News Cycles: September 21, 2018

Sep 21, 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: good news at last, a 1,000-horsepower turbo 'Busa, and Spurgeon flogging the year's most anticipated dual-sport.

Royal Enfield Hamalayan — Getting outside means big business in the United States. Hopefully motorcycling can grow with outdoor recreation. Brandon LaJoie photo.

Good news at last: Positive numbers from the motorcycle industry in recent report

According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, a new report on outdoor recreation “found Motorcycling/ATVing to be one of the fastest-growing core outdoor recreation activities, growing eight percent over the previous year.” The report only covers numbers as recent as 2016, but hopefully subsequent reports will show more of us getting out there.

271 mph on a street-legal Hayabusa

My favorite thing about the Hayabusa might be how its legend endures. The bike’s two decades old at this point, but the ’Busa still makes the news. This time, the team at Big CC Racing took their 1,000-horsepower turbo bike to an average of 271 mph during a land speed record run. They have to detune the thing to a wimpy 650 horsepower during attempts, just to maintain traction.

Fenati doing a bad thing — "My usual Sunday evening snooze was interrupted by video of the incident on the national television news that had ignored Cal Crutchlow’s Grand Prix victories a couple of years ago," writes Nick Harris. MotoGP screenshot.

“All news is good news?”: Fenati’s impact on public perception of motorcycling

Last week, the outrageous on-track behavior of Romano Fenati sparked discussion well beyond the motorcycling community (check out Lance’s story if you haven’t already). Writing for MotoGP.com, Nick Harris discusses the implications of Fenati’s actions beyond the racetrack.

Dockless electric scooters: fad, friend, or foe?

Dockless electric scooters claim to be the next big thing in personal mobility. What are they like to ride, and will they entice people to try other, larger two-wheelers? Only one way to find out.

Energica Ego Corsa, official racebike of MotoE. Energica photo.

First MotoE team announced

As of Wednesday, there’s only one racer in the first FIM Enel MotoE World Cup electric motorcycle race series. Jesko Raffin will be riding for Dynavolt Impact GP, and the remaining 17 riders will be announced soon. All riders will use the same Energica Ego Corsa race bikes, which should emphasize individual rider skill. MotoE starts in May, and will feature five races of about 10 laps each.

2019 Honda CRF450L first ride review

Spurgeon heads to the Pacific Northwest to test Honda's next-generation dual-sport. If you ride a mix of on- and off-road rides, you might want to see this.

Thanks for reading; that's all for this week! If you've got feedback or moto news you'd like to share, shoot an e-mail to commontread@revzilla.com. Check back for more News Cycles every Friday.