April Fools round-up

IT’S the one time of year when fake news is okay and the bike and car world made the most of it over the weekend.

This years’ crop of automotive April 1st stories ranged from the ridiculous to the oblique, including a motorcycle steering wheel, horn emojis and a two-wheel-drive R1200GS that either is or isn’t an April Fools depending on where you read about it.

Triumph’s HandleWheel ‘replaces conventional handlebars and has been designed to make Triumph’s motorcycles easier for car drivers to adapt to,’ according to a release from the firm.

A link for more details led to a web page informing readers ‘You’ve been April Fooled!’

Honda’s horn emojis offer a ‘full range of expressive horn sounds connected to a few familiar faces’ according to a video from the firm.

BMW Motorrad kept it deadpan with a press release about a new two-wheel drive R1200GS ‘xDrive Hybrid’ using regenerative braking to power the front wheel and do away with one brake disc.

At least one UK motorcycle website appears to be taking the story seriously. Meanwhile the US site UltimateMotorcycling.com begins by saying 'This is no April Fools’ but an Editor's note adds 'Yes, it was an April Fools’ Day joke. Well played, BMW Motorrad.'

Other sites seem to have ignored the story. 

Visordown asked a BMW spokesman to confirm it was an April Fools and was told: ‘The timing would suggest that. And you aren’t the first to ask!’