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.
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.
The sound is, er, pant soiling good.
so much for America looking to be a forward thinking country
Video: The Motus KMV4 GDI Engine – http://aspha.lt/152 #motorcycle
Well if they are making a sport touring bike they better get rid of the chain drive. I doubt many people will buy a touring bike with a chain drive. Better spend more time and money on developing the touring amenities like a radio, cruise control, heated seats and grips etc. and less time on a engine with lots of power. Who needs a big engine on a touring bike? Everything seems to be getting bigger. Look what happened to the Lead Wing and Harley Ultra – 1,000 lbs.
The crankshaft is pointed the wrong direction. I know they can engineer a solution, but it’s a lot of extra work. Don’t really get the concept either. It’s supposed to be tuned, but then it has direct injection which ads stratified charging and infinite extra degrees of complexity.
Sounds great though. That could be enough to win the day.
Video: The Motus KMV4 GDI Engine: Video: The Motus KMV4 GDI Engine. Fri 07/02/2010 @ 10:52 am, by Jenny Gun. Share… http://bit.ly/bT9EH3
Video: The Motus KMV4 GDI Engine http://bit.ly/bT9EH3
love the sound, definitely can hear a bit of that muscle car grunt in it.
i’m not sure about the touring aspect of this bike either… it seems a bit confused as to it’s real identity, i still think it’s an awesome bike though, love anything new being built in the US.
i think i might have gone for more of a big sportsbike concept instead of the tourer, but i could be wrong, this is only going to be for people that have too much money and not enough toys anyhow.
-peter
I like it! I think the anti-chain gang is mostly old codgers who grew up before they made decent chains. Nowdays a good quality X-ring chain lasts 40k and almost never needs adjustments or even much oiling. heck that’s better than the final drive units on certain shaft drive bikes:)
I quite like the machine, direct injection is the way forward – greater fuel efficency and power gains can be had because you can run much more compression without preignition. Many cages have it and its about time motorcycles got in on the fun.
the push-rod design makes some sense for getting power at lower rpms. If you aren’t displacement limited, but are rather limited in terms of weight and total engine volume its not a bad way to go. Look at the LS7 for example in the cage world. power per cc isn’t good, but power per lbs or unit volume is quite good and that power comes in at relatively low rpms with a wide power curve.
the engine deff gives you goosebumps, I think the overall package as a bike needs just as much thought that has not happened as of yet. Some type of “pure” sport bike needs to come of this, just not in the common sense.
This article didn’t mention it, but Motus is partnering with Katech in the design and construction of the engine.
Katech, for those who don’t know, builds engines for Corvette endurance racers, so if the Motus engine sounds like a small block, that’s no accident. Considering how well Corvettes have fared in the endurance racing circuit, the partnership is very promising.
Oscar.
“Balking at the advice of others not to build their own powerplant, Motus has teamed up with Katech to design an in-house motor for the Motus MST-01.”
Yes they did mention it….
………………..and the Radical/small sports race car community likely has orders in for dozens of engines already
check out Motus’ other walk around video. The chassis & engine footage is cool. Love the chassis and that motor so far.