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.
what a bunch of BS…. Lol
Great concept, horrible execution. It definitely would have been better without the 70′s porn music and the Q&A session at the end. If there had to be Q&A, one of the riders should ask, “Hey Ben, when are they going to fix those fugly headlights?”
@Jake Fox:
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“If there had to be Q&A, one of the riders should ask, “Hey Ben, when are they going to fix those fugly headlights?”
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I lost it there…LMFAO…that has made my night (^_^ )
Fuck, had that any more cheese put on it……….BS!
i like how he wheeled the bike into the back of the van by himself, good CGI or 4 guys out of frame giving the bike a big push to get its fat guts into the back of the van im guessing.
Go buy your 2012 badged “2009″ R1 with TC……damn shame cause it sounds so good.
classic…I love it.
would’ve been cool to have some clips of him actually stretching his legs out, maybe backing it into a few corners
& I actually like the headlights…does look way better in race skins tho!
My bitchin with the headlights is not precesily it lay out but rather what they mimic…GOOGLY EYES ! SILLY GOOGLY EYES !
Had it happened for it to be recesed or flush with the plastics i think it wouldn’t look so darn SILLY.
They should just copy the MR-1 Front complete with intake and all and slap some decent self-respect looking lights into it.
That track is pretty sweet, anyone know where it is?
Circuit Parcmotor in Spain.
Cheesy ending. Should of took more time before getting off the line, like someone suggested. Changed the QA session a bit.
@John Magnum:
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i like how he wheeled the bike into the back of the van by himself, good CGI or 4 guys out of frame giving the bike a big push to get its fat guts into the back of the van im guessing.
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Yeah, i said the same…WTF ?! is that thing made out of Balsa Wood ?
You heard it first from Ben Spies: “I wouldn’t trust the 2012 R1 enough to lean it more than halfway over”…
what a lame ass advert
i don’t mind the headlights, it’s actually the back end that doesn’t hand together for me, though the WSB’s look mean and aggressive. that said, i like the r-1; it’s unique with it’s own charms, and sounds bitchin’, i would have one if i could afford it. oh, and where did ben say he wouldn’t trust the r-1 to lean more than half way over? looked more than half way over to me..
Video: Ben Spies & The 2012 Yamaha YZF-R1 – http://aspha.lt/uq #motorcycle
wow, the little dity at the end was not necessary at all, I bet Ben was like WTF? you want me to say what? Cant Colin say that part?
Yamaha hasn’t got too many bright ideas in the ad department at the moment.
I thought the mancation stiff he and colin did was so much better than this run of the mill tripe.
*stuff
Lol…. mancation stiff. That could be taken the wrong way. (OUCH)
Ben Spies smoking a bunch of non-pros at a track day on a liter bike just isn’t that interesting. Now, if he’d done it on that WR450 Roland Sands built for him, then it’d be cool.
Terrible video ad…..amazing pictures. Ben was probably thinking “why can’t these cheesy lines be left for Jorge to say?”
Great graphics on a butt ugly bike. MikeD is right, just emulate the M1 and its a home run. I realize the economy is really tight, but how much can a mod like that cost??
@Richard Gozinya I believe some of those guys if not all to be pro Yamaha riders. I think I recognized David Checa(Blonde) in the group. Do you really think Yamaha or Ben would risk his livelihood riding on track wheel to wheel with a bunch of track day advanced racer wannabees?
That was horrible, barely made sense….more like nonsense actually. I feel sorry for Ben. Yamaha can do a lot better I would think.
The R1 sounded great though.
On a positive note, I’m really happy with Yamaha for generating a spot like this. They get that trackday riders are a critical segment of their audience. And they understand that this audience loads all their own crap into a stinky old van to get to the track. That’s how i roll baby! Literally, I have a conversion van almost exactly like that, gutted and everything. I love that they understand this and made it a part of the video/photo’s. And @ John Magnum and @ MikeD, I load my bike exactly the same way, gently feather the clutch in 2nd gear and walk her up. easy as cake.
Now, Yamaha, take note:
What is GREAT about this video:
+ The van! And the burnouts in the van, haha! Thank you for understanding your audience.
+ Ben Spies. Better than Lorenzo, he’s our homegrown hero and it’s awesome to imagine (though unrealistic) that he would roll to a TD like we do.
+ The cinematography. Great feel to the video!
What COMPLETELY missed the mark:
+ The riding. BORING!!! and way too long. I don’t think that was Ben riding that bike in the video, cause he doesn’t even know how to ride that slow, I think he probably would have crashed going that slow. Get him on the bike, and let him flog it good ‘n proper so you have some action shots to use. Not sure if it was the camera equipment and cars you were using, but next time, let ‘em rip!
+ The dismissal of the riders meeting. Not cool. As a trackday regular, we get enough morons that don’t understand the rules, setting the example that it’s OK to blow it off, not cute. And in real life, I guarantee Ben would not treat a riders meeting that way, do you think TD providers run the same flags and lights systems as MotoGP??….. FALSE!! Ben is one of GP’s most vocal safety advocates, so I’m surprised he even agreed to doing this scene.
+ The LAME coaching session. That was the most poorly executed ending to any video I’ve ever seen. You should have just left it at him being worshipped by his fellow riders, then cracking a beer with buddies before heading home for the day. It also was counterproductive to your goal…. basically saying that even a MotoGP star can only go marginally quicker than average trackday riders on this bike.
+ The Jersey Shore fist pump while he’s driving away. Why? Why did you do that? stop it. just stop it!
I LIKE HOW AFTER A THRASHING TRACK SESSION THE TIRES ARENT BLUED OR SCUFFED….DETAILS PEOPLE DETAILS
@ a 1 cycles.net…. do you really feel the video you just saw warrants calling that a “thrashing” track session? I think the tires should look new with how weak they were riding, haha.
Great music. A cross between background music from an old porn film and the theme song from Starski and Hutch.
3 points:
1. ugly bike!
2.ugly bike!
3.ugly bike!
in my opinion, the video was kinda cool. had some good stuff (cinimaphotography), and some bad stuff i can forgive Yamaha for. but i can’t forgive Yamaha for selling such an ugly bike from every angle and even in race trim.
Great camera work on a cool track. But lame dialogue.
And why did producers make him so aloof and arrogant during the class session? He came across as an asshole that would get kicked out (if he weren’t Ben Spies). Not sure that this does much to sell me on a Yamaha. Makes all those ‘old’ R1′s look like shit piles too.
Re: the tires. I guess the Yamaha traction control works so well that you won’t wear out tires! But my satisfaction from a track day comes from shagging a set of tires to the edge.
@singletrack, TC is not intended to save tires. Frequently TC can actually accelerate tire wear. If your ‘satisfaction from trackdays’ is rooted in destroying tires…. you’re doing it wrong :-)
Great video!!
This track is Castellolí near Barcelona, Spain; great track very funny and great memories came to me so there was when I put me knee on tarmack for the first time!!
Hasnt anyone of the commentors here ever loaded a bike by themselves? The bike was running when Ben loaded it into the van. He simply slipped the clutch and walked it up the ramp!