News Cycles: August 24, 2018

Aug 24, 2018

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Welcome to News Cycles, Common Tread’s roundup of what’s happening on our servers and everywhere else. Every Friday, look for a collection of news, stories, and all things moto from around the web. This week, a long new Harley, a long way up, and air conditioning, coming to a helmet near you.

New Harley model: 2019 FXDR 114

Harley-Davidson released another of their “high-impact” models this week: the FXDR 114. Harley says: “drag-inspired, long, lean power.” At nearly eight feet long, that sounds about right. Mid controls, drag bars, 1,868 cc (114 ci) engine, funky intake (my favorite part), and other bits for $21,349 (Vivid Black). Watch for riding impressions, coming soon.

2018 Suzuki RMZ250 — Suzuki will never build a motorcycle quite like this. So why wait for the impossible? Simon Cudby photo.

Update it yourself: Building the Suzuki 250 Suzuki won’t make

Suzuki’s RMZ250 is way overdue for an overhaul, which it should be receiving this year. The crew at Racer X didn’t feel like waiting, so they built their own 2018 RMZ into a completely different animal. Updates to model lines, dirt or otherwise, can be slow these days. Sometimes, you just have to be your own factory.

FMF’s new video project

Flying Machine Factory (Am I the only one who just learned what FMF stood for? At least officially?) presents their latest project, a video series “about the real adventures we all share as dirt bike riders. Our mission is to document the feeling of freedom that can only be experienced on two wheels.” Riders doing some fun dirt riding with nice cameras on hand? Sounds good to me.

Watch more.

The Grom Reaper: Zero electrifies a Honda

Cole Mishler and some friends at Zero started working on a little project after-hours involving a Grom and a Zero drivetrain. The result? Double the horsepower and more torque than an MT-09. With a name like Grom Reaper, it could only be a good time.

Thanks Ewan for a fantastic night. Great movie Christopher Robin. Nice to get us together. Can’t wait for #longwayup @RussMalkin pic.twitter.com/WmruCBq5JU
— Charley Boorman (@charleyboorman) August 6, 2018

Long Way Up

A not-so-subtle tweet from Charley Boorman hinted at a #longwayup ride, right under a picture of Boorman hanging out with Ewan McGregor and Long Way alums Russ Malkin, and David Alexanian. Fans speculate that the duo’s ride will take them from the southernmost point of South America (Ushuaia, Argentina) to the far-north reaches of Alaska. Has it really been 14 years since the first one came out?

Traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge — Riders in other states might envy California, but even legal lanesplitting isn't enough to make riding commonplace. Frank Schulenburg photo via WikiMedia Commons.

I wish lane-splitting was legal but it wouldn't save motorcycling

Lance has some thoughts on lanesplitting and the state of the motorcycle industry after riding around California. Judging by the comments section, he’s not the only one thinking about these things.

A modern attempt at helmet air-conditioning?

A company called Feher revealed the ACH 1, “the world’s first and only self-contained air-conditioned motorcycle helmet.” In a previous Common Tread article, Lemmy wrote about AGV’s attempt to solve the same problem back in the late 1980s. AGV’s effort was a flop, but Feher thinks the helmet industry is due for some innovation. Any takers?

That's all for this week, thanks for reading! If you've got comments, feedback, or moto news you'd like to share, shoot an email to commontread@revzilla.com. Check back for more News Cycles every Friday.