It’s showtime!
It’s that time of the year again when manufacturers show their hands and new models start to brighten up our horizons. Not so long ago there was a whole different feel to this process that typically revolved around either the EICMA or Intermot shows, at which new machinery would make its debut… but things are changing.
In this issue alone you’ll find a whole raft of news on fresh models and I daresay there’s a lot more to come from many other marques. Some of it we already know about and we’re not allowed to tell-all just yet, but by the time this mag’s in your hands, you’ll know a whole lot more about what’s hitting the scene. Of course, not everyone’s as keen to tease us with what’s coming our way, and I only hope that some of the quieter brands are simply keeping their cards close their chest, rather than hiding empty hands. Time will tell.
In a dream world, every brand would release a new raft of metal every single season – but it takes years to develop a bike, let alone build one from scratch. We learned a bit about the development process of existing models recently, when Jeremy McWilliams gave us a bit of background behind how he helped develop this issue’s cover bike – the 1290 Super Duke RR. He reckoned that process took less than a year, which is definitely not normal, with most machines taking five years to build from scratch and three years for an update.
With those timeframes in mind, I’m sure you’re as concerned and sad as I am to be waving goodbye to the GSX-R1000 at the end of this year. It’s the last-surviving model in a family that’s powered many a memory for most of us over its 37-year reign. I only hope Suzuki’s got something up its sleeve that means we’re not waiting too long before the iconic lineage makes a worthy return. What’s mad is it only seems like yesterday that I was on the launch of that bike at Phillip Island. Gone are the days when you could bet on brands bringing fresh models out every so often, which I guess gives us all the more reason to celebrate when something exciting lands on our doorstep… such as the 2023 M 1000 RR. It looks pretty special and I hope the riding experience lives up to its looks. If you could have asked for any new machine in 2023, what would it have been? Or are you finding yourself pleasantly satisfied with the machines already gracing our markets? It’d be great to get your take, so don’t hold back from dropping us a line.