“I like the idea of racing things that were never meant to be raced.” – Roland Sands

The brainchild of one Mr. Sands, the Super Hooligan National Championship is all about taking bikes that were never meant to be raced, but may have sporty inclinations, and sticking them on a racetrack – highly modified, of course. Ostensibly, this is why the series exists. When you get on the ground level though, it’s a darn good excuse for Roland, Indian, and partner S&S to come up with one hell of an FTR1200 and find an excuse to race it on asphalt. Of course, with this premise in mind, you could also say this was the start of the bagger craze taking over the American road racing scene, too (and it kinda was).

In 2022, Indian not only competed in both the King of the Baggers and Super Hooligans series – it won them both, too. This after facing stiff competition from the likes of Harley-Davidson and KTM in each of the respective series. So, what better way to cap off a great 2022 season than by having some other people try the winning bikes, too? Fresh off the heels of riding the 2022 championship-winning Challenger bagger race bike, Indian also extended the offer to have me throw a leg over the FTR1200 Hooligan bike Tyler O’Hara won the championship with, too. Who was I to say no? 

Riding Indian’s 2022 Championship-Winning Challenger Bagger Race Bike



A couple of days ago, we were tipped off by Harley-Davidson blogger Dr. Dan Morel about photos of an alleged new CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide taken from the factory floor. Morel has since sent us another photo, offering a clear look at the CVO Road Glide’s right side, including evidence that the new 121ci engine uses variable valve timing.

Here’s the full image we received:

Immediately, we noticed two details that further support our original report. The large intake prominently features the number 121, suggesting a 121ci displacement (that’s about 1982cc, in metric numbers). This matches the 121 shown on the derby cover on the right side of the motorcycle. The other detail we can see is the small tab on the bottom right side of the tank badge. Right below the “ON” in “Harley-Davidson,” there is a chrome tab jutting downward with some faint lettering. Looking closer (click on the image above to see a larger version) and you can make out the letters “CVO,” further confirming this is a new entry to Harley-Davidson’s Custom Vehicle Operations line. We already assumed all of this in our initial report, and the new evidence further confirms it.

But there is one more secret revealed in this photo. Look closely at the camshaft cover right above the floorboard and you’ll notice the familiar Bar-and-Shield logo. Now compare it to the same area on the 2023 CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary below:

As the Coronavirus pandemic gradually disappears in the rear view mirror of history, in its aftermath the global motorcycle industry continues to experience rapid and sustained growth. Leading this charge among European companies is the KTM Group, whose parent company PIERER Mobility AG finished 2022 on a continued high, after a 12th successive record year which saw sales of its three current brands KTM, Husqvarna, and GASGAS continue spiralling upwards to 375,452 motorcycles in 2022, an increase of 13% compared with the previous year’s 332,881 units. Of those, 268,575 of these motorcycles carried the KTM badge, 75,266 were Husqvarnas and 31,651 were GASGAS motorcycles, a sales volume of 375,492 motorcycles. Add to that the 118,465 pedal cycles and E-bicycles sold in the same period under its Husqvarna, GASGAS, Felt and R Raymon labels (up 15% compared to 2022’s 102,753 bikes), and the company’s overall revenues increased to EUR 2.437 billion in 2022, up 19% year-on-year.

This resulted in an EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) gross profit of EUR 235 million, a massive 22% increase over one year ago, meaning its President/CEO Stefan Pierer, 66, duly celebrated the 30th anniversary of his taking control of a bankrupt KTM and its 160 employees in January 1992, and making 6,300 motorcycles that first year, by consolidating his place as the most significant figure in the European motorcycle industry. PIERER Mobility is a global player in practically every different model sector, both on and off road, with both combustion engines and, increasingly, electric power. The chance to speak with him at length for the first time in two and a half years in his office in KTM’s home factory at Mattighofen in West Austria, uncovered the background behind this roll call of success, and his plans to build on it for the future.

Alan Cathcart: Stefan, in 2022 PIERER Mobility achieved its twelfth year in a row of record sales, with a 19% increase over 2021. But, could it have been even better than that if not for problems with the supply of components?

After years of success with the 765 cc Moto2 spec engine, Triumph would be foolish to ignore all that it has learned on the international racing stage, and the 2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R and RS are proof that the engineers have been paying attention. While most of the focus was on increasing power, some select chassis changes made it into the mix. My ride on the roads of southern Spain and on the track at the Circuito de Jerez made it clear that Triumph wants to dominate the middleweight naked class.

2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R/RS Review – First Ride

While the engine changes were significant, the bulk of them were focused on the combustion chambers and getting the fuel charge in and out of them more efficiently. To that end the compression ratio was bumped to 13.25:1. A machined head interfacing with machined, not gas, pistons provide that increase while also allowing for higher valve lift. New rods and pins were required to handle the increased power, while the intake and exhaust got freer breathing capabilities courtesy of shorter intake trumpets and a single, less restrictive catalyzer, respectively. Shorter gearing in second through sixth gears increases the engine’s spunkiness.

For the first time, the Street Triple gets an IMU and all of the associated electronic safety features, like cornering ABS and lean-sensitive traction control, that we have come to expect in modern motorcycles. Additionally, an up/down quickshifter is included as standard across the three-member Street Triple family. 

Harley-Davidson released the bulk of its 2023 lineup about two months ago, but we’re still waiting to here about more models, such as the Custom Vehicle Operations models that will be joining the CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary. We may not have much longer to wait, as videos of a new CVO Road Glide and CVO Street Glide have popped up on line, revealing some big changes to the CVO models, and perhaps a sign of what to expect for the 2024 lineup.

Blogger Dr. Dan Morel sent us a video that a source sent him over WhatsApp, and similar videos have been uploaded to YouTube and TikTok. The earliest version we found as uploaded to The Fast Life Garage LLC’s Instagram account.

All versions of the video show three different images, two of a CVO Road Glide and one of a CVO Street Glide. The platforms carrying the bikes and markers like the “RA3” sign in the background of the CVO Street Glide image are similar to what is used in Harley-Davidson’s factory in York, Pa., leading us to believe the pictures to be real.

The first things that we noticed is that the two CVO models have new fairing designs. The CVO Road Glide’s signature shark nose fairing has a noticeably different shape, with the top edge in a convex shape compared to the concave shape of the existing Road Glide fairing, like the 2022 CVO Road Glide pictured at the right below. The front of the fairing has a more aggressive forward slant, with a new headlight shape with extensions protruding to either side. With no visible turn signal stalks, we assume the headlight shape incorporates the forward turn signals. The lower fairing is also a new shape, cutting off just above the highway bars.

Riders of a certain age can remember when tank pads first gained wide popularity, moving from being little more than stickers guarding the interface between the abrasive zippers of riding gear and the delicate paint of the gas tank. The genesis of intricate pad designs was the advent of the high-backed tanks that appeared during the height of the sportbike wars, which required the rider to spoon their bodies around the tank’s curves. However, it wasn’t long before those early bits of plastic sprouted wings and grippier materials that wrapped around the sides of the tank to allow the rider to maintain better contact and control of the bike with their inboard knee while cornering. Today, the best motorcycle tank pads offer both style and function.

A quick search around the web will net you a swath of tank pads that range from little more than decorative thongs to highly-intricate, model-specific traction devices. There’s no one-style-fits-all, and like tattoos, many riders use them to express their individual flair. What we have collected below is a grouping of some of the most interesting and/or functional designs we’ve discovered. With so many variations of tank pad out there, this listing can hardly be definitive, so pipe up in the comments if we’ve missed your favorite. 

News flash: Suzuki is still selling the DR-Z400SM. Can you believe it? One of the early adopters of the street-legal supermoto craze, Suzuki had a lot of people excited with this bike. Unlike former MOron Sean Alexander in his ride story below, I was less than thrilled with the bike. Anemic and heavy, it dulled the sensation of how cool a supermoto for the street (or just supermotos in general) could be. In fact, I still feel this way, and Suzuki isn’t doing itself any favors by keeping the bike exactly the same over the course of nearly two decades while KTM has gone and made some insanely fun street-legal SuMos.

Enjoy the read and tell us what you think about the DRZ down below.

2005 Suzuki DRZ 400 SM

You’re minding your own business really, just tooling along a winding suburban road in an upscale neighborhood. You know the type; lush lawns rolling down to the street, driveways every hundred feet or so, leaves in the gutters, fancy mailboxes and soccer moms blasting out of their driveways at mach one, cell phone to ear and eyes on the back seat.

Say your final prayers, buddy, because this is it, the motorcycle accident everyone always warned you about. Your number is up and you’re getting ready to screw that pooch. Aren’t you glad you’re on Suzuki’s street-legal Supermoto, the DRZ 400 SM? Squeeze the front brake to transfer weight forward, simultaneously dropping three gears and feathering the clutch.

Harley-Davidson has officially revealed the X 350 for the Chinese market, a small displacement flat track-inspired roadster produced with Qianjiang Motor (QJ Motor). As of this writing, the X 350 is only confirmed for China, though a modified variant known as the X350RA will be used in Harley-Davidson Rider Academy programs in the U.S.

QJ and Harley-Davidson have been working on the X 350 since 2019,  though the motorcycle traces its lineage a little earlier to the TNT300 from QJ-owned Benelli. The X 350 is powered by a liquid-cooled, eight-valve Parallel-Twin engine, which may be as much heresy to the Harley faithful as its Chinese origins. The engine has a 353cc displacement, achieved via a 70.5 mm bore and 45.2 mm stroke. That’s the same stroke as the TNT300’s engine, but the Benelli has just a 65.0 mm cylinder bore.

Harley-Davidson claims a peak output of 36 horsepower (at an unspecified engine speed) and 22.9 lb-ft. at 7,000 rpm, though as we previously reported, the Riding Academy models bound for the U.S. claim just 23 hp.

Harley-Davidson claims a curb weight of 430 pounds for the X 350, while the X350RA comes in at 440 pounds, but much of that weight is from the addition of tip-over protective bars.

One of history’s more underrated sportbikes, the Honda CBR929RR could be seen as an example of Honda playing catch-up while its competition (primarily the Yamaha R1) jumped straight to the liter-class era of superbikes. Starting with the CBR900RR, however, Honda’s approach was to build a well-balanced big bike and hope the masses would appreciate it for what it is. The 929 was a response to being out-muscled by the competition. History would later tell us that a 954 version would come before Honda fully jumped into the liter-class race, and in so doing, the charm of the 929 is a little forgotten outside of those in the know.

This 2001 example here is basically a $4000 time machine. The Erion Edition graphics were a factory option that paid homage to Kevin Erion and his race team that won a few AMA championships and fielded riders like Kurtis Roberts and Nicky Hayden. As far as this particular bike is concerned, the owner has kept it as close to stock as he could while adding (or keeping) as many period-correct parts as he could. Even the rear sprocket looks to be an OEM piece.

Well-balanced, fun to ride, comfortable (by today’s standards), and still really fast, this CBR929RR seems like a steal for only $4000. See the full ad below.

I’ve been wearing Alpinestars Copper Denim Pants in one form or another for seven years, and while I’ve been quite happy with how they looked like traditional jeans and provided comfort off the motorcycle, none of our staff of MOrons have put them to the ultimate test until now. If you’ve read my recent 2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R/RS Review, you know I did a little pavement surfing on an Andalusian highway. Naturally, to further my embarrassment over my first crash at an introduction since 2015, I need to document the condition of every piece of gear that contacted the pavement so that you, dear reader, can judge the efficacy of the protection provided by my riding kit. The short version is that the Alpinestars Copper 2 Denim Pants sacrificed themselves so that my legs could escape unscathed. 

MO Tested: Alpinestars Copper Denim Pants

2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R/RS Review – First Ride

Shop for the Alpinestars Copper 2 Denim Pants here



Fresh off of winning the 2022 MotoAmerica King of the Baggers championship, Indian has gone and done it – Indian is offering a super-exclusive opportunity to actually buy yourself a Challenger RR. This is an exact replica of the bike Tyler O’hara used to win the KotB championship. Yes, an exact replica. Meaning if you had the skill that Tyler has, you could go and win bagger races with it. This is a full-on, non street legal, racing machine that just happens to look like an Indian Challenger (well, loosely…).

How exclusive is this? Indian is only making 29 of them, in honor of O’Hara’s racing number. Hurry up and buy them before his competitors do. What’s the price, you ask? Oh, just a healthy $92,229. The number play with O’hara’s race number is thick, but there’s a number of you out there that have mentioned that Indian should make one of these available to the public. Well, be careful what you wish for.

If you’re one of the many who can’t fork over a cool 93-large for a race bagger, or even worse, if you’re customer number 30 on the list, the next best thing is to read my review (and watch the video) of my time spinning a few laps on the sister bike, piloted by racing legend Jeremy McWilliams.

Check out the full press release below.

My love for the KTM 790 Duke has been well documented on MO, but the reality is that had KTM been a little less tight-lipped when I was laying down my hard-earned cash for the bike, I might never have owned it. Instead, an 890 Duke R would probably be parked in my garage. That doesn’t lessen my attachment to the 790, but it helps to explain my desire to squeeze as much power out of the parallel-Twin as I can, while maintaining its social acceptability on exhaust sound. (OK, maybe being mocked in the comments when the Akrapovic slip-on resulted in slightly lower peak power has a little to do with my search for power, too.) Regardless, my unspoken goal for my performance modifications has been to get as close as possible to a stock 890’s mid-range power. From the moment Rottweiler Performance released its Rally Edition Full Intake System for the 790/890 Adventure, I’ve been salivating at the prospect of installing an adapted version on my Duke. Well, with the release of the Rottweiler Performance Intake System for the KTM 790/890 Duke, that wait is over, and man, does it kick some butt. 

KTM 790 Duke Project: Building A 790 R

Shop for the Pro Version Rottweiler Intake System For The KTM 790/890 Duke here

Shop for the Race Version Rottweiler Intake System For The KTM 790/890 Duke here

What’s in the kit?

The Intake System for the KTM 790/890 Duke is a complete replacement for the Duke’s airbox, and it comes in two functionally identical varieties: PRO (plastic in a choice of black or orange) and RACE (in gloss or matte carbon fiber). The system is designed to act as a single velocity stack, funneling the air from the huge surface area of the foam off-road filter straight to the throttle bodies. Now, the beauty of OEM EFI is that simply adding a Rottweiler intake can have the fuel mixture requirements automatically accounted for by the oxygen sensors – even with a stock exhaust. While I didn’t test this on my bike, Rottweiler claims that its 790 Adventure test mule gained 9 hp with the intake only. However, my Duke was already modded with an Akrapovic slip-on with the quiet baffle removed, a Rottweiler Power Plate intake kit, and a Dynojet Power Commander V, running a custom map, as the starting point of this phase of modifications. Although the fueling with my current setup was spot on, my quest for power dictated that I toss the entire airbox, and its accompanying weight, in favor of the carbon fiber Rottweiler unit. 

In honor of the beginning of the 2023 racing season, MotoAmerica, North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series, has agreed to give two lucky entrants a subscription MotoAmerica Live+ for the 2023 season and a pair of three-day passes to the MotoAmerica event of the winner’s choice. For those who don’t know, MotoAmerica is officially sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), and its racing series features seven classes of motorcycle road racing: Medallia Superbike, Supersport, SportTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Yuasa Stock 1000, REV’IT! Twins Cup, Mission King Of The Baggers, and Mini Cup by Motul. The 2023 calendar features 10 full weekends of the best roadracing to be found on the continent. While it’s always preferable to see racing in person, most of us don’t have the time to travel the country to attend every event. MotoAmerica Live+ makes it possible to stream six to eight ours of coverage per day for each race weekend. This means fans can watch practice, qualifying, racing, and special features from the comfort of their couch.

“MotoAmerica Live+ has proven to be very popular with our fans, especially so as the 2023 season promises so much excitement and is just around the corner,” said MotoAmerica COO Chuck Aksland. “We will start with the Daytona 200 on March 11 and Live+ will be the only place where our fans who can’t make it out to the races can watch it live. Last year’s 200 was thrilling from start to finish with Brandon Paasch winning the race by just .007 of a second and, with Daytona historically producing close finishes, we’re expecting more of the same this year.”

MotoAmerica Live+ gets rolling March 9-11 with the only live coverage of all the MotoAmerica action from Daytona International Speedway, including the 81st running of America’s most historic motorcycle race – the Daytona 200. In addition to the 200, MotoAmerica Live+ subscribers will also get to watch action from the opening rounds of the REV’IT! Twins Cup, Mission King Of The Baggers, and Roland Sands’ Super Hooligans National Championship.

Indian Motorcycle and Jack Daniel’s have once again partnered together for a limited edition model. Developed once again in partnership with Klock Werks Kustom Cycles, the latest model is based on the Indian Chief Bobber Dark Horse, and will be limited to a production run of just 177 motorcycles worldwide.

Like the previous models, the 2023 Jack Daniel’s Limited Edition Indian Chief Bobber Dark Horse comes in an exclusive custom paint scheme. For the first time, however, the Jack Daniel’s connection goes further than simple branding: the Super Graphite Metallic paint itself is mixed with Old No. 7 whiskey.

The dark paint is offset by the Indian Motorcycle Script “I”, giving it a throwback look, while the non-machined cylinders and heads, Cloud Silver painted rockers and pushrod tubes help create a raw metal look.

Mechanically, the Jack Daniel’s model is similar to the regular Chief Bobber Dark Horse. It remains powered by a Thunderstroke 116 engine with a claimed peak output of 120 lb-ft. of torque at 2,900 rpm. The steel tube frame, cast aluminum subframe, telescopic forks, preload-adjustable dual rear shocks, and brakes are all identical to the regular model.

The Harley-Davidson vs. Indian rivalry is a great American classic on par with the likes of Army vs. Navy, Lakers vs. Celtics, Ford vs. Chevy, Pepsi vs. Coke, and even…Google vs. Bing? Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the point. Harley and Indian have been at each other’s throats going back over a century, save for a 50-odd-year pause in the middle when Indian originally closed its doors. But when Polaris bought the keys to the palace and opened the doors again, the fight resumed as intense as ever when the FTR750 flat tracker started beating Harley’s legendary XR750. Repeatedly.

Naturally, the rivalry continued over to the asphalt as the King of the Baggers class – originally slated to be a one-off race at Laguna Seca – became such a hit that MotoAmerica tapped it to become part of select rounds on the calendar. With that, the game was on. Harley struck first, winning the 2021 championship with Kyle Wyman aboard the Screaming Eagle Factory Road Glide. Then, in 2022, Indian struck back, taking the title with Tyler O’Hara aboard the Challenger Bagger.



Impressive, yes, but it’s hard to completely understand what goes into these baggers to make them do what they do – hence why Indian invited Yours Truly to come see the 2022 championship-winning Challenger baggers, and even take one for a spin.