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.
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.
Minus the Red Bull and other racing stickers, it is easy to imagine a future KTM response to the BRD Redshift looking a lot like this.
Wouldn’t it be nice if KTM actually could produce something like this. I love their products, but as a company they seem to have no idea what direction they are going.
KTM SMX-E Imagined by Piers Spencer-Phillips – http://t.co/erjYAdEi #motorcycle
@Mike, In some ways this bike is already in production, it is the SX-F, SMC-R, freeride (E) and an SMR all mixed together and slightly modified. KTM have a very clear idea of where they are going, and in the offroad world that is to the top step of the podium where they are winning everything, from the Dakar to enduro, to motorcross and finally now for the first time with their new SX-F which is a big part of the bike above, in the AMA Supercross.
Looks nice, but before adding the stickers, don’t forget the “onboard loud mono- sound generator”. Otherwise it just won’t be a KTM…
I am not sure that KTM needs to respond to any of the smaller “electric” companies out there, like Zero or BRD. Once the battery technology is out there available at price point and density the big manufacturers can justify selling in big series, the game will be over for the smaller guys … it’s just a matter of time. In a way I feel sorry for them, but you simply cannot just erase the long term experience in making motorcycles in a couple of years. Right now they seem to be getting sales thanks to the first adopters and well off enthusiasts …. but that well will dry up real quick.
The real KTM Freeride E is the best electric attempt out there by far. The amount of R&D has put into it cannot be matched by any of the smaller companies. The real bike looks much lighter than the rendering here where the author basically has used rolling chassis of their gas bike and slapped in an electric motor and batter. It’s nice, but way too heavier than it needs to be …
I am not knocking the smaller guys, but the clock is ticking ….. look at the cars. Anybody else but Tesla left?
@oOOo your right when it comes to the dirt side of the company. They are doing great. The street side of things is a different story. No new SuperDuke , no new 690 Duke, no 125 Duke, no 200 Duke, the only street products we have to choose for 2012 is RC8 or what ever is left on dealers stock from past years. I truly love this brand with the quality they serve up but guys get it together and market your street side of things. No one knows about it. The only people that know are familiar with the brand already and that’s only those who have bought into it. So many times I’m out riding my SuperDuke and a lot of motorcycle riders have never seen one or even know what it is. There’s a lot to choose from out in the market, but buyers will never choose your company if they don’t know about it. I just wish they would promote their street divison as much as they do for dirt and adventure.
With the name recognition and the history behind KTM, all they have to do is undercut the existing electric companies, and they would bury them… Then with Honda jumping into the fray, all the electrics would end up like Solyndra, regardless of how much money they have in their war chest…
And I was looking forward to having those new players involved…
It doesn’t need too much of a bigger pack for 45 minute session dirt duty, but more power. For super moto, it needs both power and battery capacity. The bike is already a year behind the Zero’s MX bike. And BRD’s bike, ha! I think people assume way too much that the ICE comanies can just flip a switch and start making electric motors and such. It’s not that easy. And people have been making electric motors for 100 years, and own patents and rights, as do controller and battery companies. And these companies aren’t going to roll over, you have to buy their stuff. And if they have a deal with someone else already, then tough noogies. I think the fact KTM did the right thing and sourced things from other companies (mostly German or Austrian) is proof of that.
KTM’s Freeride E can be considered more or less a play bike (as KTM has pretty much come out and said already), while BRD’s Redshift will be closer to an full-blown electric equivalent of a 250cc 4-stroke MX\supermoto bike. Should the Redshift prove successful (both in sales and on the track), KTM would likely want to “respond” with an electric bike of their own with more power and overall performance than what the Freeride E will likely have to offer on the track…if it wants to compete in that niche of the market. Such a bike would more than likely be outwardly similar to what is shown in this article.
I really don’t understand the need to respond to … who? A few companies who sold hundreds bikes at best, most of them have not delivered any at all. The reason the big guys are not jumping fully in yet, is because they know they cannot make money selling them enough with the battery being the biggest obstacle (it’s not only about whether a pack will last 45 min ride …. it’s about much more than that). What about battery warranties, firmware/controller updates as the batteries and other gizmos develop (nobody wants to talk about it). How will the consumers investment be protected? These are all the questions the big guys have to have a solid answer for. The small guys, not so, as they rely on high price and first adopters to be patient and understanding …..
Once the obstacles are removed, the companies who know how to make a motorcycle will just resource a partner to provide battery, motor and black box to control it, in the beginning. Later, who knows? But there’s no way the smaller companies will be able to keep up with processes tested for decades. It takes a lot of experience to mass produce a vehicle with a success.
I want to see the motor/battery/controller manufacturer with reputation who will say no to Honda, because they sell few units to someone else … they’d be crazy and stupid if they ever signed an exclusive contract with one of the small manufacturers.
I do agree that if the smaller companies will be around long enough and they are successful in sales and performance, the big boys will have to keep their eye on them. But that’s many ifs. For now, I don’t think they have to exactly be loosing sleep over either BRD, ZERO or Brammo bikes.
I very much appreciate all of your insight, but my statement about KTM ever responding to BRD’s Redshift is simple really. Again, the Redshift will likely be, of all the current electric dirt bikes coming out that I’m aware of, the closest to being the electric equivalent of a 250cc 4-stroke MX\supermoto bike (which I believe is BRD’s stated goal) in overall performance. Their product will (likely) be the first in this niche of the market. So if it all works out for BRD and again, if their bike is successful regarding sales and track performance, then the Redshift will set the example for any other potential competitors in the 250cc 4-stroke MX\supermoto electric equivalent niche to follow…to respond to. That includes KTM, Honda, Zero, Brammo…any of them.