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.
“Only 842 lbs?!!!!” For only a bit more weight and less money, I would rather have a Fiat 500 with four passenger seating and climate control.
Good luck competing with the HD Streetrod, and Victory Cross Country in that arena of stripped bagger. If your first thought is buy a car you are not a motorcyclist.
Surprising! I would not be caught dead on a Gold Wing, but I quite like this version. I would never ever ever buy one, but it’s kinda cool in some perverted way.
I can’t remember the last time I was excited about the new offerings from Honda. I see this year is no different.
So true Bern. The only thing that can make up for 5 years of boredom is the V4 super bike. Let’s see if it actually materialises.
this has gotto be a quantum leap for honda to do anything “different” with the gold wing! Now, if they could make that a belt drive or chain drive and with a valkyrie frame, it will open doors for a lot of customising!!
If this were my only choice, a Fiat 500 gets the nod. Thankfully, I have four bikes in the shed and a truck for firewood and emergencies.
Im an advent Honda rider and have been since the earlier 600 automatics. I currently ride a Rune, but have been looking to get a 2009-12 Wing. I recently was asked “Have you seen the New Wing” by a friend and that has started and stoped my search. This bike looks awsome. If it packs enough on the long ride features (confort, storage, etc), Ill need to waive the 2009-12 for the F6B.
Gold Wings are comfortable and surprisingly capable bikes, despite their massive weight. With this, Honda is trying to do the “bad boy tourer” thing and steal market share from Harley, Victory. I wonder is the American V-Twin faithful will go for it. Maybe — there are certainly enough leather-vested dorks riding around in black beanies in my neck of the woods. And Honda must be channeling P.T. Barnum (who believed a sucker was born every minute). You have to pay $1000.00 more (on top of $19,999) for the “DeLuxe” to get a centerstand, back-rest, and self-cancelling turn-signals (which were std on 250cc bikes in the 70s!). Give me a break…
I PERSONALLY LIKE THE HONDA GOLD WING MODEL 2013, ITS A COOL LOOKING BIKE, IVE HAD GOLD WINGS ALL THE WAY BACK TO 1975, THEY CANT BE BEAT FOR DURABILITY, AND COMFORT, AND ROAD ABILITY, AND SPEED, MY HARLEY BUDS SAY THEY LOOK LIKE A SOFA GOING DOWN THE HWY, MAYBE BUT A GREAT RIDE, IM NOW ON A 2012 TRIUMPH ROCKET III ROADSTER, ITS AN AMAZING 2300 CC MOTORCYCLE, I WOULD CLASS IT WITH THE GOLDWING AS FAR AS COMFORT, ITS MUCH FASTER, BUILT IN ENGLAND, I WISH I HAD A BUILDING THAT WOULD HOLD ABOUT 20 MOTORCYCLES , I WOULD HAVE ONE OF ALL THE POWER CRUISERS, A WING, A ROCKET, A HARLEY, A MAINTENANCE MAN TO DO NOTHING BUT KEEP THE OIL CHANGED AND KEEP THEM WAXED AND IN GOOD RUNNING SHAPE, ETC
I have been riding harley davidson for many years. For the same price as a stripped road glide. You can get a F6B deluxe with 118 HP and 125 lbs of rear wheel torque in a pretty cool looking package…hmm this maybe a no-brainer.. trade the 5,000 mile harley service for , I thought I read, 30,000 mile service intervals.. not a bad deal.. just my opinion…