Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013. Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know. While we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque, and we’ve got the digits after the jump.
Mission Motors tweeted out something interesting just a moment ago, a link to a new website for Mission Motorcycles. Teasing there a photo of the Mission R, it would seem that the electric superbike that does competitive AMA Supersport lap times at Laguna Seca, is finally set to come to production. It seems we won’t know everything about the new Mission Motorcycles project until June 3rd, though we can speculate pretty accurately on what the A&R Bothan spy network has been telling us. Expect to see the Mission R electric superbike in street legal trim, honed even further than when we rode the machine back in August last year.
Stefan Pierer’s acquisition of Husqvarna continues to baffle me. You will note I say Pierer, and not KTM, bought Husqvarna, since the Austrian CEO used Pierer Industrie AG in the transaction as a means to help side-step European antitrust issues. After all, we can’t have Europe’s largest dirt bike manufacturer, nay largest total motorcycle manufacturer, gobbling up even more brands in the two-wheeled world. But, I digress. Developing three road bikes (Husqvarna Nuda 900, Husqvarna Strada 650, & Husqvarna Terra 650), with three more concepts waiting in the wings (Husqvarna Moab, Husqvarna Baja, & Husqvarna E-G0), it is with even more confusion that we learn that Pierer & Co. intend to kill the Husqvarna Nuda project and its other street siblings.
In case you missed the story last week, Kevin Schwantz is preparing to race in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race. For the race, Schwantz will be riding on a team formed by Yukio Kagayama, who in addition to having raced in the MotoGP, World Superbike, and British Superbike Championships, is also a previous Suzuka 8-Hour winner with the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (also joining the three-rider team Noriyuki “Nitro” Haga). Releasing a Q&A about his team’s Suzuka 8-Hour entry, Kagayama-san walks us through how the team came together, what equipment the riders will use, and his outlook on the team’s competitiveness.
A single-cylinder hooligan-maker, the KTM 690 Duke is 330 lbs (curbside without fuel) and 67hp of two-wheeled fun, and we hope that the Austrians bring the KTM 690 Duke R our way as well. While we are on the topic of things missing from KTM’s American line-up, a decent supersport is painfully obvious, yet we can’t see the folks at KTM following the paths of other brands. That’s where our friend Luca Bar comes to mind with his latest concept: the KTM RC4. Using the KTM 690 Duke platform and its LC4 engine, Bar has designed a super-single full-fairing sport bike that takes the Austrian company’s “Ready to Race” DNA and applies it to an idea that is not all that disimilar to the Ducati Supermono.
When I sat down with Claudio Domenicali at the Ducati 1199 Panigale R launch, the now-CEO of Ducati Motor Holding was still just the General Manager of the Italian motorcycle company. Four weeks after our interview though, Gabriele del Torchio would leave Ducati for Alitalia; and Domenicali, a 21-year veteran of both the racing and production departments of Ducati, would take his place at the top of Italy’s most prestigious motorcycle brand. After reading our interview from Austin, Texas after the jump, I think you will agree too.
That Yamaha is working on a seamless gearbox is no secret, with Yamaha’s test riders currently racking up the kilometers around tracks in Japan. Recently, however, Spanish magazine SoloMoto published an article suggesting that Yamaha has already been using its new seamless gearbox since the beginning of the season. My own enquiries to check whether Yamaha was using a seamless gearbox or not always received the same answer: no, Yamaha is not using the seamless gearbox. To test this denial, I went out to the side of the track on Friday morning at Jerez to record the bikes as they went by.
After a very public father/son break-up between Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr., a steroid-ring scandal involving Paul Sr., and finally a bankruptcy proceeding, it appears that Orange County Choppers is the impossible to kill multi-headed hydra of doom that we all knew it was, as the custom chopper shop is once again headed to the small screen and recruiting some talent, on and off the show. Looking for “someone who will work alongside Paul Senior, running the shop and helping build some of the best custom motorcycles in the world,” OCC says it will be back on television with a new show later this month. Please for the love of god, will someone give this man the attention he craves so dearly??! Or, just shoot us in the face.
We love us some concept bikes here at Asphalt & Rubber, and we have featured more than a few pieces of stunning design and imagination on our pages. Though, we can’t remember the last time one of these works of art were brought to us by a legitimate racing team, but that is what we have here with the Team Alstare Superbike Concept. A nod to the former Suzuki team’s return to the World Superbike Championship as the Ducati factory squad with Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, Alstare has enlisted the help of designer Serge Rusak of Rusak Kreaktive Designworks to ink the shape of its futuristic Superbike concept, while Tryptik Studios handled the 3D modeling prowess.
If you didn’t watch Thursday’s pre-event press conference for MotoGP at Jerez, it is worth a viewing right to the end (assuming you have a MotoGP.com account). Building off the news about the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out as gay in a self-written feature in Sport Illustrated, my good colleague David Emmett had the courage to inquire about the culture and acceptance of the MotoGP paddock for homosexual riders. For the sake of accuracy, after the jump is a full transcript of David’s question, as put to riders Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, and Scott Redding, as well as those riders’ responses to David’s inquiry.
I saw this a while back. While some my question Al Jazeera plus motorcycle racing as a viable combination, I assure them that this is a GOOD documentary and well worth the time. I really enjoyed it and thought the correspondent did a great service to the spectacle as well as wonderfully voicing his own appreciation for the sport.
Wonderful lil movie,loved it,thank you guys.
Proper documentary.. i think Fastest should change its title to “Valetino Rossi, The Fastest and Others”
Isle of Man TT: A Dangerous Addiction – http://t.co/tmciO6y2 #motorcycle
That was just awesome. wish i could just ride the course one day. thanks for sharing!
It’s a bit “dumbed down” for mass (ie: non motorcyclist) consumption, but still a very decent documentary.
I had the opportunity to exchange a few comments with the creator (who’s a genuine top bloke) of this doc some time ago on Youtube. He mentioned that they had hours of usable footage, mainly interviews, that didn’t make the final cut Al-Jazeera decided to put out. Shame, because I wanted to see much more. Good stuff.
Incredible, that was amazing. I would love to see Guy win it and hear the interview afterwards! These guys seem like they cheat death at every corner and keep pushing harder and harder. In my opinion this is what motorcycle racing is about, not for the money but love of the sport and event.
Thanks for putting that up for us, had not seen this video before.
I thought it was very well done.
If you’ve ever seen old footage of Sterling Moss, Phil Hill, on up to Nicky Lauda…that was the last of motor sports as utterly synonymous with a death defying stunt such as watching the Wallendas walking a tight rope with no net. ….until you watch this.
Real roads racing is death defying.
I must be honest, I don’t like it…but I must also say I’d like to see it. Because it’s more a death defying stunt of mesmerizing insanity than sport.
I’d like to see them NOT die, defy death, and scare the bejesus out of me in the process. Unfortunately, these guys do die and that outweighs the spectacle…and it ruins everything when it happens. I only think what an awful waste and when will it ever end?
“I only think what an awful waste and when will it ever end?”
I feel the same about the thousands who die from slipping and falling to their death in the shower each year. When will this madness we call hygiene end already?!?! Alas, for them the allure of cleanliness outweighs the risk of death that looms over each soapy bubble. I started MESS (Men Ending Stupid Showers) as a means of halting the madness, but it hasn’t put much of a dent into the horror. The pastime carries on with its participants regaling all who would listen about their deeds, along with sayings such as “cleanliness is next to Godliness”. It’s enough to make a grown dalmatian whine.
Sorry. Got a bit carried away there. ;-)
Not to make light of the pain you feel when a rider bites it. It’s a hard moment. That said, I totally understand their attraction to the sport (it IS a sport) and the fact that some — Guy Martin comes to mind — wouldn’t even be there were it not for the risk. We all have to assess what we determine to be “acceptable risk”. The guys who ride the TT simply have a higher threshold than those of us who peak in the shower or walking down a flight of stairs.
The “madness” assuredly will end at some time. When it happens, an important bit of freedom will have ended. And the Nanny State will have grown stronger.
Some people, are willing to put their lives at risk to live their dreams. To feel viscerally, alive.
If they unfortunately die, (I almost did riding) so be it. But I still love riding to this day – even more so.
Worry about your own life. If you can’t take the heat, stop walking into the kitchen.
Modern times glorifies the sissyfication of the male. What was that grouping- metrosexuals. All done to please the female? Thankfully there are those of us who do not need permission from our mother/wife to persue and enjoy life. You know, that glorious one act play in which everbody dies. Now for some more coffee…
there is several really good bits about the TT on youtube right now in addition to the ali jeez bit which is excellent.
My favorite is the juno reactor remix
Trane, thousands of people tuned in to see if you’d return from the crapper…and you did. What bravery you displayed. The excitement overwhelmed. You sir, are a wild man.
I get the TT and all that “don’t let death catch you not living” chatter bandied about.
The dudes who created the race never envisioned it on today’s bikes.
…and the racers will never object because they’re racers.
But it is madness now. Realize there is an opposing viewpoint not because people don’t “get living” or are risk-haters, but because it simply is too dangerous.
Ask yourself–would Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Rossi, Stoner, Hayden, ect… Ever run that race? Why? Because they’re cowards? They don’t know how to live? Hmmm.
“You sir, are a wild man.”
I know, but — shhhhh — please, don’t tell the kids. If they find out the truth, they’ll walk the edge. Maybe get an earring or something. Life would simply never be the same. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.
“The dudes who created the race never envisioned it on today’s bikes.”
You’re right, and the stats for rider deaths on the Snaefell Mountain course are fairly damning. That said, there was already an alarming number of deaths in the 1950s. It has always been a dangerous race, regardless of the vintage of bike. On today’s bikes, there really is no longer room for error.
” But it is madness now. Realize there is an opposing viewpoint not because people don’t “get living” or are risk-haters, but because it simply is too dangerous.
Ask yourself–would Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Rossi, Stoner, Hayden, ect… Ever run that race? Why? Because they’re cowards? They don’t know how to live? Hmmm.”
I’m not sure why you’re challenging me. I am fully aware of opposing views and I have no problem with them. That said, I also have no problem with people wishing to do things that the other 99.999% consider to be sheer madness. The problem isn’t the madness, the problem is legislation that would block people’s right to autonomy and to participate in that madness should they so desire. That’s all.
I think the TT is awesome, but I’d never participate. I’ve broken my body enough times over my lifetime, thanks, and have somehow managed to survive some pretty impressive stupidity. I’m very cognizant of having used up most of my 9 lives already and have started to wind down and plan for a more long-term habitation of Earth.
Whatever Lorenzo, Rossi, etc. do are based on their assessment of acceptable risk. It is no different than I said earlier in the thread. They have decided where and how they want to “live” and it’s on track. McPint likes both closed courses and street circuits. Do you seriously suggest that it’s in everybody’s best interest to deny that outlet of living for those who prefer it?
Freedom to choose is a precious thing. Don’t give that away lightly, as it’s a dangerous precedent to set.
Trane, well put. We agree to disagree.
I don’t want to harsh anybody’s buzz, but I wouldn’t be the least bit sad to see real roads racing go the way of the dinosaurs. I don’t think it would be the slippery slope to the loss of all our freedoms.
John McGuiness and all of the other racers who race the TT and other events like it are at the top of My heroes list – Rossi begins right after last place. Not because he’s not a tremendous talent but even he has said it’s too crazy for him to do. Which is ok.
The idea of safe racing is an oxymoron created by morons to justify there own failings or more precisely the lack of actions in the face of danger.
If you can’t understand that walking the fine line of insanity means more to some people than what you call life, thats ok too.
400,000x more people died of heart disease in the US last year than died on the TT – do you think history will remember 99.999% of them?
Joey Dunlop will live forever.
Hey, Chaz. :)
“I wouldn’t be the least bit sad to see real roads racing go the way of the dinosaurs. I don’t think it would be the slippery slope to the loss of all our freedoms.”
Seeing those events go the way of the dodo because of a lack of interest by the public and/or riders is one thing; having those events disallowed because somebody deems them too dangerous is something else entirely. There’s a huge difference between disliking a pastime and disallowing it at all.
Perhaps we should outlaw golf. “Over 50% of touring professionals have had to stop playing because of injuries.” (Cite: http://www.hughston.com/hha/a.golf.htm)
The agrument contradicts. On one hand you imply life itself is dangerous and then go on to list mundane things that could kill you. Your next point is that real roads racing is soooo dangerous (and it is) and that’s the key attribute that makes it better…because one can bask in the freedom of watching riders willing to accept the incredible risks involved.
But the riders are not at issue. They are heroic and passionate as well as insanely talented. No debate there. My opinion is for the sake of the riders.
The show will go one whether they live or die…is there a point upon which it doesn’t matter if they die, from a safety standpoint? I question that.–is there a point where something is simply too unsafe? Based on what I’ve seen I would say no. That point does not exist. That’s all I’m saying. That being the case, is the event to the detriment of these legendary riders who would never say “no” to any challenge.
I’m not in any position to shut anything down, not a metrosexual, not anti risk, anti freedom…but jezus, why put up hay bales, why bother? why wear leathers when you race it? why wear a helmet?
Can something be unlimitedly unsafe? I don’t have a position, except to say, “ya, apparently so.”
“Your next point is that real roads racing is soooo dangerous (and it is) and that’s the key attribute that makes it better…”
Dave, don’t put words in my mouth. I did not say that it was better. The appeal of street circuits is entirely subjective for both spectators and riders. Whether I think something is good or better is, frankly, not germane to the conversation of whether a pastime should be disallowed due to inordinate risk.
Life is, indeed, dangerous and death is the only entry in the logbook that is a 100% given. Understand that: It’s not a matter of if, it’s is a matter of when and how. I do not defend the TT or other extreme pastimes because they are better, but because I dislike anyone having dominion over how others can live life.
“is there a point where something is simply too unsafe? Based on what I’ve seen I would say no. That point does not exist.”
Maybe not in the context of an event or pastime itself, but individuals have their own thresholds at which time they’ll stop participating. Of course, some individuals will participate no matter what the danger.
“but jezus, why put up hay bales, why bother? why wear leathers when you race it? why wear a helmet?”
Maybe because these mitigate risk to a degree that makes the pastime more palatable to greater numbers. That should be obvious. For the people who want to ride helmetless in flip-flops, there are places where they can do it. Not my cuppa. ATGATT FTW.
From an anthropological perspective, this whole question of saving the poor lads from themselves is an interesting one. There are people who find deep and meaningful inspiration in those who dig deep and find the courage to carry out bold endeavors. Risk assessment and mitigation are vital tools to hone in life. I worry a lot about our current cultural model that seemingly prefers to decide for us what is best rather than focus on ensuring we have the tools — and the right — to make those decisions for ourselves.
Note: The conversation is about the TT, but the principles apply directly to all areas of life, from the pastime of driving at all (the WHO listed 1.26 million traffic-related deaths worldwide in the year 2000), our ability to seek out healthcare practitioners (e.g., the AMA has spent millions to discredit and destroy chiropractic), dietary supplementation and even food. In CA, “No to Prop 37″ companies spent $45 million to ensure Californians did not get GMO labeling on foods. In most areas, one cannot buy unpasteurized products such as milk or honey based on an irrational fear of bacteria. Near where I grew up, there are recreational trails that allow snowmobiles in winter and ATVs in summer, but NOT motorcycles.
Freedom to choose _is_ being diminished. Make no mistake about it.
I simply disagree. Nearly all other sanctioning bodies of organized motorsport racing around the world agree with my point of view.
A rider or two dying nearly every year at that event is simply unacceptable. Can you imagine if those odd applied to every stop on the MotoGP or world super bike calendar?…Laguna Seca and the legendary corkscrew where a few riders die each year… Huh?
…best to say, ‘ya it is too dangerous but I love it anyway.’ because making ragged points about freedom and risking life to feel alive and all the other tangents gets nowhere.
Too dangerous. Love it anyway. Good enough. Done