Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

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.

Q&A: Yukio Kagayama Talks About the Upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour with Kevin Schwantz & Noriyuki Haga

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.

KTM RC4 Concept by Luca Bar Design

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.

Q&A: Claudio Domenicali Talks Frameless Chassis, Sacred Cows, & The Future for Ducati

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.

Is Yamaha Using A Seamless Gearbox? The Data Says No

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.

OCC Coming Back to TV? — Universe Collapses in on Self

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.

Alstare Superbike Concept by Team Alstare

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.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

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.

2014 Suzuki GSV-R Spotted Again

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.

BMW F800GS Adventure – Germany’s Middleweight ADV

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.

Asphalt & Rubber Turns Three Years Old Today

10/28/2011 @ 1:14 pm, by Jensen Beeler41 COMMENTS

Asphalt & Rubber Turns Three Years Old Today Jensen Phillip Island track day 635x422

It’s the end of October, and there is a picture of me from a birthday track day, so that could mean only one thing: Asphalt & Rubber has aged another year. Now into our third year of this crazy online motorcycle blog experiment, I pleasantly get to reiterate some of the text from last year’s anniversary announcement, as A&R continues to grow beyond anything that this dyslexic kid, who routinely failed writing classes, could have imagined.

This year has been one marked with notable events, as Asphalt & Rubber has come to you live from a bevy of remote locations for our race and event coverage, such as Qatar, Australia, and the Isle of Man. Storming perhaps the last refuge for motorcycle print journalism, we’ve also become one of only two pure-online publications regularly seen in the MotoGP paddock.

But most impressively this year, Asphalt & Rubber passed the 500,000 reader mark, and fittingly this October is shaping up to be our best month ever in terms of traffic & readership…as was the month before that, and the month before that — with all of that math culminating into the fact that A&R has almost doubled in size since last year’s birthday announcement.

One of the questions I often get in regards to A&R is the use of the royal “we” on the site, and the answer I give is that Asphalt & Rubber wouldn’t be possible without the hard work, encouragement, and support of a very loyal group of people. So, I’d like to give a quick shout out to everyone that helped A&R this past year, with a level of gratitude bordering on indentured servitude to Daniel Lloyd, Dustin Gibbs, Peter Lombardi, Jason Yu, Jessica Pichora, Joanne Donn, Scott Jones, Tim Hoefer, Victoria Reid, and lastly our network of Bothan Spies, who continue to provide us with industry-leading news tips despite their own almost certain peril.

Also a big throttle-full of gratitude goes out to all our friends (you know who you are) and family (thanks Mom for letting me start this whole blogging nonsense in your basement), who for reasons beyond my comprehension continue to support this occasionally profitable endeavor. Lastly and most importantly, thank you to all our readers who make all the work worthwhile. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, or just leave a comment below. See you next year.

Top 5 Related Posts:

  1. Asphalt & Rubber Turns Four Years Old Today
  2. Asphalt & Rubber Goes Down Under to Oz and NZ
  3. A Year in Review with Asphalt & Rubber: 2012
  4. Site News: Asphalt & Rubber Is Now on Google+

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Comment:

  1. New Zealand Dan says:
    October 28, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    Well done guys (and gals if applicable) Thoroughly enjoy the site and content. Keep up the good work!

  2. Mark Morrison says:
    October 28, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    Congrats Jensen, many happy returns

  3. Todd says:
    October 28, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Great job Jensen! Congrats and see you at the D-Store!

  4. Bjorn says:
    October 28, 2011 at 1:59 PM

    Happy birthday A&R. My first motorcycle fix each day.

  5. Kurt says:
    October 28, 2011 at 2:03 PM

    Congrats Jensen. As an anniversary article… u should publish pix of my customized Benelli. LOL. Best wishes for many more years of successful publishing.

  6. Fluffy says:
    October 28, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    Awesome news! Congratulations on year 3! I hope there are many more as your site is one of my daily stops. Thank you!

    Let’s see the rest of those track day pics!

  7. RSVDan says:
    October 28, 2011 at 2:40 PM

  8. Minibull says:
    October 28, 2011 at 2:44 PM

    Congratulations Jensen, been with you since the start, and I’ll be here for many years to come. Keep up the brilliant work :)

  9. John Magnum says:
    October 28, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    Congrats Jensen quality everyday good reading and always fun in the comments section
    happy b day A&R!

  10. Alexontwowheels says:
    October 28, 2011 at 3:42 PM

    Happy birthday bitches!! :-D

  11. Taufik says:
    October 28, 2011 at 5:07 PM

    Happy B Day A&R From TMCBLog in Indonesia

  12. MikeD says:
    October 28, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    Congrats, Omedeto(in Japanese) and Felicidades(in Spanish)…KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK…I truly apreciate the freedom of speech AND THEN SOME that we have/ENJOY here(even when we get out of hand)…and then to boot, IS FREE HERE ! No suscription fees B.S.(for now? LOL)

    I recently got BANNED from http://www.motorcycledaily.com for calling the “new” Aprilia 850 scooter A Sperm Whale with LipStick…and before that some other “written opinions” erased. Yeah…i guess i had it coming…LMFAO.

    Thanks for the hard work ! Keep it UP ! A daily reader/visitor. MikeD.

  13. DarN says:
    October 28, 2011 at 6:43 PM

    Greetings Boys,
    Happy B-day and keep up the good work!

  14. David Emmett says:
    October 28, 2011 at 8:35 PM

    Happy Birthday! RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Asphalt & Rubber Turns Three Years Old Today – http://t.co/8VTQuyOW

  15. All Things Ducati says:
    October 28, 2011 at 8:43 PM

    Love you work Jensen! RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Asphalt & Rubber Turns Three Years Old Today – http://t.co/VqOrbGND #motorcycle

  16. ChrisD says:
    October 28, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    Hey Guys! Congrats on getting to the 3Rd year! Its been almost a year since Ive made you my Number 1 Stop for all my motorcycle and racing news.. Definitely my daily read. Thanks for all the great posts! Keep it going!

  17. phil says:
    October 28, 2011 at 10:32 PM

    Congrats, guys. A compulsory stop each day.

  18. Jack Lange says:
    October 29, 2011 at 6:17 AM

    Nice work. I visit the site daily.

  19. John says:
    October 29, 2011 at 8:14 AM

    Congratz from Argentina!

    Keep it up!

  20. vetrick says:
    October 29, 2011 at 8:48 AM

    Just wanted to say that I read your blog quite frequently and I’m always amazed at some of the stuff people post here. But keep up the good work, it’s always interesting. See ya,

  21. Frod says:
    October 29, 2011 at 9:29 AM

    congratulations! and keep up the good work from Connecticut, USA

  22. irksome says:
    October 29, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    I’m smooshing a cupcake into my drive even as we speak. I’ll forward it to ya.

    Hope you like chocolate!

  23. BBQdog says:
    October 29, 2011 at 9:48 AM

    Happy birthday A&R and Jensen. Everyday I come by to have a quick look at this site but most of the times I stay longer :-)

  24. digfoto says:
    October 29, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Congrats! Keep up the great work!!! When I was in Africa a couple weeks ago without any internet access – MISSED reading your daily posts. Glad to be reading them again each and every day.

  25. Marzouq says:
    October 29, 2011 at 1:00 PM

    Been following your blog/online motorcycle mecha for years now! Been following it probably since day one which I stumbled upon it by accident! I keep loving it more and more, I love all of your passion for the machines! Please keep it up and I hope to see A&R grow and more machines! More Italian Machines :P hehe

  26. PD says:
    October 29, 2011 at 3:17 PM

    Congratulations.

    MORE of the same. MORE, MORE of the same.

  27. 76 says:
    October 29, 2011 at 5:22 PM

    You get a check from me everyday, great job and continue the success, cheers..

  28. Jack says:
    October 29, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    Great site!!!! I check in at least twice a day.

  29. Scott Jones says:
    October 30, 2011 at 9:35 AM

    Congratulations, Jensen! I’m proud to be involved, and grateful to all of the A&R readers who support the site with their readership and comments.

  30. invisible cities says:
    October 30, 2011 at 12:03 PM

    Congratulations, Jensen! A shout out to you and the whole A&R team. Your dedication to this site shows! Many happy returns.

  31. Paul McM says:
    October 30, 2011 at 6:21 PM

    Jensen –
    As a fellow Blogger I have some concept of the effort you put into the site. It is my favorite “moto” destination on the web. Best layout, best photos, and often the most current/timely reports. You are to be congratulated on your efforts and the high quality of all the content you deliver, week in and week out. My only suggestion for the future is to put up some videos with real-world gear and bike tests. Most other media sources have so-so credibility.

  32. Azhar says:
    October 30, 2011 at 7:12 PM

    Happy Bday. You guys rock! Your my first choice for the most update date moto info. Keep up the great work guys!!!!!!!!!

  33. Damo says:
    October 30, 2011 at 7:35 PM

    Great site, keep up the good work.

    Asphaltandrubber.com became a daily visit for me about a year ago and I have been spreading the word every since!

  34. Adrien says:
    October 30, 2011 at 11:07 PM

    Congrats from China
    it brightens the cloudy days at work,
    Keep it up !

  35. Pedro says:
    October 31, 2011 at 2:53 AM

    Since I discovered this site, not a day goes by without checking it ! Kudos to all of you from Portugal :)

  36. AK says:
    October 31, 2011 at 5:46 AM

    Congrats

  37. TonyC says:
    October 31, 2011 at 7:29 AM

    Congrats A&R! I’ve enjoyed visiting your site every morning this past year. Keep up the good work and I look forward to many more years to come!

  38. jimmyo says:
    October 31, 2011 at 2:35 PM

    You guys are my favorite motorcycle new site. Keep up the good work, clean UI, and minimally intrusive advertisement.

  39. Mr. X says:
    October 31, 2011 at 6:47 PM

    Good job, love the site.

  40. Jensen Beeler says:
    October 31, 2011 at 10:54 PM

    Thanks for the kind words everyone. Makes it all worthwhile.

  41. David Dungan says:
    November 1, 2011 at 7:27 AM

    Never disappointed with your timely information.
    You guy’s are always on top of it and it is reflected in
    the quality of this site.
    Very well done! Congradulations to all that make it so…..