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 like this… but I know that picking up a bike after tipping it over is hard work… just watch the road racers picking there little 350lb bike off of the floor. Now make it weigh 500+ and throw sand / gravel in the mix. I can’t wait. :)
But, all that said… I like it – just don’t fall, it’s easy!
Why am I not surprised that Yamaha has decided to compete with the R1200GS Adventure as well as the basic R1200GS? I predict Triumph will respond with a Tiger Explorer XC in 3… 2… 1…
World Crosser doesn’t exactly come to mind as with all the other large “Adventure” Bikes. To big. too heavy. At least it has adjustable front and rear suspension unlike BMW.
Well, the BMW Adventure model’s come with more suspension travel, larger fuel tanks, additional crash guards, and different gearing in the gear box. The World Crosser comes with different tires, pipe, and crash guards. At least BMW has some functional difference, the Super T only has some extra stuff bolted on. If its at a discount and you were planning to add that stuff on there anyway, I guess its a good deal, but its no “Adventure” model of the bike.
Other than having knobbies on it, how is it any more dirt capable that the regular model?
Super T owners, spoon on some knobbies, slap on some yellow decals and you’ll have made your own “World Crosser”
As Dahveed said not a whole lot there and definately not the “Worldcrosser” prototype as shown a year ago. It was distinguished by the rear large capacity aux gas tank. My Tenere already looks like this one, Alt rider/Touratech stamped metal guards, Givi crash bars and Heideneau semi knobby tires. The Super Tenere forum already has instructions on how to make the exhaust guard modifications to look like the one in the pictures and there are several aftermarked exhausts. I would venture to say a lot of us have made more modificaiotns to the bikes we got late July/early August than are on this “new” model.
By the way for Craig, manyof us have had our Teneres on their sides and actually because the weight is so low (mass centralization) they are really pretty easy to pick up. I too read the weight specs in 2010 and thought it was way too heavy. Riding it it feels more than 100 lbs lighter, really pretty amazing
Well, it looks the part with all the crash protectors and such. But as others have said, if they didn’t increase the fuel tank size and add more suspension travel and ground clearance, simply spooning on knobbies does not an adventure model make. The GSA has 8.9 gallons and an extra 1 1/4 inches of travel (though only 3/4 inches more ground clearance).
If Yamaha really wanted to do something to set themselves apart from the others, they would have contacted OHlins about the 2WD setup they used on the R1, TT600R and WR450. The 2WD was used in the Dakar by David Fretigne 6 or 7 years ago, I think.
I tried a 2WD Christini and really liked how it worked in the sand and mud, keeping the front end going straight and not washing out. Would be invaluable on a 600+ lb Adv bike.
That’s right on Bob, I’ve been saying for years the 2wd folks are missing the mark by pushing on competition machines (where its of dubious value) rather than big adv bikes (where it would be much more useful due to their weight/lack of traction).
NOTHING TRULY NEW to see here, move along folks.
Don’t pay more for this version…buy a base model and do your own mods.
Round the World w Yamaha's new Super Tenere Worldcrosser dual sport motorcycle only available in Europe now http://t.co/578e25uT
What is this thing about? They added a couple aftermarket parts, exchanged some pieces with more expensive and useless carbon / aluminum parts, but they forgot to make it actually better …
This thing is missing at least
- Better luggage to go RTW – the Yamaha luggage is too fragile
- A larger primary or a secondary fuel tank
- A better windshield
- Real tip over protection
- and so on, quite a long list …
This thing doesn’t do a single thing better for “world crossing” than the standard Super Tenere 1200. It’s typical marketing BS and marketed at the same people that would buy spray on mud for their clothes so they look cool at Starbucks …