#Eicma2016

Ducati, being a historic Italian brand, always saves up the reveals of its new bikes for the EICMA show in Milan, and this year is no different. We saw no less than six new models from the Borgo Panigale firm, including two new bikes from the Scrambler series; the Cafe Racer and Desert Sled, a smaller-sized Multistrada called the Multistrada 950, two new Monsters; the Monster 797 and Monster 1200S and the most exotic Ducati streetbike ever, the 1299 Superleggera with carbon fiber frame, subframe, swingarm and wheels.

At EICMA 2016, Yamaha unveiled the T7 concept; a prototype for a future adventure model we believe will slot beneath the Super Ténéré. Inspired by the XT600Z Ténéré, launched 33 years ago at the Paris Show, the T7 concept looks to draw on many of the attributes that helped Yamaha sell over 61,000 units of the XT600Z between 1984 and 1994 – mainly its simplicity and race-bred pedigree.

At EICMA 2016, Yamaha’s YZF-R6 made its European debut. No big whoop for those of us in the U.S., since we already saw the new Yamaha at the bike’s world debut last month at AIMExpo. Of course, the Europeans had to have the last laugh, and today at EICMA Yamaha announced it would be returning to the World Supersport championship as a factory effort in 2017, and debuted the WSS-spec R6, too.

Hot on the heels of its popular new Africa Twin model introduced last year comes a lighter-weight adventure-focused motorcycle from Honda, the CRF250L Rally. The Rally is based on the updated-for-2017 CRF250L and inspired by the factory CRF450 Rally machine raced in the Dakar by Team HRC.

In stark contrast to the all-asphalt Scrambler Cafe Racer introduced by Ducati today at EICMA 2016, comes this, the Scrambler Desert Sled. Taking its roots from the Scrambler Urban Enduro – which is discontinued for model year 2017 – the Desert Sled is perfect for those who wish they were Malcolm Smith and rate On Any Sunday as their favorite movie of all time.

With a pocketful of spy shots as proof, we sleuthy MOrons proudly scooped the news a few months ago that Ducati was planning to produce a new air-cooled Monster ( 2017 Ducati Monster 800 Spy Shots). Today at EICMA, Ducati presented the production version. The 2017 Monster 797 borrows the air-cooled 803cc L-Twin from Ducati’s Scrambler models and repackages it for use in its newest naked.

Ducati capped off its 2016 EICMA presentation with a limited-edition 1299 Superleggera, packaging its powerful 1285cc Superquadro engine almost entirely in carbon fiber. The 1299 SL uses the lightweight material for its structural components, which is a first for a production motorcycle (albeit limited to 500 units), for a claimed wet weight of 364 pounds (368 for European models). The price for what Ducati calls the “quintessence of motorcycling?” £72,000 or $89,225 US. But you can put away your checkbook because Ducati says all 500 units are already sold out.

Just announced at EICMA 2016 is the 2017 Ducati Scrambler Cafe Racer, Bologna’s interpretation of the genre created by the British. Unlike the original Scrambler, the Cafe Racer is all about pavement pounding and racing from one coffee shop to the next, just as the Ton Up Boys would have done 50 years ago. With that in mind, the Cafe Racer ditches the 18-inch front wheel of its other Scrambler cousins and replaces it with a 17-inch hoop to match the rear. The Pirelli Scorpion tires are also tossed in favor of the road-oriented Diablo Rosso II – a 120/70-17 sits up front, and a 180/55-17 in the rear – for proper corner-carving abilities.

If you missed Ducati’s live-streaming event from Milan this morning, you missed a lot. According to CEO Claudio Domenicali, 402,000 Ducati fans saw the new model presentation on Facebook this morning. We expected most of the new models that were introduced; one we didn’t really is the new Multistrada 950.

It’s that time of year again: New Bike Season. We’ve already gotten a taste of what’s to come in 2017 thanks to the Intermot show in Cologne, Germany, and AIMExpo in Orlando last month, but when we really want to drool over what awaits us in 2017, EICMA is the show to pay attention to. No less than 30 companies will be making big announcements over the course of the three days that span Nov. 7-9, and our man Evans Brasfield will be on the ground in Milan covering the action as it happens. He’ll even be shooting some video footage we’ll post right here on these pages.

KTM has launched a microsite teasing a redesigned Duke for EICMA. The site, KTMDukes.com, created in September, shows a 34-second video and the phrase “How Duke are you?” with the promise of more information on Nov. 8, the first press day of EICMA.

We’re just days away from the 2016 edition of EICMA, the world’s largest motorcycle show. As usual, Ducati opens up the EICMA festivities with a presentation the day before the official media day, and you can watch it streamed live right here on MO on Nov. 7 at 10:30 am EST (7:30 am PST).

Within the past week, Ducati has published two videos on its YouTube page teasing two new Scrambler variants: the Cafe Racer and Desert Sled. The first video, published on October 11, teases the Cafe Racer model. The 14-second long video doesn’t reveal too much, obviously, other than a man in a dimly-lit garage standing next to the Cafe Racer, about to install its nicely-styled leather-wrapped seat onto the bike. Seeing as there’s hardly any light in the garage, it’s difficult to make out any features of the new Scrambler. However, the California Air Resources Board has already certified both the Cafe Racer and Desert Sled models, so we know both bikes are based on the standard 803cc Scrambler and not the smaller Sixty2. Given the Cafe Racer name, it’s reasonable to expect lower bars, possibly a solo seat with a cowl over the tail, and street-biased tires on 17-inch wheels instead of the knobs and 18-inch front wheel on the standard Scrambler.

After teasing us with a couple of videos, Honda announced its adventure-styled scooter will enter production bearing the name “X-ADV” ( which we were the first to report). The X-ADV was first previewed by the City Adventure concep t at last year’s EICMA show so it’s no surprise that the production model will make its debut at this year’s show in Milan.

When a press release for one of our favorite motorcycles starts with “The New Brutale 800 changes completely to remain loyal to itself,” we can’t help but think, “OK,  MV Agusta, we’re pretty immune to hyperbole here at MO, but you’ve certainly piqued our interests.” Last week, a leaked video had already stirred the  Brutale 800 pot. So, the time has come to find out what MV has up its sleeve?