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.
…and brakes! So, not “just” the suspension.
I believe that suspension and brakes are “just” what Triumph needed to put Daytona in the same step as 848 and the new F3.
Also, this bike could mean FIM homologation to use premium material in WSS next year instead of those tuned-up Showas and crappy nissin’s.
This sounds perfect to me. Ducati S models are often just suspension and brakes ahead of standard models as well.
I wasn’t expecting any real power differences with the R anyways; the Ohlins, the Brembos and the quickshifter are an amazing addition to an already stellar bike. I’m just concerned about the price hike, our Ducati S models tend to sit on the floor a lot longer than their base model brothers.
what is with the more power more power more power craziness? too much focus is put on hp, 125 hp is an insane amount for a middle weight! if you want hp buy a liter bike. we need a lighter, more corner speed, more finesse, and inspire mor that one off.e confidence craze. which is exactly what this bike is improving upon. kudos triumph! …but please pick a less “trendy wendy” paint scheme next time.
a red sub-frame…really? even i don’t move my hands enough when i talk to pull that one off.
Nice Fancy Shrimp… Now where’s the full blown Machine? Daytona 1200 Triple.
To those pilots who say too much power already, lighter, more finesse, better feel…w/e floats your boats….that doesn’t float mine’s and many others for that matter.
U got ur floaties already(this)…now is time for ours(1200)…lol.
Nothing personal, just regular bitching mode at Triumph.
LoL “Floaties” – MachoMikeD this 675R on a race track would scare you like a little girl. It would make your a$$ pucker so hard you would be making diamonds.
SayWhen: YES IT WILL, but… i DON’T CARE about race tracks and cat on a rug handling and all the great things this bike stands for, im sure i made that point on my previous post pretty clear(don’t want this bike but a 1200)…and said it wasn’t personal, i just used ur valid points cause it was pretty convenient.
What u like and think is Great and Enough already doesn’t work for everyone even in the event that u make a good case(like here)…I can’t afford track days, don’t have a track near by, couldn’t afford to dump this bike(it would be my daily rider, can’t afford 2), i hate revving small engines to the moon and “no power now, 8K-10K rpm later” Mills. Is a matter of taste, good, bad or don’t have any at all…but works for others and me.
Just because the 675 is Awesome and is more than enouh for U and others does it mean that other riders don’t have the right to try and hope for else? Don’t be selfish.
Diversity is the spice of life. Thats one of the more beatiful aspects of this hobby…it keeps us spending and lusting for new toys. Go with w/e works for u i say.
Natural Selection always get rid of the bad seeds( if i don’t know any better i will be disposed of properly and timely and won’t be poluting the roads, making noises and using gas and air that could be put to better use than wasted on me)…all because i wanted more bike than i could barely and poorly handle and didn’t listen to SayWhen advise.
(^_^ )