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.
this could be interesting.
How did you get it to your place? Alternate route, or did you stop for a charge on the way?
http://www.memes.at/pics/challenge-accepted.png.
It looks pretty Modern and Contemporary…and im not talking about the bike…but she looks good too.
Whoa, whoa, whoa… is that really your apartment?
It’s a corner of it Marc. You should come out to the hood sometime.
Wow, great pad! I’m REALLY looking forward to this series – keep up the good work. We really need a balanced, real-world assessment of what it’s like to live with an electric motorcycle on a day-to-day basis. I’ve been following the developments at BRD, Zero, Brammo, etc., and look forward to getting more information before taking the plunge.
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Living Electric: A Series on Living with Electric Motorcycles http://t.co/EYZ6Ynxa
Sigh! The e-crap again.
Call when, if ever, these contraptions are more than decorations.
there’s oil stains from your ducati, jensen :D
other that that, you did a nice job cleaning the place :)
YUPPIE DREAMING.
When your life looks like an Ikea showroom it’s time to change.
Please stick to real bikes, riding and racing. Not the pursuit of “fashion” motorcycles and trendy lifestyles.
Besides, when you stare at your bike it should be from the pits or through the window at the pub, not in the bedroom. ’nuff said.
@Jensen Beeler
More importantly: Is that a copy of Settlers of Catan I spy on your book shelf?
Oh you closet dork! (P.S. I love Catan)
While the e-bike thing is certainly very cool, I just hope the looks improve someday, pretty much all the ones that are actually sold to consumers look like dirt bikes, even when they’re not. Will be nice when some of the custom builders who’ve expressed an interest in them, like Richard Pollack and Roland Sands, get their hands on them. Just seems to me that right now they’re built by people who are more focused on the technology, than with motorcycle design.
Different people have different tastes, wants, and needs. Who would have thought!? Dont like something, move on… no need to drop a steaming pile of pointless, negative comment in your wake before you leave. Anyway, nice pad, nice bike…
Well said Spiffster. Haters get lost…
Jensen, I have a feeling that your enthusiasm and open-mindedness will give you the opportunity to be influential in the developing electric bike market. When this happens, could you please do me a favor and drop some hints to the manufacturers that an electric cafe racer would be amazing? It would be “scene” enough for hipsters in the city and stylish enough for traditional ICE bikers. It would also be a good medium between the dirtbike style and the full on rocket. Thanks!
PS. your pad is sweet.
Damo, yes that’s Settlers of Catan. Trust me, there is nothing covert about my dorkiness.
@Jensen
Right on. I just got the 6 player expansion myself.
Back to task. I am nothing but excited about the electric bike market. I have yet to actually “speak” with anyone who has done and extended test with one, so I am eager to see the results of a long term test are like and how it is to “live” with the bike.
As and aside, has anyone on here used an E-bike in a colder climate? Being a New England resident I am curious how it would perform.
I’m with Ryan, I’d really love to see someone come out with a cafe racer e-bike. I’m thinking something similar to the Hammarhead Volta, but much more like the Continental GT prototype Royal Enfield showed in India recently. Keep the battery pack nice and clean and have it look like it belongs with the rest of the bike, and I believe you’d have a winner.
So very cool! I’m dying to try one of these for my commute (52 miles, 90% freeway), but suspect I’ll either need to fair it like Vetter, or wait for them to get some decent sftermarket. I can dream, right?
And; anyone who doesn’t get electric has never ridden one. They are that fun.
Another cool idea I think for an e-cafe racer would be something like RSD’s KTM cafe racer that was coverted from a KTM dirt bike. I like that look too.
Same electric motorcycle, in a totally different type of pad, this bike fits into all kinds of lifestyles.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-bW8P36uGDmg/T0kvPS_xTrI/AAAAAAAAIVA/WMJCwIxcq0s/s800/2011-10-17+21.38.20.jpg
Jensen,
Looking forward to reading your articles. I’m just curious how you got your hands on one so quickly? And with the windshield? Who do you know at the factory that I can talk to ;-)
Tony, with all due respect, you are crazy. Bikes should go from my pits to my livingroom so I can see them from my bedroom whenever I want… a bike is one of the hottest things you can stare at from your bedroom.
As for the looks of electric bikes, they are coming along guys. Brammo seems to get it and CRP has a killer sporty looking eBike.
http://www.eicma.it/en/crp-energica.htm is this a sexy enough electric bike for ya?