Triumph will produce a 250cc twin-cylinder naked bike for the Asian market in 2014, according to the director of the brand’s Indonesian distributor.

Rudhy Siswanto, president director of PT Global Motorcycle Trading, says the new small-displacement Triumph will be produced at the company’s new factory in Narasapur, India, outside of Bangalore which is set to begin operation in 2014.

“The factory in India is focused on small engines. If it is realized, we’ll bring it in Indonesia, because of the potential and not losing competitiveness to other motors of the same same 250 cc engine capacity, ” Siswanto tells Kompas Otomotif.

Rumors of a small-displacement model have been around since Triumph announced plans to enter the Indian market in 2011. The sketch above has been floating around the Internet for nearly as long. Previous rumors had the new model equipped with a single-cylinder engine as the spiritual heir to the Triumph Tiger Cub, but Siswanto says it will actually be a Twin. Continue Reading »

When Harley-Davidson first entered the Indian market, The Motor Company decided to import existing models as complete knockdown kits for final assembly in the burgeoning market. Considering the average motorcycle in India has a displacement smaller than 200cc, it was inevitable Harley-Davidson would eventually have to produce a small-displacement model rather than rely on its existing product line which currently lists the 883cc sportsters as its smallest bikes.

Despite a denial last May by Harley-Davidson India’s Managing Director Anoop Prakash, it now appears Harley-Davidson is set to announce a new small-displacement model to be produced in India at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo next February.

According to a report by IndianCarsBikes, the new made-for-India Harley will be equipped with V-Twin with a displacement close to 500cc and will use locally-sourced components which should keep the price somewhere between 300,000 to 400,000 Indian rupees ($5,500 to  $7,300 in U.S. dollars.) Continue Reading »

Yamaha has been rumored to be working on a 250cc sportbike for quite some time now. In fact, the other three members of the Japanese Big Four have launched new models in the small-displacement segment in recent years, but none of these new generation small-displacement bikes bear Yamaha‘s crossed tuning fork logo.

That may change by 2014 however. After previously stating the company plans to focus on producing scooters for India, Hiroyuki Suzuki, managing director and chief executive officer of India Yamaha tells the Financial Chronicle a sporty 250cc model is on the way.

“We will focus on the scooters category for next two years, but in 2014 we will launch powerful sporty 250cc bike in the Indian market,” Suzuki tells the Financial Chronicle. “There is a good market for this premium segment which we would like to tap.”

Yamaha actually started India’s premium sportbike segment in 2008 with the 150cc YZF-R15 (pictured above). Yamaha updated the India-manufactured R15 for 2012 and expanded sales to Australia and New Zealand and, more recently, to Japan.

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Aprilia U.K. will offer a quick shifter as an optional add-on to the Aprilia RS4 125 entry-level sportbike.

Inherited from the Aprilia RSV4 R APRC, the quick shifter allows for clutchless upshifts without needing to close the throttle. While the racing and trackday applications for the quick shifter on the RSV4 R APRC are clear, on a beginner-level model like the RS4 125, it helps ease the learning curve for new riders.

There’s no word yet whether the quick shifter option will be offered in the U.S. when the Aprilia RS4 125 arrives later this year as a 2012 model. In the U.K., the quick shifter adds an extra 99 pounds (US$160) to the Aprilia RS4 125′s 3,999 pound (US$6,500) price tag.

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EICMA 2010: Aprilia RS4 125 Coming to US

Press release after the jump.

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