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.
That is the hotness!
Ok…these are HOT, I would HIT THAT any time…
Point made…BUT…I think they (Benelli) are starting to look as “FRESH” as MV AGUSTA…
Benelli, get to it. Your bikes altough still good looking and decent performers and hopefully better reliability as of late have look the same for like what ? 5-10 years now ?
They look and smell as fresh as a “one week old road kill in the middle of August in the Florida Everglades”….(x_x )
Just tired of all these naked bikes. Where’s the new Benelli Supersport machine ?
Back in 2003 with the Benelli Tornado.
@Jensen:
Yes, that’s another Gem that they haven’t bother keep polishing…a real shame, it’s FRIGGIN SEXY…(^_^ ) Total FAP Material. LOL.
Adrian does some good work, I mean just look at his latest creation: the MV Agusta F3.
The Guy…he got talent…nuff said… (O_O )
It did catch me by surprise he designed both…haaa, ain’t that a bee…(^_^ )
Nice, but what I want to know is where’s the Benelli 600 supersport with a hub center steered front end?
I love this thing and would own one today if I were sure it would get me home. It looks so good I almost don’t care. Had a good friend ride his up to Big Sur from L.A. last weekend and he said he had a great time riding it up there. He said he can’t wait to go back….to pick up his dead Benelli with a bad generator. Nice!
@Steve:
Yup, that’s one of the aches i have heard about…a darn shame…they gotta get their shiznit togheter.
I’ve always liked TNT might be in a position to get one quite soon…….
Tre 1130 owner here. Electrics isn’t an issue. Alternator shaft is. So when you pick yours up, have them show you the new shaft they put in, that’s it. All the rest/shiznit is bollocks, but of course, don’t stand still in LA traffic with a 163bhp SuperBike and think “oh they anticipated this in the factory, I’m gonna be all right”. As to new models, you’ve got a point there. But there are so few benellis around, they don’t tire. I’ve seen 6 benellis on the street (bar mine and those in the shop) during my life. And own the only Tre 1130 in my country – of 10 million people .. :)
@ Nerve:
Always good to hear a word coming from a real world user…would u mind telling more what is like to live daily with your Monster Tre ? What needs “fixing or improvement” to make it better ?
rearsets are slippery, robby moto has adjustable Tre rearsets. Lose the dunlop 207′s /50 and replace with Rosso2 180/55. Remove cat. that’s the easy stuff. Harder is a cure for injection on/off : difficult pointing to apex and hitting it coz when you ‘chain up’ inside the corner, it runs wide. I’m having a suspension specialist look a the rear shock : i’d like it to carve the road more, bike is seriously front biased and twitchy mid-corner on those occasions when u change your mind a bit :)
Triple sound is addictive, triumph can’t hold a candle in that department, they sound like jap fours.
youtube “benelli tnt hpe” for an accurate sound bite. She’s a keeper.
My daily ride is a TnT Cafe Racer. Benelli Officine exhaust and PC III. Denso alternator warranty replacement with shaft and gear was done at 5200 miles and now have almost 10k in 14 months. Absolutely the most thrilling, fun and fast bike in my garage. (Two Guzzi and a Norton Commando). The handling is perfect with a proper set up and tops out at 167-170, depending on conditions. You NEED this bike!
my mates got a TNT, I really hope theyve ironed out all the bugs in this years model!
bike wont hot start as the ambient temp sensor is right near engine, so ecu thinks its riding on the SUN
engine gears bind when hot causing damage to the engine
and other miscellaneous electrical gremlins!
the day they sort theyre riliability issues out will be the day I go and ride one back to back with a speed triple and take one of the bikes home with me.
Thanks Folks…always nice to hear from the REAL users not some paid{sponsored} motorcycle rag and some of their squid testers…
Jeram, when u say engine gears: Are u referring to the primary drive off the crankshaft or the transmission gears ?
I heard in some of the complaints some primary drives failing due to poor metalurgy and or alloy.
{i think like chewing each others cause the metal was too soft ?}
The ambient temp sensor is no big deal…most probably it can be relocated{then again, when u pay that much for this class of bike u think all this gremlims are non-existent…guess not…live and learn ?}
@ Joe & Nerve: Thanks for sharing your xperiences.
Jeram is referring to the alternator shaft thing. It does need to be replaced, but is the only structural thing. From 2008 it is not an issue any more. Saying things like “soft metal” is what really kills a brand. The subcontractors that Benelli uses are the same as the rest in their industry employs. RSV & Tre share switchgear. Do you really think someone goes like “hey, its benelli, lets make some money and use an inferior alloy, or that benelli says: our engines need to last only 10k, go easy on the topgrade. You think benelli has it’s own furnace, and machines its own axles ?? You think the ducati factory in thailand will source its lumps in italy ?
When hot, metal expands. An engineer made a mistake of a few micromillimeters. Can u say “TL1000″ ?
The factory doesn’t argue with you : they replace it, even beyond warranty. Your dealer takes a picture of the broken axle and attaches it to the spare parts email, that’s what happened with mine. Unlike ducati, benelli is a lot more lenient when it comes to warranty, both in terms of period and content. It’s the responsability of first owners to look into the alternator shaft thing. Second hand buyers need to have this checked, in writing, before they put their money down. That’s it.
Enjoy this while you wait for yours : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEQtkQA_EBw
Ah, that sweet sound….Come’on Lottery….(^_^ ) lol.
Thanks for pointing the specifics about it and what to look for and what years and what not.
I will say this tho…there’s a lot of STIGMA regarding this brand…specially for being chinesse owned but still designed and operated in Italy.
Don’t kill the messanger…just saying…and since i don’t own one i have to rely on what others say and choose what to believe from all the “comments”.
Actually, the alternator check is part of the 600 mile Dealer Service. The change is to a Belleville Washer , new shaft with larger diameter bolt and gear. Sometime during the 07 model year the upgraded parts were factory installed but no specifics. Mine was one of the early ones with the old setup–a tab washer that loosened and a DENSO alternator with a broken shaft. I was working at a Benelli Dealership and did the inspection and all was well. 5000 miles later the failure occurred. A few days later, the parts arrived and it took about 30 minutes to fit while in my driveway with basic tools. Try that with a Jap vehicle. It is a shame that some feel there is something inherently wrong with the brand but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive and you sure get some looks as well. Not for sale. Ever.