Shipped up and on its way to the Isle of Man, we can finally now see more than test shots of the Mugen Shinden Ni and get its basic racing specifications. The electric superbike that John McGuinness will ride in the 2013 TT Zero race at the Isle of Man TT, the Mugen Shinden Ni represents that evolution of the Japanese firm’s design, having now a TT race under its belt. Like its main competitor MotoCzysz, Team Mugen is eyeing a 110 mph lap around the Mountain Course, which would be a pretty remarkable one-year advancement for either team. With Mr. McPint at the helm, and seemingly brimming with on-board energy, Mugen is a serious contender.
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.
Oh but it does still have a purpose in 2012. It lets the world know that you have absolutely no taste and very small genitalia.
This thing needs a “clean sheet of paper” update…AND while at it, Suzuki…how about using the platform for something else than a hyperbike ?
Look at Kawi and their ZX-14R and C14 deal…make that precious R&D money and time that u threw away work for you…(^_^)
I have to agree with both remarks what an ugly pile!! Suzuki has clearly lost it’s way lately….
Ditto on all.
Recently saw, online, 2012′s were selling for $10,999. Another dealer had 16 Busa in stock, and only 2 ZX-14′s.
Whatever happened to that B-King model? Wasn’t it based on the Hayabusa?
Well, no need to go to the dealer show in Vegas then…..bummer !!!
Legend. Icon. There is no need to change anything… It’s a Hayabusa.
And those of you who are thrashing it now, will pay big bucks in two decades or so for ‘an original’.
@WetMan:
Legend ? Maybe… Icon ? For sure……BUT………
Don’t be such a close/narrow minded Busa fanboy. Personally i think there’s a space for this kind of motorcycle on every OEM lineup…they just have to strive to keep it “fresh” and make it more profitable….(make a sport tourer off of it too, it practically begs for it).
Just look how “awesomely STAGNANT” is Suzuki’s lineup (on the USA anyways) after resting on the laurels for so long.
If it were up to your way of thinking we would be riding wagons pulled by horses.
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@Gutterslob:
The B-King took a hike for lack of sales. I blame the “too radical looks and ergos for a naked trying to look like a hardcore German streetfigther” as the culprit. That tail pointing to the moon, those outlandish cans, high pegs, u mention it.
I’ve just never liked the looks of the ‘busa. All of those bulbous curves make it look like a really fat woman trying to squeeze into her old high school spandex clothing.
“And those of you who are thrashing it now, will pay big bucks in two decades or so for ‘an original’.”
ROTFLMAO! This thing is FUGLY! I’d be far, far, far more inclined to pay big bucks for a nice ’80-something ELR. If I’m going to lose my license, I’d rather it be on something with rugged good looks and a sweet-sounding Kerker. The Hayabusa — beautiful name notwithstanding — is a bulbous boob.
I’m not a ‘busa customer, but I have a huge amount of respect for what was absolutely a successful exercise in engineering and product design. It was a bike created to beat the XX, and be the fastest thing on the planet. It managed that, while also being a supremely comfortable, surprisingly manageable all around motorcycle that could happily log thousands of maintenance free miles. On top of that, they managed to nail a completely distinctive and new design aesthetic that while not my taste has had a decade of appeal for their audience. I wish every new motorcycle was designed and executed with as much engineering rigor and sense of purpose, even if it’s not my purpose.
I agree with some others, in 10 more years the first gen Hayabusa will be as iconic as some of the greats, maybe even the OG Katana.
I agree the busa needs a new direction like a 1400 power plant but the busa has been a lgend that last 10 years before kawi even caught up.I own a gen 1 busa and love it and would not ride anything else.I know of 2 buaa that have logged in over 100k on the lock and still ride and run great.
@Ray:
U said my good man. Im not knocking on the machine itself but rather it’s outdated looks.
And even tho it looks is like the SR-71 BlackBird (Form follows function) i still believe it can be refreshed and and brougth to look out of the late 1990′s and more into the 2000-teens.
1400cc ? Sure, personally i hate shifting, SOOOO…YES ! …more CC’s please. Suzukis engine wise they are pretty reliable…just look around and see how many squids that know squat about periodic maintenance own them….the things refuse to DIE.
It always amazes me how many Wannabe Busa owners knock this bike, which in its own rite has revolutionized superbikes. They rarely even own a scooter no less One of the best Motorcycles ever made…if its looks you want maybe Kalvin Klein is more your style or Jordache jeans…
Why would somebody knock a bike if they want to own it? I don’t think that’s a logical idea at all. We’re not 12 and punching a girl we like on the arm, ya know. ROTFL
You guys have no glue. I been riding my busa anywhere and everywhere. Through the alps in Austria and Italy, the alps of France and to the Normandie. Travled entire Europe on my busa with no failure.
I drove the highest Mountain passes in Europe including the La Bonnette, the busa is THE long distance touring bike. I tested the Kawa and …no thanks. The beauty of the bike…is unmatched. The perfromance in the alps and anywhere has simply no match. Get over it…
Hunter is absolutely correct. I have a Busa and love it. Yes, it is ugly. But that is part of the attraction. It is a wicked fun bike to ride, and has a great reputation to boot. Best thing is… nobody… NOBODY… messes with me on my daily commute. Love the bike.