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.
I’d say it’s got more of the latter SB and YB models DNA (particularly the SB8, sans the V-twin obviously) than the BB1.
Please explain how this pays homage to bb1? I own both a bb1 mono and biposto and I fail to see any resemblance . Maybe I’m missing something? Lovely machine but I fail to see bb1 in it.
Now that my knee jerk reaction is over and I’ve looked more closely at the photos I am thinking how boring this is. It’s likely the first bimota that I have thought is boring since the mantra. Should have /could have been an extreme sport hyper bike. What a shame……
Or could’ve been something like this:
http://www.motociclismo.it/cache/gallery/4/9/1/2/5DM30484%20(1).JPG_630_490.jpg
http://www.motociclismo.it/cache/gallery/4/9/1/2/5DM30480%20(1).JPG_630_490.jpg
Bimota seriously needs a new designer – this SAK Design stuff is doing the brand injustice!
As the owner of 27 bimotas I feel I am humbly qualified to say that I agree w froryde…….SAK sucks if this is what they produce. My plain Jane BMW s 1000 is miles ahead of this ugly duckling. Bimota used to be something that we all knew ultimately was no better of a bike than most of the donor engine models, yet was pure eye candy. This machine ends that notion for this bimotisti of thirty years. And btw A and R is by far the finest EICMA coverage anywhere….thanks Jensen!
Thanks! I’ve got a buddy in Australia I need to introduce you to…
What is that red gem in the 4th photo down!?
Red gem on the left…
Ted, that’s a Bimota HB4.
http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/bikes/bimota-hb4-moto2-race-bike-officially-revealed/
I like it…a lot actually. I’d need to see it in person but so far it pushes all the right buttons. When is pricing information released on all these exotics?
Seriously, if I could choose between the HP4 and this, the BB2, I’d choose the BB2! There’s no way I’d reject this bike! Not one infinitesimally, thinly sliced sliver of a chance exists in the known universe that would be at odds with me choosing this machine.
Ah, man, it is so damned retro-futuristic and it reminds us that we still have yet to witness that future it anticipates. When do we get that future? Bimota appears to say that we can begin to experience it right now.
What a heartbreakingly beautiful machine that BB2 is. Man…
And I thought Honda’s 2013 CBR600RR gave a nice nod to old, yet futuristic designs. This BB2 however… Jeez. It really is heavenly.
And to Sak_Art Design, please continue to do more of what you’re doing. Your Syd Mead influenced designs are very much appreciated by me. More, please!
Personally I really like it. It’s a truly beautiful sport bike. Maybe not what Bimota is typically known for (hence all the ruffled feathers among the Bimota guys), but if you take a step back and just look at it as a motorcycle, it really is gorgeous. I would never buy the S1000RR because of its looks (well…maybe the HP4…) but I’d buy this in a heart beat.
Bimota, please give a raise and a promotion to whomever designed that paint job. Beautiful!
27 Bimotas? I want your life, Motogpdr…
A S1000RR engine to a bike like that? Are they kidding? I was expecting a new Superbike to replace the outdated DB7-DB8.
Unfortunately, maybe because they are facing economic problems in the last years, Bimota has been specialized to built “franksteins”. They are creating new bikes mixing parts from the current models and adding some details to disguise that.
It’s a real pity for a motorcycle company with a beautiful history.
Count me among the disappointed. Way too busy, with the black, red, and white elements crisscrossing all over. I’m not a fan of the asymmetrical lights on the BMW but this headlight design is not a whole lot better. They need to enlist the design skills of the “TA” in Bimota. However, I’m sure it’ll have Bimota’s impeccable handling and engineering expertise.
BB2 looks far better than the other bike that has that engine in it.
But then again, the S1000RR is possibly the ugliest bike available today if you don’t count several Kawasakis.
that tail unit looks borrowed from a zx10