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.
i’m really hoping that was a long straight road. like I5
Geez-Louise, of all the bone-headed things to do.
I hope she was worth it…
Dumb-Dumber-Dummest. He sure took the title from me and ran like he stole’d it.
If you’re out on a desolate salt flat, sure, no problem, text away, but on a road with buses?!?!
1. Lack of leather jacket – CHECK
2. Lack of gloves – CHECK
3. Lack of socks – CHECK
4. Lack of protective boots – CHECK
The road rash this guy will experience some day could be pretty horrific.
Why do I ALWAYS see dudes on Ducati’s wearing slacks/loafers and any lack of gear other than a helmet?
how can he be moving without having his hand on the throttle?
So if he was wearing all the “safety” gear he’d be ok to text?
The sad part in this whole episode is that it’s so unsafe for a motorcyclist to do this, while car and truck drivers do it every single day. What’s the impact energy of a B-double semi? Or your average soccer mum in an SUV? What’s the impact energy of a motorcycle? So in reality, it’s safer for all concerned if a repeat text offender rides instead of driving.
I’ve seen people using iPads and Laptops while driving, people watching DVDs, a young Blonde in a Cabriolet talking on the phone while brushing her hair and running a red light, women doing makeup, men getting dressed behind the wheel….about the only thing I haven’t seen on the way to work is someone doing their ironing…but I live in hope.
Not wearing any gear except for the helmet…who cares really. His choice, his consequence. That’s why you can pick up cheap second hand bikes. Why ruin a good thing?
If you think you NEED to wear a pile of safety gear to ride safely you need to hand in your bike license and sell your bike. You ARE the problem.
“So if he was wearing all the “safety” gear he’d be ok to text?”
Hell, no, but the fact that all the rest of it is wrong, too, just points to what a poster child this guy is for how to die and look stupid while doing it. Unfortunately for the rest of the users of the road, texting makes him way more likely to involve another vehicle or pedestrian as he works out the particulars of his demise.
"@Asphalt_Rubber: Video: Motorcyclist Caught Texting While Riding – http://t.co/vFWM9WJO #motorcycle"
Oh, and I think I need to wear a pile of safety gear because while I have no problem riding safely, Joe Average and Suzy Creamcheese go out of their way to prove – again and again – that I’m far more likely to die due to the stupidity of others than at my own hand. Trust me, _I’m_ not the problem. The aforementioned people doing all manner of things except concentrating on actually driving ARE.
Bike versus another vehicle….a dent.
A vehicle versus bike….well, we all know that don’t go down too well.
The part that every one misses in this is he has no less control than someone in a car steering with their knee while they text. Drivers do it every single day. I see dozens in traffic daily.
Is it right? No. It’s dumb. But NO dumber than the average Bovi on their daily commute.
The fact he’s on a bike has been seized and exploited to make a story. That’s it. Another media beat up. Do they rant and rave when yet another driver mows down a rider because they were texting, playing with the radio, doing their make up? Of course not.
In the planning process in NSW (where the story originates) motorcyclists are not even considered a road user group. We are heathens. Outcasts, probably with links to Outlaw clubs and with raging drug problems…if you believe the media.
It’s not like Murdochs Media would lie after all.
It’s a beat up. If you swallowed the whole – 80kph riding no hands thing….then you should see one 300kph one handed wheelstands while I flip the bird….on my DR650.
Don’t forget if they’re on their Learners, in nsw they should not be on a bike with more than 659cc, with restricted power. That is not the learner legal duke (exhaust pipes on the learner legal Monster have tiny tiny ends. That may be the 620, but that’s not restricted.
Wow yeah now I sound like a Nanny after snowys comment, but I do live in the nanny state (Victoria). But I don’t get the whole motorcycle bent towards individualism – we are no different from car enthuisiasts in terms of our passion, it’s just there are less of us, so everyone is like Oooh, we’re outcasts, we need to fight for recognition from society etc. Who cares? I don’t ride like a dick and have not once had any issues beyond the norm from traffic, nor any gumption from police (the Police riders down here even give the nod) – I think if we weren’t so defensive about how we think society views us, that view would actually be better. I’m not sure how this applies in the US but am fed up with the vitriol from (not all of course) fellow motorcyclists on forums here in Australia.
How good does that Monster look! I usually hate white bies. The rider looks like he’s straight of the Mr Porter blog. Young kids are down with texting and driving, lets hope we see some more young riders on the road thanks to this guys coolness.
I saw a highway patrol cycle cop doing the exact same thing down I-95 in South FL a year ago.
@Snowy
I actually think anyone who gets on a bike WITHOUT a pile of safety gear on is completely daft. I agree it is riders choice, but ANYONE that rides around at speed wearing high water pants and slip on loafers is a complete moron.
Just so you know texting while driving is also illegal in most of the 50 states. The reason this made the news is because it took a bit of acrobatics to perform while riding, thus making it even more impressively stupid.
@Snowy
“What’s the impact energy of a motorcycle?”
As a follow up I am going to go out on a limb and assume you haven’t many horrific bike accidents, but we had a woman in a Suburban (Large SUV) getting killed by some squid on a bike who wheelied into her drivers door at about 75 miles per hour. Some how the biker survived. He is being brought up on charges.
So no, bike hits car is not “just another dent”, don’t be ignorant.
You can find those acts in my country Indonesia LOL
N they are much worse, even they can make a phone call while riding a bike!!!
Not using the handsfree, but they just slip the cell phone inside the helmet!!
I don’t think people on here are saying safety gear makes you a better safer rider, it’s more of an indication or ones awareness of the scope of reality. One is more likely to survive relatively unscathed from an eventual accident, and depending on the circumstances…
Also, Bike versus another vehicle….a dent…?
I have seen evidence of bikes nearly severing cars in half, need less to say the passengers either killed of in critical condition. I even read an article not too long ago, about a guy on a Ducati somewhere in California traveling over 60mph on a main road, striking the passenger side of a car, killing the passenger and himself…
BTW
Anyone know what kind of helmet that is…?
It almost looks like a new version of the one Rossi is wearing in MotoGP this year…
I txt, take calls, etc.. when I ride.
The Cardo Scala & iPhone4s are an awesome combo!
“this Duc is so coo (CRASH!)
Italian rider says: Toe hands to text?! YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG one hand for the text the other per sigaretta – AMATEUR!
Damo wrote: “ANYONE that rides around at speed wearing high water pants and slip on loafers is a complete moron.”
THIS. Folks should take a moment to envisage sliding down the road after a lowside. As your field of view rotates slowly from the confines of your helmet, you casually notice some toes on the other side of the street. Once you stop and the initial shock subsides, you’ll realize they were yours.
Wearing loafers, sandals, etc. on a bike is just stupid, stupid, stupid. Proper boots, properly affixed; otherwise, you’re very likely to have even a relatively minor get-off causing you to learn how to walk again.
(As an ex-parts manager, some of the results of crashes I saw wandering into the shop were stomach-turning.)
@Trane:
Thanks for the visual, on an empty stomach on top of it…it felt awesome…..NOT. LOL.
Now if u xcuse me im gonna feed the biggest hole on my face.
Seriously folks, if ur gonna ride, try and strive for ATGATT.
Personally, im missing some good warm weather riding pants…still have to find one set that don’t feel like it want to cut my leg in half behind the knee junction every time i assume riding position.
My Icon Patrol pants are just too HOT to ride on the summer (non-removable liner), even under a S.Florida torrential down pour…i use it as Winter riding gear.
I gotta take my happy ass to the local Cycle Gear Store and see if they have anything that makes the trick for me.
At least the guy here is orientated in the right direction. Now this guy in India, however…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klteYv1Uv9A
(yes, engines are smaller and speeds are slower and all that.)
Takes skill to do this. I ride in less, singlet, shorts and thongs while texting. I do however use only the one hand to text so I can corner etc lol
No need to pick the guy, just because most of you are to useless to be able to do this, let alone text while walking.
Does it make me a bad person to root for the Darwin Awards? If so, I can still sleep at night like a baby.
The rider did not get a stern talking to, he lost his license.
What a dick.Hopnestly how much control has he got with both hands off of the controls.None.
What does it take to loose control of a motorbike?A scattering of stones or some leaves.And what harm can it do to ride without safety gear.(These are questions asked by the mentally incompetant)Lots of it and it can happen so fast that even with your hands on the controls(that is what they are for,control)you can be is the crap REAL fast.Small things can make the difference between weeks spent getting skin grafts or just a slight case of gravel rash.
Decent foot wear and a pair of gloves.A good jacket which in these days can be both protective and cool is a good idea too.Dont think that this guy has the brains to work it out himself.Lots of people sayoing”So what?If you know how to ride you will be safe enough” All I can say is that it serves them right for being so stupid.The car or truck or bus that clips the handle bar didn,t even see him let alone see wether he was wearing safe riding gear.
Just goes to proove the old saying”theres one born every minute”
Morons that is.