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.
What a joke !
If any one pays more than half of the retail price for this bike, they should be outed as complete knuckleheads.
*puts orange-red loofah and $200 exhaust on bike, paints up in tacky flame job*
Art. One million dollars please.
Well, maybe if I was on a truckload of illegal drugs too I’d think this piece of shit was as awesome as Armstrong does… Go find a real job jackass!
That Jack Armstrong…. He’s so hot right now…..
What a gigantic jerk off.
“go all over the world tomorrow mourning” (my spelling!!!!) talk about a dreamer. He is obviously a legend in his own mind.
A million dollars! what a dick head!
Hmm. LEDs and a flame paintjob. Gee, where have I seen that before… And by… Jack Armstrong? Who? Even wikipedia lacks an entry on him. That’s the limit of my curiosity of the guy.
Huh?
What am I missing here? I wouldn’t give him $10k for that fugly POS.
This guy and his fans must be drinking some crazy kool-aid. Name dropping wally that references his own name 10 times on his home page. This sensationalism BS is usually short lived. Stop reporting on rubbish like this.
It’s important to view this not as a motorcycle but as a piece of art.
As a motorcycle it can simply be regarded as a garish, overdone (if that’s not a tautology) custom motorcycle, created by a talentless, self promoting hack. But when viewed as a piece of art it can be seen to be a garish, overdone custom motorcycle, created by a talentless, self promoting hack with his head so far up his own arse that it’s a miracle he can draw breath, let alone create such pathetic shit.
All of those sycophantic turds in the video milling around that ‘artiste’ and his abomination should be maced as a lesson in aesthetics.
Of course you could argue all great art is controversial.
Where is the freighter loaded with shipping crates from China, the 3oo lactating monkeys and the 15 young boys living in the slave trade that goes with the deal?
I think $20 bucks should cover the price of that bike. Or perhaps some really dark welders glasses so you don’t have to see the hiteousness of this monstrocity.
Saying it’s worth 1 million $ is easy to do. Finding someone stupid enough to by that BS, is another story.
I wonder if he’ll trade me for my $2,000,000 Ducati Monster. It’s got a custom paint job too.
“Oh, you’re an ARTIST…”
That still doesn’t explain the friggin’ pom-pom.
Why would anyone go out and ruin a good Night Rod Special like this?!? Hhaha…and why are we even commenting on this junk in the first place?!?
Well, now that the Teutels have split up, who WILL make a motorcycle for Paris Hilton? Eh?
This is utterly ridiculous. For this douche-nozzle to come out with his “best artist in the world” and “used to paint with Andy Warhol” and actually gather attention is the most disturbing part. The Harley with the trashy paint job I’m totally used to though. Seems to be par for the course…
Fucking clown shoes…
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Jack Armstrong's "Million Dollar Harley-Davidson" – Further Proof You Can't Buy Taste – http://bit.ly/9MzdiV #motorcycle
I have a book with Andy Warhol in it & I just spray painted my my old mountain bike “graffiti style”. $200,000 takes it. I personally find it very gratifying making art more affordable.
You would figure for a million+ he could at least finish the job… The louvers (though I guess they’re not louvers any more) behind the steering head aren’t even painted!
Shame on you a&r for posting this crap, I want the 5 minutes of my life back. And shame on me for reading it and watching the video. Lorenzo lamas looked so cool on it. Celebrities are right behind lawyers.
Oh My God. I want to stab this guy.
Hey, Harley needs all the help it can get. After all, its third quarter sales are tanking…..
http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/2010/harley-davidson-third-quarter-sales-down
I see that HD keeps championing being the sales leader in large bikes which is a diminishing category with absolutely nothing else whatsoever to offer. So yes, this bike is garish but someone bought a HD bike and that’s damned important for them right now.
Dang the thing is tight! I can just imagine throwin’ out the vibe and reeling in the ladies with that piece of hardware! It would be like an extension of my you know what ;)
I wonder if he would take an I O U?
This proves people are choking on the media’s dick. If u like it, YOU PROBABLY DO NEED AN EXTENSION FOR YOUR “YOU KNOW WHAT”… Anyone with a box of crayons can make this ugly piece of shit. There is no artistic merit at all. And i was hoping the douche bag fell off the bike while posing.
Done! Purchased. I’m currently loading it onto my boat to be dropped to the bottom of the ocean. This bike has already hurt too many people.
How much to have this guy tortured? It’s gotta be a lot less than a million. I wouldn’t want him killed though, it’d make him all too happy to be a martyred artist.
Jack Armstrong’s “Million Dollar Harley-Davidson” – Further Proof You Can’t Buy Taste http://t.co/3Ed00zL
A real artist who’s canvas is the motorcycle create things like the Ducati 916 and the MV Agusta F4. His name is Massimo Tamburin. Not some twit who had too much crack and decided to get “crafty” and polish a turd.
I’m not sure if I am insulting Massimo by even bringing his name up in this context.
The first mistake was using a piece of shit Harley.
I propose a piece of performance art to go with this.
I will, while wearing a turtleneck and Andy Warhol wig:
-clasp this “artiste’s” ankles in gold plated shackles which will be secured to a giant size 10,000lb marble sculptural facsimile of a healthy dogpile.
-connect said “artiste’s” neck to a hard mount point of his Harley’s frame with a similarly gold plated case hardened coil of chain and collar.
-mount the art Harley and proceed in a direction away from artiste and marble dogpile by means of rolling burnout until coil of chain extends to perfect straight line then snaps back to abstract resting shape once artistes head has escaped from his body and gone bouncing down the road like an errant soccer ball.
-circle around to former artiste’s carcass and dispense it’s liquid media onto dogpile sculpture with the art Harley’s rear tire with further manipulations of front brake and throttle.
Christen offal dripping, marble dogpile sculpture as the artiste’s final work and submit it for bidding.
P.O.S.
Pollock Of S#!t