After the first one-two-three-four in Aprilia’s history in Mandalika, those involved explain what really happened over the weekend. It is about a tyre pressure mistake, a deliberate tactic by Marc Marquez and a new fine that is causing anger in the paddock.
Saxony wants mopeds and scooters with 50 cc engines to be allowed to travel at up to 60 km/h in future. The motion is due to go to the Bundesrat on 16 October, but the real decision will be made in Brussels.
The Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE has its next big film appearance. In the action film Matchbox The Movie starring John Cena, it rides through several scenes and plays a leading role in one of the central action sequences.
On Suzuki’s endurance GSX-R1000R, the mudguards, fairing and winglets are made of flax instead of carbon. Swiss manufacturer Bcomp openly names the strengths and weaknesses of the material, and a crash at Suzuka showed how the parts behave when it really matters.
BMW has announced the third model of its new 450 family. Everything points to the BMW F 450 RR, a fully faired sportbike for the A2 licence that is likely to adopt a lot of technology from the F 450 R.
For a year now, rumble strips on the twisty country road between Zella-Mehlis and Oberhof have been meant to slow down speeders on two wheels. The results are mixed, and in November the accident commission will decide what happens to the strips next.
Serious motorcycle crashes keep happening at the so-called Applauskurve on the B62 near Netphen. Now the accident commission is to decide at a special meeting whether motorcyclists there will face further restrictions, up to and including a ban.
From early October, seven new posters from the road safety campaign “Runter vom Gas” (Slow Down) will be displayed along German autobahns, painted by girls aged between nine and twelve. Behind the designs lies a months-long selection process in which drastic alternatives and AI-generated drafts ultimately played no role.
