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.
A surprise addition to BMW Motorrad’s 2013 model line-up, zie Germans have announced a new middleweight adventure-tourer, the 2013 BMW F800GS Adventure. Like its larger predecessor, the BMW F800GS Adventure is a more travel-ready and off-road capable build of the recently updated BMW F800GS motorcycle. Featuring a larger windscreen, panniers, and a bigger fuel tank capacity (2.1 gallons larger, for a total of 6.3 gallons of fuel), the BMW F800GS Adventure keeps the same 85 hp, liquid-cooled, 798cc, parallel-twin engine found on the F800GS, as well as the same chassis configuration. Pricing in the US will be $13,550 for the base model BWM F800GS Adventure.
Now I know why the Multistrada has a beak, cause this thing needs one…
This must be the Ducati’s less attractive friend…
Clear bold signs you(me) are getting old:
I find this more interesting than the new Ninjas 300 & 636.
I would love to ride this “Orange Elephant” to work everyday.
I hope those wheels are Alpina STS System equipped like the ones on the Stelvio, for it’s own good. I still haven’t figured out how to fix a flat on this kind of bike anywhere both at home with both front and rear stands.
NO, SAY NO TO BEAKS. Break the stinking stereo-type. Beaks are nothing but “a stupid sore fashion statement” with no real world use but to add weigth…specially when u have real mud-guard already.
On a second thought, screw the Alpinas, give me regular cast or forged aluminium wheels any day.
I never liked spokes to begin with. LOL.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=+alpina+sts+wheels&view=detail&id=914DDD009407C1D6FD00AE25EA1FE9701A14EB8E&first=1
P.S: Scroll down on the link.
Jensen: When is that edit button or function coming up ? I hate to “spam” you like this.
I know, i should pay more attention to what im doing but my AADD does not help. (^_^)
I’m working on it…
@MikeD: “On a second thought, screw the Alpinas, give me regular cast or forged aluminium wheels any day.”
Just watch out for the rocks. Forged aluminum wheels are the wrong wheels when the going gets rough. Fine for 90:10 pavement-biased riding, but even 50:50 benefits from spokes when you’re on 2-track or trails.
Holy sh*t that thing looks beastly….and orange, like really orange.
Ewww.
Love child of Multistrada and V-strom and/or Tenere?
@Westward – you’re right, without the beak, it looks odd. Like a parrot.
The old 990 looked odd too, but in a more unique, aggressive way.
To each their own I suppose. I ‘d say the exact opposite, that is, while I’m sure underneath it’s a great bike, the Ducati is truly insect/eagle fugly, this less so. Another thing I’ve noticed is many supersport riders refer to a comfortable riding position like this has as”sit up and beg” implying that riders that don’t feel the need to atone for some past sin with a masochistic riding position are to be referred to with a phrase usually reserved for dogs. The thing is , I dont hear this term when ADV bikes are reviewed even though the bar to seat distance is greater than on my favorite roadster. Odd.
@Trane:
Indeed my good Sr., Rocks and cast/mag wheels are not the best of buddies.
But…since this is the more road oriented version (what seems like a 19″ front vs a 21″ on the R) i really don’t see much of a case for spokes. Not to mention not checking spokes for proper tensioning and maybe ruining the wheel’s trueness not even trying. I have bad xperiences with spoked wheels. Let’s just say that.
I think they should have pulled a Triumph here.
Xplorer(mags) and then Xplorer XC(spoked tubeless).
JMPO.
I like it… it is infinitely better than the ‘adventure’ it supercedes.
The KTM is dirt based – with a few sacrifices for the road
Multistrada (and most others) are road based with a few sacrifices for the dirt.
Being a ‘dirt monkey’ I prefer spoked wheels and high mudguards.
Road going items will just get destroyed off-road…. and yes, there are people that take these bikes properly off-road.
I look forward to seeing it at Intermot
I’m very glad to see a large KTM that DOESN’T have a straight, dirtbike seat. I know KTM has a very deserved rep for serious off-raod hardware, but I could never see myself spending long rides on those dirtbike-style seats on the Adventures, etc.
And I thought they were going to make a 450 Adventure! Bigger is better… I guess… for some… maybe…
“but I could never see myself spending long rides on those dirtbike-style seats on the Adventures,”
My 950 Adventure was just fine on long rides. (and I have no extra padding on my bones) The long, flat seat allows the rider to adjust pressure points, leg angles, etc. to the millimeter. The new style sculpted seats tend to lock the rider into one place. If it works for you, great. If not….
You guys that want 17″ alloy wheels would be happier with an SM-T.
Hopefully they’ll upgrade that to the bigger engine too, and go straight after Ducati. The current 990 SM-T has already beaten the Multistrada in a few comparison tests I’ve seen, it would be nice if it could go head to head in power without losing the fun-to-ride factor it seems to have over the competition.
@Rob Alex:
Nah. The SM-T doesn’t look like this, not on it’s sweetest dream…call me a Poser. I like the way this thing looks, MEATY. The SM-T looks like a Anorexic Pro Ballerina next to Sara Jay or Gianna, a good or a bad thing depending on your taste…I would love to have a piece of Sara or Gianna anyday, nuff said, LMAO.