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.
meh. still looks like dame edna. I had a 2010 and it looked the absolute biz. I get it is faster now and even better to ride, but for some, the feeling when you look at your bike and go ‘phwoar!’ everytime you walk in the garage is a decent part of what makes you love the bike. I just don’t think I would get that feeling with the new model. Keep trying Triumph, maybe you will get back to the styling that created a cult following eventually.
2012 Triumph Speed Triple R Adds Öhlins, Brembo, & PVM – http://t.co/w5OjyPVY #motorcycle
Jensen,
Aesthetically, I think we agree on a lot of bikes. The streetfighter, for example, is a gorgeous bike. Ignoring that we disagree on the old speed triple, I don’t see how you can like the looks of this bike. The headlights look like a squinting bug and the side fairings look like they were thrown on as an afterthought. It’s just, ick. If you hate the original speed triple headlights, LSL makes a nice looking kit that somewhat mimics the streetfighter. If I were to get the new speed triple, that would be the first change I’d make.
It just goes to show you can’t please everyone. I personally don’t like the exhausts, but the the bike over all is amazing looking…
What I appreciate the most about it, and bikes like the monster and the street fighter, are that they take risks in design…
Honda’s, Yamaha’s, Suzuki’s, Mitsubishi’s, Panasonic’s, and Sony’s, all look the same to me…
What’s with the “Ducati wheels”!?
I own a ’98 and have always been in love with its looks; as someone stated, I still get a thrill every time I uncover it to ride. To me they’re starting to look like every other naked bike, none of which have interested me for years; bikes have become far to angular for my tastes. Whatever happened to rounded edges? Most every new bike I see these days, especially the “nakeds”, remind me of Transformer toys and this one is no exception.
This is the only class of bike that interests me these days. At 53, I still dislike cruisers and have zero interest in riding a weapon that’ll do 70mph in 1st gear. Unless the design circle swings back in my direction, my next bike’ll either be a ’00/’04 Guzzi V11 or a used 955 Speed Triple.
Guess that makes me an old curmudeon; “Hey, get the hell offa my lawn!”
Headlights. Ugh!
Looks good, but the headlights are not working for me.
I agree the headlights are ugly, but throw the flyscreen, seat cowl and belly pan on there and it all comes together like christmas morning. I think it like a fantastically modern take on a classic…which it should be. Well done Triumph
The FLYSCREEN works WONDERS to make those headlights good enough to look at.
A sharp tool just got sharper. Now where’s that briefcase full of onehundred dollar bills ready to burn ?
Tom says:
October 25, 2011 at 1:11 AM ~ What’s with the “Ducati wheels”!?
^LMAO. I like ‘em. Maybe it was too much of a change for some of us, LOL.