#2017

Back in April we noticed the Star Motorcycles website was being redirected to Yamaha’s website, and we broke news with an official response from Yamaha that its Star Motorcycles brand was being reabsorbed into Yamaha’s street lineup now split into four segments: Sport, Super Sport, Sport Heritage, and Cruiser.

Muscle bikes are as American as, well, the V-Twin engine. Both are elemental designs stripped down to their bare essentials. Victory Motorcycles has chosen to combine the two in the new Octane to create its vision of the future of American Muscle. Going against the image that muscle bikes need to have huge engines, the Octane steps onto the scene with a mere 1179cc displacement.

At last year’s 2014 EICMA, Husqvarna displayed two concept models, the Vitpilen and Svartpilen. At that time both were referred to as 401s, leaving us to speculate that the models will be powered by KTM’s 390 Single found in the RC390 and 390 Duke. Joining the 401 models this year are a Vitpilen 125 and a Vitpilen 701 Concept. Outside of these minimalist announcements Husky is very hushed about its concept models other than to confirm that the company is committed to fulfilling its promise for an expanded street model range.