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.
News that Suzuki plans on returning to the MotoGP Championship in 2014 should be old information for dedicated Asphalt & Rubber readers, and the Japanese company’s inline-four race bike was already spotted doing test laps last year by the eager eyes at Cycle World. Well the American print-mag has another set of eyebrow-raising high-quality photos of the 2014 Suzuki GSV-R to mull over from the Motegi race track, along with some technical insights provided by the venerable Kevin Cameron.
MY EYES, OH GOD, MY EYES!!!
I’m sorry, but that’s farking hilarious!
This is awesome! love the sense of humor. This shop seems like it’s nothing but great people. Check out their facebook page- “Team London the 2 Legged Pit Bull”. Looks like they have some side projects going on as well. Great work Moto Corsa!
nice…
Those shoes are FABULOUS!!!
You ‘re starting to scare me a little !
I showed my wife, she now likes A and R a little better now, in the past she has accused me of spending too much time with my other girlfriend moto GP
wow that’s funny!!! Glad i ride an RSV4 cause thats kinda embarrassing!! lol…
I have to admit, my opinion of the entire Ducati brand has improved because of the humour of this campaign.
LMFAO!! dont think there is any thing more to say….
I thought it was obvious already, but apparently someone felt the need to illustrate why pinups have always been female. Kudos to the guys at Motocorsa for having the guts to do this.
Did anyone notice the writing on the wall? ….. “All cracks leak”
Hidden meaning there do you think???
Well, the girl is mighty hot… the bike is sexy. I chose not to see anything else.
I know Arun and the Motocorsa folks It hurts my eyes but its funny as hell. Nice work and Kylie, thanks for making it palatable
Need to add a “NSFW” tag or your eyes!
What girl ??
Why oh why!!!!! Really??????
WTF!!!!!!!!!
I’m 1 click away from deleting A&R from my faves… Seriously…..WTF!
That is soooo funny! That took a lot of balls…so to speak. I am a huge fan of self deprecating humor. This is perfect and certainly more entertaining than waiting for Ducati to be up front at a Moto GP race. Kudos to whoever thought this up. Bravo!
Hilarious. You gotta love humour.
Supercross riders know how to do this better.
Miss Supercross and Baggett photo shoot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI0F1C8YuNc&feature=player_embedded
I love off the wall humor…even if it does burn my eyes.
Ugh, what has been seen cannot be unseen, aaahhhh …
ACE
Does this bike make my butt look big?
PLEASE take this down!!!!!!!!!!
Hej @karinadelskold! Är det typ så här du vill att vi ska göra? =) Kram! http://t.co/6L6R0umX
Ummm…how dare you, they, and myself for clicking on this link.
@TimM: “It’s not the bike, dear.”
But my favorite answer-I-cannot-utter is “At your age, what does it matter?”
epic fail, im gay now
http://t.co/yZUcGseS
Equal-opportunity sexual objectification: http://t.co/DRa5J4Fh /via @joestump:@b6n
Thank you so much for this! it’s nice to see it go the other way for once :)
I love this for inverting a meme: http://t.co/S14RgWoL The whole "drape-a-scantily-clad-woman-over-it" is very, very tedious indeed.
I hope some of you guys are trying to be as funny as these pictures, otherwise you should go to your local GP to see if they’ll sort you an appointment with a surgeon to get the sticks removed out of your butts!
my vote still goes for the models on the left… consider me old fashioned
Fantastic, I cryed from laughing soo much, thanks guys and thanks for keeping the bimbo’s off the bikes on this site.
Nicely done.
Haha! Someone did the "menups" for motorcycle babe pics. Thanks @WpgCycleChick for the hot tip: http://t.co/XUwnxV7a