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.
It’s great. Make a difference rather than stick with a defined category ;).
13.5k redline? Are we going backwards? I thought the current iteration has a 15.5k redline?
You sure they plan to make an I4?
I don’t get it. I know the major OEM’s don’t really care about their 600′s but what’s the benefit of going to a 636?
@Bob:
Trying REALLY HARD to be the 2013 600cc I-4 ODD Ball ?
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IMPO: 36cc more ? ! , MEH….BFD. Maybe if they went 650 or more…or TRIPLE…they used to make some wicked triples, albeit 2 smokes.
If they are making that HP # at 2k rpm lower they have made some progress there. Can 36cc more really make such difference ? If so, impressive.
ALSO, i hope they re-dress the whole thing cause the current bike looks horrible, wich i doubt after seeing the “spy shots” of the ’13 model. Liked previous generation style way better…it looked racy w/o hurting the eyes.
I hope too they finally bring the Versys 1000 State side…looks like something i see myself riding in 5 years or so if i can’t afford me a lightly used Super Tenere…would like it better if it had a drive-shaft instead of that needy chain.
Rumors of the current Ninja 250 growing to 300 ? Looking forward to it too…specially if EFI becomes standard and ABS an option.
Can’t wait for October and November to get here.
In terms of racing, I’d imagine Kawasaki will stockpile frames and engines of the current 599cc machine for teams to use. Just because it’s not the current model doesn’t mean it can’t be raced.
^^^And anyone who’s ever ridden one will tell you that the 36cc does make a difference. The old 636 models had noticeably gruntier motors.
I agree, if these numbers are true (redline 13,500 rpm, 129 hp) it seems that Kawi is going backwards, on the last 636 model (2005-2006) the redline was 16,000 rpm and power at the crank was 130 hp…
@Frenchie:
Going back on the Tach ? Sure
But think again….less RPM + same HP output = more efficient/powerful engine and u don’t have to wring it’s neck as hard as before to get the same results.
@Frenchie
MikeD is right. If you make the same power lower you have a much more usable powerband, which is the main issue with today’s rev hungry middle weights.
Good points.
That would be a complete change of philosophy, going back to 636cc and playing on torque instead of adding 500 rpm redline and 2.7 hp at each supersport iteration.
Just had a thought about the RPM and power figures. Does anyone remember what happened when the 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R came to America?
I hope they “made their homework and studied” this time around before handing in their test sheets.
But….and that’s very unlikely….if they have put an “electronic lid” on it to keep it at lower RPM to comply with 2013 noise and emissions standards and the thing still produces the same power………THEN……..if u UN-CORK IT (higher RPM = more HP ) it will probably RAPE the other 600s. Is being said that the smaller the bike the more felt any performance increment ?
Just thinking out-loud. Nothing but pure speculation and conjecture of my part.
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/589/14124/Motorcycle-Article/2013-Kawasaki-Ninjas-Times-Square-Debut.aspx
Jensen, i don’t know if linking is allowed in this case…please, proceed as u see fit. (^_^)
Seems that Kawasaki will drop a couple of “NEW bombs” September 13 on NY Times Square.
Maybe we won’t need to wait for Intermot or EICMA ? !
MikeD…no worries on the links….you must have missed the follow-up article on the Ninja 300.
Amazing what a bit of lighting an image will do. This is the 2013 zx6r, you can see the side indicators. Baby zx10r.
http://i.imgur.com/4R7yK.jpg
@2013 zx6r:
Im gonna be the “Negative Nancy” here and say that’s the 300 and not the 636…i don’t think they woud “risk” xposing their pretty little refreshed 600 darling just like that.
Hope im wrong………….because i sure as hell want to see new “stuff” start to leak by now.
If both models are going basically with the SAME ZX-10R look my “claim” is total vaporware.
I searched that EPA document and found zilch about the 636 in there. Maybe it’s changed since you first viewed it. The only ZX listed is the ZX-10R…
Yup. One the news got out, the document got cleaned out of all the good bits.