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.
And Chicken Strip Assessment Technology! RT @Asphalt_Rubber Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact Tires http://bit.ly/cUMZUy
how big are your chicken strips? RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact Tires: Now with Pi Sign – http://bit.ly/cUMZUy #motorcycle
So I’m thinking this will shut some of my friends up for sure!
Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact Tires: Now with Pi Sign http://bit.ly/8XsVBQ
Not to be a big neg head on such a cool idea but…Isn’t this encouraging people to lean over further in corners simply to show off?
Wouldn’t this say…increase accidents/injuries/fatalities on those that are less skilled/showing-off/being pushed for a mark on there tyres?
That said, cool idea :P
Of course, if would have to be the Germans to incorporate a scale on the tires for the squids to refer to. As we all know, experienced riders typically get the strips down to mere fractions of an inch from the edge of the profile. Having said that, it’s a confidence booster courtesy of Metzeler. How’s that? Look at the pix and tell me that you know any rider NOT capable of hitting the 5 on the strips. Even at a “Full 5″ lean, You’re still not touching the Elephant. When u can wear off the speeding Elephant, THEN yer really GETTIN IT. And, in case anyone wants to see a Metzeler carcass with the Elephant worn off from normal street use, let me know. I’ll be glad to email u a set of pix of my latest set of Sportec M1′s… Ride it like ya stole it and keep the breeze between yer knees.
Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact Tires: Now with Pi Sign – http://bit.ly/cUMZUy #motorcycle
They should have replaced the top figure by one that has a skirt, haha. Great on Metzeler though.
If this article had been released on April 1st, I would have believed it was a joke. As it is, I’m not sure how to take this. I’m with CBR on this one. I think it’s going encourage riders to push past their limits, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. The last thing I want to see is even MORE squidly and irresponsible behavior on the street. On the street, I just wouldn’t allow myself to be pushed much past 4.5 or 5 on the above depicted lean scale. It’s just not safe.
Track days would be another story. That would be a cool tire to market directly to the track day crowd as a “measuring stick” on how well you are progressing. What kind of compound does the M5 have? I’m assuming it’s a sport tire and not a touring compound…
Nothing a belt sander can’t take care of. :D
Chicken strips are like herpes. You either have them or you don’t. The severity doesn’t matter. I don’t look down on people who have ‘em, but I like the fact that I have none.
Manhood rate meter aka Metzler’s Chicken Strip Assessment Technology system! http://tiny.cc/1Pn3l
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact Tires: Now with Pi Sign http://bit.ly/cUMZUy
If you can’t make number 5 you need training, or some serious suspension tuning.
This is hilarious – Metzeler's new sportbike tires have Chicken Strip Assessment Technology. Chase that Elephant! Lol. http://tr.im/LSee
How good of a rider are you really when this is the way you rate your skill? When the turns come you see who can keep up and who can’t. At 38 I’m not so sure its talent or balls anyway and I know mine don’t seem as big as they once were!
well the numbers a cool for average street riders but im hoping for mor performance and longevity out of these tires because i currently use metzler m3′s and i chang the rear every 2k and front every 4k.. plus the assesment is good for people that cant reallly lean and are just trying to show off because i rubbed the elephants off my m3 and rolled over the edges after about 200 miles on it..
Who needs this, give me my Battle Axe BT0-16 and I’ll blister it enough to scrape off the leftover rubber.
Chicken strips=lean angle. Proper body position=less lean angle=more chicken strips. I can scrub my strips in an empty parking lot at 35mph with the proper body position (leaning to the OUTSIDE of the turn, the technique for tight U-turns on the street). The measure of a rider should be how fast/smooth (s)he is through the twisties, not chicken strips. If you use up all of your tires on the street (utilizing proper riding technique and body position) you are pushing too hard. Take it to the track before you hurt yourself and/or someone else.
I go to the track and it is true that you lean differently on the track but that because you have to to get around that turn as fast as possible I have no need to go that fast on the street and I rather not hang my body off the side of my bike in the street because the roads suck and in not wearing race leathers and wrecking sucks I ride hard on the street but the track is a whole other world where you can get rid of you chicken strips in the front tire on a good day
By far between bridgestone,Michelin and Metelzers…..metelzers suck ball sack…Used M3′s on the track and never again…oh yeah btw good PR for squids to show off how far the lean on their tires….
Not sure what's worse here: pretentious chicken strip meter, or faux carbon fiber sidewalls? http://bit.ly/b2f1Ft
Well funny thing about those chicken strips… I can leave mine on and out ride guys that have ground them off riding.. A lot to be said about “technique” and getting your fat butt off the seat…
My track tires are for certain off the scale but I refuse to push that hard on the street.. More squid food IMHO…
Moto tires with "chicken strip" indicators: http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/metzeler-sportec-m5-interact/
The lawyers will love it.
Especially the ones in state legislature who can get a few votes back home by proposing to outlaw motorcycles because the cost to society from death and injury have gone up.
I even think it is sad that the dead and dying will be squids…such a waste since getting on a track is so easy for anyone with common sense.
They need to replace the elephant with a pair of testicles.
The elephant represents that you have balls like an elephant!!! Yamaha kai den eimai kala.
Chicken strip assessment technology? http://bit.ly/c6hLsP when in doubt add moar numbers
Just ride with low pressure in the tyres for a while. That will certainly mark the tyres nicely. : )
My penis is huge, and I can piss really far. This tire meter will prove it to everyone who doesnt beleive me. But seriously this is funny stuff.
次のMetzeler Sportec M5のマーカーがとても面白いｗ いいねこういうの。http://bit.ly/b2f1Ft
i hope the compound is good because the marketing is lousy. What a lot of bullsh#t!