by Otilia Drăgan from https://www.autoevolution.com When a motorcycle model stays popular over the decades, it’s not a good idea to mess with it too much. Honda knows what makes the Africa Twin and Africa Twin Adventure Sports such crowd-pleasers, so it makes sure to only introduce enough upgrades to improve what’s lacking and give the bikes a fresh look. Honda introduced the XRV650 Africa Twin in Europe more than three decades ago. What we now know as the Africa Twin is actually a “brand-new motorcycle from the wheels up,” which was launched in 2016, keeping the original version’s popular characteristics. According to Honda, this athletic-looking bike, with a comfortable chassis, proved to be a versatile riding option, from daily commutes to weekend adventures. In 2018, the manual transmission and Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) versions of the Africa Twin were upgraded with a Throttle by Wire (TBW) control and three riding modes, extended torque control options, and benefited from improved engine response and sound. That same year, the Africa Twin Adventure Sports for off-road riding was introduced, with features such as greater range, longer-travel suspension, and upgraded wind protection. At the beginning of this year, the CRF1100L Africa Twin was “comprehensively redrawn” for a more aggressive, compact look, while the CRF1100L Africa Twin Adventure Sports benefited from enhanced technology, including the Showa Electronically Equipped Ride Adjustment option. For 2022, the Africa Twin is equipped with an aluminum rear carrier as standard, while the Adventure Sports model features a new 5-stage adjustable screen that is 4.3” (110 mm) lower, for improved visibility, without decreasing weather protection. Also, both DCT versions feature new settings that are meant to make handling in the first two gears even smoother. In terms of looks, both models are updated with vibrant graphics. The 2022 Africa Twin boasts black aluminum side covers with a red rear subframe and ‘Big Logo’ graphics. The 2022 Africa Twin Adventure Sports is equally striking, with ‘Cracked Terrain’ graphics. Check Out the Launch Video

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com

There are countless customized Harley-Davidson motorcycles out there, spread across almost a century and the many bike families the Milwaukee company has been making. But if there’s one bike that could probably be worthy of more exposure on the custom motorcycle scene, then that’s the Dyna.

Born in the 1990s as a new platform for the Evolution engine, the family was around for about two decades, being pushed aside in 2018 when the new line of Softails came onto the scene.

So yes, we’re talking about a rather new machine, and that could explain why shops are not all that crazy about it yet. Then again, the V-Rods are rather new as well, and we get plenty of those, especially from over in Europe, so who knows.

If there is one shop that likes Dynas more than others, that’s Bad Land. Coming from the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan, Bad Land is one of the most active custom motorcycle garages on the market.

The Dyna you’re looking at now was shown back in 2019. It’s official name is Hermosa x dios, and it has nothing to do Spain. The name was probably chosen for impact, given how hermosa is Spanish for beautiful, and dios stands for god.

The bike is radically different from stock, and you get a sense of that as soon as it comes into view. There’s a huge 21-inch tire up front, wearing a slim tire, and a tiny-by-comparison 15-inch one at the rear, though wearing a massive 230 wide tire that makes all the difference between the two irrelevant.

Put together with the same attention to detail Bad Land has gotten us used to by now, the Dyna packs a wealth of other custom parts, including a new fork, headlight, front fender, fuel tank, rear fender, exhaust, swingarm, and seat, all created in the Japanese shop.

Bad Land does not say how much the Harley-Davidson Hermosa x dios cost to make.

See Full Details of this Custom Dyna at https://www.badland.net/hd-custom/hermosa-x-dios/

This WW2 fire-fighting trike is the strangest, coolest thing we’ve seen all week.

A 1941 Kurogane Model 1 Fire Trike, a three-wheeled firefighter used in Japan and Malaysia.

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The unique Orient “Autogo;” One Part Runabout— One Part Tricycle.

Charles Metz was bullish on the potential of his DeDion-Bouton motor tricycle to transfer motor power from the track to the street. In 1899 he took his conviction a step further with the development of the unique Orient “Autogo;” one part runabout— one part tricycle.

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–Sam Burns
Official Historic Contributor

by Marilyn Stemp

Kirk Taylor’s L’il Cha Cha was among the very first class of Tiny Strider Customs, a program of the Flying Piston Benefit that supports All Kids Bike – an organization that’s on a mission to teach every kid how to ride a bike as part of kindergarten PE class.

Custom creations are unveiled at the Flying Piston breakfast in August at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip then auctioned at the Mecum motorcycle event in Las Vegas the following January. Proceeds fund bike-riding programs for elementary schools.

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So welcome back, L’il Cha Cha – at least until the Mecum Auction in January 2022. And thank you Halvorsons for your generosity.

from https://www.financialexpress.com

Triumph Motorcycles today announced that it will continue to provide their 765cc triple powerplants as Exclusive Engine Supplier to the FIM Moto2 World Championship for another three seasons, from 2022-2024. Since the start of the 2019 season, Triumph Motorcycles has provided all of the teams with race-tuned 765cc triples, each of which is based on the Street Triple RS engine. The changes made to the race-tuned engine allow it to breathe more freely, rev harder and deliver a peak power output of more than 140 PS (an increase of over 17% on the production engine).

Following Dorna’s intent to bring the Moto2 series closer to MotoGP, the increase in power and torque, combined with a more advanced electronics package, has provided a more relevant training and development ground.

In the last two years, Moto2 graduates have gone on to take podiums and victories in their first seasons in the premier MotoGP class: 2019 Moto2 World Champion Alex Marquez taking a pair of second places in 2020, and title rival Brad Binder with a victory also in 2020 and more recently in Austria 2021.

Jorge Martin took his first Moto2 victory in 2020, followed a year later with his maiden MotoGP win and a further two podiums in 2021. These incredible results go to prove how Moto2 has become the natural springboard for MotoGP that Dorna envisaged.

A total of 14 different race winners since 2019 there have been lap records set at 34 events, including records that have been broken and re-broken year-on-year, and the first-ever 300+ km/h top speed for a Moto2 machine. The record stands at 301.8 km/h at Phillip Island, Australia.

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com

Unlike cars, which are a bit trickier to be brought to custom status, motorcycles may appear a bit easier to modify. After all, in the view of some, all one has to do is slap on some new, possibly bigger wheels on the thing, massage the fuel tank and exhaust system a bit, and there you have it, instant custom.

But the reality is much different and, just like with cars, most of the time a lot of work goes into coming up with just the right combination of elements to make a two-wheeler not only unique, but also capable of sending the right message across, whatever that message is.

Because Russians are a no-nonsense people, whatever comes out of the country must scream power and an unwillingness to compromise, and that’s exactly what this heavily modified 2012 V-Rod sends across.

The build, called Onik, is the work of a shop that goes by the name Box39, a group that specialized over the years in coming up with insane builds based on Harley-Davidson’s now defunct line of muscle motorcycles.

And they also specialize in making custom wheels, as the insane bits fitted on the Onik, just like the ones fielded by their other projects, are made in-house, and not sourced from a third-party garage.

Rather small in size for a custom V-Rod (we’re used with 20+ inchers, whereas these ones are 18 inches front and 17 inches rear), the wheels are on the extreme side of things, design-wise, and the rear one especially makes this American two-wheeler look particularly appealing.

SEE CUSTOM FEATURES ON THIS BIKE AT https://box39.ru/onik/

Described by the shop as being a Harley-Davidson V-Rod in brutal form, the Onik, which boasts a number of other changes meant to go with the rims, was put together back in 2020, but we have no info on what roads those insane wheels presently spin on.

by Eric Eisenberg from https://www.cinemablend.com

With each new Mission: Impossible movie there is a raised expectation for bigger and better stunts, and that’s because with each sequel Tom Cruise has managed to successfully raise the bar with his performances. The franchise has become a kind of testing ground for the star to push the limits of practical action on the big screen, and the things we’ve seen him do over the years is just mind-bending. That’s a tradition that unsurprisingly will continue in the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 – but audiences may not be totally prepared for what they are going to witness, as what Cruise, director Christopher McQuarrie, and the crew of the film have in store is simply next level and unbelievable.

Paramount Pictures held their big studio presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this morning, and the event kicked off with a special behind the scenes look at the next chapter in the Mission: Impossible series that provided an early glimpse at what is said to be the biggest stunt in the film. It’s something that you should really start emotionally preparing for now, because the blockbuster shot a sequence that features Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle off of a cliff, leaping off the bike, and then turning the fall into a base jump. And what makes it even more amazing is that he not only had to do a crazy amount of preparation for the sequence, but also performed the actual thing on set six times.

The presentation featured an extended behind-the-scenes featurette detailing all of the work that went into the creation of the stunt, and watching it all unfold was just unreal. In order to ensure that everything would work absolutely perfectly when production started, Tom Cruise practiced the different elements of the jump several times, including doing 13,000 motocross jumps off of a ramp, and 500 skydives (breaking it down, it was noted that he was doing 30 tumbles out of a helicopter per day during pre-production). The crew did digital tracking for each of the practice runs, reading a GPS put on Cruise’s back and calculating for wind and different variables that could impact the insane feat, and they used the data to figure out the best way to shoot the sequence with drone-mounted cameras.

As noted in the featurette, all kinds of things could have gone horribly wrong. The bike didn’t have a speedometer, so Tom Cruise had to rely on feel alone to ensure he was getting to the right speed in order to hit the correct jump trajectory. It was an elevated ramp, so a mistake resulting in falling to either side would have resulted in serious injury. And a change in the wind while he was parachuting down could have seen the Mission: Impossible star crash into the rocky side of the cliff regardless of how well things went on the motorbike. The production schedule had the stunt being filmed on the very first day of principal photography (presumably because the crew knew that if anything went wrong the movie wouldn’t move forward), but fortunately everything worked out, and audiences will be able to experience the insanity on the big screen next year.

Having wrapped production this past week, Mission: Impossible 7 is being prepared as one of the biggest blockbuster events of next year, and is set to be released on May 27, 2022. It will be followed by Mission: Impossible 8, presently dated for July 7, 2023, and it’s pretty insane to imagine the production coming up with something that is even more insane than what Tom Cruise is doing in the next chapter. Hopefully it won’t be too long before a first look at the movie arrives online, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed it will give us at least a brief glimpse at the finished version of the motorcycle base jump.