The MXGP of Pays de Montbéliard represents the nineteenth and final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing's Romain Febvre and Jeremy Van Horebeek, and Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP's Shaun Simpson and Arnaud Tonus.

This weekend Yamaha's MXGP riders will be racing at a typical French style motocross track that sprawls the hills of Villars-sous-Ecot, in France. It is a place that resonates well with Romain Febvre as it is the circuit that saw him claim his first ever Grand Prix win in the premier class - back in 2015. The Frenchman has been gaining momentum throughout the season and landed on the second step of the podium, for the second time this year, at the MXGP of The Netherlands last weekend. He is currently sixth place in the provisional Championship Standings, only 6-points shy of the recently dethroned world champion Tim Gajser. A top-five finish in the championship classification is still possible.

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A new Kawasaki Ninja 400 has been outed after the firm shot an advert for the motorcycle in Milwaukee, USA. While Kawasaki did its best to hide the undisguised motorcycles during the filming of the advertising, the whole caboodle was caught on camera.

The new 2018 Kawasaki Ninja 400 appears to be a replacement for the current Ninja 300. The number plate reads Ninja 400, giving away the name and capacity. The swingarm, fork and brakes look similar to the existing Ninja 300’s, but the bodywork is completely new.

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The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team starts the tenth MotoGP round with more determination than ever after a four-week abstinence from MotoGP racing. As the Monster Energy Grand Prix Ceské Republiky at the Automotodrom Brno is rapidly approaching, the team can hardly wait to get the show back on the road.

Maverick Viñales arrives in the Czech Republic in second place in the championship standings, five points from first, and with a great hunger to reclaim the number one spot.

Feeling refreshed after four weeks of training and spending time with family and friends, the young gun is ready to commence the title challenge in the second half of the championship, starting this weekend. He stood on the Czech podium once before in 2013, having secured second place in the Moto3 race. His best finish on a MotoGP bike in Brno is ninth place.

Teammate Valentino Rossi is also looking forward to stepping aboard his YZR-M1 again this weekend at the hilly circuit of Brno. Currently in fourth place, just ten points behind the championship leader, the Doctor has all to play for at a track where he holds a stunning record.

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Next year you’ll be able to buy a production Honda two-wheeler that doesn’t use petrol and that you’ll barely hear coming. Yes, they’re going electric. Honda’s president and CEO, Takahiro Hachigo, confirmed plans at a recent press meeting in Tokyo, Japan. He said two-thirds of the cars they sell will be electrified by 2030, focusing on hybrids using both conventional engines and electric motors, and using unique plug-in charging system. And convenient, quick-charging technology is coming to two wheels as well.

‘We are working on a highly-convenient system for electric commuters, which feature a detachable mobile battery that is easy to replace and/or recharge,’ said Hachigo. ‘We are planning to introduce some new models including an electric scooter in 2018.’ This is likely to be the Honda EV-Cub, a battery-powered version of the iconic step-thru’ with an electric motor in tis hub, seen as a concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show.

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Want to learn how to slide a motorcycle? Use a dirt-bike technique. Stick your left foot out if you want to power slide a motorcycle! Of course you can learn to slide a motorcycle by using many different motorcycles on variety of surfaces, but like any job there is a better or worse tool that you can use.

This article is about the best tool (dirt-bikes) on the best surface (dirt) to learn how to slide a motorcycle.

We’ve all seen motorcycle road racers leaving black rubber lines as they exit corners sideways and maybe wish we could experience that too. Fact is most good road racers cut their teeth on a dirt-bike and that’s why they’re so comfortable sideways on a road race bike. With a dirt-bike, anyone can experience sliding, which is one of the most thrilling and fun things you can do on a motorcycle, right up there with jumping.

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Sharing space at the top with some of the best motorcycle helmets you can buy today, the Schuberth C4 redefines the flip-up helmet and represents the new benchmark for touring and sports riders with the highest demands.

The Schubert C4 is unmistakable German engineering. Radical, compact shell design. Schuberth has again redefined the standards for premium modular touring helmets with the introduction of the Schuberth C4 motorcycle helmet.

The lean form of the Schuberth C4 Helmet has been extensively tested and aerodynamically optimized for both stability at speed and low weight to minimize fatigue on long tours.

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Honda’s Rebel 500 or CMX500 is a custom-styled alternative to the sporty CBR500R and naked CB500F. It uses the same 471cc parallel twin engine, with the same claimed performance of 49.6 horsepower (35kW) and 43Nm peak torque, with the latter figure shifted 1000rpm lower in the rev range than the other Honda 500cc class models.

The chassis is bespoke to the Rebel 500, with a steel tube double cradle frame continuing to loop round the back of the single seat, a steel tube swingarm, 41mm unadjustable Showa forks, Showa preload-adjustable rear shocks, and a 264mm single front brake disc with Nissin two-pot caliper and, of course, ABS.

Wheels are 16-inch front and rear, the fuel tank holds 11.2 liters, seat height is only 690mm and kerb weight is 190 kilograms. This makes the Honda Rebel 500 extremely compact and highly manageable – a small child could ride it, so nobody will have trouble finding their feet on the ground.

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The rumor mill suggests that Yamaha’s YZF-R3 will be updated next year.

And following the debut of the 2015-on YZF-R1 and this year’s revamped YZF-R6, the smaller YZF-R3 is due for a styling update.

Yamaha’s YZF-R3 changes – which will of course be mirrored in the fractionally smaller-capacity but otherwise identical YZF-R25 – are also expected to react to the release of Honda’s CBR250RR and the widely-expected CBR300RR derivative that’s likely to debut in 2018.

The Honda already boasts an upside-down fork and multiple riding modes, and there’s speculation the upcoming larger-capacity version – at least 300cc and possibly as large as 350cc – will get other upgrades.

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Ducati may be on the brink of another buyout as the Volkswagen Group looks set to unload the booming motorcycle business, but it does not seem to have distracted the men driving the famous Italian firm forward.

Ducati may have suffered a few ups and downs in their colorful 91-year history, but one thing they’ve always been is brave. And with an incredible V4 four-stroke engine about to rewrite the sportbike rule-book, Ducati just got even braver.

Ducati, under the guidance of CEO Claudio Domenicali, have managed to branch-out into new areas of motorcycling without diluting the brand. The Ducati Diavel and XDiavel, the Scrambler and the Multistrada have been big plays into parts of the market Ducati have not been famous for in the 21st century – and yet people can’t get enough of them.

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BMW have issued a major recall for all BMW R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure models manufactured between November 2013 and June 2017.

BMW say that the fork stanchion can suffer damage if subjected to ‘momentary high stress’, which can result in the fork tube coming loose. In worst case scenarios this can result in the fork becoming completely separated from the yoke, resulting in an immediate front-end failure.

It’s important to note that there are no known instances of this happening as a result of normal road use, but motorcycles which have been used extensively off-road, or which have experienced high-impact shocks to the front fork, could have sustained damage.

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