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.
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.
I love the bike…but hat the seat design…there has to be a better way!
Dunno about paying over 50k for this( I estimated there is shipping involved) is a good idea, looks cool but with that mney I could buld at least 8 streetfighter projects that I have in mind. I only need 3k to finish my 97 ZX6r fighter the way I intended, 1200 if I wanted to get frugal. I guess you have to pay for the attention to detail and craftsmanship of a vehicle assembled by hand and machined in house.
Really like the whole bike for what its supposed to be (other than the seat), definitely the feeling & definition of the word “built”
Is that Alan Cathcart testing the bike?!
Exposed belts and cogs just make me nervous.
Dr. Gellar, I thought you were dead and frozen…:P
So highly off topic…
Their design team must be blind, yet another butt ugly collection of metal.
It looks like someone took a heap of random parts from different projects and bolted them together. They may be finely crafted but they look like each part was designed in isolation rather than a series of parts designed for the same bike.
@Dr. Gellar: Probably. Sir Allen get around, and I was busy that day.
@Minibull
No sir…I’m still alive and kickin’. :-)
@ Jensen
I thought so. He didn’t waste much time getting onboard this latest Confederate.
Sup Dr. Gellar, whats happning?
@ Travis
Not a whole lot…just enjoying the updates and the comments here this afternoon.
Hi Travis, wanna help me find Dr. Gellar? Would be really great if you could help.
I always want to love this (and the earlier version of the bike), because all the individual parts are just so beautiful to my eyes. But the collection of them, just never feels right. I try though, I really do.
I apreciate all the detail, hard work and labor into building these things…BUT…it doesn’t do it for me.
I would take an “everyday garden variety, run of the mill, regular production 2009 and up VMAX 1700″ over this any day of the week if i wanted a “power cruiser/standard/streetfighter/u name it” class of bike.
Maybe i just have bad taste and don’t know any better…LMAO…is just not my thing.
That drive belt looks ” a little on the tight side” going around and hugging the crank sprocket.
I wonder how long it will last…(0_0 )
Mechanically, it may be a great bike; however, as an aesthetic exercise, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Perhaps their designers missed the lectures on integration as a major element of design ethos?
Not my cup of tea, but still a mean ass looking bike…
Not a fan of the tank seam/lip.
It seems that the LED headlight is only an optional accessory. So apparently no, it doesn’t have an LED headlight. (although happily if you order it now you get the optional LED headlight thrown in, but according to the website it’s still just an option)
I like being different, but unless Confederate builds more volume, they are going to be nothing more than an esoteric coffee table book or a trivia question.
Yuck. Confederate builds another garage ornament. Another bike destined to never hit 10,000miles.
Did their design team just quit when they got to the exhaust?
Oh, and looks at this quote:
“This new case unites America’s best V- twin technology and America’s superior powertrain technology into a singularity,”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Seriously folks?
Next up is this:
“Although this is the most expensive material selection and craft methodology” (When talking about 6061 Aluminum)
There is absolutely nothing expensive or rare about using this material. 6061 is actually the most common form of aluminum used in all industrial practices. It is usually selected BECAUSE it is cheap and easy to machine.
I wouldn’t mind the stuff Confederate designed, if they weren’t always so full of it, right out the gate.
@Damo Yep. The Pepsi can sitting on my desk as I type this is 6061 aluminum. I think it might be worth a penny if I take it in to be recycled.
What you guys don’t know is that their 6061 is mined by elves that only run on the tears of oppressed north Korean orphans, therefore the rarity of it. The only issue I have with “factory fighters” is that, the fact that someone else designed , machined, assembled and built it for you. In the case of confedarate, they try waaaaaay too hard, Ducati released a nice factory fighter and all they did is get the the 848 naked and tweaked it here an there. Maybe this would be better if they stopped trying so hard, also there is the issue I mentioned before, the insane price tag.
TL;DR: I rather build something cool and unique in my garage( or at least try) and not pay up the wazoo for a glorified paper weight( if I spend 50k on something, I wont even look at it the wrong way).
“superior powertrain technology” – WAKE UP!!!
“This new case unites America’s best V- twin technology and America’s superior powertrain technology into a singularity,”
Seriously!? A 138hp out of two liters? ( 2,163cc v-twin motor) Good Lord, what a stunning performance! ha ha ha ha… 1,198.4 cc (73.13 cu in) 4-valve desmodromic liquid-cooled L-twin in Diavel has 162hp not mentioning the price tag.
Dont get me wrong, I think that Hellcat is stunning looking bike but why they are pushing all that crap about technology and “expensive alumininum” ? Who is suppose to buy this?
@Lumengrid
You forgot the part where it also weighs 500 bills.
@Damo
True! Should I even mention exhaust?Guess not, you already said enough :)
All being said I still think its beatiful bike but its not space-shuttle tech as the CEO would like customers to see it!
I guess my bike is stupid Euro-trash, but it’s got 160+ Hp from 1200cc… And probably better gas milage. Yes, that matters if you are putting a decent amount of miles on it.
Oh well, to each their own.
I am so looking forward to seeing the rest of the bike.
Straight to the top of my Fantasy Bike List! New Confederate X132 Hellcat http://t.co/T6tQ2SQl via Asphalt_Rubber #bikeporn #slurp
@DWolvin
Anyone who buys one of these isn’t putting much in the way of mileage on it, don’t worry :)
It needs more JT Nesbitt in it.