Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013. Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know. While we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque, and we’ve got the digits after the jump.
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.
What I would like to see: range, 0-60 time.
If you want to do whats right for the environment (and your wallet), buy an efficient used motorcycle and maintain it.
That’s a good looking infographic and it starts off as titled, but then it leads off into just information on electric motorcycles technology. If you’re doing a comparison between gas vs. electric, what about life cycle costs? battery replacement cost? maintenance costs? insurance rates? I think you need some more information to make this a comprehensive comparison.
yeah but i still like the rumble and grown of my bike :|
It’s an interesting graphic, filled with the kind of obsessive detail that I can appreciate. I agree with JR, however, in that it kind of leaves the title (and subtitle) behind. You’ll probably have some other ICE bikers who will want to debate what they mean by “Traditional Motorcycle.” Also, I can’t seem to find the graphic anywhere on their site.
So what part of making these batteries and motors is GREEN?
Can I pull up to any plug in and have the batteries “FULL” in less than 10minutes? Not to nitpick but I’d be raising hell with the maker of my IC powered bikes if they were down 10% power/range after only 30,000 miles. 30,000 miles and a street bike is JUST starting to break in.
You can get a Brammo in the US for six grand?
You yanks don’t know how good you’ve got it, Zero recently set up shop here in Sydney selling their little dirt bike thing for fourteen thousand dollars!
I predict Zero will live up to their name in the number they’ll sell at that price, I just wonder if I can find the auction when the liquidators clear the unsold stock.
I have a ten-mile commute each morning and evening, for six grand I’d happily get a Brammo and charge it up overnight, just for my daily ride.
30,000 miles is just getting broken in? What world and bike do ride? “Broken in” is give or take about 1000 miles
If you go 30,000 miles on a bike without multiple engine freshens than your really not so concerned with 10% performance in all honesty.
I ride all I can on the weekends with some commuting here and there and manage what 15,000 max in a year split between 3 street bikes. With that even my street bikes will get cracked at 15,000 to 20,000
15,000 and tear down? what are you riding old pre 80′s 2stroke eastern euro crap? I’ve GL1000 30 years young and still goes the ton plus that cycle world rated it at in 79′. Well over 100k miles.
Here in California, I have seen this bike called a Zongshen GS250 on the road about 5 times. I know most people have never heard of it, and you guessed it, has 250cc. Well after digging around the net for all of about 5 seconds, I found it for $2999, with the price slashed to $2199, to make it look like a deal.
With a 3 gal. tank, up to 70 mpg, a top speed of 75mph, and dual front disc brakes (also a rear obviously), that still gives a person $3400 to spare on gas, vs. a Brammo Enertia in Oregon @ $5600, or another $5100 for fuel anywhere else.
Using that electric motorcycle cost calculator, you would have to ride the Zongshen Gs250 up to 74,134 miles before equaling the cost of the Enertia, plus you wouldn’t have to wait for it to charge for 8 hours after going 60 miles.
If this Zongshen can make a bike for $2100, Kawi for $4000, and Honda for $4600, I don’t see why an Electric bike shouldn’t cost that or less, even with the current battery technology. Lets face it, all these bikes are being make in an asian country, so manufacturing costs are relatively equal…
Handily all the data that would make the e-bike look bad has been left out.
- operational range
- refuelling time vs. recharge time
- top speed
- power / weight ratio
Color choices 4 vs. 1, come on.
Just another e-propaganda article.
Range is the biggest one for me. I own a semi touring motorcycle that can roll 200+ miles or so on a tank of gas. I can fill at any gas station. Sure the electric can use any outlet but who is going to let you use it 50 miles from home? Mine had 2 color options, and that was enough. Electric is coming and that’s fine but call me when it’s not a novelty toy.
Colour choices…really?? This reads more like a shameless advertising leaflet than an infographic. As both a daily city commuter and long distance rider (I’m talking 500km+ at a time), I need two important figures to make a fair comparisson:
- Range between ‘refills’
- Charging/Refuelling time
Quite a glaring ommission. Let’s talk practical issues too. I live in an apartment on the third floor. How exactly am I expected to charge this thing? Even if it takes 15 minutes, if you think I’m going to waste that much time charging before or after work, you’ve got another thing coming. I bought a bike to get to places fast not slow me down. The only country in Europe I know that has a recharging network is Portugal, and even there, it’s week, so where am I going to charge? And don’t get me started on the cost of the bike and batteries.
I want electric bikes to be a -viable- competitor to gasoline bikes, and I want them to be fed by electricity based on renewable sources (anything less and it reeks of hypocrisy). Seeing as this doesn’t seem to be the case anywhere, I’ll be saving my pennies, thanks.
Conveniently leaves out the time it takes to recharge/refuel, range and virtually all factors related to performance. Brammo should be comparing to a honda metropolitan scooter or some similarly slow and range-limited thing.
I think current ebikes could really sell as e-commuters/scooter alternatives, I’d even consider one for my commute. They are absolutely dreaming if they think they can compete with performance oriented motorcycles on current battery tech and available supporting infrastructure.
Between what it’ll cost in electricity to ‘fill it up’ and not being able to actually ride it very far at all, I’ll pass. I could see this as ONLY a commuter bike, and even then, I don’t want to spend $6k on something just to get to work on. As we said, thats what 250s are for!
Electrics (motorcycles) are still nothing more than expensive toys for early adopters, that are still filled with too much “can’t” and not enough “do”. They remind me a bit of the Smart cars I see rolling about…I always find myself thinking, one could have bought something for less money, that is infinitely more functional. Some like the “perception” of things more than the reality.
The sad part for most of these manufacturer’s is that once the technology becomes functional to the masses, Honda, Yamaha, BMW, Ducati, etc. are all going to roll out their electrics, and the best some of these other companies (Bramo, Mission, Zero, etc.) can hope for is to be bought out, though who would be interested and why I can’t figure out.
When these bikes are useful in the real world, and offer some semblance of performance and sex appeal, they’ll sell like hotcake. Sadly, all that are available today miss one if not all those marks.
@jackie – I don’t know, my Brammo seems pretty useful in my real world. It can make my round trip commute without a mid-day re-charge. Performance? Adequate for my needs. Sex appeal? That’s pretty subjective, but if it has anything to do with the looks and comments I get on the road and at traffic lights, it’s appealing to a majority of the people who bother to ask me about it.
And it’s fun.
Appreciate the effort, but this infographic is not very good.
* can be brought to 90% state of charge from fully discharged in 15 minutes — not on the Enertia. Brammo specifies a four hour charge rate for the Enertia on 120V, which is probably 2-3 hours to 80%.
* the Valence Ucharge U1-12XP in the Enertia is rated at 3C 30s peak, 2C continuous – not 20C and 10C.
* the Brammo Enertia Plus pictured at the top (the $9k 6kwh model) uses LiCoO2 batteries, not the LiFePO4 in the original Enertia (and discussed in the remainder of the infographic).
One thing Westward, the Zongshen is a Chinese bike and people won’t buy something that expensive made in China when a used Japanese bike will work much better for the same money. Its just better to spend money in the US than in China. And, electric bikes are good daily commuter bikes where the cost of not helping the environment/US economy is higher than actually doing something useful.
@Brammofan: (everything here is said as a friendly conversation) I hear ya. It’s good for some (like yourself) but not for many others though. That’s the trouble with all these current iterations of electric motorcycles.
As a potential consumer, I’ve no place to plug in at home, no place to plug in at work, and no accommodation to remove the battery-packs and plug them in elsewhere; it would also run out of juice half way through my weekend short ride, and wouldn’t even offer an iota of the type of power/handling/performance I could get from even a Vespa, or larger Japanese scooter. Let alone any of the current motorcycles out there.
Don’t get me wrong, electrics are the future. But the current crop isn’t there yet. Again, they are limited to early adopters who like the “idea” of these bikes more than what they truly offer…
…Minus its electric motor, nothing about it is “better” than any number of other options out there. Whatever criteria you might list, I suspect I or someone else in the motorcycle community could point out another bike that you would LOVE…absolutely love riding. Better handling, better brakes, more storage, longer range, cheaper price, ease of riding…whatever category you pick. And that’s the problem with the Brammo/Zero/Etc. right now.
And I think you know what I mean by sexiness. =) Don’t be a dork. =P
I think you’ve also discovered one of the joys of two-wheeled transport…people always want to talk to you about it; be it a Harley or vintage scooter. Bikes are cool…and not in that “but cool is a subjective thing” way. =)
Good on ya for riding! Enjoy. Be safe. Smile and eat lots of bugs.
This info graphic is kind of lame. The copies the description of how a super basic motor works from here: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/motor6.htm
Under the section , “How the motor works”, they talked about batteries. Duh.
i was really turned off by the way they hid the high fuel prices and falling bike sales underneath an inprint of a motorcycle. High fuel costs, and motorcycle sales go hand in hand. People aren’t buying bikes for economy in the States. They are a luxury good which sells when the economy is cooking along. High gas prices are as a result of high demand as well. The two are linked, but not directly as is indicative of the graphic.
When the Large Bike (over 250cc) buying countries have a downturn, the small bike buying countries like china and india still might have a booming economy and have a need for oil which pushes world demand up. That’s why increasing domestic production doesn’t have a significant effect on domestic prices.
What is of interest to me is what model bikes have plummeted in sales. I say its the “lifestyle” bikes which have dropped so much. That’s why harley has taken such a beating. But that is just a guess.
As far as life of a bike engine goes, my triumph trophy has 38k and hasn’t needed a valve adjustment, doesn’t use oil, or water. There are a number floating around with 100k plus–and those are carb engined bikes. With fuel injection there is less gas washing the oil off the cylinder walls, and those bikes should last even longer–provided the rider is riding with some sense.
Did I forget to mention the credit market collapse of 2008? Unless you didn’t need a loan, you couldn’t get on.
As with every other info graphic out there, this one distorts in order to promote the agenda of the people who put it together.
@matthew – I agree it distorts… I just can’t figure out what “family PowerSports” agenda is from their website. They sell lots of things for gas-powered bikes and don’t appear to be a Brammo dealer.