Browsing: Technology

Cameras that detect phone use, seatbelts and following distance in addition to speed already exist. Whether they are allowed to issue fines, however, varies widely across Europe, and in France they still lack approval to this day.

From ABS to emergency brake assist, motorcycle electronics have changed dramatically in almost 40 years. Which systems demonstrably prevent crashes, where the technology creates its own problems and what prototypes and patents hint at for the future.

Yamaha is replacing the shift shaft on the MT-09 and Tracer 9 with Y-AMT because it can break due to frequent shifting. The campaign is already under way in Japan and Finland, but there is no official recall in Germany yet.

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.

Chinese manufacturer ZXMoto has shown its new 1000 cc boxer as a real prototype for the first time. Liquid cooling, shaft drive, installation position and many details are strongly reminiscent of the BMW boxer.

At CIMA 2026 in Chongqing, Voge showed the CU-X, a power cruiser with a plug-in hybrid drive. Above all, the concept is a rolling showcase for a new technology platform that is set to find its way into production models step by step.

A motorcycle tyre only holds on the asphalt because it slips a little across it. Temperature, tyre pressure and the condition of the road then decide how much of that grip is ultimately left for braking and lean angle.

ZXMoto’s new V5 engine is said to be on show at EICMA in November, with the Superbike World Championship named as the target for 2028. Yet a five-cylinder does not appear in that series’ rulebook at all.

ZXMoto founder Zhang Xue is working on a five-cylinder engine in a V configuration with around 1,000 cc. Between the official announcement and the figures circulating about it, however, lies a wide gap.

The first test drives for a driverless taxi service begin in Munich in the coming weeks, and other operators are already on the road there. For motorcyclists that pushes one question to the front, and there is still no solid European answer to it: how reliably does this technology detect a single-track vehicle?

Qianjiang, the parent company of QJMotor, has protected a single-cylinder engine in the US that looks like a V-twin at first glance. The second cylinder produces no power, it houses a dummy piston intended to replace the balancer shaft.

BMW Motorrad has filed a patent for a newly designed rear swingarm intended for the coming superbike generation. What matters here is less the shape than the process used to make the part.

After the severe earthquake in Kyushu, Honda has been building complete motorcycles at its Kumamoto plant again since 24 August. The group’s most important two-wheeler factory in Japan stood still for around four weeks.

GoPro is evidently working in earnest on its own motorcycle helmet. Newly published patent documents show a blind spot warning that relies not on radar or cameras, but on microphones and machine learning.

A newly published patent application shows for the first time how the four-legged Kawasaki Corleo is meant to work in detail. The documents describe a rider outfit with built-in sensors, room for two people and several riding modes.

On the Manx R, Norton measures not just the movement of the motorcycle but the suspension elements themselves. The Atlas adopts parts of this electronics philosophy in the middleweight class.

Assumptions about engine oil persist that date back to an era of far simpler engines. Lubricant manufacturer Motul has picked up four of them and set them against the current state of the art.

Bimota and electronics partner GET have revealed how the movable winglets on the KB998 Rimini work. The technology is now fitted to the road-legal model as well, but it could disappear from racing as early as 2027.

BMW, Toyota, Bosch, and Spanish energy company Repsol are running around 20 vehicles exclusively on renewable gasoline for six months. The field test in Spain aims to show that today’s gasoline engines can become cleaner without requiring conversions or new fueling infrastructure.

The CFMoto V4SR-RR has taken another development step in the wind tunnel of Pininfarina near Turin. The first completely newly developed V4 superbike from China relies on movable winglets and is aiming to join the ranks of established sport machines.