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.
id rock it
I strongly dislike it. I do not think Ducati should chase this market, it seems to be a step away from performance, and their heritage. The performance cruiser genre is a joke, its like smartest of the idiots. Why bother? Was the Indiana too long ago to be remembered?
Sorry. Still not feeling it. This kind of reminds me of the time when, all those years ago, the McDonald’s on our base tried test marking “McPizza”. We see, by the large number of pizzas they sell today, how well that worked out.
Son of a b*tch that’s UGLY, in fact it just keeps getting UGLIER and UGLIER with every leaked photo…horrid and ungainly, like the alien from the Alien movie.
Ducati Diavel: Closer…closer… – http://bit.ly/cfwhbI #motorcycle
Uglier… uglier…
How the devil is this bike ugly? Those vertical led strips on the front are going to look awesome and that thin led strip across the front headlight will look great as well. The exhaust is in a perfect setup for some cool aftermarket slipons. That rear tire is a 240 so from behind that things gonna look great especially with the single swingarm. Look, this bike is a progressive design and in the flesh it is going to look incredible. Probably will be $18,000 with abs which is the only thing that’s going to suck. There’s just enough ducati touches to make it recognizable as a ducati and just enough classic touches to make it resemble a motorcycle. Its bloody beautiful.
Ugly? Not hardly this is got to be the best looking cruiser out there. Looks more like a beefy standard to me. I am betting it proform much more sporting than your average cruiser.
While cruisers are not my type of bike, I like the idea of a power cruiser more than an underpowered cruiser.
Ducati are doing what any motorcycle manufacturer that wants to survive and prosper should be doing; that is to diversify into markets that offer a good rate of return on their R&D investment.
Those who say Ducati shouldn’t produce anything other than sports bikes remind me of the people who used to come into the shop look at the yellow 748SP and say, “Real Ducatis are red!” Just like it could be argued with regards to colour that the the iconic bikes were yellow, silver, green & silver, blue & silver as well as red; it can be said that Ducati has in the past backed up its sports offerings with a range of practical and potent (for their time) every day bikes. Consider the the 1954 “98″, the 1962 mopeds (Cacciatore and Piuma 48s) or the Monza 160. As larger engine sizes became the norm, the late sixties early seventies saw the 250 and 450 single engine in a scrambler frame and 1971 saw the GT 750 début the twin on the road. These bikes tended to offer more in terms of power and handling than their opposition on the market but they were not racebikes.
A power cruiser is not a bad fit in a company with a history that includes two different scooters, the Muletto (a three wheeled truck), dirt bikes (2 & 4 stroke), a legacy of sport touring bikes as well as a previous attempt at a cruiser.
The period road tests of the Indiana criticised the ergonomics of it, rather than the rest of the package; pointing to its cramped position, something that Japanese cruisers also suffered from in the past when compared to their American counterparts. Looking at the photos of the Diavel, I suspect “cramped” will not be a problem.
Putting a modified superbike motor into the cruiser makes sense in the light of history; the scramblers offered the high performance 450 Desmo road engine in a dirt chassis while the Indiana was available with the F1′s 750 Pantah motor (albeit with a reversed rear head) and the ST4 offered the 4 valve motor in a touring bike. As to the styling, I don’t find it objectionable and suspect like a number of offerings from Ducati it will be better in the flesh.
Sorry Bjorn it’s just plain ugly.
sorry everyone, I love this thing more every time I see it. Odd maybe, but then I’m pretty odd myself.
I think I,m going to be sick…
I like it, simply because Ducati is a brand that pushes the envelope. The LED lighting in the front and on the sides are awesome, style wise they have it. I also think they will be the first to integrate nav systems and iphone/smartphone connection capabilities for easy read out social media integration.
I take it will compete with the Yamaha Vmax, which after experiencing in real totally won me over. And those babies sold very well so there is an niche market for it.
+1 Ducati
I love it!
Reminds me of a whale, I couldn’t hate it more. A hex upon you, Ducati, and all who buy this bloated geezer glide!
It looks like a Streetfighter or Monster for short, fat people? Should be popular in the US!? ;-)
Well for us seniors, whose shoulders have gone south, the ergonomics of this bike are appealing!!
Love my Monster1100 but my sport riding ergonomics days are numbered!!This bike will keep this 72 year old in the Ducati family and reduce my consumption of ALEVE…..Thanks Ducati!!
I still say it looks like an armadillo dry-humping warthog… and I own an older Speed Triple which has been called an insect on streroids.
So you see, I know ugly.
Getting Uglier by the Spy Shot. Hope they sell trillions so that $$$ can be thrown into more R/D for Superbikes, Monsters and Multistradas…and w/e comes after.
Wow. An Italian V-Rod. How awful.
Garbage for styling, but Ducati’s been heading that direction since the 999 anyway.
Even if it is uglier than a hat full of arse holes, it will be wonderfully, eccentrically ugly. Besides, you don’t look at the mantelpiece when you are stoking the fire.
For those of you who are slagging the concept of power cruisers, try one. As a sports bike aficionado I used to be down on the idea until as a younger bloke, I tuned a first series V-Max for one of our customers. Taking it out for a test ride I decided to see what all of the fuss was about, so I found a nice bit of road and wrenched open the throttle, HOLY FUCK! When that thing hit 6000 rpm all hell broke loose, the rear dug in and launched the whole ungainly plot forward like it was rocket propelled. It was awesome.
Would I buy one? No, not while I can throw a leg over my sports bikes and even after that, probably not.
Are we richer for having them in the great panoply of motorcycling? Yes.
This attitude of, “It offends my sense of what a motorcycle should be, therefore I hate it,” irritates me beyond belief because it shows a lack of understanding of the breadth of our sport. I respect (not like) any bike that fulfils its function as well as possible.
guess it’s safe to say this is most definitely a “love it or hate it” kind of bike? no worries, other man’s have em too…Triumph, Victory, BMW…
I for one like it; it’s like the VROD but w/ more power, sportier styling, & i’m sure a better-designed chassis – all for probably about the same price. The real problem is…the Vrod fills a miniscule niche, will they sell enough Diavels to make it worth their while?
got me one on order, chuffin imense
Bestlook bike on the earth, i love it :)
For all you melon heads that say this bike defines ugly….get back on your meds…..ugly is in your mirror every morning…and next to you in bed every night…Must have been a lack of sunlight over the pond this year !!