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Cafe racer motorbikes storm Japan

Japan may be best known, at least among motorcycle enthusiasts, for its sport bikes. But as we found at the Tokyo Motor Show this year, Japanese motorcycle manufacturers are capable of producing all kinds of motorbikes. And to our delight, that includes cafe racers.
Along with the myriad electric bikes, dirt bikes, crotch rockets and scooters, the halls of Tokyo's Big Site convention center this year were full of the retro-infused rides we love. Chief among them was the Bolt (shown above) which Yamaha exhibited alongside their various electric two-wheelers, sporting a delicious metallic blue paintjob, inverted handlebars and hanging mirrors, machined metal bits, blacked-out trim and saddle brown leatherwork.
Honda was also on hand with a new EX version of its '70s-style CB1100 retro roadster in sinister and low-key matte black. And this was our first chance to check out BMW Motorrad's new birthday present to its 90-year-old self, the R NineT, a model recently unveiled at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan. But one of the most amusing retro rides we came across was the Honda Monkey Limited, a mini bike that makes the new 125cc Grom (which was displayed alongside it) look positively gigantic.

BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe caught without cladding

Like it or not, the majority of BMW 3 Series variants are on their way out, and the 4 Series models are hotly embroiled in the testing needed to replace them. We've now driven the basic 4 Series, seen spy photographs of the 4 Series Convertible and both versions of the M4 and today we get a better-than-ever look at the 4 Series Gran Coupe.
And, mostly dependent on your personal disposition towards four-dour coupes, that look should be a pleasant thing. The long, swooping Gran Coupe may be roughly similar in size to the related 3 Series GT, but it has been sculpted with beauty in mind rather than crossover function. We expect that those details still hidden by the body cladding here, mostly front and rear, can be filled in by simply remembering what the standard 4 Series looks like and squinting your eyes a bit. Subtlety is thy name, BMW variants.
As for the mechanicals, well, we expect to have the very same greasy bits under the hood and beneath the car that are found in the 4 Series lineup, too.

BMW almost ready to roll out new 2 Series cabriolet

The 2 Series is a relatively new member of the BMW family, having been spun off of the 1 Series (itself one of the company's youngest lines) just last year. So far the range has been split between the Active Tourer and the 2 Series Coupe, but soon the latter will breed a new compact convertible to take the place of the outgoing 1 Series cabriolet, and here we have our best look at it yet.
Spied with the most minimal camouflage and its top down while undergoing its final rounds of development testing, this pre-production 2 Series cabrio looks about ready for show time. While the Active Tourer is based on a different front-drive platform, this convertible is, as you might have guessed, essentially a 2 Series Coupe with a folding fabric roof. That means rear-wheel drive (or potentially all-wheel drive if BMW extends its availability from the coupe to the convertible) win either 228i or M235i specification - both of them turbocharged, the former with a 240-horsepower, 2.0-liter four and the latter with the 320-hp, 3.0-liter inline-six.
Considering that BMW got an approximately $8k premium for the 1 Series convertible over the coupe, expect the 2 Series cabrio to start at a little over $40k for the 228i and top out at around $53k for the M235i xDrive convertible. That is, assuming BMW offers it in that top spec, because at that rate we're getting perilously close to the $54,900 base price of the 435i convertible.