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.
Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.
An interesting development on the aftermarket side of things has graced our desks, as Öhlins has released a “suspension control unit” (SCU) that upgrades the electronically adjustable suspension on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S so that it becomes a semi-active suspension system. Whhhaaaat??! So, if you’re the proud owner of a pre-2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S, and you think that your electronically controlled Öhlins suspension is no longer boss, now that Ducati has released its Sachs-powered “Skyhook” semi-active suspension pieces on its new batch of Multistrada sport-tourers, there is a remedy for your motolust.
“KTM Freeride (oh man, we hope that name gets changed) ” …..
wtf!? really!? that name rocks.
btw, i heard rumors from a good source @ KTM that the edgar winter group will be performing the theme music at the US launch event. http://youtu.be/SQC1xodg-HU
;-)
The Freeride is definitely a burden for Zero. Right now there seems to be little incentive for people who are eager to ride an electric motorcycle not to wait for it. But I still hope that people at Zero are able to make the shift to a more buyer centered manufacturer.
I’m skeptical as to how useful it will be for off-road or MX, certainly way below ICE par, but if the range isn’t dramatically better than Zero it’ll be flat useless unless you’ve got a really long extension cord.
A trials version, however, could be both very useful (8 miles of range would do, especially if batteries could be swapped quickly or charged in < 30 min) and competitive with ICE machines. In fact, I'd seriously consider plunking down cash for an e-trials bike right now, the other e-bikes don't yet spurn even mild contemplation.
Oh, and it needs fork guards, looks really silly without them (and it wouldn’t make it to the first turn without sustaining damage either – heavens knows it isn’t pulling a holeshot with 10hp;).
Thanks BikePilot. I KNEW there was something silly looking about it. Couldn’t place it. Definitely the fork guards.
Also, I don’t see how that battery’s coming out of there. That’s a big knock if it can’t be swapped.
agree with bikepilot that the freeride needs fork protectors … but … holeshots are not so much about HP … they are more about torque.
and, it would be rather silly to expect an EV to be competitive with an ICE at anything except perhaps fuel efficiency.
so … think different here … think of an EV supercross series that can take place in major metro areas (in smaller venues than stadiums, right in city centers), as EVs don’t make the same level of noise that stops a lot of cities from allowing/zoning racing in their metro centers.
and don’t stop at a metro center supercross series … one could also have a supermoto series, or (shudder to even think about it) … bring back board track racing. now THAT would be an exciting series to watch/attend/race in.
Enough talk (& posting). Let’s get them on the roads, tracks and trails for real world evaluation.
Until then, it’s just hype.
Personally, I think the real solution is a low emission, direct-injection, oil-injected, QUIET 2-stroke off-road bike. The technology is already here. No magic and false promises needed. And hopefully cleaner emissions would get 2 strokes back on the roads too.
If I were a value investor (and had some capital to invest) I would think seriously about buying KTM stock. They are now consistently thinking and moving one step ahead of basically everyone else in the industry. Their development pattern is to introduce bikes based on a great concept and make significant improvements with every new year model. Example: look how they now dominate in off-road (enduro, GNCC). They’re beginning that path in road racing with the RC8. The way world politics, environmentalism, and economics are now, I have no doubt in a coming market for electric motorcycles. And yes, if I were thinking of buying an electric motorcycle I would wait to see how this one performs. And NO, I do not work for KTM! (I do have an old 380, the most dependable bike I’ve ever owned).