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.
Cool bike, but overpriced RT @Asphalt_Rubber: 2010 Honda VFR1200F MSRP Set at $15,999 – http://bit.ly/6ukw6o #motorcycle
Well, I guess some of them Honda people are a bit smarter than I give them credit for! I mean, yeah, they didn’t become the world’s biggest motorcycle brand by being dummies! But, as I squirmed, waiting for the VFR 1200 price, my personal thought was that $17k was too much and would turn off a lot of people. If a Honda costs as much as a BMW or Ducati, I’m buying European! So, Honda comes in at $16k – high enough to make me complain, but not so high that I rule it out entirely, ahhh the planning that must have went into that!! Luckily, I have 6 months to roll dice (to pick a bike) before it gets warm enough to ride one here!
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: 2010 Honda VFR1200F MSRP Set at $15,999 – http://bit.ly/6ukw6o #motorcycle
2010 Honda VFR1200F MSRP Set at $15,999 – http://bit.ly/6ukw6o #motorcycle
2010 Honda VFR1200F US MSRP Set at $15999: A few weeks ago we announced that the Honda VFR1200F would cost near.. http://bit.ly/5Xqtpv
After loosing my 5th gen VFR (my 3rd) and my ST1100 (my 2nd) to a house fire I have been looking for a replacement(s). This gen of VFR had been high on my list since I was not a fan of the VTEC but had a strong desire for another VFR. What really turns me off here is the tank size. At 5 gallons this thing is in no ways a sport-touring bike. Touring just doesn’t happen with only 5 gallons on board. When going up against bikes like BMW K series, Ducati Multistrada 1200, Kawasaki GTR1400, and others in the same price ballpark you had better bring something equal, or greater, capabilities. I don’t see that here. Even ignoring the small tank other features that should be standard are missing (adjustable windscreen, side cases/saddlebags, heated grips, traction control, etc)
As outrageous as it may sound, Honda needs to undercut the competition on price with this one if it wants to be competitive. I predict there will be plenty of 2010 VFR leftover next year to keep their DN-01 stablemates company in dealers backrooms.
16k It will have to be faster than my Blackbird to make that price fly
Ya ya ya . Thanks Honda!! I bought the yamaha Vmax 2009 which has a current 2010 MSRP of $19500. Luckily I bought first year for $1000 under msrp (17999). Best bike ever made.. V4 engines just Rock. I will buy this Honda because of the V4 and the fact that I can get it serviced anywhere!! The nearest Duc dealer is 72 miles away. The nearest BMW dealer 105 miles away. I wonder how far away the district guru who approves my warranty issue is? Thanks Honda for investing in my fun. Thats why I will buy Honda. Just for the record I own two aprilia motorcycles. I love them. The dealers suck. They have not invested in the computers or programs needed to service the bikes yet are allowed to sell them? Yes thats a question mark.. One of the dealers is a ford dealership/aprilia motorcycle dealer?? I go in and ask questions when I am in a bad mood just to watch them scramble..lol.. MSRP isn’t everything is my point!!!
I second Mike’s comment about dealers. I have a Honda dealer 1/2 mile away and several others within easy driving distance. I am interested in a Mana 850GT. The only Aprilia dealer in my mid-western city of just under a million people doesn’t even have a service department. He has made arrangements with an independent shop. No Ducati dealer in town any more and the BMW dealer visits three days a week from another town 95 miles away to truck bikes back for service. The next nearest BMW dealer is one state away. So you dance with the one that brought you. Years ago when traveling across country I started keeping track of car and bike dealers in small rural towns. Ford and Honda show up where no one else sets up shop. Honda is expensive and sometimes their models go on too long and become long in the tooth. But they have always been there and will likely remain for years to come. Maybe their conservative ways make business sense. When American bikes begin to fade from the scene Honda kept the sport alive. And they do come up with great bikes every once in awhile.
That said I’ve seen some rather ugly and/or strange bikes showing up on Honda show room floors. Rune and DN-01 for example. (My apologies if I stepped on someone’s toes) My dealer claims they sell but I have my doubts. I do sometimes wonder how Honda does it’s pre-production marketing surveys.
16 grand?
That’s horrid for a bike… -_-