconstructivist design, look to the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry.

At the time, BMW had a new technology, which also shaped some of Bangle’s choices. A new 3D panel pressing technique allows for a single pressing of a piece of sheet metal with numerous compound curves in it. Bangle was able to leverage this to create unique shapes, which also led to a bit of the criticism surrounding the designer. Marc Newson, an industrial designer, described Bangle’s BMW Z4 as having been designed with a “machete.”

Despite these criticisms, Bangle’s designs shaped the brand’s look during one of its more populist eras. BMW’s from this era are still everywhere, and more than that, many of the brand’s models sold strongly despite criticism. The 7 Series, held to be a particularly horrific design of Bangle’s, became the best-selling 7 Series of all time when it concluded its Bangle-designed run.

Years later, enthusiasts have also come around on many of Bangle’s designs. For any evidence, simply take a look at second-hand values for cars like the BMW M3, M3, and Z4 M from this era. Not only were these cars powered by BMW’s best-ever naturally-aspirated engines, but their design is also now being more broadly appreciated for the muscular stance and fluid look the designer’s techniques lent them. If anything, Bangle’s designs are proof that all that anything needs to overcome a little controversy is time. We’re quick to forget and even faster to gaze back at something in nostalgia.

Honda in the 1960s were an engineering pioneer in the internal combustion space, driven by founder Soichiro Honda’s ‘engineering first’ philosophy. The proving ground for the company’s creations during this time was the Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing World Championship, where the realisation that several smaller, lighter pistons can be made to accelerate and change direction much faster than fewer larger and heavier ones led to the development of landmark engines like the 250cc inline four motor in the 1961 RC162 race bike, and the 250cc inline six in the 1966 RC166. These engines could spin way faster than the singles and twins of the time and dominated their classes — the RC166 made about 60 horsepower at 18,000 rpm, and won all 10 races it was entered in through 1966. It was with these high-revving, small-displacement, multi-cylinder motorcycle engines that Honda cemented their reputation for technical innovation and engineering excellence.

From Racetrack to Road

Honda used racing as a rolling laboratory of sorts, applying innovations developed in the heat of battle towards inspiring and refining their product line. The 1969 Honda CB750 Four, often considered the first ‘true superbike’, was a product of this philosophy. It was powered by an across-the-frame, four-cylinder, overhead-cam motor — a formula perfected on the racetrack with the RC162 earlier in the decade. The CB750 was highly sophisticated for its time and an instant success, once again reinforcing Honda’s reputation as an innovator and master of high-performance engines.

While the company continued to refine the CB750 through the 1970s, it didn’t introduce another exciting, high-displacement motorcycle through the decade. Instead, it relied mostly on the booming sales of its smaller commuter motorcycles and focused more on developing the automobile side of the business. Motorcycle enthusiasts, however, expected more high-performance innovation from Honda and wanted to see something special from the brand known for its engineering excellence. Honda took note and, in 1976, started working on a special project just to silence the critics. 

Creating the CBX

Honda’s goal with the CBX project was simple — create a large-displacement sporty street bike to showcase Honda’s technological superiority and engineering prowess, just as the CB750 Four had done a decade ago. Helming this project was lead engineer Shoichiro Irimajiri, the genius behind several of Honda’s multi-cylinder race engines of the ‘60s, including the dominant six-cylinder RC166. And just as the CB750 brought Honda’s four-cylinder tech from the racetrack to the road, Irimajiri decided that it was now time to really flex Honda’s engineering capabilities and create a six-cylinder road bike, using expertise gained from racing the RC166 all those years ago. When the Honda CBX1000 was finally revealed to the world in late 1978, all eyes were on that wide,1,047-cc six-cylinder engine mounted transversely across the simple steel frame.

Reputation Rebuilt

The CBX1000 marked Honda’s return to cutting-edge innovation in the motorcycle space, renewing its reputation as a builder of performance machines. At its heart was a 24-valve, DOHC, inline six-cylinder engine that put out 105 horsepower at a lofty 8,000 rpm. The motor was fed through six 28mm Keihin CV carburettors and featured an innovative jackshaft design to position the alternator and clutch basket behind the block, rather than at the ends of the crankshaft. This kept overall width in check, and the finished engine was just about two inches wider than the CB750 motor, even though it sported two more cylinders and 250cc more displacement.

The engine, with its GP racing lineage, was powerful for the time, but also let riders experience the smoothness and refinement that only a perfectly balanced inline six can provide, and howled like a 1970s Formula 1 car when on the boil. Its oversquare design let it rev freely all the way to a 9,500 rpm redline, propelling the hefty 600 lb motorcycle to a 140 mph top speed in the process. 

CBX Evolution

At its launch, the CBX1000 was positioned as Honda’s halo sport bike, but over the years, it evolved into more of a tourer. It received a fairing, saddlebags, and a more relaxed riding position. The engine was also detuned to 100 horsepower, in favour of stronger midrange torque, and the twin-shock layout was scrapped in favor of a more modern monoshock layout. 

CBX Legacy

Honda sold its six-cylinder CBX1000 from 1979 to 1982 and while it may not have set sales charts on fire, it accomplished what it set out to do — restore Honda’s image as an innovator and creator of unique, high-performance engines. The CBX was a big, heavy motorcycle and not always practical, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was created to prove a point, without regard to practicality, and to give riders a taste of what Honda was capable of. Today, examples of the CBX1000 are highly sought after collector’s items, especially since well-maintained bikes in original condition are becoming extremely rare. Ultimately, the CBX1000 serves as a rolling reminder of what happens when Honda’s engineering first philosophy is given free rein. Few bikes before or since have made such a bold mechanical statement. 

What Changes Could Be Coming to the Law

The current federal definition of what constitutes a motorcycle is rather broad: a “motor vehicle with motive power having a seat or saddle for the user of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground.” This allows manufacturers like Polaris to provide a car-like seating position and controls without the rigorous testing that four-wheeled cars are usually saddled with. The new bill would exclude any three-wheeler with a steering wheel, requiring the use of handlebars for steering and braking. It would also mandate that the seat or saddle be of the sort that the rider “sits astride,” and these rules would mean such comprehensive changes that the abovementioned autocycle manufacturers would need to redesign almost everything about their vehicles.

Related: The Most Extreme Thing on the Road Just Got More Luxurious for 2026

If they were to add a fourth wheel, their USP would be gone, and they’d need to conform to even more stringent car regulations. If they were to redesign the seating and control solutions, the relative convenience of their operation would be nullified, too. Different states currently have different definitions, with Minnesota, for example, defining autocycles as three-wheeled vehicles that the user sits in, rather than on, and that have a steering wheel. This new law would essentially change the laws, making the existing three-wheelers we’ve mentioned illegal to operate.

New Bill Faces Pushback

Hagerty reports that the Motorcycle Industry Council has expressed “strong opposition” to the new bill in a letter to the heads of the subcommittee debating the new legislation, arguing that it could “eliminate an entire category of innovative American-made products from commerce and jeopardize thousands of domestic jobs.” Manufacturers have also argued that this new bill could deprive consumers of choice.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade has referred bill H.R. 3385 to the full Energy and Commerce committee in the lower house of Congress, so there is still a long way to go before the bill is approved, with amendments and clarifications likely.

It’s 1999, and Ducati has won eight out of the last 12 Superbike World Championship (WSBK) riders’ titles. Over the preceding decade, their unique V-twin-powered machines proved to be a dominant force in a field otherwise populated by V-fours and inline fours. Honda, on the other hand, with their reputation for engineering excellence and legendary motorsport heritage, struggled to match the Italians. The Honda RC45 race bike, powered by a 750-cc V-four motor, was an excellent machine in its own right, but struggled to compete with the larger-capacity Ducati V-twins. Larger capacity because the WSBK regulations of the era capped displacement at 750cc for four-cylinder motors, while twins were allowed up to 1,000cc. 

Twins vs Fours

At the time, Ducati was known for its lightweight, short-stroke V-twin engines while Japanese motorcycle brands had spent years perfecting their high-revving four-cylinder motors. The smaller and lighter pistons in these four-pot motors, combined with the more frequent power pulses, allowed for higher rpm and consequently higher peak power than a twin-cylinder engine of similar capacity. The regulations were designed to even out this peak power deficit and level the playing field, but didn’t take into account the V-twin’s inherent character — strong, instantly-accessible torque through the midrange. The kind of torque that aggressively accelerates you out of a corner and towards the next one, without having to wait for the motor to spin up into the stratosphere. On most racetracks, peak power doesn’t mean much without the ability to efficiently put that power down, and Ducati’s dominance demonstrated just that. 

If You Can’t Beat Em…

While Ducati celebrated its 1999 championship victory, Honda was already preparing for some big changes. Acknowledging that it would be impossible for their 750s to match the Italian machines, which had grown in size from 851cc in 1990 to 996cc in 1999, Honda Racing Corporation’s (HRC) top bosses made the decision sometime in the mid ‘90s to take a page out of Ducati’s book and develop a big-bore V-twin of their own. While this would give Honda engineers the freedom to go beyond the 750cc cap, successfully building a competitive engine with a whole new philosophy on the first attempt would be a formidable task. They would also be going toe-to-toe with a manufacturer with a lot more experience, as Ducati had been refining the art of building high-performance V-twins since the ‘70s. 

Uncharted Territory

Honda had spent the last two decades perfecting its V-four engines; the decision to abandon this configuration and start a whole new development journey from scratch could not have been an easy one. The goal? Direct the might of Honda’s R&D, vast technical knowledge, and engineering expertise towards creating a competent superbike with a V-twin heart to take on the Ducati 996 in the 2000 WSBK season. Essentially, the team behind the project was tasked with building a better Ducati than Ducati themselves!

What they finally came up with was a 999cc V-twin with a 90-degree angle between cylinder banks, four valves per cylinder, a 100mm bore, and a 63.6mm stroke. The dual overhead camshafts were driven by a series of gears for Swiss-clockwork-like precision, the perfectly-balanced forged steel crankshaft was designed to handle sustained high-rpm operation, short-skirted cast-aluminium pistons and aluminum composite cylinder sleeves were given friction-reducing coatings, and forged steel connecting rods featured a unique ‘nutless’ bolt-through-rod design to reduce weight and improve durability.

The Honda RC51

In early 1999, Honda’s American factory rider Colin Edwards was spotted testing a pre-production, V-twin-powered superbike at Australia’s historic Philip Island circuit. This was the motorcycle would be revealed to the public a year later, officially designated the RC51 and marketed in the U.S. as the RVT1000R. In other markets, including Europe, Japan, and Australia, it was sold as the VTR1000SP1. It was also what Edwards would ride in the 2000 WSBK season. 

Going Racing

The RC51 proved to be a resounding success in its inaugural year, outperforming the Ducatis and bringing Honda and Colin Edwards the 2000 WSBK constructors’ and riders’ championship titles. Ducati hit back the following year and snatched the title back, but Honda’s engineers were already busy refining the RC51 with various minor alterations, including larger throttle bodies, smoother fuelling for more predictable throttle response, better injectors, a different swingarm, and changes to chassis geometry to fine-tune the bike’s handling. Back to the races with this new SP2 version of the RC51 in 2002, Honda proved once and for all that they had built the superior V-twin superbike by reclaiming the rider’s championship, with the RC51 earning the ‘Ducati Killer’ nickname in the process. 

Unfortunately, the RC51’s reign did not last very long; 2003 saw a reworking of the WSBK rules that finally allowed 1,000-cc four-cylinder motorcycles to compete. Honda had by then done what they had set out to do — prove that they have the engineering chops to adapt, innovate, and outdo the competition at their own game. Prioritising the development of Valentino Rossi’s RC211V MotoGP prototype race bike, the company opted out of the championship that year. They did, however, return in 2004 with the all-new CBR1000RR Fireblade, but that is a story for another day. 

Aside from these two WSBK titles, the RC51 had many more racing successes. These included a victory at the 2000 Isle of Man TT, the top spot at the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, top spot in the 2002 AMA championship, victories at the Daytona 200 in 2002 and 2003, and four consecutive victories at the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race from 2000 onwards, culminating in a podium lockout in 2003. During its short time in the sun, the RC51 was raced by legends including Joey Dunlop, Valentino Rossi, Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden, Daijiro Kato, and many more. 

RC51 Legacy

Although Honda officially stepped away from racing the RC51 after 2003, the road-going version of the bike remained on sale till 2006, when it was finally replaced by the CBR1000RR as the brand’s litre-class flagship and halo product. Today, the RC51 has achieved legendary status, is highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts alike, and has left an indelible mark on motorcycle racing history. 

Our recent article about Ferrari’s pill-shaped piston patent had a lot of readers commenting that Honda did it decades ago with their NR engine project. While Honda had their distinct reasons for going this route, and their execution was markedly different from what Ferrari is exploring, it is a fact that the Japanese manufacturer was the first to envision oval pistons and combustion chambers way back in the ‘70s. 

Racing Drives Innovation 

Innovation in the internal combustion space today usually revolves around creating cleaner, more efficient engines. The focus is on efficiency, emissions, downsizing, electrifying, or uncovering means to hold off obsolescence. In the mid-20th century, though, racing was the driving force behind motorcycle development, and Honda was one of the great innovators. 

New Racing

The brand dominated the sport with technologically-advanced, multi-cylinder, four-stroke machinery in the 1960s, eventually stepping away from motorcycle racing in 1968 to focus on developing and building passenger cars. In the late ’70s, after a hiatus of over a decade, founder Soichiro Honda wanted back in and set up the NR or New Racing project with the aim of competing in the Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship, which is now MotoGP, the premier class of motorcycle racing.

There was one problem: the sport was then dominated by two-stroke machinery. Soichiro Honda strongly disliked two-stroke engines, considering them noisy, inefficient, and unsophisticated, and set about attempting to create a revolutionary four-stroke motor that could outperform two-stroke engines of equal cubic capacity. The oval-piston engine, while legendary, is the result of this ultimately unsuccessful experiment.

Two-Stroke Supremacy 

Pound-for-pound, two strokes can make much more power than four strokes simply because they fire twice as often and complete the entire combustion cycle twice as fast — in one rather than two full crank rotations. To put this into perspective, the last time we saw two- and four-stroke machinery compete in the same class, it was 990cc four strokes and 500cc two strokes sharing the grid in 2002 and ‘03. But four strokes didn’t get these displacement allowances back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The rules were simple: no more than four cylinders, no more than 500cc in displacement. And the team of engineers at Honda’s NR project was faced with the problem of how to build a four-stroke motor that could ingest, combust, and expel air (and fuel) twice as fast as previously thought possible.

Valve Area Woes

The answer to Honda’s problem was simple, on paper at least. A two-stroke engine sees twice as many power strokes as a four-stroke engine spinning at the same RPM. So, to match a two-stroke motor’s power output, a four-stroke would have to spin twice as fast. The successful two-stroke race machines of the time were spinning up to over 10,000 rpm and creating upwards of 120 hp; Honda set itself a target of 23,000 rpm and 130 hp, and got to work. 

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There are many physical limitations standing in the way of how fast an engine can spin, but to even stand a chance, Honda’s engineers had to first come up with a way to pump enough air through a 500-cc four-cylinder motor to sustain itself at stratospheric revs. More valve area was the need of the hour, but space was limited within the confines of a round, capacity-limited cylinder. Honda couldn’t increase the size of the combustion chamber to accommodate more valves, but the rules didn’t say anything about its shape. And so the oval combustion chamber was born, crafted to accommodate eight lightweight valves per cylinder for a total of 32 valves for this unique V4 motor with the breathing capacity of a V8.

Reinventing the Wheel

Piston engine combustion chambers have always been round, simply because this smooth, uniform shape offers the best seal. Trying to change this tried and tested design to accommodate more valves was akin to reinventing the wheel, and threw up a whole lot of issues during development. One was maintaining a seal within the cylinder for the duration of a race — oval piston rings had to be developed to tackle this, and their manufacture at the required tolerances pushed the limits of the time’s machining capabilities.

Another issue was the excessive rocking of an oblong piston as it changed direction; this was countered by the incorporation of two connecting rods per piston, but an undesirable side effect was more weight and reciprocating mass. Even the piston wrist pins had to be inordinately long to cover the distance between the two connecting rods, and these longer pins could flex under the extreme forces of high-rpm operation. 

Going Racing

The first time Honda’s NR500 saw the grid was at the 1979 British GP; unfortunately, both bikes entered failed to complete the race, and were utterly outclassed by the two-stroke competition. The bike continued racing for the next two seasons as the engineers attempted to further refine and make it more competitive, ultimately getting the motor to rev up to 19,500 rpm and generate 130 hp. This, however, was not enough to make up for the weight of the complex motor, and the experimental NR500 failed to leave a mark on the championship. Honda finally gave in, retired the oval-piston NR500 in early 1982, and focused on developing the NS500 three-cylinder two-stroke machine that eventually won the 1983 championship. 

A Failed Experiment?

Yes, Soichiro Honda failed at proving that a four-stroke motor could compete with two strokes on equal footing, and spent an inordinate amount of time and money in doing so. While the NR project didn’t have the desired impact on racing, it did make massive contributions to motorcycle technology. The need to manufacture small parts to extremely precise tolerances drove the development of better machining technology, while the NR500 also pioneered the use of exotic metals, like magnesium and titanium, to save weight, as well as the use of a slipper clutch — something we see even on beginner bikes today. While the oval-piston NR500 engine wasn’t the racing success it was intended to be, its existence is a showcase of internal combustion innovation at its best.

The Oval Piston Road Bike

Honda may have abandoned their oval-piston race project in the ‘80s, but their engineers had successfully proved that the concept worked. And what better proof of concept than bringing this technology to a road-legal motorcycle. In 1992, Honda launched the NR750 — a limited-run halo product and tribute to the NR500 race project, equipped with the oval piston technology developed at the track over a decade ago. 

Only around 300 were built, not for profit but to make a statement. Not as high-strung and hence less fragile than the 500cc race engine, the NR750 revved to 16,000 rpm and made 125 hp. Priced at around $60,000 in 1992 (around $138,000 in today’s money), it was one of the most expensive and exclusive motorcycles of the ‘90s, aimed at collectors who wanted to own a unique piece of engineering excellence. Today, this motorcycle commands almost mythical status and six figures when, and if, one comes up for sale. 

V3 engines are about as rare as unicorns, having made only sporadic appearances through motorcycling history. The first known example of such a layout, with two cylinders in one bank of the V and a single on the other, was created by German motorcycle manufacturer DKW in 1955 to power their two-stroke grand prix race bikes. 

Suzuki dabbled in this configuration in the late ‘60s for a 50cc race bike that never saw the light of day due to regulation changes, after which V3 engines surfaced again only in the ‘80s, powering Honda’s 500cc two-stroke grand prix race machines from 1982 to 1984, as well as 250cc and 400cc road-going two-stroke models up to 1987. The compact V3 engine configuration then faded into obscurity and was replaced in subsequent decades by the extremely popular inline four and V4 layouts. Well, the elusive V3 is now all set to make a 21st-century return. 

Honda Revives the V3 After Four Decades

At last year’s EICMA, the annual Milan Motorcycle Show, Honda surprised us all with their latest innovation — a modern 75-degree V3 engine, equipped with forced induction. The engine was presented mounted within a steel trellis frame with an inverted fork up front, single-sided swingarm at the rear, and 17-inch alloy wheels shod with Pirelli tyres, all of which signalled sporty intentions for this platform. This year, the Japanese manufacturer has taken things a step further by presenting the camouflaged V3R 900 E-Compressor Prototype, indicating that a production version is closer than we initially thought. 

What makes this motor special?

All previous V3 engines through history have been two-stroke. Honda’s latest creation is a liquid-cooled four-stroke, with a 75-degree angle between cylinder banks and a claimed capacity of 900cc. But what really stands out is the incorporation of forced induction, something rarely seen on motorcycles. 

While the 1980s saw all the big four Japanese manufacturers create turbocharged bikes, this trend was short-lived, killed off by unpredictable power delivery due to lag, weight, complexity, and cost. The only mainstream forced induction motorcycles in the modern era are Kawasaki’s H2 series of supercharged inline-four machines. Honda is now looking to change this with their V3 creation that casts aside turbocharging and supercharging, and instead takes a novel approach to forced induction — an electronically-controlled compressor mounted atop the forward bank of cylinders feeding the airbox.

Why This Matters

Honda’s system allows boost pressures to be controlled independently of engine speed or exhaust gas velocity, meaning that the engine can deliver high torque even from low rpm. The ECU can instruct the compressor to spin up and help the engine produce the power being demanded by the rider’s right wrist at a moment’s notice, eliminating the lag associated with turbos and the parasitic losses of a supercharger, while saving a great deal of weight in the process. The whole motor is extremely well packaged and slim, and Honda claims that this compact 900cc three-cylinder motor will make as much power as a conventional naturally-aspirated 1,200cc motor, which we imagine to be in the region of 200 horsepower. 

The Bottom Line

Honda has always been at the forefront of motorcycle engine innovation. They created the howling inline-six-cylinder CBX 1000, the oval-piston 32-valve V4 in the NR500 and NR750, and the highest revving production motorcycle engine ever — the little inline-four in the CBR250RR that screamed to 20,000 rpm. With most manufacturers today focused on building small, economical twins and developing EV technology, it seemed that the days of innovation in the internal combustion space were behind us, but here comes Honda to the rescue with something that the world hasn’t seen before. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Very few manufacturers have even attempted developing such an engine for series production, the only one of note being British motorcycle brand Ariel, who produced square four engines in various capacities from 1931 to 1959. Japanese manufacturers Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki also experimented with this layout in the 1980s, primarily for their two-stroke grand prix race bikes, but the design soon faded into obscurity. 

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Fast Forward to 2025

Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta, known for building some of the most exotic machines on the planet, has now revived the dual-crank U engine architecture, almost a century after Ariel first brought it mainstream. The high-end boutique brand, whose exclusive creations are often considered rolling pieces of art, revealed their creation to the world at EICMA 2025, this year’s Milan Motorcycle Show. The engine in question in a five-cylinder take on the square layout with three pistons driving the forward crank and two pistons driving the rear, so its more trapezoid than square — something that has never been attempted before. 

What We Know So Far

At the moment, this engine exists only as a concept, but MV Agusta has shared a few details, as well as their future plans for it. The company states that its five-cylinder quadrato (Italian for square) engine platform will be offered in varying displacements ranging from 850 cc to 1150 cc, and will power models across various segments, from supersport motorcycles to naked street bikes, and even tourers. MV Agusta also claims that the platform will be capable of generating over 240 horsepower and 96 lb-ft of torque, and rev to over 16,000 rpm — all while weighing under 132 lbs. 

Square Engine Pros and Cons

The square engine architecture offers several inherent advantages over more common high-performance motorcycle engine designs of similar capacity. They offer a smaller overall footprint, being narrower than an inline four and shorter front to back than a V4, allowing for easier packaging within the frame. They also offer excellent balance and refinement, while MV also states that the five-cylinder firing order will ensure a wide spread of usable torque across the rev range, eliminating the need for variable valve timing. 

While all of this sounds great, square engines did come with some drawbacks, which ultimately saw them fade out of existence. These included issues keeping the rear cylinders cool in the old days of air-cooling, and the complexity and cost involved with building an engine with two crankshafts and four camshafts. Of course, modern liquid cooling takes care of the first issue, and your average MV Agusta buyer isn’t really concerned with cost, so it’s quite possible that we could see this concept turn into a reality in the coming years. 

The Bottom Line

In an era when innovation and development in the internal combustion space seems to have ground to a halt, it’s always refreshing to see a manufacturer directing time and resources towards coming up with something that nobody else thought of trying. While MV Agusta’s new engine platform is probably years from production, it gives petrolheads hope and the promise that the days of screaming exhausts aren’t done yet. 

Munich, on its own, is a worthy destination for your next trip to Europe. You can go to the Pinakothek, see Monet’s Lilies on the Water next to several of van Gogh’s works, and be sipping beer by the Isar on the same day. Of course, you can also spend a good chunk of time geeking out on cars. Life is about balance, you see. You could spend all day in Munich’s BMW Museum right after you finish that trip to the beer garden, and you should.

If you love BMW, Munich is a must

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The museum itself is located next to Olympia Park, one of Munich’s many parks and the former site of the Munich Olympic Games (as the name implies). On the other side of the museum, you’ll find current BMW production facilities, and during my visit, I got off the train with many employees commuting for their shift at the factory where the cars they built will likely one day be displayed. It’s a very cool experience.

Of course, the interior is even better. BMW’s museum is built around a large, square building housing the exhibits and an open atrium with ramps showcasing temporary exhibits, much like many of Europe’s other museums. This time, it was a history of the 3 Series, featuring a handful of BMW’s 3 Series-based art cars at the bottom.

Get the guided tour

Within a few minutes at the museum, I’d been made to feel like an idiot. Pouring over the displays, which are usually written in German and English, I saw the above playing out in the atrium below me. Evidently, you get a little more than the standard museum experience with the guided tour, which is only a few euros more than standard admission. Guides will walk you through specific cars and exhibits, displaying things like the BMW Z1’s wacky door operation or the huge V8 at the heart of the BMW Z8. Don’t make the same mistake I made.

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If you’re not already full up on cars, BMW also offers tours of BMW Welt, which focuses more on the brand’s current models, as well as BMW Classic, housed in one of the brand’s original production facilities. Beware, though: admission fees are all separate, and BMW Classic is appointment-only.

Final thoughts

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I said in another story on Mercedes’s museum that the single thing that made it better than the rest is context. Far and away, the BMW museum’s biggest problem is that you’re left without a broader historic context. While some exhibits and the various halls allude to periods of history, they often don’t acknowledge or incorporate them in the way the Mercedes equivalent does.

Regardless, it’s not as if visitors won’t be awash in some of the greatest cars BMW has ever made. The automaker has filled its museum with a highlights reel of great cars. I particularly enjoyed the motorsports exhibits, which featured icons like the brand’s 3.0 CSL “Batmobile” and its red-white-and-blue E30 DTM entrant. Elvis’s BMW 507 was another highlight, and the exhibit even features a display highlighting how BMW painstakingly restored the car you see above.

Significant sections of the museum are also dedicated to the brand’s motorcycles and its technical achievements. One segment focuses on the advances the brand made in its motorsports powertrains, with some of BMW’s most iconic engines set out on stands for you to obsess over. Another highlighted the effort that went into BMW’s Neue Klasse concept, including the use of sustainable materials leveraged by the concept.

BMW has a massive presence in Munich, and the brand’s iconic tower with its logo perched on top can be seen from several places in the city. It feels as much a part of the city as the Marienplatz or the English Gardens, and you shouldn’t visit without also taking in a bit of the automotive scenery as well.

At the illustrious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este at Lake Como, BMW has provided a rare early glimpse into its next-generation superbike. The BMW Motorrad Concept RR represents a new direction for the automaker, setting a new standard for construction and aerodynamics for its superbike lineup. The aim is to have a flagship, zero-compromise superbike in the lineup, and this may be BMW’s best effort yet.

Paying particular attention to aerodynamics and the demands placed on a superbike and its rider, Concept RR is not only lightweight and performant, but it’s compact, too. BMW also culled many external attachments to further focus on airflow around the bike and rider, and improved airflow through the bike itself to increase airflow to the rear winglets of the bike.

The BMW Concept RR is small but mighty

Designed for street and track use, Concept RR was inspired by the automaker’s M 1000 RR bike, which was piloted by factory rider Toprak Razgatlioğlu in his FIM Superbike Championship last year. BMW claims this early glimpse into the next generation of RR is unprecedented, though it hasn’t said when the bike will be available for purchase.

“The BMW Motorrad Concept RR is a true masterpiece of our development team, both technically and in terms of design language,” says Markus Flasch, Head of BMW Motorrad. “The transfer from racing to road has never been shown more clearly. It represents BMW Motorrad’s leadership claim to offer the highest engineering level and maximum performance in this segment.”

Concept RR doesn’t change everything about BMW’s RR lineup. It will have the M’s 230 horsepower water-cooled inline four-cylinder engine and incorporates the electronic control and regulation system (engine management, traction control, and engine brake) from the BMW WSBK M 1000 RR. By keeping tried-and-true performance under the rider, the Concept RR aims to improve the experience elsewhere.

Carbon, aluminum, and fun

Focusing on “riding stability at very high speeds” and the Concept RR’s ability to handle cornering at high speeds, BMW engineers knew they’d have to reduce air resistance in every possible way. BMW utilized carbon and aluminum throughout, materials renowned for their stability and strength while remaining lightweight. Where BMW engineers didn’t eliminate, like with the external attachments, they innovated. The frame and every component on the bike, for example, were “optimized for lightweight construction and performance.”

BMW applied everything learned from the track to the Concept RR. The bike is just as performant beneath the fuel tank but packs all the power and performance from previous generations into a smaller, lighter package. What more could you ask for?

Final thoughts

BMW wasn’t clear on how much of the bike is carbon, but it seems that many of the body panels are. We know the frame and tail are aluminum, but we don’t know where else aluminum may have been incorporated. It’s an incredible early look at the Concept RR, but we just wish there were more details. From what we know so far, though, it’s an incredible bike.

Electric micromobility—the area of transportation concerning things like e-bikes and e-scooters from brands like Lime and Bird—is still in its infancy. Up until now, the industry has been plagued by fads (Segway, anyone?), financial pitfalls, and reliability concerns around theft and overall organization. Apparently, Rivian thinks it can change that and has spun out its self-incubated “Also” startup, which will produce light electric vehicles (LEVs) and other personal transportation.

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Also, Inc. will focus on US and European markets with a flagship product in 2026

Formerly a small team working inside of Rivian, the new micromobility business now stands technically alone. Also was started around three and a half years ago as a bit of an exploratory journey to see if Rivian could leverage its existing strengths to develop affordable (and profitable) personal transportation. As it turns out, Rivian concluded that it can provide a “greatly enhanced product relative to currently available offerings,” leading to the decision for Rivian to have Also, Inc. stand alone. While Rivian maintains a “substantial minority ownership stake,” venture capital fund Eclipse Ventures has ponied up an additional $105 million. Also’s site claims the new company’s flagship product will arrive in the first half of next year, but doesn’t mention any other markets by name except the US and Europe.

What that “flagship” looks like, exactly, is anyone’s guess. Also says that it’s “building an exciting range of electric vehicles that are efficient, sustainable, and delightful to use.” Another key detail to note is that they’re using a completely proprietary platform, encompassing everything from software to motors. There’s little doubt Also’s leaned heavily on its Rivian origin for a lot of this, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In an interview with InsideEVs, Chris Yu, Also’s president, hints that the brand will rely on a “skateboard” approach and will feature two-, three-, and four-wheel machinations. Everything will be made in-house, just like with Rivian’s vehicles.

Rivian’s expansion into micromobility reaffirms the brand’s staying power

You won’t see any cars wearing an Also badge—the brand stops “just south of a homologated car,” says Yu—because that would really be missing the point. Also, which Yu refers to as a former “skunkworks program,” is another resource in Rivian’s tool belt that will help it continue to survive and thrive. When you add this to Rivian’s excellent roadmap (the R2 and R3 electric SUVs), its very public Amazon partnership, and joint ventures with Mercedes-Benz to power European market vans, those whispers questioning the brand’s longevity might as well be the ravings of a lunatic.

Final thoughts

Electrification in micromobility has long legs and is only in the beginning stages of relevancy. Heck, the term “micromobility” itself has only been around for ten years or so. As cities get denser, cars get pricier, and inflation marches on, more and more people will start considering alternatives to vehicle ownership. Rivian, and by extension, Also, have the experience and messaging down; all they need now is a product that actually excites people.

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Electric bikes and electric scooters are everything from an alternative to driving, to a speedy way to get to work, but their biggest selling point is how much fun they can be. A nearly 50% markdown is a solid selling point as well, as you can save big bucks on this bestselling e-bike at Walmart.

The Colorway 500W Electric Bike is on sale for $470, which is 48% off the original $900 price tag. This e-bike boasts 700-plus five-star ratings and shoppers say it’s a “wonderful bike” that’s undeniably “well-built.”  It comes in blue and white, but only the former is discounted.

Colorway 500W Electric Bike, $470 (was $900) at Walmart

With 26-inch tire rims and thick treads, this electric bike will take you where you want to go, no matter the road conditions. It can take you there quickly too thanks to a 36-volt battery that pushes this e-bike up to top speeds of nearly 20 miles per hour. As for distance, it’ll travel up to 75 miles and you can make the ride easier by turning on the throttle. The other modes include pedal assist — where you can get a bit of a workout while using some electric power,  and power-free — where everything will operate like a standard bike. No matter how you approach your ride, you’ll enjoy the lightweight but sturdy build of this e-bike since it’s designed with durable carbon structural steel.

“I love this bike,” one reviewer began. “This bike is heavy and solid. We’re all surprised at all the power it has. I ordered a second bike so that more can join in on the fun.”

“Great sturdy bike. Well worth it,” a buyer added. Another pointed out the undeniably great discount, saying, “It’s nice for the price.”

Related: Walmart’s ‘Nice and Spacious’ Outdoor Storage Shed Is on Sale for Only $140

“This is the second Colorway bike we ordered after receiving the first one, trying it, and loving it. It’s beautiful, sturdy, and easy to assemble,” another shopper said. “This bike is perfect.”

The Colorway 500W Electric Bike is highly-rated, a bestseller, and over $400 off. As a result, it might not be in stock or on sale for long. Add it to your Walmart cart ASAP before the hefty deal speeds away.

First, what the heck is a Clip? The company says it “is the first instant e-bike upgrade that you can take with you.” Put simply, it’s a battery-powered electric motor that attaches to a bicycle’s front fork assembly, similar in principle to the old Solex mopeds. A small wheel is positioned so that it comes into contact with the bike’s front tire, providing a friction drive coupling to add electric power to a regular bicycle. And the good news is that it works.

After assembling a bike provided for review by Priority Bicycles — a single-speed cruiser with a wonderful belt drive — we found no issues at all attaching the Clip unit to the front fork. The combined battery and motor unit weighs less than 10 pounds and is easy to carry. Attaching it to a bicycle requires two hands and a bit of fiddling to ensure that the drive wheel comes into proper contact with the front tire but only takes a few seconds. The forks do get a little floppy due to the weight, but once moving that feeling goes away. There’s no sense that the Clip unit will detach from the bike accidentally, even over rough road surfaces. A small remote control is affixed to the main Clip unit to recharge and uses a flap of rubber to attach to the bike’s handlebar. There’s a big red button to active the motor and a smaller button that induces regenerative braking.

So far, so good. On level surfaces, we found that the Clip provides a reasonable amount of motive assistance that makes pedaling much easier. A boost function is activated by holding the big red button down, and it’s powerful enough that the bike will gain speed even if the rider isn’t pedaling… as long as there’s no incline (more on that below). We tested the Clip in a small urban area near us and found that it worked pretty well. Assistance is immediate upon pedaling, and the amount of power the unit provides makes perfect sense in an area packed with parked cars and people walking dogs and pushing strollers. Range is listed at up to 6 miles with the base Clip Commuter or up to 12 miles with the upgraded Clip Explorer. With a bit of human-powered pedaling assist, we figure those range estimates are probably accurate, again assuming there’s no incline to deal with.

We also tested the Clip in a residential neighborhood that has some easy but longish climbs of a few hundred feet, and that’s where we had issues. Our single-speed test bike didn’t have any gearing to make pedaling uphill easier, so we used the Boost function to gain a bit of speed before the incline. It worked, which the rider can see happening via a set of LED lights on the unit, for about 30 seconds before we felt the electric assist drop off. And when it drops, it seemingly drops entirely. After pulling over, removing the Clip unit and reinstalling it, we repeated the test with the same result. A dive into the FAQs  — thoughtfully accessed via a QR code directly on the Clip unit — revealed that the Clip is fitted with safety systems to keep from burning out or overheating the motor or battery pack, which is a good idea. Sadly, there just isn’t enough juice to adequately climb even the moderate hills on our test route.

We’d recommend choosing a bicycle with gearing options; even a simple three-speed system would make it much easier to push a heavyish cruiser bike uphill, particularly with the added weight of the Clip unit. It’s also possible that tire selection would have an impact on how much assistance the Clip could offer, but we only had one test machine. Your mileage may vary, as they say. And we mean that quite literally in this case.

The Clip is an excellent idea, and one with several clever choices and useful design details. For buyers looking for just a little bit of help in relatively flat urban areas, this clip-on e-bike unit makes a lot of sense. Riders who need more than the modicum of electric assist offered by the Clip may instead want to look at a dedicated e-bike.

BMW’s gorgeous Skytop Concept turned every head at the annual Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance, but it wasn’t the only design study that the Munich-based brand unveiled near Lake Como in Italy. Its motorcycle division presented a sporty, flat-twin-powered one-off called R20.

One of the cool things about motorcycles is that the engine is often part of the design; it’s not hidden under a hood. BMW took advantage of that and developed the R20 around the flat-twin it affectionately calls Big Boxer. This engine is already in production, but its displacement grew from 1.8 to 2.0 liters for the R20 concept and it gained redesigned valve covers as well as a new oil cooler that allowed engineers to tuck the oil pipes out of sight for a cleaner look. The two-cylinder unusually spins the rear wheel via a driveshaft that’s clearly visible as well. 

Performance specifications haven’t been announced. For context, the existing 1.8-liter version of the air-cooled twin makes 91 horsepower at 4,750 rpm and 116 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm in the R18. That’s enough to send the 761-pound bike to a top speed of 111 mph. At launch, the 1.8 was hailed as BMW’s most powerful boxer engine to date. We’re guessing the 2.0 will take the crown if it reaches production.

BMW kept the rest of the design simple. There’s a round LED ring around the headlight, a concept-specific aluminum fuel tank finished in pink, and rear lights integrated into the Alcantara-upholstered seat. The brand turned to big names in the world of racing for the suspension and the brakes: Öhlins provided an adjustable suspension system, while ISR contributed six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers.

What the future holds for the R20 concept depends on how enthusiasts react to it. “It’s unique, and the reaction of the audience will decide whether we put it in production,” announced Alexander Buckan, the lead designer for BMW’s motorcycle division, told website BMW Blog.

Among them are the flagship McLaren Extreme 600 and Sport 600 versions, which the company says are among the most powerful street-legal electric bikes available, delivering up to 852W of peak power. There are two lesser-powered bikes in the range as well; prices range from $11,950 for the Extreme 600 to $7,950 for the ‘entry’ level Sport 250.

McLaren says that these are not rebranded bikes from other manufacturers that the performance company has tweaked, but are “designed by the same teams responsible for supercars like the electrified lightweight McLaren Artura hybrid supercar.” They boast attributes such as carbon fiber construction and “five” power settings: Off, Eco, Trail, Sport, and Race (four, if you don’t count “off”). They all run on Pirelli tires. just like McLaren’s cars.

The full-suspension Extreme model has a 29-inch front wheel, 27.5-inch rear wheel, 145mm of rear travel, and 160mm of fork travel. The Sport model is a 29-inch hardtail.

The bikes’ one-piece “cockpits” feature a digital display that mimics those used in McLaren automobiles. It shows telemetry information including speed, battery life and range on a full color integrated LCD panel on the handlebars.

McLaren says the bikes are to be available in limited numbers and can only be ordered through its website.

Pasco County, near Tampa, Florida, was the most perilous, reporting 40 cyclists killed in a population of about 562,000, translating to a rate of about 7.12 bicycle deaths per 100,000 people over the period between 2017 and 2021. The Florida counties of Sarasota and Manatee ranked second and third, with cyclist fatality rates of 5.53 and 5.25 per 100,000.

The study, which examined figures provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, looked at the country’s 200 most populous counties, and the number of road crashes in each that killed pedal cyclists during the period. It was compiled by the Georgia-based personal injury law firm Bader Scott and ranked the 20 worst.

A pair of counties in Louisiana and one in California filled out the 10 worst. Louisiana’s state capital of Baton Rouge was fourth deadliest, with a rate of 5.04, while ranked as sixth was Orleans Parish, Louisiana, with 19 deaths among 383,998 residents, equating to a rate of 4.95 per 100,000. San Joaquin County, California, was placed eighth on the list.

“This data highlights the concentration of cyclist safety issues in certain areas,” said Seth Bader of the law firm. “Across the 200 counties that were included in the study, a total of 2,745 cyclist deaths were recorded over the five-year period, while nationally the figure is 4,450 fatalities, which is 17 people every week.”

A decade ago, New York City launched a version of Vision Zero, a Swedish safety model designed to reduced deaths and injuries cause by traffic accidents. According to Streetsblog, total traffic fatalities in the city during the 10 years of Vision Zero — more than 2,550 people — were 16 percent lower than the decade prior to implementation, when more than 3,000 people were killed.

But the findings showed that neighborhoods with majority-Black populations experienced a 13-percent increase in traffic fatalities, communities with majority Latino populations had a 30 percent increase, and 18 of the counties are in the South, possibly indicating a lack of the kind of investment New York City implemented.

Here are the rankings: 

The top 20 most dangerous counties for cyclists in America

Though its EV program isn’t as robust as some, Honda has a range of electric and hybrid vehicles in its catalog, such as small cars and scooters. The e-MTB Concept looks surprisingly complete and robust for the first mountain bike effort from an automaker. Honda said its frame and swingarm are built with thin-wall aluminum casting technology, frequently used on advanced motorcycles.

Honda hasn’t detailed specs for the bike, but some have suggested it uses a Brose mid-drive motor and an SRAM Eagle AXS drivetrain. We can see Shimano brakes, Fox suspension, and Maxxis tires in the shots Honda shared.

While some electric mobility concepts focus on urban settings and navigating city streets, the Honda e-MTB concept is meant to perform outdoors. The automaker said, “The e-MTB concept expands the field of ability in nature. Easily going uphill with electric assistance, this bike offers a new riding experience that combines the FUN of motorcycles and FUN of a mountain bike. It is being developed to enable anyone to enjoy riding mountainous trails more freely.”

If it becomes a reality, Honda’s e-MTB will join the ranks of other automaker-made electric bikes. Mate Rimac founded Greyp electric bikes, and Porsche has a line of electric two-wheelers. Even Harley-Davidson created an in-house e-bike called the Serial 1.

Aston Martin unveiled a model called .1R that’s smaller and more city-friendly than the existing members of its range. It’s not a follow-up to the Cygnet: it’s a bicycle developed jointly with British company J.Laverack that features intricate design details and lots of carbon fiber bits.

One of the .1R’s most eye-catching features is the seamless frame, which creates a sleek appearance. Even the cables you see on many road bikes have been integrated into the frame to achieve a cleaner look. Like the DB12, among other models, the .1R is fully customizable and buyers will have the option of choosing any paint color that Aston Martin offers on its road cars. The carbon fiber parts can be left bare for riders who prefer a more performance-oriented look, while the brake calipers and brake rotor centers are available in bronze or black.

Part of the reason why Aston Martin offers so many customization options is that it expects some buyers will want to configure a bike that matches their car. Look closely and you’ll even find a few car-like details: the pierced stem echoes the side strakes on the new DB12.

Aston Martin stresses that a tremendous amount of work went into developing the hardware fitted to the .1R. The four-piston calipers were designed specifically for this model, for example, and fine-tuning them required developing new testing equipment. Buyers can also specify their preferred crank length down to fractions of a millimeter thanks in part to 3D-printed titanium tips fitted to the carbon crank arms.

While models like the DBX 707 and the DB12 use a twin-turbocharged V8, the .1R relies solely on your leg muscles for forward motion. Three 12-speed groupsets are available: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, Campagnolo Super Record Wireless, or SRAM RED eTap AXS. These are off-the-shelf parts, but they’re the same type of components used by the various professional riders who compete in the UCI World Tour.

Aston Martin hasn’t released pricing information for the .1R, but we don’t expect it will be cheap. As a trade-off, components like the hubs, the cranks, and the frame are numbered, and each bicycle will come with a case made with aluminum or carbon fiber (it’s the buyer’s choice) that can also be used to display it. Inside the case, owners will find a matching track pump with Alcantara- or leather-upholstered handles.

This is the Yamaha Tricera, and it’s an electric three-wheeled, open-top vehicle that Yamaha just revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show. The idea behind it is to make an urban mobility vehicle that’s also rather fun and exciting to drive.

The three-wheeled market for a vehicle like this is largely dominated by the Polaris Slingshot here in the U.S., but this Yamaha being electric could be an interesting alternative if it’s ultimately sold stateside. The Tricera’s trick feature is its rear-wheel steering. While the front wheels turn like you’d normally expect, the single rear wheel can also turn, thereby tightening your turning circle or lending greater stability at higher speeds. 

To make things even more interesting, Yamaha says there are both automatic and manual modes for the rear-wheel steering. Why? It “allows for the sense of accomplishment that comes when acquiring and developing new driving skills.” Yamaha wants to appeal to those who aren’t necessarily all-in on an autonomous future, so it wants to deepen the involvement that a driver might have with their vehicle.

As you can see from the photos, the Tricera is a two-seater and is operated via a steering wheel. All of the relevant information you might need while driving is on a screen mounted to the wheel. There’s a bar separating the driver from the passenger, creating two separate areas. Yamaha didn’t discuss any specs or details about the powertrain, only saying that the Tricera is electric. We’ll hope to learn more in the future should Yamaha move the project into production.

First is the most interesting looking of the group, the eWX (pictured at top). It’s a small electric hatchback that is mighty boxy. It’s very reminiscent of the Lapin kei-class hatchback Suzuki currently offers. We could see this being translated into a production model pretty easily with the addition of more conventional lights and maybe fewer lime green accents. Although we’d be a little sad to see said accents go away.

Next up is the Suzuki Swift concept. This is clearly a preview of the next-generation subcompact for Suzuki. For reference, the Swift is similar to the Toyota Yaris, Mazda2 and others. This generation is definitely evolutionary, and it looks less sporty and aggressive than before. The Swift is something to watch, since it’s also available in Europe.

Less exciting are the Spacia concepts, which are slightly modified versions of some of Suzuki’s kei vans. Similarly, there’s the eVX, which is an electric SUV concept. It’s quite chiseled, but it was revealed in India back in January.

Suzuki doesn’t just make cars, though. It has a booming motorcycle and scooter business. To that end, it also brought some two-wheeled concepts and some unique mobility ones. The MOQBA, which leads the gallery above, is the wildest, seemingly combining a tiny ATV with a four-legged walker from Star Wars. It’s sort of a multi-purpose mobility device that allows for people to roll around, but also get up and over stairs and other obstacles. The Suzuki Go! is a sort of wheelchair, the Suzu-Ride and Suzu-Cargo are four-wheeled electric scooters, and the L-MA is a food delivery robot. On the larger front, we have the e-PO fold-up e-bike and the e-Choinori, both described as 50-cc class electric bikes. Finally, there’s a Suzuki Burgman 400, but it’s notable because it’s running on hydrogen instead of gasoline.

Related video:

The Japan Mobility Show, formerly the Tokyo Motor Show, starts in less than a month. Honda always makes statements at its home show, even if that just meant displaying a ton of products spanning a ton of possibilities. This year, Japan’s second-largest automaker is going to check all the boxes with three world premieres of new product, a wide variety variety, and plenty to see. Our primary interest starts with the debut of the Honda Specialty Sports Concept, an electric sports car “which will enable the driver to experience the pure joy of driving (driving pleasure) and transcend the constraints of time.” The debates have already begun as to what kind of car this might be: Reborn NSX? Or reborn Honda S2000?

The image above is from 2022, teased when Honda began going public with the large-scale electrification plans that will see the automaker exit internal-combustion powertrains by 2040. Let’s make it clear we have no idea if either vehicle in the teaser image has anything to do with what’s appearing in Japan next month. We only know that automaker CEO Toshihiro Mibe said last year that Honda is planning to put two electric sports cars on the market before the end of the decade, one a “specialty” model and one a “flagship.” The S2000 and NSX conjecture fits that description.

In support of the S2000 theory, watchers note that Honda introduced the S2000 partly as a celebration of the automaker’s 50th anniversary, and this year is Honda’s 75th anniversary. Also, the S2000 bowed in concept form at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show as the Sport Study Model (SSM). In support of the NSX theory, Acura teased a Performance Electric Vision Design Study one month ago with lines that looked a lot like we’d expect from a futuristic NSX. The NSX has historically favored U.S. introductions, however; the original debuted at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, the reboot debuted as a concept and later in production form at the Detroit Auto Show. 

Elsewhere in the Honda show booth, visitors will find lil guys like the Sustainia-C Concept. Shaped like an even dinkier Honda-e, the Sustainia-C’s body panels are made of recycled acrylic resin. Another four-wheeled offering is the CI-MEV, a “pod car” employing Honda’s cooperative intelligence (the “CI” in the name) and autonomous driving tech for “easily-accessible last-mile mobility.” This one sounds like another take on a share car, described as being “for those who are in situations that tend to limit mobility, such as when there is no public transportation or when people experience difficulty in walking a long distance.” 

Two-wheeler fans can throw a leg over the SC e: Concept, an electric scooter powered by two of Honda’s Mobile Power Pack e: swappable batteries. Visitors who don’t need roads where they’re going will be invited to check out a full-size interior mockup of the HondaJet Elite II light business jet and a gas turbine engine planned for use in a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

And the Honda Avatar Robot will be there, a remote-controlled automaton standing on the shoulders of Honda’s ASIMO that “will let users perform tasks and experience things remotely as if they are there in person.” Honda says the Avatar will have a “multi-fingered robotic hand;” it seems to us the word “hand” would have been fine if the Avatar had five fingers. The distinction makes us wonder what kind of 30-fingered, 6,000 keystrokes-per-second anime trickery we might be invited to witness. We’ll find out about these products and more in a few weeks’ time.

Honda is reviving its Motocompo scooter — sold in the early 1980s as gasoline-powered portable mobility solution — with battery-electric power. Still compact and portable, the new Motocompacto is being marketed as a “first and last mile” option for those who need to go juuuuust a little bit farther than their cars will allow. 

Portability remains the name of the game, so calibrate your expectations appropriately. The Motocompacto will offer just 12 miles of total range from a 6.8Ah battery. That’s far cry from the super-efficient Motocompo’s 90-plus miles of theoretical gasoline range, but at least this one won’t stink up your trunk. 

“Motocompacto is uniquely Honda – a fun, innovative and unexpected facet of our larger electrification strategy,” said Honda VP Jane Nakagawa. “Sold in conjunction with our new all-electric SUVs, Motocompacto supports our goal of carbon neutrality by helping customers with end-to-end zero-emissions transport.” 

The little motor offers 490 watts of peak output, delivering 11.8 pound-feet of torque. And it’s front-wheel drive; of course it is, right? How very on-brand. The company says the Motocompacto can be charged from dead to full in 3.5 hours on an old-fashioned 110V outlet. It’s just over 38 inches long and 35 inches tall when fully deployed and offers a 24.5-inch seat height, but compacts to just over 29 x 21 inches when folded. All in, the package weighs 41.3 pounds. 

“Motocompacto is easy to use and fun to ride, but was also designed with safety, durability, and security in mind,” said Nick Ziraldo, project lead and design engineering unit leader at Honda Development and Manufacturing of America. “It uses a robust heat-treated aluminum frame and wheels, bright LED headlight and taillight, side reflectors, and a welded steel lock loop on the kickstand that is compatible with most bike locks.”

Honda says the Motocompacto will cost less than $1,000 and will be available for purchase starting in November through Motocompacto.honda.com or your local Honda/Acura dealer. 

BEND, Ore. – America’s most popular type of electric transportation in 2022 was not a car, it was bicycles. Electric bike sales surged past 1.1 million last year, up from 880,000 the year before. There were only about 800,000 electric cars, SUVs and trucks sold last year. At the same time, e-bikes are expected to eclipse traditional bicycle sales by 2027.

There are many reasons for their popularity, especially among those who live in a place where commuting or errand-running on a bike is possible. Electric mountain bikes are also extremely popular, however. Quite simply, they allow you to easily enjoy the downhill and flat bits without the pain and sweat of the uphill ones.

There is an issue, however, especially for mountain bikers who typically must transport their e-bike someplace rugged to ride it: They are very heavy. Even a high-end, lightweight and expensive e-bike like a Specialized Turbo Levo SL is pushing 40 pounds, which exceeds the weight capacity of many bike racks. The Gazelle Ultimate C380+ I recently tested weighs 55 pounds (pictured below and throughout this article).

But wait, you might be asking, my two-bike rack can apparently hold 70 pounds. Why can’t I just put one 55-pound bike on it? I had that same question, so I reached out to the engineers at Yakima.

“Each (bike) tray was tested and we can’t safely say that a bike exceeding the per-bike limit would be OK,” a company spokesperson conveyed to me. “Often times it isn’t the entire system that fails during our testing, but one small part or piece of a tray.”

As such, even though my liftgate-mounted Yakima Full-Back 2 (pictured above) can carry two bikes at 35 pounds apiece and therefore 70 pounds, I can’t use it for the 55-pound Gazelle. I also wouldn’t be able to use the Yakima Exo Double Up I reviewed two years ago – it topped out at 50 pounds when mounted on the bottom or 40 on the top deck (though perhaps if I removed the Gazelle’s battery it would be fine).

In short, you’ll need to look closely at your existing rack’s specifications when buying an e-bike you’ll need to transport, or look closely at rack specifications when buying a new one. Luckily, rack makers such as Yakima, Thule, Küat and others are increasingly developing racks capable of carrying heavy bikes.

For my recent outdoor adventuring road test to Oregon featuring the Honda Pilot TrailSport, I wanted to bring along an e-bike since, as described above, they’re becoming an increasingly popular part of outdoor adventuring. The Gazelle would be the e-bike for the journey, but to get it there I would need one of those more robust racks. Per usual, I turned to my fellow Oregonians at Yakima and their new StageTwo hitch-mounted rack. It’s capable of holding two bikes weighing 70 pounds apiece. It also accommodates bikes with wheelbases up to 52 inches, though even that weight and wheelbase capability isn’t enough for something like a Radpower RadWagon 4 that’s so popular among parents in bike-friendly places like my road trip destination of Bend, Ore.

According to Yakima, the StageTwo wasn’t originally intended to carry e-bikes. It was originally designed to carry three conventional bikes, but when the company made the decision to have it carry only two, they didn’t change the spine’s strength. Engineers put the new version back through their testing process and found it could safely carry heavier bikes.

And that it did when loaded into the hitch of my Honda Pilot TrailSport test vehicle. The rack arrives unassembled in a very sturdy and very heavy box. The total rack weighs 66 pounds. The prime weight offender is the primary spine/tongue that plugs into your hitch: it’s a serious piece of equipment. Each bike platform consists of two pieces that slide onto the spine and must be screwed in using Yakima’s proprietary tool. The instructions give a specific torque setting, but there’s no way of actually measuring that with the tool provided. Funnily enough, my forearm also lacks a torque readout. Putting it all together is easier than I anticipated, though it does take some muscle and one review I read said the process was “laborious” compared to other racks. At the very least, having a second person around wouldn’t be a bad idea.

That said, once constructed, attaching it to your vehicle couldn’t be easier. Push the rack’s tongue into the hitch, pop in a safety pin, and turn the knurled metal knob while wiggling the tongue. That’s it. You then lock the knob with the rack’s single key that also locks the bike-locking cable (there is also a very sturdy, welded loop for attaching stronger locks).

Things get harder again when you have to hoist a bike onto the platform, because you know, we’re talking about something 55 pounds or more that’s inherently awkward. You obviously don’t want to damage the bike, your SUV/truck or yourself. The height of our vehicle’s hitch also comes into play, and a Honda Pilot TrailSport has hardly one of the highest hitch points out there.

Securing it is technically easy enough, but you do have to balance the bike with one arm while swinging the supporting arm over the tire and then pushing the hook down into the tire. Once that’s done, you secure the rear tire with a sturdy plastic strap that has teeth to lock it into place. Yakima instructs putting the heavier bike (or only bike) on the platform closer to the vehicle.

Like most hitch-mounted racks, this one folds up against the liftgate/tailgate when not in use so you’re not uselessly adding a couple of extra feet onto your vehicle’s overall length. The StageTwo, however, also drops down so you don’t have to take your bike(s) off when accessing the cargo area. I can’t underline how helpful this feature is. I had to access the cargo area numerous times during my Oregon family road trip and it would’ve been a royal pain to take off a 55-pound bike every time I needed to take out the stroller or backpacks.

Once out on the road, there’s really nothing that indicated in terms of vehicle dynamics that 121 pounds was dangling off the back of the Pilot. My rearview was obviously filled with a lot of large gray bicycle, and a small slice of the bike’s wheel poked out beyond the bumper. This is because each platform is placed off-center to allow two bikes to fit without interacting, which is an advantage over some other racks. You can, in theory, move the platform so that a single bike rests in the vehicle’s center and won’t be exposed to airflow. I attempted to do this, but the factory-installed bolts in question were not budging.

One element to keep in mind, especially since we’re most likely talking about mountain bikes here, is that the StageTwo is only rated to carry bikes up to 42 pounds each when off-roading. You can see why sudden bumps and drops could add extra strain to the tongue. Even if you did have light-enough bikes, though, your departure angle would be massively reduced with the rack dangling off the back.

I was impressed by the StageTwo and found that it did its job admirably, but of course, this is only one data point. For what it’s worth, Bicycling.com named the StageTwo its top e-bike rated rack choice. A Top 10 list by Ebicycles.com puts four others ahead of it, including Yakima’s own OnRamp, which as the name suggests, features a swing-down ramp that makes loading the bikes much easier. The StageTwo is more capable of accommodating a wider array of bikes, including fat tire and long-wheelbase models, plus kids’ bikes.

The suggested retail price for the StageTwo is typically $749, though sales can bring it down to $599. (The OnRamp is $699, while the entry-level HoldUp model that isn’t as versatile is $499). This, not surprisingly, is more than a regular rack, but also less than competitor racks from Thule and Kuat that, to be fair, have advantages in their own right. Ultimately, the most important thing to remember is this: With an e-bike, you’re gonna need a bigger rack.

Ebikes seem like a relatively new creation, but this year marks 30 years since Yamaha invented the modern electric bicycle. Coinciding with the occasion is the motorcycle maker’s debut of a new ebike motor designed for urban commutes. News of many automotive-branded ebikes from the likes of Jeep, Hummer, Audi and Harley-Davidson  cross our desks, but we were surprised to learn that Yamaha even sold ebikes in the U.S. Apparently, they have since 2017.

One would think there’d be more hoopla around this, as Yamaha pioneered the ebike as we know it today. Previously, electric bicycles had essentially strapped motors to a wheel or bottom bracket as an alternative to pedaling. In 1989 Yamaha debuted the world’s first ebike with PAS, a Power Assist System, which boosted the rider’s pedaling action. The amount of boost depended on pedal pressure, making for a natural and intuitive user experience.

The PAS ebikes went on sale in Japan in 1993, fitted to an urban commuter bike commonly used in Japan. Since then, Yamaha has produced 2 million ebikes in its home country and 4 million drive units globally.

The newest drive unit is the PW-series C2, a 250-watt unit that provides 41 lb-ft of torque, 10% more than its predecessor. The entire unit weighs only 6.6 pounds and has a max support speed of 15.5 mph. Additional features include four modes and a walk assist function. It’s debuting in Europe and tailored for European riding habits, but a variant is likely going to make its way to the U.S.

It makes sense for the anniversary drive unit to be for city bikes, as that’s where the Yamaha PAS system got its start. Beyond that, however, Yamaha makes several more drive units for applications like speed riding or mountain biking. They sell the drive units for other ebike designers to incorporate into their designs, but Yamaha also has a lineup of their own ebikes. Earlier this year it released a 30th anniversary edition of tits YDX-MORO 07 mountain ebike. 

The burgeoning world of mobility is pouring new form factors, new fuels, and new technologies into the transportation mix. And this, a new mix of the old and the old. It’s called the Vook E-Trike, the second part of the name explaining the important parts of identification — a battery-powered tricycle. This one’s for adults, though, and it’s got adult-sized range as well. The Delaware-based company behind it says that with the 50-amp-hour battery, a charge is good for up to 110 miles of riding. With the 30-amp-hour battery, a rider can “only” get up to 80 miles down the road. The question with the Vook isn’t whether you can get there and back, it’s whether you have the road system — or sidewalks or playground or dunes or trails — to be able to ride it safely.

There are three trims, all powered by rear hub motors making a combined 3,000 watts nominal, peaking at 6,000 watts — from four to eight horsepower. The standard 30-Ah and top trim 50-Ah max out at 40 miles per hour and come with features like an LCD display screen, keyless go, reverse gear, an LED headlight and turn signals, front and rear cameras, GPS, and motion sensors. There’s even cruise control. Four drive modes are named Safe, Eco, Sport, and Boost, each capping the motor to a preset top speed. The app enables remote functions like tracking, checking battery status, and limiting top speed to a level outside the presets in the Drive Modes. A 30-Ah Lite model is also good for up to 80 miles of range, but cuts the power output to 1,500 watts and the top speed to 20 mph, and forgoes tech trimmings like the screen and the keyless access.   

A frame made of 6160 aluminum comes in Atlantic Night Blue, Deep Green, Rosso Metis, or Cracked Pepper colors. It should be able to support anyone who can get down into the imitation-leather-lined fiberglass seat and get back up again. The 20-inch front wheel wears a fat, knobby tire, the 6.5-inch rear wheels boast a slightly less aggressive tread on their tires. All tires are said to be two-layer and puncture-proof. Every wheel hides a brake disc for the regen braking system, the rear wheels also flanking a case that’s deep enough to hold the portable battery and a 14-inch laptop. And because 80 miles is a long trip in any kind of vehicle, five USB ports keep digital peripherals charged. All up, the Vook weighs 88 pounds, recharging takes between 2.5 and four hours depending on the battery size and charger.

The Vook is still in its Indiegogo campaign, but the goal is nearly 200% funded with 24 days left at the time of writing. Perhaps now it’s time to mention the adult-sized prices. The Vook Lite can be had for early-bird pricing of $1,500, that rises to $2,700 at the end of the campaign. Early adopters can get the standard Vook 30-Ah for $2,300, those who wait will pay $3,558. The full-fat Vook 50-Ah is $2,500 for now, until all are claimed, with $3,858 being full retail. Assuming all goes well, shipments are anticipated to start in December of this year.

We just spent the entire day in and around the Motor City enjoying the automotive sights and sounds of the Woodward Dream Cruise. According to the event’s website, the Dream Cruise attracts over a million people every year to see a collection of “more than 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, custom, collector and special interest vehicles.” That’s a lot of people and a lot of vehicles. And if you couldn’t be there this year in person, perhaps our galleries from this year’s festivities are the next best thing.

We kicked things off up above with muscle cars, classics and hot rods, since those make up the largest part of the collection. Everything from pre-war American cars to 1960s fire-breathers and custom-built street machines are included in the gallery up top.

Below you’ll see galleries of modern performance vehicles, trucks and off-roaders and, finally, the strangest sights we were able to point our camera lenses at. And by strange, we mean upside-down vans, boats on wheels and tiny mobiles with men in hats perched atop. Enjoy!

Woodward 2023: Trucks and off-road vehicles:

Woodward 2023: Modern performance and luxury cars

Woodward 2023: Offbeat oddities:

Some of the terminology in this review have you scratching your head? Check out our E-bike guide.

I don’t recall where I was on February 2, 2020, but I know, like nearly 100 million other people around the world, I was watching the Super Bowl. It was on that night I first got a glimpse of the Jeep E-Bike. It was easy to miss, only on screen for maybe two seconds as Bill Murray took a ride on it, along with a helmeted groundhog in a front basket. After all, the commercial wasn’t for the bike, but for the Gladiator Rubicon. 

Then came the Covid pandemic. Flights were canceled. Countries shut down. Toilet paper was hoarded. Entire cities became ghost towns. But something else happened: the popularity of biking sky-rocketed. The arrival of the Jeep E-Bike, a bike made by electric bike company QuietKat and licensed by the automaker, was perfectly timed.

QuietKat Jeep E-Bike Specs:

Motor(s) – 1000/750-watt Ultra-Drive
Battery – 14.5AH/48V | 696Wh | 12 lbs
Range – 22-44 Miles
Brakes – TEKTRO 4-Piston Hydraulic Disc
Fork – 140mm QK Inverted Air-Suspension
Suspension – 150mm RockShox Monarch RL
Wheel/Tire – CST Roly Poly 26” x 4.8”
Drivetrain – SRAM 1×9
Weight (without battery) – 69 lbs
Load Capacity – 300 lbs
Sizes – 15.5”, 17”, 19”
Colors – Charcoal, Red

The first time I got on the QuietKat Jeep E-Bike, a 1000-watt, full-suspension, fat tire behemoth I was skeptical, yet excited. In bold letters on the QuietKat website it is touted as “The Most-Capable E-Bike On The Planet” and it looks like it. With 150mm front suspension travel, almost 5-inch-wide fat tires and a frame that looks like it could be run over by a Wrangler and look no worse for wear, the Jeep E-Bike is an intimidating two-wheeled machine.

The first thing I had to do with the bike once it arrived at my house was get it out of the box, a task that sounds easier than it was. With a weight of 69 pounds not including the battery, lifting the Jeep is definitely a two-man job, though as I proved it can be done by one stubborn person if you don’t mind risking the back pain. Putting the bike together was a relatively simple task, thanks to very descriptive videos on the QuietKat website and all of the tools to do so included with the bike. 45 minutes later I was covered in sweat and some grease, (okay, a lot of grease) but I had a functioning bike before me. 

Three hours and a full charge later (it takes 3-6 hours to charge the bike from completely dead using the pathfinder rapid charger, 6-8 hours using the solar charger) I was flying down trails near my house, thanks to the 1000-watt Ultra Drive motor. Shifting was smooth too, thanks to a SRAM nine-speed one-by drivetrain. 

The front fork is a GT MRK inverted air suspension fork that allows for 150mm of travel, while the rear shock is a RockShox Monarch RL. In times when you’d rather the bike perform like a hardtail, which I have to admit, never happened to me once in the month I was testing this, the Monarch RL does offer a lockout, albeit one with a blowoff valve. On my human-powered mountain bike I tend to use these lockouts, which effectively “turn off” the shock, when I’m heading up a particularly steep hill so I don’t lose any momentum. With the assistance of the motor, I found this use case unnecessary, though I could see a situation where the battery is drained and this feature would come in handy. 

Speaking of a drained battery, let’s talk about range. Range on an electric-bike varies quite a bit, even more than the range of an electric vehicle, depending on what mode you are riding in, how much you’re pedaling and the terrain you’re riding on. The Jeep can be ridden in 10 different modes, Eco mode level one through five and Sport Mode level one through five. Almost all of my testing was in Sport mode, because, let’s be honest, more speed = more fun. On uphill rides on Sport mode level 5, especially when using the throttle, the battery drains quickly. Luckily you can purchase an extra battery from QuietKat. The almost-$800 price tag may seem steep, but in my opinion it is worth it if long days are in your plans.  

A 70+ pound bike, once moving, isn’t easy to stop, at least it wouldn’t be without the Tektro 730 four-piston hydraulic disc brakes QuietKat put on the Jeep. To test these I ventured to the top of a hill near my home. I have hit speeds of 48 miles per hour on my road bike on this downhill, a terrifying speed to be going when you’re riding on tires thinner than a kielbasa, but that bike weighs in the neighborhood of 22 pounds. The Jeep is over three times that. 

I didn’t break my personal speed record on that downhill on the Jeep, the fat tires cause too much friction for that to happen, but when I hit the brakes, I felt more confident than I have on any bike I’ve ever ridden. Brakes are the one thing between you and disaster on a bike, and QuietKat knows this, especially on an off-road focused electric bike. The brakes stop you quickly and easily, which is exactly what I’m looking for. 

Starting at $7,499 (from $660/mo if you choose to finance) the Jeep E-Bike is at the higher end of the electric bike price range; the Jeep E-Bike and Jeep Rubicon E-Bike are currently the two highest priced bikes that QuietKat sells. Prices like that do scare away a lot of buyers who usually do their shopping for bikes at big box stores or Amazon, but to say they’re overpriced would be inaccurate, considering human-powered full-suspension fat bikes, of which there are few examples on the market, tend to cost in the mid-to high four figures range. Add a battery and motor to that and the Jeep sits right where it should.

Even if that price point is palatable to you, one problem overshadows the positives of the Jeep E-Bike: electric bike regulations. In thirty-seven states, including my incredibly-bike-friendly home state of Colorado, a three-class system has been adopted that most electric bikes fit into.

In a lot of parks, including a few parks with mountain bike-specific trails near my home, Class 2 electric bikes like the 750-watt QuietKat Jeep are prohibited on all non-paved trails. Riding pavement isn’t why I would buy any kind of mountain bike, let alone a fat tire, full-suspension electric bike, so to say finding out that some of my favorite nearby trails were prohibited was a bummer would be an understatement.

Biking is supposed to be easy, but due to this system some of the Jeep electric bikes, including the one I tested, aren’t allowed on trails near my home. In fact, with the throttle installed, none of the Jeep electric bikes are legal in the open spaces surrounding my house, unless you’re on a paved trail. And even then, only Class 2 bikes are allowed on those. Nothing like having a $9,000 Jeep branded electric bike and only being able to ride it on pavement.

Now, regulatory issues aren’t QuietKat’s fault, and thankfully they thought of a solution and made the thumb throttle removable on the Jeep, which immediately puts you in the Class 1 category, assuming you bought the 750-watt version of the bike. But that also limits you on which version of the bike you can buy. The tester that I had doesn’t fall into any of the three categories, since it featured a throttle and the motor was more powerful than the state considers legal for an electric bike.

The lack of classification makes it difficult to figure out just where you’re allowed to ride this bike. These electric bike classifications are relatively new and the laws around them aren’t always clear. A quick search on the Colorado Parks & Wildlife website only muddied the waters: 

“Regulations and classifications vary between different land management agencies. Users should contact individual land agencies – including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and United States Forest Service (USFS), counties, and local municipalities – to determine where they are permitted to ride e-bikes on public lands.”

A few emails to the state trails program later and I had my answer:  “Basically, anything over 750 watts and a top speed of 20 mph is no longer considered an e-bike but is an OHV/ low-powered scooter, dirt bike, etc. Those vehicles are limited to motorized trails.” Not ideal, but doable, since there are plenty of dirt bike trails around. Thankfully there are tools being created to help out with this problem.

“The best place we have for finding trails is People for Bikes, and our partners at OnX,” says Ryan Spinks, Director of Brand Development at QuietKat. “OnX is working on a layer for ebike legal trails; and currently I use OnX to find ATV and Moto trails, which do not exclude the unclassified, high-power ebikes. When I am riding a class 2 or class 1 version I typically check People For Bikes, or the local trail agencies.”

The Jeep E-Bike is an incredible piece of machinery, but is it the bike for everyone? Definitely not. QuietKat markets it, and the rest of their lineup, as a bike that is focused on utility, for those who use their bike for hunting, fishing, camping and exploring, rather than those who just want to get some miles in on their local trails. The company sells a whole host of accessories including a “Hunter’s Kit” that includes a trailer that can carry an elk, an “Angler’s Kit” with a 50-liter cooler and an “Overlander’s Kit” that includes a portable solar charging station, should the 44 miles of range not be enough to get you where you need to go. 

That being said, even if these outdoor pursuits make up the bulk of your riding endeavors, the Jeep E-Bike, like its 4-wheeled cousins, still feels at home on trails. It’s big, but much like off-roading in a Power Wagon, it rolls over almost anything. I put triple digit miles on this bike and there were only a handful of times I ran into turns a bit too tight to handle gracefully and one gate I didn’t have enough clearance for the handlebars to fit through. Other than that it was smooth riding. 

If the National Parks are considered America’s best idea, surely the mountain bike is in the top five. It allows you to glide along trails at the speed of a deer, experiencing more of nature in a given time, but also doing it differently. E-bikes allow for all of this and more. They democratize the trails. No longer are quads of steel required for big climbs, not when you have 750-watts assisting you. 

Some argue that this is bad for biking, that you no longer have to put in the hours of training necessary for big climbs and bold ascents. Others, even avid cyclists, celebrate the bikes as what they are, tools that allow you to hit trails and go places you might otherwise never have been able to reach. This has always been the focus of Jeep, specifically with the company’s motto of “Go Anywhere. Do Anything.” In that, the QuiteKat Jeep E-Bike surely lives up to its name.

Millyard and a co-rider, Henry Cole, recently set two records at a UK Timing Association Event. The pair rode set a new highest speed record for a motorcycle with two riders, reaching 183.5 mph. The bike set another record at the same event, hitting 178.6 mph in the standing mile with two riders.

After more than a decade of life, the one-off Viper V10 required considerable maintenance to prepare for the speed runs. It also took multiple practice runs at increasing speeds to get a grip on the motorcycle’s odd weight and proportions. Millyard said having another rider on the bike made it so top-heavy that it felt like it had a top box filled with cement.

The two new records are impressive, but they’re just more numbers on the V10’s already extensive resume. It holds the record for being the fastest motorcycle powered by a production car engine, with a top speed of 207 mph, it can reach 60 mph from a standstill in 2.7 seconds, and it covers a mile in just 9.5 seconds.

Motivation for that madness comes from the 8.0-liter Dodge V10 that forms a massive part of the bike’s underside. Making 500 horsepower, the hulking powerplant required a custom frame, and Millyard had to rig custom suspension to support the bike’s extreme weight.

It’s worth noting that Millyard’s homebrew bike is quicker than many of today’s most powerful motorcycles. Models like the Ducati Panigale V4 S claim 0-60 mph times in the low three-second range, a hair slower than the V10. Production bikes also come with limited top speeds in many cases, so Millyard’s creation can reach greater speeds than most models on sale today.

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I have to admit I am fortunate when it comes to the amount of trails I live near; there are dozens of great mountain bike trails within ten miles of my driveway. That said, ten miles can be a lot to pedal, especially when many of these trails are uphill, leaving you relatively winded before arriving at the trailhead. And what about the trails that aren’t near my house? That’s where a bike rack like the Küat Piston Pro X comes in.

Not all of these hitch racks are created equal. The Küat Piston Pro X that I’ve tested for the past month is a top-of-the-line bike rack designed to provide secure and hassle-free transportation for pretty much every kind of cycling enthusiast. Featuring a 99% metal construction, this rack strikes a balance between strength and weight, making it both durable and easy to handle. With a capacity of two bikes (with the ability to add up to two more by purchasing the accompanying extender) the Piston Pro X is suitable for both solo riders and families, catering to a wide range of biking adventures. What sets this rack apart is its ease of use and versatility, accommodating various bike types such as mountain bikes, road bikes, and even electric bikes. But with an MSRP just shy of $1,400 pre-tax should you consider the Piston Pro X for your cycling needs?

Küat Piston Pro X – $1,389

$1,389 at Amazon$1,389 at REI$1,478.46 at Walmart

The Küat Piston Pro X makes a striking first impression with its sleek and modern design. Constructed from high-quality materials, this bike rack exudes durability and reliability. The Kashima coated hydro-pneumatic arms add a touch of elegance while also providing protection against the elements. 

The rack’s design boasts a well-thought-out platform system, accommodating bikes of various shapes and sizes. The adjustable tire cradles ensure a snug fit, preventing any unnecessary movement during transit. Additionally, the integrated cable lock offers peace of mind, deterring theft and keeping our bikes safe during pit stops.

Installation and adjustment of the Piston Pro X is remarkably user-friendly. You don’t need to buy any tools to get started, (all of the necessary tools are included) and the rack is easily mounted onto a hitch receiver. Even by myself the installation process took less than an hour. Once attached, the rack can be effortlessly adjusted to fit different bike sizes and styles.

Performance and Functionality

During my testing, the Piston Pro X demonstrated outstanding performance in securely holding and transporting bikes. Its adjustable cradles proved effective in accommodating various bike sizes and styles, from 5-inch wide fat tire bikes to sleek road bikes. Additionally it can handle a variety of wheel widths as well, from 18-29 inches, up to 67 pounds per tray, though none of the bikes in my stable came anywhere near close to that limit. Loading bikes onto the rack is a simple and straightforward task, thanks to the intuitive operation of the cradles, the pistons and ratchet arms. The entire process can be completed with minimal effort and time, allowing you to focus on enjoying your cycling adventures rather than struggling with complex equipment.

Whether you encounter bumpy roads or travel at high speeds, this rack remains steady, minimizing the risk of damage to your bikes. The rack only contacts your bike on its tires, so there is no risk at all of damage to the frame.

Another standout is the integrated LED tail lights on the rack. Bike racks, fully loaded or empty, tend to obscure the lights on the rear of most vehicles. With a quick plug in of a cable this problem is no more, and the magnetic cable management included with the rack ensures everything remains organized and out of the way. 

Furthermore, the Piston Pro X features a foldable design that enhances convenience. When not in use, the rack can be easily folded and stored in a compact form, reducing its footprint and enabling hassle-free storage in garages or other storage spaces. The ability to fold the rack also proves valuable when parking or maneuvering in tight spaces, ensuring that the rack doesn’t become an obstacle. It can be folded up and away or down to move out of the way of a liftgate. In the month that I had it, it never left my vehicle. 

Like any other bike rack, it does interfere with most backup cameras and parking sensors, but, thanks to the License Plate Accessory described below, and LED tail lights of its own, it doesn’t impact vehicle safety.

Customer feedback regarding the Piston Pro X has been overwhelmingly positive. Users frequently praise the rack’s stability, ease of use, and reliable construction. Many emphasize its durability, as the rack exhibits excellent resistance to wear and tear even after prolonged use. Additionally, Küat’s customer support is highly regarded, with prompt responses and effective solutions for any queries or concerns.

The one drawback to the Piston Pro X is the price tag. $1,400 is a lot of money for a bike rack, especially if you’re a casual rider looking for a basic way to get your bike to distant trails. If that is indeed the case, this rack probably isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a top of the line rack that is incredibly easy to use, will give you peace of mind and will last longer than the bikes you have on it, then the Piston Pro X is for you. 

The Küat License Plate Mount Adapter

One standout feature of the Küat Piston Pro X is its optional $49 license plate mount. As cyclists, we understand the importance of adhering to traffic regulations, and this accessory enables us to do just that. When using the rack, it can obstruct the vehicle’s license plate and taillights, potentially leading to legal issues.

The license plate accessory is a simple yet ingenious addition to the bike rack. Easily installed, it securely attaches to the rear of the rack, providing a designated spot for the license plate to be displayed prominently. This ensures that the license plate remains visible to law enforcement and other drivers, avoiding any concerns about traffic violations or unnecessary stops. In my time with the rack I did forget to pull the license plate down once or twice, so that is something to be aware of.

Installing the License Plate accessory is a straightforward process, involving attaching it to the designated area on the rack. Its compatibility with the Piston Pro X ensures seamless integration without interfering with the functionality or stability of the rack. The accessory’s durability and resistance to external factors, such as getting hit by your bikes as they are being loaded, does leave something to be desired, as I bent my plate a few times when my bike hit it.

Simply put, the Küat Piston Pro X just works, far exceeding my expectations, which, admittedly, were high to begin with. It offers a perfect blend of style, functionality, and performance. Its robust construction, easy-to-use design, and versatile features make it an excellent investment for any avid cyclist. While the higher price tag may deter some budget-conscious buyers, the peace of mind, security, and convenience it provides are worth every penny, especially when you’re loading five-figures worth of bikes onto the back of your vehicle.

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A detailed report published recently in The Atlantic arrives at a scary conclusion: Lithium-ion batteries, which pack a substantial amount of power in a small package that fits neatly in an electric bike, can spontaneously explode, and the U.S. is being flooded with e-bikes and scooters. And there’s no easy fix, the story says, for this expanding problem.Safety standards for these and related products, author Caroline Mimbs Nyce points out, are pending but are currently hit-or-miss, or nonexistent. Nyce takes pains to focus her story on e-bikes, which are obviously more ubiquitous than full-size electric vehicles and currently in the news, and may lack some of the battery protection technologies built into cars and SUVs.

“For the foreseeable future,” she writes,”more e-bikes will explode, and more people may die. ‘That’s the simple and horrifying truth right now,’ William Wallace, the associate director for safety policy at Consumer Reports, told me. Unfortunately, when it comes to e-bikes and the like, we are stuck in a kind of battery purgatory.”

Because of its residential density, New York City is particularly susceptible to battery fires that spread quickly. “But as e-bikes and e-scooters have taken off across the country, fires have been reported in other places, too, such as Virginia, Colorado, and Washington. Abroad, the London Fire Brigade says it has responded to one e-bike or e-scooter fire every two days so far this year.”

Nyce does balance her ominous report by pointing out that disasters like the one in Manhattan aren’t that common. She reports that most batteries are well-made but that there are “very, very bad ones” from dicey suppliers, including some from Chinese vendors.

Fancy e-bike companies might choose a best-in-the-business manufacturer for their products, she writes. “But smaller or newer companies looking to make a quick buck may end up going with a sketchier manufacturer that isn’t producing batteries to industry safety standards (though the Consumer Product Safety Commission does not have mandatory requirements).”

The piece suggests that an “obvious solution” is tougher federal and city standards. They may not be that far off: The CPSC has called a meeting later this month to talk about lithium-ion-battery safety, with a focus on e-bikes, hoverboards, and e-scooters. The story notes that “a bill introduced in Congress would give the CPSC six months to create and implement such regulations. New York City, for its part, has already adopted a batch of new e-bike laws aimed at reducing risk, and late last month, the city announced that it will be adding safe e-bike chargers and storage to public-housing complexes around the city.”

The full Atlantic story is here; a subscription is needed.

There’s a new BMW electric scooter in town, and it’s called the CE 02. You might already be familiar with the slick CE 04 that was revealed a couple of years ago, but now BMW is adding to its CE range with the smaller and less powerful CE 02.

Unlike the CE 04, which can actually get up to highway speeds (75 mph maximum), the CE 02 is much more of an urban runabout. The most powerful version uses a 15-horsepower electric motor for motivation, and it tops out at 59 mph. Acceleration from 0-31 mph takes just 3 seconds from the 291-pound scooter. There’s a low-power version of the CE 02 available in other markets, as well, but it only has a 5-horsepower electric motor and a 28-mph top speed. Range is respectable, as BMW claims the CE 02 will go “more than” 56 miles on a full charge.

Two different charging options are available to charge the pair of removable, air-cooled lithium-ion batteries that combine for a total of 3.92 kWh of energy. As standard equipment, the CE 02 comes with an external charger with a charging power of 0.9 kW, but if you buy the high-power version, you can option a quick charger to increase output to 1.5 kW. A 0-100% charge with the slow charger will take 5 hours and 20 minutes, and the fast charger will do the same task in 3 hours and 30 minutes.

The CE 02 offers “Flow,” “Surf” and “Flash” riding modes, but Flash will be an optional add-on for someone who wants an especially “responsive, sporty and dynamic riding experience.” It uses a double-loop tubular steel frame and rides on 14-inch wheels. You get disc brakes in both front and rear, and BMW uses its Motorrad ABS system for the front. It also features automatic stability control to safely dole out that electric torque to the rear wheel.

As for the tech right in front of you, the CE 02 has a TFT display for speed, battery charge status and more. There’s also a place for you to mount your phone and a USB-C port to keep it charged.

The CE 02 will come to the U.S. for the 2024 model year and start at $7,599.

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“Oh, I don’t know …” “Just because.” “Why not?” Those are all perfectly acceptable reasons to do something, as far as we’re concerned. And that’s what we’re guessing was behind the decision that one intrepid YouTuber made to build a custom bicycle with square tires. Everything about the machine had to be rethought in order to accommodate the quadratic wheels, from the drive system to the frame’s dimensions. We’d try to describe how he did it, but really it’s better to just watch the video up above and see for yourself.

Done? OK, good. So now you know that the square wheels don’t actually spin inside the tubes, which actually makes it look even freakier than it may otherwise. But this isn’t the first time this YouTube inventor has taken it upon himself to reinvent the wheel. In previous builds, The Q has imagined up bicycles that “walk,” bicycles that use tennis balls for tires, bicycles with split wheels, bicycles with airless tires, bicycles with no hubs, and a whole lot more. This builder is nothing if not inventive. And talented. And determined, as you’ll see if you watch enough of his videos.

In reality, there’s no practical purpose for this bicycle with square tires that we can think of, other than to look interesting. Still, well … why not, right?

Released in 2020, the BMW R18 was welcomed as a blank canvas by companies that specialize in modifying motorcycles. Created by Fred Kodlin with the German firm’s blessing, the latest R18 offshoot turns heads with an air suspension system and a tattoo-inspired paint job.

Kodlin started with the touring-focused R18 B model and enlisted the help of his son Len to turn it into a heavily-customized bike named R18 B Heavy Duty. Nearly every visual part has been modified: the father-and-son duo added parts like a chopped windshield sourced from the BMW Motorrad Accessories range, extended side cases made with fiberglass, and a rear fender that covers nearly the entire wheel. The fuel tank is custom-made, and it’s longer than the stock part to complement the flowing lines. A splitter was added behind the front wheel.

German tattoo artist Marcel Sinnwell is responsible for the paint job. The colorful patterns are air-brushed, and the stripes are hand-painted.

Beyond the design, one of the most significant modifications made to this motorcycle is the addition of an air suspension system powered by a compressor hidden behind the left side case. It allows the ride height to be raised and lowered at the push of a button. In its down position, the Heavy Duty sits very close to the ground and stays up thanks to a pair of hidden support points integrated into the frame.

Kodlin didn’t make any mechanical modifications to the R18 B, meaning power comes from a 1.8-liter air-cooled flat-twin called Big Boxer in BMW-speak and tuned to develop 91 horsepower and 116 pound-feet of torque. It exhales through a custom-made exhaust system, and it features a handful of visual modifications including metallic black paint on parts of the intake system, the belt cover, and the valve covers.

“The bolts [are] all made of stainless steel, with a nice Torx head. That’s not the way it is on other bikes. The basic bike and especially the engine are very, very cleanly finished. All the electrical cables are already nicely hidden, so we didn’t have to do anything to the engine,” he explained. This attention to detail partially explains why the R18 family of motorcycles has been remarkably popular on the custom scene.

We don’t know if Kodlin will keep the R18 B Heavy Duty in the lineup or if this one-of-a-kind cruiser needs a new home.

The latest Audi to wear E-Tron branding is an electric mountain bike, and it’s not subtle about it’s branding. It’s literally called the Audi E-Tron Electric Mountain Bike. Automakers partnering with bicycle companies are nothing new. In fact, one of the most famous is Audi parent company Volkswagen’s team-up with Trek, which threw in a bike when you bought a Trek Edition Jetta. In this case, however, the Audi ain’t giving away the E-Tron Electric Mountain Bike because it retails for an eye-watering $10,126.

Audi says the bike was inspired by its RS Q E-Tron Dakar Rally car, which itself looks more like the shoe you’d wear while riding a mountain bike than a car. It wears the same construction sign orange-and-black colors as the Dakar racer, making the bike look quite utilitarian. Audi had high hopes for beating returning champion Toyota at this year’s Dakar Rally with a revamped RS Q. Unfortunately, two of the real Dakar machines crashed out during the 2023 race (read our in-depth, behind-the-scenes story here), one so hard that driver Stephane Peterhansel blacked out, while a third piloted by Mattias Ekstrom finished 14th overall.

Hopefully the Audi E-Tron Mountain Bike has better luck taking its riders to their destinations. It should, because it’s actually made by Italian e-bike specialist Fantic, using its XMF 1.7 as a base. It’s powered by a 250-watt Brose S-Mag 36 electric motor good for 66 pound-feet of torque, while the bulging lower frame rail contains a Fantic-made lithium-ion, 36-volt, 720Wh battery. No top speed or range were specified. 

Both the Audi and Fantic-branded e-bikes come with derailleur, chain, shifters and brakes by Sram, as well as a Selle Italia saddle. While a non-Audi branded Fantic XMF 1.7 would cost around $6,700, there are a few bits that don’t come standard on the Fantic e-bike. Audi equipped its version with a fork, springs and shocks by the suspension specialists at Öhlins, which provides 180mm of travel over the standard Fantic’s 170. You could still probably piece together your own replica of the Audi for less than its asking price, but if you can drop $10,000 on an e-bike the difference will be negligible. 

If the Audi E-Tron e-bike is too pricey for your wallet, there’s always other automotive-branded tie-ins. Harley Davidson’s e-bikes start at $3,399 but aren’t built for off-road. Comparable dirt-worthy e-bikes like Hummer’s costs $3,999, while Jeep’s e-bike rings in at $9000. 

It’s no secret we at Autoblog also love electric bikes. They’re a great way to commute in dense urban areas without the need to find and pay for parking. If there’s a downside, it’s that they usually look pretty boring. Honda, however, has just released a new series of e-bikes based on some of its most popular motorcycle designs.

The Honda Cub e:, Dax e:, and Zoomer e: are named after their gasoline-powered inspirations. For now, they’re going to be sold only in China, where electric bicycles are big business. They’re limited to a maximum speed of 25 kph (15.5 mph), while a more powerful class of vehicle called an electric moped is limited to 25 to 51 kph (32 mph) top speeds. Honda says the lithium battery of the Cub e: has a 40-mile range and can be charged/discharged 2,000 times, and the bike is equipped with disc brakes.

The Cub e: takes its design from the iconic Honda Super Cub. The original debuted in 1958 and was responsible for Honda’s early success in U.S. The same basic design is still in production and over 100 million have been sold around the world since. As an e-bike, a lithium battery provides a 40-mile range and can be charged/discharged 2,000 times, according to Honda. It’s also equipped with disc brakes. Retail price comes in at the RMB equivalent of $885.

The Dax e: is based off the 1969 Honda Dax. The original was engineered for riding on off-road trails and its unique pressed steel frame doubled as its fuel tank. There’s no need for gasoline with the Dax e: but its T-shaped frame remains as a key component of its design. It boasts a slightly longer range of 50 miles, but costs the same $885 as the Cub e:.

Last but not least is the Zoomer e:, which is based off the popular Zoomer introduced in 2002. Zoomer is the overseas name for the Ruckus, and enjoys a massive following in the customization community. The pipe frame structure is carried over, and Honda seems to be positioning it to welcome third-party aftermarket accessories. It has the longest range of the three at 56 miles, but costs a bit more with a sticker of $900. 

Honda says the somewhat ponderous “e:” suffix is a naming convention for a new line of electric vehicles. What those are we don’t know yet. The company says its goal is to make all its two-wheeled products carbon-neutral by 2040.

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Hagerty released its annual Bull Market list Wednesday, calling out a mix of 10 cars and one motorcycle the classic insurance giant expects to gain value in 2023. This year’s list has a pretty generous spread of American and imported vehicles, from a Lamborghini that could fetch upwards of $380,000 all the way down to a relatively humble Suzuki with a stimulating name.

If you feel like you’ve missed the boat on a collector car, there may be an alternative on this list that you can still pick up cheap — or at least before it becomes any more expensive. The price ranges here are for vehicles in “excellent” condition, so don’t be intimidated by apparent cost of entry. If you just want one to drive, you won’t need to fork over quite this much. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

1992–2006 AM General Hummer H1 ($105,000–$127,300)

This classic testosterone supplement is just road legal enough to be considered a car, but calling it an “SUV” feels like downplaying its capability. GM’s Hummer brand helped revitalize interest in road-going versions of the AM General HMMWV, especially among Gen Xers, Hagerty says. The insurer says it’s long overdue for a price climb. 

1968–1970 AMC AMX ($30,500–$40,600)

It’s quite a leap from AM General to AMC, but here we are. Do you buy that the AMX is ready to head to the moon? Hagerty calls it an underdog; we’d call it leftovers. As interesting as these are, there’s a reason the classic craze of the late ’90s and early 2000s largely overlooked this classic outsider. Put that way, maybe it’s due after all …

2008–2015 Audi R8 (Manual) ($154,000–$186,700)

The everyday supercar for a post-Acura-NSX world. Audi’s Lamborghini-adjacent, quattro-equipped sports coupe turned a lot of heads in 2008, just as its successor continues to do today. It’s still one of the most livable supercars and early manual models are borderline affordable. This one doesn’t surprise us one bit. 

2001–2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 ($31,400–$39,300)

While GM performance fans may tell you the Z06 was merely a product of engineering knowledge gathered from Corvette Racing’s many successful national and international campaigns, there’s more than a kernel of truth to the notion that the Z06 was an almost direct response to the success of the V10-powered Dodge Viper. The original Z06 has been the darling of track day enthusiasts for two decades now, but clean examples are starting to become collectible. 

1936–1947 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead ($90,300–$115,000)

This one’s an outsider for a couple of reasons. Not only is it the only two-wheeled example on this year’s list, but it also radically skews the definition of “classic” in this context. Production of the Knucklehead spanned World War II, making this a prewar throwback that Hagerty believes will only become more valuable. 

2001–2010 Lamborghini Murciélago ($302,700–$342,700)

The Murciélago was the first V12 Lamborghini of the Audi era, and it showed. Lamborghini build quality, performance and reliability all took mighty upswings under the Germans, and while the Murciélago will never be as desirable as some of its contemporaries (Hagerty singled out the Porsche Carrera GT as an example), it will continue to become more desirable every year. 

2004–2010 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren ($329,300–$380,700)

Hagerty calls this a “forgotten” supercar, but that leaves us to ask by whom it was forgotten, exactly? OK, so it lacks the gravitas (and Gullwing doors) of the SLS AMG, and its 617 horsepower is far less impressive in a world of $65,000 Challenger Hellcats, but it’s still one heck of a performance machine, and Hagerty thinks it will only become more desirable. 

2003–2008 Nissan 350Z ($37,500–$44,900)

Remember, the prices listed here reflect cars in excellent condition. It’s still very much possible to get one of Nissan’s resurrected Zs for a song, but clean, low-mileage examples are expected to go up in value. Like the Corvette and Audi R8, it’s still possible to buy a Z in a showroom; heck, the current model is still related by way of its fundamental chassis design. That should help keep values down, but if you want a back-to-basics Z with a passably modern interior, you might want to make a move now before prices creep up any more. 

1985–1993 Saab 900 Turbo ($22,200–$25,800)

Born from jets; bred for academia. Now, it’s up to young enthusiasts to start gobbling up these quirky old fastback sedans. We’re on board. 

1991–1998 Suzuki Cappuccino ($12,200–$16,700)

This picture really says it all. The Cappuccino is not a big car, and it just so happens that it’s priced to match, at least for now. It may look like a bumper car, but it’s packing 63 horsepower. Nah, that’s not a lot, but it is the size of a flip-flop. 

1984–1988 Toyota Pickup 4×4 ($20,700–$26,700)

Marty McFly saw this one coming. Literally. Hagerty calls this one a good buy for enthusiasts who have been priced out of the Land Cruiser and Bronco market, but still want a 4×4 with some vintage flair. Younger folks are starting to take an interest in these, chasing down the older folks who currently own 43% of examples insured with Hagerty. Someday, Jennifer. Someday. 

Want the ultimate two-wheeled companion to your new GMC Hummer EV, or maybe you just want something electric and all-wheel drive without the Hummer’s price tag? Recon Power Bikes has you covered with its new Hummer EV e-bike. Not convinced? Well, hear the specs before you bail. You might be surprised. 

Recon’s new offering is marketed as “all-wheel drive,” which our resident two-wheeled expert and consumer guru Jeremy Korzeniewski tells us is quickly becoming conventional nomenclature for dual-motor electric bicycles. Hey, if you’ve got two wheels and both have motors, it’s technically correct, even if it sounds a bit silly to those of us who prefer the comforts of a cage and four wheels on pavement. 

Each of the two motors produces 750 watts, which combines for just a little over 2 (two!) horsepower, but remember, this is a bicycle, not a sport bike. And flipping the coin, that lone pony is accompanied by more than 118 pound-feet (or roughly a 1.8-liter Miata’s worth) of torque. Recon says its top speed is north of 28 mph, which is plenty quick for something that you might see strapped to the same hitching post as a 30-year-old Huffy. The base battery offers 17.5 aH of capacity; an upgrade bumps that to 21. Recon says the total range should fall between 40 and 50 miles. The package is rounded out by an adjustable front suspension, four-piston hydraulic brakes, puncture-resistant 4-inch all-terrain tires with molded-in liners and Shimano gearing. 

Recon says the Hummer e-bike offers “on-demand” AWD (rear by default; both when called upon) and even offers three fixed drive modes — “Cruise” (rear wheel drive, for maximum range and efficiency), “Traction” (front wheel drive, for navigating with low grip) and “Adrenaline” (for “off road all wheel drive dominance of the toughest, steepest terrain”). “Adrenaline” mode even offers real-time torque vectoring, just like a real Hummer EV. The two vehicles are basically the same, only the bike weighs just 96 pounds, not more than 9,000. 

Look for the Recon Power Bikes GMC Hummer e-bike to hit the market in early December with a starting price of $3,999. That may sound steep, but keep in mind that QuietKat’s Jeep eBike costs nearly double that. 

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The M R, as it’s called, gets the same 999 cc four-cylinder shift cam engine that the RR carries. It produces 205 horsepower and 83 pound-feet of torque. BMW shortened the secondary gear ratio, using 47 teeth instead of 45, and shortened the ratios of the fourth, fifth, and sixth gears. The bike also gets titanium valves and lightened internal components.

BMW gives the M R four driving modes for the street and three for the track. Rain, Road, Dynamic, and Race handle street duty, and Race Pro 1, Pro 2, and Pro 3 offer configurable modes for track use. The Shift Assistant Pro system eliminates the need for clutch use and allows faster gear changes.

Though we’re calling this a less-hardcore bike than the RR, the M R still offers dedicated performance features that many road-going bikes lack. BMW equips launch control and a pit lane speed limiter function that enables a set riding speed in any mode. The bike features aerodynamic components that generate up to 22 pounds of downforce at 136 mph.

BMW based the M R’s suspension system on components from the S 1000 R motorcycle and says that the bike’s chassis design allows it to be very narrow. The adjustable fork offers ten tuning levels with different damping rebound and compression stages.  It’s joined by a standard damping control system that changes with riding mode selection.

On the tech front, the M R gets a 6.5-inch instrument cluster with configurable display options. The system also offers GPS lap times with data from over 300 tracks worldwide. There’s also a USB charging socket, heated grips, cruise control, and full LED lighting.

Honda is following its peers and rivals into the electric motorcycle segment. It will release four battery-powered bikes in the United States by 2025, but it’s not giving up on gasoline-powered drivetrains yet and pledged to continue developing them in the coming years.

The firm’s motorcycle-building division is massive: Its customers include commuters, enthusiasts, and racers. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so Honda is exploring several technologies as it maps out its future range. On the electric side of the portfolio, the company will release over 10 battery-powered models globally by 2025 and plans to sell 3.5 million units annually (about 15% of its total sales) by 2030.

Not all of these models will reach American showrooms; some are so-called “commuter EVs” developed for markets where motorcycles are often used as a primary form of transportation. The ones we’ll get are labeled “FUN EVs” because they’re built around a platform called FUN that’s currently under development. We’ll see three models that haven’t been detailed yet and a fourth developed for young riders.

Honda is taking a modular approach to designing these EVs, and it plans to power them with a solid-state battery pack that it’s developing in-house. In some Asian markets, it’s investing in battery-swapping and -sharing centers to ensure riders don’t need to wait for their bike to charge. Honda operates a battery-sharing service in Bali, Indonesia, and plans to launch one aimed at rickshaw drivers in India in late 2022. (Magna just made the same moves in India.) 

Gasoline-burning Honda motorcycles will live on in the foreseeable future. The company notes that electric motorcycles are heavier and more expensive than their gasoline-powered counterparts, so they don’t suit every market’s needs, and that the take rate largely depends on government regulations, tax incentives, and the charging infrastructure in a given country. With that in mind, Honda plans to develop more efficient gasoline-powered engines, including some that can run on a blend of gasoline and ethanol. It already sells flex-fuel motorcycles in Brazil, and it will bring at least one model to India in 2023. It doesn’t sound like the American market will get them, though.

LiveWire is its own electric motorcycle subbrand under Harley-Davidson now, and the company just launched a totally new bike. It’s called the LiveWire Del Mar.

A new and separate model from the LiveWire One (formerly known as the Harley-Davidson LiveWire), details are scarce on the ground at launch. The company’s website claims that the Del Mar will have 80 horsepower “or more.” It’s estimated to have a 100-mile city riding range — expect that figure to be lower if you’re riding on the highway. A 0-60 mph time of just 3.5 seconds “or better” is promised. Plus, the company is targeting a 435-pound curb weight.

Charging details are limited, but LiveWire says it will support either Level 1 or Level 2 charging. Initially, a Del Mar Launch Edition will be sold, but only 100 of these are available, and all of them are already reserved. You can join a waitlist for the Launch Edition, or you can get in line for a regular production version of the Del Mar.

Pricing is still an open question.

We’ve asked LiveWire to provide us with more details and all of the tech specs you might want to know, and we’ll update this story when they’re provided to us.

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It’s nearly time for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the weekend of automotive pageantry on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como. First held in 1929, BMW has partnered with the event for more than 20 years and has much to celebrate this year. This being the 50th anniversary of the M division, Bavarian Motor Works has chosen the bash by the lake for the global debut of the M4 CSL. The reveal will introduce the world to M branch’s third-ever Coupe Sport Leichtbau after the 1973 3.0 CSL and the 2004 E46 M3 CSL. From what we’ve seen of spy shots, expect intakes on top of intakes filled with unique grille mesh, unique headlights, a splitter and ducktail spoiler, some weight loss, and perhaps 540 horsepower from the S58 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six.

Sticking with the German-Italian exchange program, BMW Motorrad will display a special version of the M 1000 RR superbike tied to the M4 CSL. Regrettably, that will be one of the few motorcycle displays since organizers have declined to resume the Concorso di Motociclette. Back to cars, there will be a judged showcase — one of seven — called “50 Years of Mean Machinery,” a 50th anniversary M showcase with vehicles from the Classic Collection, three ‘Ring Taxis, and plenty of private entries. We have a feeling the “Born for the racetrack: ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday'” will star a few M cars as well.

The battery-electric i7 xDrive60 makes its public debut Villa d’Este accompanied by “historic eye-catchers” of from the model lineup. Can anyone say “E38?” BMW will host a Wheels & Weisswürscht Lake Como event, combining the casual celebration of cars with the white sausage that’s a Bavarian breakfast specialty. Expanding the brand family reunion, Rolls-Royce is flying over the latest gem in its four-year Boat Tail series.

Beyond Germany, BMW makes special space for Ferrari’s 75th anniversary with the showcase, “The Cavallino at 75: eight decades of Ferrari represented in eight icons.” Four more judged classes will be in session over the weekend, including “The golden age of elegance: the art deco era of motor car design,” “Kompressor! The supercharged Mercedes-Benz,” and “Celebrating 150 seasons at Villa d’Este: how grand entrances were once made,” and “Breaking the speed barrier: pioneers that pursued the magic 300 kph.” Since Villa d’Este is celebrating its 150th anniversary as a luxury hotel, it gets a class, too, with “Celebrating 150 seasons at Villa d’Este: how grand entrances were once made.” That one fetes vehicles that have won the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este,, the event’s Best of Show trophy, since 1929.

The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este takes place May 20-22. Circle that weekend on your calendar.

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Ducati has again argued that a two-wheeler doesn’t need a powerful, race-derived engine to be exciting by unveiling its first road-going e-bike. Called Futa, the company’s latest bicycle was developed to tick many of the same boxes as the motorcycles that it’s better known for.

Keeping weight in check was a challenge during the design process; the battery and the electric motor add a substantial amount of weight. Ducati solved this issue by making the Futa’s frame with carbon fiber, a material already found throughout its motorcycle lineup. The bike’s total weight depends on its size, but we’re told it tips the scale at about 27 pounds when buyers order the M model. Riders who want to shave a few ounces can select the Limited Edition version, which gains carbon, titanium, and ceramic bearings, among other specific parts.

Vision AGX30 wheels with carbon rims, carbon pedal arms, and carbon levers also play a significant role in lowering weight. The powertrain is relatively compact as well, and it’s integrated in a subtle and elegant way; the Futa almost doesn’t look like it’s electric. It’s fitted with a rear hub-mounted motor that adds 31 pound-feet of torque to the amount generated by the rider’s legs; for context, a Citroën 2CV from the 1970s puts 21 pound-feet under the driver’s right foot. Ducati dialed in five levels of assistance that can be selected via a screen on the handlebar.

Wireless shifting and a 250-watt-hour battery pack come standard, and a 250 watt-hour range extender is optional. Speaking of, Ducati hasn’t revealed how long a fully charged battery lasts, though it ultimately depends on the assistance level selected and the terrain.

The company isn’t forgetting about the more outdoorsy e-bikes in its range. The MIG-S mountain bike receives a new livery and more performance from a new engine provided by Shimano, while the TK-001RR gets a motorcycle-style air fork, among other off-road goodies.

Ducati dealers around the world will begin taking orders for the 2022 e-bike range in the coming weeks. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet. When these models arrive in showrooms, they’ll join several new motorcycles unveiled over the past couple of months including the limited-edition XDiavel Nera, the long-awaited retro-inspired DesertX, and a pair of new Streetfighter models that neatly bookend the range.

Ducati joined forces with Poltrona Frau to create an XDiavel that brings together two of the things that Italy is famous for: speed and luxury. Limited to 500 units globally, the XDiavel Nera edition stands out with a level of opulence that’s rarely seen in the two-wheeler segment.

Starting with the XDiavel makes sense: It’s pegged on the luxury end of the motorcycle spectrum. And, while Poltrona Frau is better known for making furniture than for providing upholstery to a motorcycle manufacturer, it operates a division called Interiors in Motion that’s tasked with working on two- and four-wheeled projects (in addition to various boats, trains, and planes); the Ferrari-powered Lancia Thema 8.32, the Volkswagen Phaeton, and the limited-edition Alfa Romeo 8C are among the cars that have been available with Poltrona Frau interior.

There is a much smaller surface to upholster on the XDiavel than on the Phaeton, so Poltrona Frau focused on the seat. Made by hand, it’s available in five different colors called Siam Red, Steel Blue, Cemento, India, and Selva and it features laser-engraved X logos. Buyers will be asked to choose whether they want a standard seat, a wider one that’s more comfort-oriented, or a backrest to carry a passenger.

Seat aside, the Nera stands out from other members of the XDiavel range with a two-tone gloss black and flat black livery and Ducati Red accents on the brake calipers and the valve covers. Gloss black-painted machined wheels add a finishing touch to the low-key design.

Power comes from a 90-degree, 1.3-liter V-twin engine tuned to develop 152 horsepower at 9,500 rpm and 93 pound-feet of torque at 5,000 rpm. Brembo brakes on both wheels, an adjustable suspension system, and cruise control are among the list of standard equipment.

Ducati dealers have already started taking orders for the XDiavel Nera, and deliveries are scheduled to start in March 2022. Pricing starts at $29,795 before taxes and destination are factored in. In comparison, the XDiavel Dark costs $20,895 and the XDiavel S carries a base price of $25,595. Nera buyers will receive an edition-specific keychain and a document holder made with the same upholstery as the saddle.

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Interesting guy, Jeff Goldblum. With a wildly successful career as an actor stretching from 1974, when he debuted in his first role as Freak #1 in the film “Death Wish,” to several pre-production credits in 2022 (thanks, IMDb!), Goldblum has 139 acting credits on his résumé. We know him best for unforgettable roles in blockbuster films like “Jurassic Park,” “Independence Day” and “The Fly,” and with such a diverse background, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Goldblum isn’t just interesting, he’s also interested. In just about everything, it turns out.

That’s where the National Geographic series “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” comes into play. Currently on season 2 and airing on Disney+, the documentary series follows Goldblum as he satisfies his curiosity on a wide variety of topics. The one we’re most interested in is slated to air on January 19, simply titled “Motorcycles.”

We briefly sat down on the phone with Goldblum to dig into the details of the upcoming episode and why his eccentric nature led him down a two-wheeled path in the first place.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.

Autoblog: You really seem to have a lot of trepidation when it comes to dangerous activities in general — and that would include riding motorcycles. What made you interested in the topic of motorcycles to start with?

Jeff Goldblum: Well, the great people at Nat Geo and Nutopia had a list of things, and I talked about my past histories with them. And having to ride them in a couple of movies … most prominently in my memory in my professional life, “Nashville.” And that was a crazy experience, I didn’t know how to ride, so I took up lessons in New York and was riding around the streets of Manhattan, and finally found out once I got in Nashville that I’d failed the test. But then the contraption that they had me on, that three-wheeled thing, was really like a stick shift — like a stick-shift car — which I also didn’t know how to drive. So I started to learn how to do that!

So I had a little experience with it. And then I remembered in the course of thinking about motorcycles it came back to me that my cousin seemed to be part of that counter culture in the mid-Sixties — he had a big beard, and was in this exotic atmosphere — and he said, “Jeff, come down here,” and I was like 11 or something like that, “and ride on the back of my motorcycle.” And I went around the block with him or something like that, and I think that was my first experience. 

I had my own particular areas of adventurousness. You might say that going into acting was adventurous and kind of risky for me. But driving, even driving cars, I was never hankering or chomping at the bit at it before I left Pittsburgh. And then once I got to New York, you know I was getting around by subway and all that. It wasn’t until I got to California in my early- to mid-twenties that I started really driving a car. 

So yeah, it’s not something that thrilled me, and I didn’t want to get hurt. That’s for sure. Statistics will tell you that it’s a little riskier to drive around on a motorcycle. I had another friend who got into an accident on his bicycle, for heaven’s sakes, and I was like, ‘Hey, you know, you might want to rethink the thing … I know it’s a lot of fun for you, but one of these days … it’s always a trade-off I guess.

Autoblog: Yeah, for sure. I definitely got that sentiment from your episode. You know, I just read a new statistic that riding motorcycles is actually less dangerous than riding horses. That actually surprised me as someone who has ridden motorcycles for 30 years now. Because motorcycle riding is in fact thought of as a dangerous activity. 

Jeff Goldblum: Yes.

Autoblog: And that actually leads me to my next question. In the show, you did actually get on a bike and ride, starting with a dirt bike, albeit at low speeds and in first gear, but you did ride it. And then toward the end of the episode you got on a trike. It looked like maybe that was a Volkswagen-powered, or was it a proper Harley-Davidson-powered trike?

Jeff Goldblum: Yeah, I’m not sure. It was a little bit like the one I rode in Nashville, I think, but yeah, it was fun to be on those again.

Autoblog: So you did get on a bike and ride again. How did it make you feel? Did you actually enjoy that?

Jeff Goldblum: I did! I did. Actually, the last one that was used, like the one I did in “Nashville,” was enjoyable. I was along with that group, and we were kind of caravanning headed down those streets, and that’s a lot of fun. It kind of reminds me of being back with Roger Altman and that crowd when we made that movie. So that was fun.

The other one, I didn’t get really masterful enough to for it to be fun fun fun, but I could remember a little bit and get around. And I enjoyed being with those women who taught me. It was fun, yeah, it was fun.

But horses, yeah, you’re right. I’d get on motorcycles sooner than I’d get on a horse!

Autoblog: I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it! I started on dirt bikes myself, and I’ve got to say what they said on the show, ‘dirt don’t hurt,’ that’s not true. You can totally get hurt on dirt! 

Jeff Goldblum: I’ll bet! But I bet I’d really love them if I gave them a chance, because, you know, cars were never all that romantic to me, but bicycles — when I started to ride bicycles and could, you know, increase my speed beyond walking, and the distance I could go away from home, it really felt like I was on my own and that I was having a grand adventure.

I bet you get that same feeling. Like, a lot of movies, “Easy Rider” and “Lost in America” where they were inspired by “Easy Rider,” and Steve McQueen riding around in “Great Escape” and Brando in “Wild One.” You know, boy, that was great.

Autoblog: Right. Well I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. Now that the show is over, do you have any intention to throw your leg back over a bike and keep riding?

Jeff Goldblum: Huh, you know, I have no immediate plans. I would be — and one of the upshots that I show — is that it’s such an inviting, and cordial, and delightful, and diverse and interesting community. And feeling like part of that family was great. So, I’d like to stay in touch with them, and yeah. I wouldn’t mind it, under the right circumstances, it could be a whole lot of fun.

Autoblog: I’m glad to hear that. As a followup question, would you have any advice to anyone else who is new to riding that is giving it some thought?

Jeff Goldblum: Well, I would say give it some careful thought and read everything you can, spend some time in a safe environment before you swing out, you know. And just make it as safe as you can, and learn everything about it. It seems that motorcycle riders know more than drivers of cars — they know more about the machine, because they might find themselves broken down and they’ve got to fix it. I’m sure you’ve read that book, “Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle.”

Autoblog: Of course, sure.

Jeff Goldblum: That’s really interesting. I remember Keenan Wynn, another actor in “Nashville,” said he was very interested in reading, and he loved bikes, and he said, ‘I remember this great, legendary stunt person, said to me, ‘Hey, when you have the feeling that you can drive it, that’s when to sell it.’ When you feel so comfortable that you say, ‘Hey, I can master this…’ You should always feel like a beginner and that there’s more to learn. And humbled by the odds of the road.

Autoblog: I wonder if that was Bud Ekins. He’s a famous stunt rider and actor in Hollywood and worked with McQueen. 

Jeff Goldblum: That sounds right, yeah.

Autoblog: I’ve got an Indian FTR 1200 motorcycle for testing parked in my driveway now, but it’s starting to get pretty cold to the point that I’m probably not going to ride it much more this season.

Jeff Goldblum: Well if you do, bundle up. 

Autoblog: I will do that! Well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I really do appreciate it. 

Jeff Goldblum: You’re so kind, thanks a million. Have a great evening.

PALM DESERT, Calif. — The 2022 Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak comes from a brand with a complex relationship with the mountain course from which it takes its name. Of course, Pikes Peak means different things to different people. Ask rally legend Walter Röhrl, and he’ll regale you with tales of breaking the 11-minute barrier in the bonkers Audi Sport Quattro S1. Talk to reigning motorcycle record holder Rennie Scaysbrook, and he’ll describe the two-wheeled terror of wrangling the Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 up the mountain in a mere 9 minutes, 44 seconds.

Though Ducati was a relative latecomer to the event, the Bologna brand racked up 7 class wins at Pikes Peak between 2008 and 2018, inspiring the brand’s first Pikes Peak edition Multistrada model in 2018. It was essentially a snazzy livery package, but the PP edition was notable because it marked the brand’s escalating reputation due to its association with the event — that is, until the unthinkable happened. In 2019, 36-year-old champion racer Carlin Dunne, on his way to a likely fifth win aboard a Ducati V4 Streetfighter prototype, lost control of his bike just yards short of the finish line and was killed. The tragedy sent shockwaves through the industry; after 66 continuous years of two-wheeled competition, motorcycles ceased being a part of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

And yet, there is the 2022 Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak. Between the marque’s record sales and a global pandemic that has bolstered interest in two-wheeled diversions, it’s only natural Ducati upgrades its strong-selling Multistrada. Rather than use the Pikes Peak badge for a graphics package, this time they attached the mountainous moniker to a comprehensive series of upgrades intended to make it a sportier pavement bruiser. First, there’s the livery, inspired by Ducati’s 2021 MotoGP bikes and featuring a red, white, and black scheme that differentiates it from more plainly ornamented Multis. 

Power comes from the same 170 horsepower, 92 lb-ft V4 powerplant you’ll find in other Multistrada variants. However, the front wheel shrinks from an offroad-friendly 19 inches to 17 inches, matching the rear diameter. Gone is the stout double-sided swingarm in favor of a sexier single-sided unit that shows off more of the matte black Marchesini wheel. Between the front and rear forged hoops, unsprung mass is reduced by a significant eight pounds, trimming curb weight to 527 pounds. Furthering the sporty mission are revised ergonomics that include taller footpegs that are positioned further back, and lower handlebars that are swept forward and tucked in. Wheelbase has been lengthened by 1.1 inches for stability, and rake climbs by 1.25 degrees. In the interest of handling crispness and control, the rear wheel sacrifices .4 inches of travel. The bike’s copious electronics systems have also been reworked, with software tweaks enabling more aggressive ABS, quick shift, and wheelie control action. 

Climb aboard this Multistrada, and there’s no denying its imposing presence. With a minimum seat height of 33.1 inches (which can be raised to 33.9 inches) and a hulking tank that holds a bladder-busting 5.8 gallons, the Multi feels substantial at rest. But when the mighty V4 is cranked to life and the bike lifted off its side stand, power, weight distribution, and suspension tuning conspire to shrink its proportions and bolster its impersonation of an agile superbike trapped in the body of an adventure tourer. Particularly at lower speeds, the Pikes Peak feels surprisingly agile, able to flick around with the nimbleness of a smaller bike. The smaller and lighter front wheel plays a big part of this renewed maneuverability, which breeds confidence when managing quick turns and mid-corner adjustments. Also confidence boosting: A blind-spot detection system that illuminates the side mirrors, and an adaptive cruise control system that operates smoothly and effectively at speeds above 25 mph, the first in any production motorcycle. 

The Multistrada offers quite a bit of electronic adjustability, between engine, ABS, suspension, traction control and wheelie control settings. Much of these parameters require the bike to be stopped in order to fine tune the particulars. However, preset ride modes — Urban, Touring, Sport, and Race — can be selected on the fly, the latter of which is exclusive to the Pikes Peak model. All is managed via buttons and toggles on the handgrip’s switchgear, with slick graphics displayed on a 6.5-inch digital screen. Once you’re over the dizzying task of setting up the bike, this Multistrada tends to feel comfortably set up for quick, precise riding. The seating position is just a bit forward and committed, but not so much so that it strains the wrists. Equipped with the optional titanium and carbon fiber Akrapovič exhaust can, there’s enough engine bark to make its presence known, but not so much that it wakes the dead (a non-street-legal version is also available). 

As much as the engine feels smooth and grunty at lower rpms, the V4’s evenness feels like it lacks the thumpy, uncorked character of the late great L-twin. That said, there’s a deceptive amount of power lurking in what already feels like an immensely powerful engine. Ride around casually, and the V4 pulls strongly and easily without complaint, cooperating nicely with Ducati’s quick shifter, which eliminates the need to pull the clutch lever for upshifts or downshifts. But let’s say an opening in traffic requires an aggressive squirt ahead: Crank the throttle and the engine pulls and pulls, exploding with power beyond 5,000 rpm all the way up to its 11,500 rpm cutoff. Peak horsepower occurs at a lofty 10,500 rpm and max torque comes at 8,750 rpm, which makes it tempting to rev the bejesus out of the engine before tapping the shifter with your left boot. But there’s also no real need to wring it out, given the engine’s flexibility and comfort at lower rpms. 

Riding the Pikes Peak Multistrada through the San Jacinto mountains on a brisk December day made it feel like a near-ideal dance partner for the winding roads above Palm Desert. Though our tester was equipped with the optional heated saddle, it lacked the available heated grips, making for a chilly experience despite the handguards diverting some of the cool airflow away. Dynamically, it delivered an experience akin to a super SUV like a Cayenne Turbo GT, a Bentley Bentayga, or a Lamborghini Urus.

These are fitting analogies not only because the Multistrada is refined, capable, and effortless in its speed, but also because Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A is owned by the Volkswagen Group. While the Multistrada Pikes Peak’s $28,995 premium puts it in the stratosphere of sporty adventure touring bikes, its engineering achievements and performance capabilities make it a sort of moto bargain compared to its automotive equivalents. Whether or not this Italian powerhouse is for you, the Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak stands alone as an exceptional accomplishment in a field of already capable bikes. Here’s to some of its tech trickling down to more affordable models so performance and safety can be enjoyed by a bigger slice of the riding population.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — We like quirky vehicles that don’t fit into established segments, like the Polaris Slingshot. We love manual transmissions. It’s certainly no surprise, then, that after spending a couple of weeks with a 2021 Slingshot equipped with a proper shift lever and clutch pedal, we walked away secure in the knowledge that the five-speed manual transmission is the way to go for the ultimate three-wheeled experience.

Besides the gearbox, there isn’t much difference between the Slingshot life between the automatic we tested last year and the manual we tested this fall. Nothing changes with the seating position, the 2.0-liter engine — tuned to offer 178 horsepower at 8,500 rpm in the S and SL models, or 203 hp at 8,250 rpm in the R LE model we tested — or the handling characteristics. Either way, the Slingshot offers the kind of low-slung, wind-in-your-hair, barely-there experience of a classic roadster.

Those ponies supplied by the Polaris-designed four-cylinder engine come on strong as the revs climb. The base engine produces 120 pound-feet of torque while the upgraded version kicks out 144 lb-ft. With a curb weight of just 1,653 pounds (1,667 with the automatic), the power-to-weight ratio of 8.1 lb/hp pushes the Slingshot R to 60 miles per hour in just 4.9 seconds. The top speed is limited to 125 miles per hour, but that certainly feels sufficient. 

More important than terminal velocity is the surprisingly strong 1.02 g of cornering grip on a skidpad. The Slingshot sticks to the road with a fierce grip so long as the driver doesn’t invoke too much wheelspin from the single belt-driven rear wheel with the traction control turned off. The variable-rate electronic rack-and-pinion power steering system is perfectly tuned for the Slingshot, and its 2.5 turns lock-to-lock feel appropriately quick.

There are two driving modes, one labeled Comfort and one labeled Slingshot. There’s a noticeable difference between them, and we (again, unsurprisingly) decided to leave it in sportier Slingshot mode. The immediate throttle response suits the manual gearbox quite well. Like traction control, stability control comes standard on the Slingshot, and it’s defeatable with a double press of a button located in the cockpit. With cold and wet tires, the electronic nannies really help; burnouts and donuts are a flip of a switch away even with warm tires. Stopping power from the 298-millimeter anti-lock disc brakes (one at each front wheel and one at the rear) is plentiful.

A 7-inch digital infotainment system called Ride Command sits at the junction of the center stack and dashboard. It’s easy to use, with clearly marked and weather-resistant buttons just below. A powerful 100-watt Rockford Fosgate audio system is optional (standard on the R trim) and recommended. Apple CarPlay and turn-by-turn navigation are also available, as is a backup camera that we found very useful for backing up the Slingshot’s unfamiliar triangular shape.

A base 2021 Polaris Slingshot S starts at $20,899 (including a reasonable $900 logistics fee) with the manual transmission or $22,599 with the automatic. The upgraded SL model runs $25,899 or $27,599 and the top-shelf R model brings extra performance for $32,199 or $34,199. A Limited Edition (seen in our image gallery) painted in bright green with digital graphics and blacked-out badges is exclusive to 2021. By way of comparison, a 2021 Mazda Miata Sport, which is a more practical (how often can you say that?) but less explosive vehicle, runs $27,825. A KTM 1290 Super Duke R Evo, which is a less practical but more explosive vehicle, costs $19,599. We’ll let you judge their various value propositions.

If you decide the pricing is acceptable, there’s quite a spread between the entry-level Slingshot and a fully kitted-out model like the one we tested. We definitely like the windshield, technology package and audio system of the upgraded SL trim, and the extra power provided by the R model is surely felt from behind the wheel. If you’re mainly looking for some fun in-the-sun-style, the SL ought to fit the bill. But if you want the ultimate Slingshot, you’ll have to be willing to drop more than $30,000 on a plaything. Whatever the case, we certainly wouldn’t blame you for parking such a best in your driveway in lieu of a more practical car or less practical bike.