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.
Confederate P120 Fighter Breaks Cover – http://bit.ly/3gzah7 #motorcycle
Beautiful bike, reminds me of the Terminator. I love how there is an ubroken line from the top of the “tank” all the way to the rear wheel bearing.
Absolutely amazing bike. It’s their best design yet. Very industrial yet still sleek and sexy. I totally disagree with your statement about the wheels. They’re perfect. Very nice looking and simple, which is what a bike like this needs. You don’t want to distract attention from the other details. Plus, they’re beautiful carbon fiber jobs. What’s wrong with that???
Going to agree with Gary there also, I think the c-f wheels are simple and understated and nice. No need for blingy wheels here.
Yeah, nothing wrong with carbon wheels…especially from a utilitarian point of view (which I take a lot in my articles), so I’ll give you that. Maybe the pictures don’t do it justice (Carmel isn’t far from SF, so we might make it down for the Concours and check the bike out), but to me I look at all this detailed metal work, and I get to the wheels and feel underwhelmed. It might be because they’re the basic 5-spoke design that OEM’s seem to have cast their alum. wheels in.
Anyways, a bike with a style as unique like this, is going to be subject to a lot of subjective thought. The wheels are mine. For the record, best looking bike I’ve ever seen is the Wraith. To me, this is an assault on that perfect bike.
Confederate P120 Fighter Breaks Cover – Asphalt & Rubber http://bit.ly/PI7AD Insane Bike!!
As a former designer at Confederate (REL AMERICA GT) I continue to be dumbstruck by the ever evolving offerings from Mat. Again, the Wraith will probably always be my favorite. J.T. Nesbit’s early efforts were equally matched by Mat’s thoughtful refinement of the Wraith.
As for this P120- great effort. I’m not totally on board with the “simple shapes” methodology of inspiration, however it’s easy to see they have pushed the envelope on this one, I think to great result.
In spite of years of purposeful neglect by the motor press, Chambers has kicked the door off it’s hinges and shown us all what can be done when a fertile mind meets a high powered computer, without the restrictions of large corporate bureaucracy.
Mat, Not bad. Not bad.
-Richard Lee
Matt did not re design the Wraith. Ed Jacobs and Brian Case did. As for the Fighter, that was an Ed Jacobs creation with a fair amount of functional input from myself and the 2 other fabricators. We built that bike from the ground up in a little over a month and had it on the salt 2 days after it’s completion.
This bike may look “simple” but there is nothing simple or easy about it. I probably have close to 40 hours of tig time in each one. They look great in pictures, but do yourself a favor and see one in person.
I absolutely love this bike. It is one of my favorite bikes I have ever seen.
I think it look even rawer in matte black.