Australian Motorcycle News

“THE ROULSTONES ARE DOING SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T COME NATURALLY TO ANY PROUD RACING FAMILY” EVERY NOW AND THEN this sport reminds you just how brutally unforgiving it can be. One minute you’re racing Moto3 on the world stage, the next you’re packing up your life, staring down the reality that talent alone doesn’t guarantee a seat – or even a future. Jacob Roulstone knows that feeling all too well. At the end of 2025, the young Aussie was dropped from his Moto3 ride. No scandal. No meltdown. Just the cold reality of international racing: when contracts expire, seats get filled – sometimes by riders willing (or able) to pay amounts most families can’t contemplate. In Jacob’s case, it’s worth noting he earned his Moto3 opportunities on merit, racing as a…

“Expect a lot of twists and turns in this saga as the year unfolds. In the meantime, here are the facts of this controversy” Acoalition of Gippsland councils and tourism bodies believe Phillip Island is at real risk of losing the MotoGP round, either to another Australian venue or Asia, when the circuit contract comes up for renewal later this year. Bass Coast Shire Council, Destination Phillip Island, South Gippsland Shire Council and Destination Gippsland have launched a community petition urging the Victorian Government to urgently lock in the MotoGP beyond 2026. Brewing for several months now, securing the MotoGP round at Phillip Island – or even elsewhere in Australia – will become the major motorcycling issue of 2026. Expect a lot of twists and turns in this saga as…

Harley X440 T unveiled New version of Hero-made H-D single We’re still waiting for more news of Harley-Davidson’s promised low-cost ‘Sprint’ model – confirmed as a global entry-level offering in 2026 but still not officially unveiled – but in the meantime the company has taken the wraps off a new version of its Indian-made (that’s the country, not the bike brand) X440 single. The ‘X’ branding has already been applied to a trio of low-cost, foreign-made machines that wear the Harley-Davidson logo in selected non-US markets. In Australia we’ve had the X350 and X500, both liquid-cooled parallel twins manufactured in China by Qianjiang, the parent to QJMotor and Benelli among others, but in India the entry model is the X440, made by manufacturing giant Hero MotoCorp. Hero, uniquely, has a…

HONDA PREVIEWED ITS upcoming CBR500R Four and CB400 Super Four models at the CIMA show in China in September but despite putting the bikes on display it revealed few technical details and hasn’t released studio images. That’s changed with the publication of type-approval paperwork in China that provides key facts and figures about the fully-faired version. We already knew that Honda, which is building the two bikes at its Chinese Wuyang-Honda plant, has developed a new 500cc four-cylinder engine, confirmed in the approval to measure precisely 502cc. It’s paired to a transmission using a next-generation version of the company’s E-Clutch system, similar to that offered on the CBR650R but more compact, with the electromechanical actuators moved to the lefthand side of the engine. Showa suspension, Nissin four-pot brakes and a…

CFMOTO AUSTRALIA HAS announced the MY26 version of its 450CL-C cruiser, with a small package of comfort and usability changes, two new paint options and local availability listed as ‘now’. The 450CL-C remains positioned in the LAMS cruiser segment and continues its twin-cylinder layout, with updates focusing on rider touchpoints and minor bodywork revisions rather than major mechanical changes. A new seat design has a 55mm thickness and an extra 20mm of width on each side, aimed at reducing fatigue over longer rides and giving a more stable feel in the saddle.…

THE NEXT KTM sportsbike has been unwittingly revealed in Chinese type-approval documents filed by the joint-venture manufacturing operation of the Austrian brand and CFMoto. Pictured resplendent in production-spec orange paint, with an oversized ‘RC’ logo along with the ‘450’ to denote its engine capacity, the bike has sped from development to being production-ready as it’s largely the same as CFMoto’s 450SR-S. The 449cc parallel twin is the same 270-degree crank unit that debuted in the CFMoto 450SR, which also donates its trellis-style frame, while the single-sided swingarm comes from the higher-spec SR-S version. The specs on the accompanying approval document confirm the KTM is fractionally lighter than the CFMoto, at 168kg, and power slightly higher at 41.3kW against 38kW. It has WP suspension along with typical KTM angular bodywork.…