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.
Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.
An American motorcycle company is ramping up production due to increased demand: http://j.mp/3Ef1Ik No, it's not the one you think…
This is Dan Fischer, thank you for publishing this bit about us. We’re interested to hear what your readers think.
The biggest challenge we have now is that in the US market, we have consumers who wish to see, test, and purchase the MRX, but dealers are having such a brutal year that they are reluctant to take on any new inventory. This is why we have ended up exporting so much. I guess it’s my own fault- it took too long to get into production!
Motorcycle news, Industry Rumors, MotoGP, World Superbike, and More. … the VFR will come in a standard model,.. http://tinyurl.com/yfdjw4k
Dan, if you’re still hanging around, I was curious what engine you’ve sourced for this bike. I believe I saw it on display at the Seattle IMS a few winters back, but seem to remember there wasn’t much info to read. I recall that it had a Chinese sourced motor, but those power figures seem more SV650ish.
If the powerplant is, indeed, from an SV650, this is a pretty exciting bike. I’ve always felt that Suzuki has been dropping the ball by not bolting quality suspension pieces onto that motor/chassis.
The engine is a Hyosung (Korean) engine, very similar to the SV650 unit. I’m not sure how much it’s modified. Hyosung makes good stuff though.
I was happy to hear that Fischer will be distributed in Canada now through the same distributors that handle Hyosung. Hopefully this means I can see one in Winnipeg soon :)
How do you find dealers for this bike..?
Dan,
Thanks for building such a wonderful bike! There’s only one thing that’s keeping me from placing an order — a lack of ABS. Would it be possible to add an ABS unit from the SV650 or the CBR600rr? I’d be more than happy to purchase the parts if your factory could install them.
Thanks,
Gene
Thanks for your comments. We have discussed adding ABS and other technology, and in fact Continental has developed a system we hope to test soon. We’re pretty small and all of our technology development has gone into the chassis and peripheral components. Our priorities have always been safety, reliability, and profitability. With that, there is a lot of math that goes into design, and trial and error that has gone into component manufacturing, which is why the many years to get into production. You may remember people having such problems with early products from other companies, and I think that’s a hard tag to shake.
So, for now, it’s one product, in one color, built the best we can build them, and we’ll try to grow our company from there.
I really really want this company to do well, but I won’t buy it if that engine is really out of a Hyosung. If it was an SV650 engine I wouldn’t even blink before I got one. My current SV650 is great, but if it was in that bike it would be amazing.
Matt…Hyosung developed the engine for the SV…it’s the same thing, just a different name…
The bike looks sexy and I would def look into buying one if I didn’t just buy a racebike.
They aren’t the same engine. There are rumors about there being Suzuki parts in the Hyosung, but it weighs 30 lbs more and doesn’t perform as well. Plus the shifting on the Suzuki is significantly better, which is interesting because the shifting on the Suzuki isn’t amazing.
The Suzuki is clearly a better engine, even if you want to believe the rumors about Hyosung and Suzuki getting together on that, which I doubt for lots of reasons. Why you would use an inferior engine when something better is available I don’t know, maybe Suzuki wouldn’t play along, but if Fischer is compromising on anything else like they are here I will be staying away.
The engine certainly does not weigh 30 lbs more, and the transmission is excellent. Anyone who has ridden an MRX loves it, just as you clearly love your SV.
Don’t make things up.
Mr. Fischer,
I misread my source, it’s the bike that weights 30 pounds more, not the engine, sorry for that. But I’ve ridden a GT650 and I couldn’t stand the transmission and it felt weak and the power delivery felt rough. I suppose whether or not the transmission is good is a matter of opinion, but to the point of the engines, being the same, I maintain that they are not, the oil filter is a dead giveaway on that. The SV is also 2ccs smaller capacity, but that’s not really proof.
I’m very curious to hear why you went with the Hyosung over the SV. Was it not an option because Suzuki wouldn’t license it? Was the SV never considered? Did Hyosung come to you about it? Maybe you can’t say for legal reasons, but if you can, this is a great platform for you to talk about why you’ve set the bike up the way you have. Have you tuned the engine in a way that takes care of the issues I have with the Hyosung? I can’t find any information about that online.
The bike tooks great and the rest of the specs are very attractive. Like I said in my original post, I really want your company to do well, but the engine will keep me away.
I’m impressed by the specs compared to both the Ninja 650R and the SV650: 15-20 lbs lighter, 5-10 HP more than light tuning gives, slightly sharper steering, and premium suspension/brakes for only $500-900 more. Good deal, considering my Ohlins rear shock cost me $500 second-hand, and a ZX6R or GSXR front end is a couple hundred.
I considered a Fischer 3 years ago when I bought the Ninja, but it was mostly a myth then. The only time I’ve caught a glimpse of a production bike was at Indy! Obviously, you can order online, but who does that? If only I could find one to sit on! That tall fuel tank is worrisome, as is that seat- ouch! The tank side angles/cutouts look perfect for my long legs, but I could do with a little more padding, and definitely don’t need to get poked by the top of the tank.
Any chance of finding a demo model? Or a list of dealers? If I were to ride to Pocomoke, would I be able to see one in person?
sir….if you contacted dan, and traveled to pocomoke, MD…not only would you be able to see a Fiscer MRX, but also be able to ride one with Dan Fiscer….that sounds like its worth the trip alone!
I am from indonesia, and i saw your bike in Indonesia already. It is a good bike, but i am still doubt with the enggine performance. how the reliability of hyongsoung machine, is it good ?