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.
Interesting — and who wouldn’t want to see the great old Can-Am brand resurrected for motorcycles? Bombardier is a very creative company; sales-wise, that ‘Spyder’ is almost the only bright spot in the whole world of motorsports. Maybe Erik’s bikes could piggyback into distribution through the Spyder’s dealer network. My two-cents’ worth: an off-road 450 is great, but there should also be dual-sport and ultra-lighweight sport bike variants.
I’m a huge fan of off road riding and would love to see more options, but it is a curious move. The Japanese are incredibly good at making 4-stroke MX bikes and it would be very difficult to be competitive, much less successful in that market. The Japanese only pay secondary attention to off road machines and almost no attention to making street legal off road machines. This is where KTM dominates, with Husqvarna also making a very competitive showing. Then there are the attempts by BMW and niche bikes like the Beta, Husaberg etc. This is probably where EBR could make a dent in the market if it is able to produce and support a competitive machine.
Oil in the frame is very common in this market. Gas in-the-frame hasn’t been done by an oem to my knowledge, though it isn’t uncommon to fill the frame rails with fuel as a diy thing to get more capacity.
I’m dubious that an off-road suitable frame could be built with sufficient volume to replace the fuel tank. Such a large frame would tend to be very thin-walled (too fragile for off road) or very heavy.
A better approach would likely be to use both the frame and a small tank for fuel or perhaps an optional accessory external fuel cell.
A final consideration is that in this market a user absolutely must be able to select from a range of tank sizes, else the bike will be largely useless. Some of my off road rides require ~200 mile range while others only need a 35 mile range and many can be done with a 100 mile range.
IMHO EBR should go win some SCORE, BITD and GNCC races on a prototype before trying to bring something to market. Off road is very different from street and I worry that EBR may lack the in-house experience necessary to make a competitive machine right off the bat. A couple of years of racing would probably be the quickest means of getting the necessary experience and perspective, not to mention a great way of establishing some credibility.
EBR should also consider a >450cc machine as the Japanese have abandoned this market with the death of the XR650R. A competition-oriented, high performance >600cc bike would enjoy a unique market position. In fact, a 2-model range with 350cc and 650cc motors could be quite profitable. A 450 is too much for most people in tight, technical off road and can be a bit tiring and high strung for high speed desert stuff. A long-stroke, fast 650 for the desert and a light, manageable 350 for everywhere else could be highly effective and without much competition (so far – KTM has a 350 in the works, husqvarna just came out with its revised 310 and husaberg has the 390 – though the latter is based of the 570 motor and is a bit heavy for its displacement).
I hope the guy gets those very needed funds to get him off the ground and running again.
Buell would be smart to develop a dual-sport version of this bike as well — it’s a market that’s heating up, and the Japanese aren’t offering many interesting options while the Europeans are all rather pricey.
That’s great news !
100% ok with BikePilot :
“EBR should also consider a >450cc machine as the Japanese have abandoned this market with the death of the XR650R. A competition-oriented, high performance >600cc bike would enjoy a unique market position. In fact, a 2-model range with 350cc and 650cc motors could be quite profitable. A 450 is too much for most people in tight, technical off road and can be a bit tiring and high strung for high speed desert stuff. A long-stroke, fast 650 for the desert and a light, manageable 350 for everywhere else could be highly effective and without much competition (so far – KTM has a 350 in the works, husqvarna just came out with its revised 310 and husaberg has the 390 – though the latter is based of the 570 motor and is a bit heavy for its displacement).”
my only concern is… Alan is a journo ?
ahahaha
Eric teaming with that Canadian company would be nice, as long as HD keeps its trap shut. I thought of Eric going with a Chinese company (they seem to have a lot of cash) but I hope not. Buells should be built in America by Americans just like they’ve always been. The future seems hopefull anyway.
no but, seriously, “famed motorcycle journalist” ?
you must be kidding me… right ?
Still not biting.
ok… well name one bike he “tested” in his “career” that he disliked ?
Look closer to his relations with any company he reviewed… always sunny !
Although I recognize his racing abilities, he’s a PR, not a journalist.
big difference…
If you want to argue over semantics, let’s grab a drink on Friday or something. Zeitgeist?
PM ?
“Gas in the frame”?, for off road that’s a bad idea. Even if it lowers the CG, you’ll never have enough capacity for everyone. Granted, if it held a couple gallons in the frame and a seondary tank could be used to supplement it, like the new BMW/Husky 450 then that may work. Oil in the frame is a 50/50 deal at best. Dirt bikes could use the extra cooling but the riders also come in physical contact with the frame and getting burned because you just hugged the 250 degree frame rails with your legs doesn’t sound like a design highlight.
But in all honesty, if it was reliable and fun, and it carried a recognizable name like Buell or Can-Am, I believe that they would have buyers signng upbefore they even release their first model.