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 interesting development on the aftermarket side of things has graced our desks, as Öhlins has released a “suspension control unit” (SCU) that upgrades the electronically adjustable suspension on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S so that it becomes a semi-active suspension system. Whhhaaaat??! So, if you’re the proud owner of a pre-2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S, and you think that your electronically controlled Öhlins suspension is no longer boss, now that Ducati has released its Sachs-powered “Skyhook” semi-active suspension pieces on its new batch of Multistrada sport-tourers, there is a remedy for your motolust.
I wonder if they’ve done much testing for pillion comfort. From my POV a sport-tourer that can’t comfortably tote another is a waste – if I’m alone I’ll stick to a much lighter sporty bike. In that vein the pillion seat looks rather small and poorly shaped and I fear the long passenger peg hangers/exhaust hangers will end up transmitting a ton of vibs to the passenger’s feet (see e.g., bandit 1250 right pass peg). A reasonably light, simple, fun, visceral sport bike for two would get my attention.
There was a woman how got a pillion ride. Dunno how much feedback you can get going once around the block though.
Even for a Prototype it looks a well put together and thought out motorcycle. Love the Trellis frame and swing-arm, and it certainly possesses all the goodies (Ohlins etc). Will be interesting to see the finished product.
If it’s priced right it could definitely sway a few people away from the Multistrada.
Good to see some American motorcycle design that is aesthetically pleasing too!
I still find it Bland,BLAH & Mehh…The Candy looks delicious (we all have hear that sweet engine screaming)…is just the Wrapping that has me Cold…hope they have a Sharper/Better wrapping for the final product.
Yes, i understand this is not an R6 or MV Agusta F3 competition (looks and performance wise) and is just a Prototype but dang… (-_- )’
very cool jensen … nice feature/scoop.
I got up close to it at Laguna and was amazed at how narrow it was at the seat. So far in concept it looks like a really good sports tourer. I’m not loving the kicked in the face look though. If you like the way KTM’s look you’ll probably like this, but I think KTM’s are the ugliest bikes ever manufactured so for me not so much.
Maybe they can hire a couple of Italians to help with the front fairing.
agree with MikeD, it is very vanilla, especially the R version…whatever happened to the motus they showed in the Daytona video, that looked nicer naked i thought…i think it has potential to be a beauty, although needs some plastic surgery…
Looks interesting.
Incidentally, Guzzi runs a shaft drive so putting side clutch on would require two extra sets of highly expensive, power robbing, potential weak point, helical gear assemblies to make two extra 90 degree turn in the power-train. Not ideal. Motus needs to turn once anyway to make the chain drive work (just as a Guzzi has to once in the final drive of the shaft assembly). Still, I agree they were smart to make the adjustment where they did to allow a conventional clutch location. Lots of good thinking.
well… it doesn’t just look like a ktm. looking at the close-up picture of the headlight…. i can now confirm my long standing suspicion that they’re using an off the shelf ktm 950/990 adventure headlight. why do all that work around someone else’s design? it’s understandable for a custom bike builder… plenty of people using yamaha mt-03 headlights, and v-rod headlights… but those decisions at least come out of the shadow of the original manufacturer and stand on their own… when you look at radical ducati bikes, you don’t think yamaha and harley. for an new manufacturer to make such a novice mistake is just dumb.
Happy you guys in the US have a home grown (me OZ) bike, and a great motor.
though i think all those in favour of the styling are lying to themseves, its just down right outdated.
Without the RC8 style headlight it looks like something out of the 80′s with a fresh paint job.
Take its clothes off and keep it naked / streetfighter. let its character (motor) show.
Hey chris, no need to get mad, they’ve stated long ago they are using ktm headlights and this is not the final fairing design, just a test mule. Maybe those complaints about the bland fairing (i don’t find it attractive too) are just too early, let’s wait and see the final shape.
I’d like to see integrated turn signals instead of those stalks, looks disruptive to the lines of the bike. I feel on faired bikes they just fit better. And please, please, please, make the naked musclebike version a reality!
by @Asphalt_Rubber: Up-Close with the Motus MST at Alice's Restaurant – http://aspha.lt/q4 #motorcycle: Up-Close with the… #sffoodbuzz
One word “PROTOTYPE” Things often change on final production. Bodywork is easy skin. But it takes time to source custom made stuff.
ugh! Swapping out that alternator AND adjusting the belt is going to be a BEECH! As for pillion issues…none as that is where the trunk/5gal fuel cell goes. ;^)
Good to hear someone has at least sampled the pillion provisions – hopefully the provisions are more accommodating than they look.
We’ll see. It seems like it has potential but I’d drop the Two Brothers pipe (if that is the final choice, that weave always looks like crap after a couple of years in the Cali sun). Faring is ok from the saddle but meh from everywhere else.
The seat makes me laugh, I can’t see the label but I think the reason it looks uncomfortable to you all is that you aren’t Harley riders. I’ll just bet that’s a Harley based seat design, its got just about the shape to be a Softail or Dyna seat….but I could be wrong….
definitely nix the 2 brothers pipe
PLEASE MAKE IT PRETTY!!! The KTM nose has to go. This bike has got everything else going for it. A bike can sound awesome and handle great, but if I have to avert my eyes every time I walk out to the garage – I won’t buy it.
Well, it looks like all my comments were hit upon already. Saw pillion questions / comments, saw questions on the looks (to me, it doesn’t look ugly – it just looks plain; though the MST-R is somewhat improved with the graphics package), saw concerns about the slip-ons (ditto – ditch the Two Brothers…they don’t match the rest of the bike…Go Austin Racing or something similar), finish the dash – cubbies would be cool if that could be arranged….And it’d be cool if there was a shock to match the forks (though I do like the remote preload adjuster).
It’s getting there guys! Looking forward to checking out a finished one.