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.
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.
I’d buy this over an R1, zx-10, Gixxer, any day. You get the performance, the looks and better ergonomics. And quite exclusive on top of that.
What Johndo said. You have to ride one to understand. Awesome bikes.
Great for those on the market. Break a leg, guys…do it for those of us(me) that are too broke to ride this “train”. LOL.
Jensen, i think they are doing the same on their home market too.
http://www.motoblog.it/post/108501/gruppo-piaggio-novita-e-promozioni-scooter-e-moto-di-febbraio
It can’t hurt. But man, the awesomeness of Aprilia’s bikes (and KTM’s for that matter too) is just not matched by their USA distribution, marketing, sales, and support. There’s just much lower brand awareness of Aprilia compared to other European makes (esp. BMW and Ducati).
Some of this has to do with achieving a critical mass of bikes out there, so people simply just see more of them on the road. Hopefully this incentive will help with that.
I’ve got to say that they have no one to blame but themselves for taking as long as they did to get the new Tuono to the US. A full year after Europe had it! That can’t be much of a help to sales. Those British bike mags that got me all excited about the Tuono were well on the bottom of the pile (or in the recycle bin) by then.
In contrast, Ducati announces the Panigale in Nov ’11, and has product in American dealerships 5-7 months later in time for the riding season. That makes a huge difference!
Also thinking that KTM is blowing it big time as well by not getting the new Adventure here this year.
Aprilia’s are great… until you ditch it, or something goes wrong and you have to wait months for a part.
No thanks… not even with the discounts.
Theres a dealer near here, great service (they sell Suzukis and Moto Guzzi too). I wouldn’t be worried with an Aprilia like I would with an MV Agusta (heard nightmare stories about MV parts..never about Aprilia).
We (Pro Italia) sell and support Aprilia. They are fantastic bikes and we have minimal issues supporting them (and we sell quite a few). Hopefully this decrease in price will result in more people riding them and finding out just how good they are.
I’ve owned a 2011 RSV4-R since July, 2011. I’ve had one warranty issue which admittedly did result in a 1-month wait for a back-ordered part. I could be frustrated, but there’s an upside to the experience:
When I called Aprilia USA customer service to express my concern, Terry was happy to confirm the delivery date of the back-ordered part into the US inventory from Italy, the date it was ordered by the dealer and he asked me to follow-up the following week. When I did, he confirmed the arrival of the part and provided the tracking number for the shipment to the dealer.
Ive had other dealings with Aprilia USA on a different machine also, and I can say that that experience was also exceptional.
In total, I’ve owned 3 Aprilias over the last 6 years, one totaled, one traded the the current bike. I’ll say they’re no better or worse than any of the other 10 bikes I’ve owned from Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and KTM. The trick is to know what quirks they might have and to have realistic expectations.
I’ve got over 16,000 miles aboard the RSV4, and there’s nothing on the market I would consider trading it for except possibly a Tuono V4 – I had a chance to swap with a local owner and it gave up very little to the RSV in exchange for a much more street-friendly ergo.
Well the pricing sold me (Pro Italia helped here)! I have waited for Honda to give me what I wanted since purchasing a used 2002 VFR800 years ago…a modern, high end V4 sport bike! I just hope Aprilia ships quickly!
Looks like we’re getting ripped off in Aus! Even without the discount mentioned above. Bit over 30,000 to buy a Factory here from memory. Bit odd given the Aussie dollar’s been stronger than the US dollar for ages now.
I was keen a couple of years back to try to buy an RSV4. Asked the local dealer about a test ride. He said it couldn’t happen. At about the same time my local Yamaha dealer arrived at my place one morning on his R1 demo. I rode it and sent him back to the shop with my requests for pipes etc. Picked it up a few days later. Hard to beat that salesmanship!
Was no way I was going to buy a new bike that I couldnæt ride forst.
This has completely frozen my plans to get a 2013 848 Corse SE. I can get an RSV4R APRC for less money? I have some rethinking to do…
As an existing owner who has far less electronics on my bike than the current model(s), I feel like my bike is doing what my house is doing. I owe more than it’s worth. Damn you, aprilia!
I love your bikes, but you’re the only company arrogant enough not to capitalize your own proper name!
The difference is that at least my house’s value should return in time.
We have a whopping ONE Aprilia dealer in the state of Illinois. And it’s all the way down in Peoria, which is about 3 hours from Chicago. Not a single Aprilia dealer anywhere near Chicago land area which is where the majority of Illinois’ population resides. They need to fix this if they want to sell bikes in the U.S.
I have some experience riding these on and off the track and would say without pause, that the Tuono is the best “all around ” motorcycle out of the box, I have ever ridden. If you are remotely in the market for something like this, go ride one….but leave your checkbook in the car.
Over here in Europe I know a dealer who bought 10 RSV4′s in 2011 and still got 6 of them unsold.
They are piling up over here.
I bought a 2010 for the same $14k.. with no superduper electronics….a 2012 for the same price wiht all the good stuff, is unbelieveable….btw, i have flogged mine on the race track since new ( strickly a race bike) with no issues… thank you AF1 for assembling a fantastic race platform….
@Faust:
DITCH THE LUMPY DESMO !!!…………………..GO WITH V4 LE FOU !!!!!! \(^_^)/ Come to the darkER side, u know u want to !!!
Certainly worth it just to get that engine. But I can understand those who don’t want to put up with the lack of dealership support like you get with the Japanese motorcycle in the US. Of course most Japanese bikes don’t need anything more than routine maintenance. I’ve never had a warranty issue on a Nippon manufactured bike, nor have I ever had a major part or engine failure. Nor have I even know anybody who’s ever had one, beyond those who’ve pushed the limits of engine performance beyond tolerances. Not sure how these Italian engines hold up when power is increased by 20%-30%
@Aaron
I am with you on that. I have own several Japanese bikes and even the ones I ignored the regular maintenance on (I was young and lazy) NEVER had anything approaching and issue of any kind, aside from the occasional dead battery.
That being said, these prices are a deal and a half! If I was in the market for a new Italian bike I just couldn’t justify paying more for an 848 than a shiny new RSV4 or a Tuono that cost less than a Streetfighter!