The 2025 Moto Guzzi V7 range will sport several updates to bring it up to date with its contemporaries, along with the launch of a new V7 Sport. The V7 Sport receives the highest specifications, while the V7 Stone and V7 Special get several updates, too.
Firstly, all three variants share the same 853cc, tranversely-mounted, 90° V-Twin engine, which in now Euro5+ compliant. There is a 4% power increase, bringing the maximum to 66.4hp at 6,800 RPM, while torque increases from 72.9Nm to 79Nm. 85% of that maximum torque is available from 3,500 RPM.
2025 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone
The airbox’s volume increased 27% resulting in those power and torque gains. Piston cooling is also improved via an enhanced oil jet system.
The throttle has gone from a cabled system to a ride-by-wire system, opening up the possibility for ride modes. The V7 Sport has three modes: Sport, Road, Rain. The V7 Stone and V7 Special has only Road and Rain modes. The V7 Sport also receives a six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) for lean-angle sensitive ABS and traction control.
2025 Moto Guzzi V7 Special
Suspension and brakes on the V7 Stone and V7 Special remain unchanged, but the V7 Sport gains new preload-adjustable 41mm upside-down forks, and preload-adjustable twin shock absorbers at the back. The wheels on the V7 Sport are also lighter cast alloy, dropping 1.8kg off its weight compared to its siblings.
The 2025 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport also has dual 320mm floating discs, radial-mounted Brembo monobloc 4-piston calipers, and uprated master cylinder up front.
A switch from cable throttle to ride by wire enables the introduction of riding modes too, with the Stone and Special getting ‘Rain’ or ‘Road’ options, and the Sport getting an additional ‘Sport’ function. Ditching the old-school cable throttle means the V7 now gets cruise control too and has also allowed the use of more aggressive valve lift profiles, boosting performance.
The headlight is now LED, dumping the archaic halogen lamp. The switchgear blocks have likewise been revise to accommodate new functions including cruise control. There are also revisions to the side panels, rear mudguard, and exhaust.
Prices for all three 2025 Moto Guzzi V7 have not been revealed.
The Bata brand of footwear is a global phenomenon. It is so well engrained in the lives of so many in so many countries for so long that the population of almost any of those countries thought that Bata is a local brand. For example, Malaysians think it originated from Malaysia, Indonesians think that it began in Indonesia (as they do with everything, anyway), even some countries in Africa think the same, too. But did you know there were Bata tyres, too?
Yup, that picture above was taken in 1932. The gentleman on the left was Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and the driver was Hans Stuck, in an Auto Union race car. Auto Union was what became Audi later.
History of Bata
The Bata Corporation (Baťa in the Czech Republic and Slovakia) is a multinational footwear, apparel, and fashion accessories manufacturer and retailer of Moravian (Czech) origin, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The corporation is one of the world’s leading shoemakers by volume with 150 million pairs of shoes sold annually. It has a retail presence of over 5,300 shops in more than 70 countries across five continents and 21 production facilities in 18 countries. Bata is an employer to over 32,000 people globally.
A family-owned business for over 125 years, the company is organized into three business units: Bata, Bata Industrials (safety shoes) and AW Lab (sports style). Bata is a portfolio company with more than 20 brands and labels, such as Bata, North Star, Power, Bubblegummers, sprint, Weinbrenner, Sandak, and Toughees.
The T. & A. Baťa Shoe Company was founded on 21 September 1894 in the Moravian town of Zlín, Austria-Hungary (today in the Czech Republic), by three siblings: Tomáš Baťa, his brother Antonín, and his sister Anna. The Baťa family had been cobblers for generations. The company employed 10 full-time employees with a fixed work schedule and a regular weekly wage.
But Tomáš ran into financial difficulties almost as soon as the company was set up. So he decided to sew shoes from canvas instead of leather, which becme extremely popular. The company soon grew to 50 employees.
Tomáš was also active in seeking out new manufacturing techniques a-nd kept modernising his factory for mss production. By 1912, Baťa was employing 1500 full-time workers, plus another several hundred who worked out of their homes in neighbouring villages.
World War I
The company fortunately continued to do well when World War I broke out in 1914, as they secured orders from the military. In fact, Bata’s employees increased 10 times between 1914 and 1918.
However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up after the war, giving birth Czechoslovakia (and the Balkan states). The new country’s currency was devalued by 75%, demand for products dropped, production was cut back, and unemployment was at an all-time high. Tomáš Baťa responded to the crisis by cutting the price of Bata shoes in half. The company’s workers agreed to a temporary 40 percent reduction in wages; in turn, Baťa provided food, clothing, and other necessities at half-price. He also introduced one of the first profit-sharing initiatives, transforming all employees into associates with a shared interest in the company’s success (today’s equivalent of performance-based incentives and stock options).
Baťa also began to build towns and factories outside of Czechoslovakia and to diversify into such industries as tanning (1915), energy (1917), agriculture (1917), forestry (1918), newspaper publishing (1918), brick manufacturing (1918), wood processing (1919), rubber (1923), construction (1924), railway and air transport (1924), book publishing (1926), the film industry (1927), food processing (1927), chemical production (1928), tyre manufacturing (1930), insurance (1930), textile production (1931), motor transport (1932), sea transport (1932), and coal mining (1932), airplane manufacturing (1934), synthetic fibre production (1935), and river transport (1938). In 1923 the company boasted 112 branches.
But we are here to talk about Bata tyres, so let us carry on from there.
Bata tyres
In the 1930’s, tyres in Czechoslovakia were either overpriced imports or local high quality tyres. The high cost of transporting goods caused by the price of foreign tyres prompted Tomáš Bat’a to set up his own tyre factories.
In 1932, the first Bata tyres were used on the journey from Zlín to Luhačovice. The demand for Bata tyres grew rapidly, so Tomáš Bata built new factories and expanded production both in terms of the number of units and the breadth of the product range, displacing competing tyres from Czechoslovakia.
Unfortunately, 1932 was also the year when Tomáš Bat’a died after his airplane crashed during takeoff.
Then, in 1939, World War II broke out.
After The Great War
The Bata company’s assets in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland and Yugoslavia were confiscated and nationalised.
In 1945, the decision was taken that Bata Development Limited in Great Britain would become the service headquarters of the Bata Shoe Organisation. Now based in the West, Thomas J. Bata, along with many Czechoslovakian expatriates, began to rebuild the business.
Back in Czechoslovakia, the three largest tyre manufacturers agreed to merge and create a single brand. The three were Bata, Rubena, and Mitas, therefore birthing the brand Barum.
Barum continues to operate through the communist regime’s rule until 1992 when they signed a contract with Continental. Barum Continental became the second largest joint venture in the Czech Republic when they began operating on 1 March 1993.
As for the Bata, they continued to produce shoes the world over, and leaving the tyre business altogether.
KTM, GasGas, Husqvarna’s parent company, Pierer Mobility is now looking for a cash infusion. Things have gotten much more dire than expected, especially for the KTM brand.
The once proud Austrian manufacturer has since laid off jobs, fired four directors (one of them the grandson of KTM’s three founders), and restructuring the production. But nothing seems to work.
Just weeks after releasing their Q3 2024 financial report, Pierer Mobility released an “ad hoc announcement” saying, “The Executive Board is currently working on securing the financing of KTM AG, in particular on a bridge financing in the three-digit million range.” KTM is responsible for 95% of the group’s revenue but has seen a precipitous drop in sales. Adding to the hardship was Pierer Mobility’s acquisition of a controlling stake in MV Agusta and needing much resources to restructure it.
Another part of the statement says, “To this end, discussions are ongoing both with the core shareholder Pierer Bajaj AG and with existing financial creditors. The aim is to agree a standstill agreement with the financial creditors involved for the duration of these discussions as basis for the financial restructuring.”
Is Pierer Mobility looking to sell a controlling stake to or a further merger with Bajaj? Bajaj and Pierer had been working together for many years, producing the smaller range of bikes of 125cc, 200cc, 250cc, and 390cc. The 390 platform is the best-seller the world over. Bajaj is one of the world’s biggest motorcycle makers hence has huge resources, so who knows.
Have you been looking for a new bike but can’t decide on which one? Well, we have a really good reason to entice you to buy a Kawasaki instead of anything else.
In fact this is your best chance ever to buy one Kawasaki and stand a chance to get another one for free!
In collaboration with AEON Credit, Kawasaki Malaysia has announced the AEON “Buy & Win” Campaign, and this is where you stand a chance to win an exclusive Grand Prize worth RM36,000 and plenty more.
All you have to do is walk into any of the 13 designated Kawasaki All-Star Dealers around the country (find a list of the dealers here) and pick a Kawasaki model that suits you and your riding style.
You don’t even have to worry about buying the chosen bike in cash because AEON Credit will give you a loan for it, as long as you meet their requirements that is.
All you have to do is select any Kawasaki model, submit a completed loan application form with all the required supporting documents to AEON Credit (the dealer will do the submission for you), and cross your fingers and pray for good luck.
You don’t even have to worry about winning the Grand Prize because even the second and third prize is fantastic already. Here’s a list of what you stand to win:
1. Grand Prize: 1 x Modenas Versys 650
2. 2nd Prize: 1 x Modenas Ninja 250
3. 3rd Prize: 1 x Modenas Ninja Z250
4. Consolation Prize: 2 x Action Camera
5. Consolation Prize: 3 x Riding Jacket
6. Consolation Prize: 5 x Full-Face Helmet
If you are wondering why you should even bother participating because you usually don’t have any luck in lucky draws, well there is also another great reason!
If you buy a Kawasaki through AEON Motorcycle Financing, you stand to obtain a margin of finance of up to 90% for a tenure term of between one to seven years! That’s a great chance for you to manage your cash flow for other great things you can do with your new Kawasaki, such as plan and save for a road trip to Thailand with your loved one.
So there has never been a better time to buy a Kawasaki, and the great thing about this campaign is that it is open to all Kawasaki models.
This campaign only runs till the end of the year and comes to a close on December 31st, so if you have been looking for that one great opportunity to reward yourself, there has never been a better time!
For more information regarding this campaign including the terms and conditions, click here.
A total of 37,708 summonses were issued to motorcyclists by the Road Transport Department (Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan/JPJ) in the 13 days since the start of Ops Khas Motosikal (Motorcycle Special Operation) on 1 November 2024.
JPJ Director-General, Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli said the fines were issued following inspections carried out by his department on 136,067 motorcycles. The department also seized 1,014 motorcycles involving various offences such as no insurance and road tax as well as excessive modifications by motorcycle owners.
“Ops Khas Motosikal will continue for two months until December nationwide. This continuous enforcement is important to educate and ensure the safety of road users.
“So we would like to remind all road users to comply with all the regulations set because strict action will be taken against those who violate the law,” he said after the Terengganu State Level MyLesen B2 Program at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Padang Midin here, earlier today.
Meanwhile, Datuk Aedy Fadly said the MyLesen program is the government’s commitment and continuous effort to help the low-income group (B40) improve their socio-economic status and household income through job opportunities.
He said that owning a class B2 driving license benefits the community, including in Terengganu, by facilitating movement to manage local economic activities, thereby increasing household income.
Brembo is virtually enjoying a monopoly in MotoGP as all teams use their braking solutions. But the Italian brake specialists do not rest on their laurels and launched the new 2025 Brembo MotoGP brake caliper.
However, Brembo said that teams can carry on using the 2024 GP4 caliper, lettng them choose which one fits their needs.
The current GP4 caliper has been in use since 2020, without any complaints from riders and teams. In any case, Brembo probably thinks that a new caliper is needed due to increased aerodynamic forces and ride-height devices. In other words, future proofing.
The new caliper has a longer fixing distance of 130mm compared to the 108mm of the old GP4. The extra size is needed to fix bigger pads. As such, the new caliper increases to 847g compared to 810g.
A statement from Brembo said: “An oversized pad, capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures, ensures constant and powerful braking even in the most critical situations. The increased braking area, combined with optimised contact pressure, allows for greater braking efficiency, permitting riders to manage the bike with extreme precision.
“The increased exchange surface, on the other hand, promotes rapid heat disposal, improving pad wear and ensuring consistent performance over time. The caliper/foot fixing wheelbase has been reinforced to offer greater stiffness and resistance to braking torque, improving stability and precision.
“Finally, the position of the bleeder has been studied to make brake bleeding and maintenance operations as easy as possible, allowing mechanics to work quickly and efficiently.”
