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.
Yeehaw!!! I love MM bikes!
A BLOOD SACRIFICE, THIS EVENT DEMANDS A BLOOD SACRIFICE TO THE MOTORCYCLE GODS.
All B.S-ing aside, GOD SPEED to MotoMorini and may they someday sell this on the U.S.
http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/files/2010_Moto_Morini_Corsaro_1200_Veloce_Wallpaper%201.jpg
plus many more different models…c’mon MM, give Triumph and it’s Speed Triple some hell. LOL.
Hi, I’m ringing to get a cam belt for my Moto Morini 250
There’s no Moto Guzzi 250, do you mean 750?
No, Moto MORINI. The 250 V-twin.
Never heard of it, you’ll have to go back to where you bought it.
I bought it from you.
No, I mean the people who sold it new, not second hand.
I bought it from you bran new 2 years ago.
Oh, well, you might have to find out who the Australian distributor is then, we don’t carry any spares for them.
You are. You’re the Australian distributor and importer.
Well, mate, as I said, I’ve never heard of them and we don’t have any spares.
Moto Morini Going Back into Production January 2012 – http://t.co/EHGhg2gy #motorcycle
@MikeD
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
Random comment: I have actually never in my seen a Moto Morini in my travels and certainly not up here in New England.
They look like tasty little bikes too.
WHAT IS THAT BIKE AND WHERE CAN I BUY IT >:(
Has MM ever been profitable? Not seeing the point of continually resurrecting something that is never successful. Perhaps they should transform into a small custom shop and build by the order based on a few basic designs with a talented skelleton crew. The Italian OCC.
That is fantastic news, here’s to hoping they finally get the $hit together and bring MM to the States. I’ve been drooling over a Corsaro for some time…
P.S. Does anybody know where I can buy a set of Corsaro headlights and windscreen? They would look awesome on my naked SV!
Simply too good a motorcycle for this to happen eventually. Even with mininal development the 1200 is one of the world’s great motorcycle engines. Right – off to celebrate with summer blast on my MM..
(and Max: wait and get the Corsaro lights/screen attached to the real thing..)
Great looking bikes, but I’m with Bob–why keep bringing back stuff that apparently doesn’t sell well enough to support itself? Smacks of Indian to me rather than OCC, but what do I know–I’m just a guy who reads bike news websites. In all seriosity, I do hope they do well but I have my doubts.
Despite having a great power plant (especially in Veloce guise) the Lambertini V2 was not enough to save the last incarnation of Morini. Even their importers had difficulty making sense of a range which at one time had seven models of similar displacement using the same motor. Since MM were tiny, that kind of sales approach was insane, resulting in total confusion all round.
The problem with this resurrection is the way the company is structured, with split ownership of offices and plant.
It looks to be a recipe for conflict. If they can radically pare down and re-structure output, based around say three variants of the big V2 – Veloce, Avio (lower spec Veloce) and Scrambler – they might have a chance.
Well, I run one of the new Morini, and it’s great to hear that they may be back in 2012. In the UK it may have been a small operation (as it was in Australia and NZ), but in Spain, Germany and Italy they brand was doing well. They did have plans in getting in to the States, but wanted to do it “properly” – I guess that means covering off all the product liability issues?
One engine with a range of differnt states of tune and styling is a good way for a small maunfacturer to start out; it’s what Triumph did very well – and Morini were just trying to do the same (as were Voxan – remember them?). Perhaps they’ll succeed, but in the meantime try to ride one if you can; after all, the new Ducati seems to borrow at least some ideas from Lambertinis’ engine…
@Corsaro Chris:
Voxan…yes, yes i do, those poor PUCKERS…is a shame they went the way of the Dodo Bird so early…they had some cool bikes, including…
http://www.motorbikespecs.net/images/Voxan/Black_Magic_1000_04-05/Black_Magic_1000_04-05_1.jpg
http://image.motorcyclistonline.com/f/34684353/122_1010_14_o+voxan_motorcycle+right_side_view.jpg
http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/Gallery%20C/VoxanGTV1200%2008.jpg
http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/voxan/voxan_vx10_nefertiti.htm
I hope MM won’t join’em on the grave.