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.
In case you missed our exhaustive coverage of the Grand Prix of the Americas, those fools at Dorna gave me pit lane access this MotoGP season. So while the whole paddock waits for the Spaniards to come to their senses, I don’t plan on wasting the opportunity to share with our readers our extreme access to motorcycling’s premier racing class. Accordingly, here comes another installment into our ever-continuing “Up-Close” series, featuring the very finest Iwata has to offer: the Yamaha YZR-M1. Thirty 2000px-wide photos are waiting for you after the jump.
The V-Rod…err MegaMonster…..Boring.
I bet it has a 46 on it!
Obviously it’s the MegaMonster Orange County Choppers Edition. Celebrating the reunion of Paul and Paul, with Mikey and Vinnie rounding out the four.
It’s all so simple…
SUPERMONO!?
Well, a guy can dream, can’t he?
How ’bout another Nicky Hayden replica?! Doesn’t even matter what model of Ducati it would be, as the Nicky Hayden replica 848 (I think) sold out so ridiculously fast last year.
A new supermono would be awesome!
Rossi version of the 1198 – just to eek out the last sales before the model change.
New Ducati Model to be Unveiled at Laguna Seca – http://aspha.lt/16b #motorcycle
848 Streetfighter!
@ Gellar – There are still brand new Nicky Hayden replicas on dealer floors. They “sold out” to dealers, but that is far from selling out to customers. There are 165+ dealers in the network – so that is less than 1 per dealer to “sell out”.
Supermono… Sigh…
new race replica desmo possibly
they did say they are working on a new frameless desmo hyperbike :D
TOBY… I like where yer head’s at. That’s the best idea I’ve heard in a while. Once it’s built, run a comparo with a Benelli TNT899S, Streetfighter 848, and whatever middleweight naked/streetfighter types we can find laying around. Hooligan fun for the whole family.
I bet it has a 46 on it too. A race replica of the italian dream team!!
@ Anthony
Thanks for the clarification.
Street legal supermono and supermono s, I have it from inside sources!
If it’s a supermono, I’ll shed tears of joy. When I’m on my Monster I often wish I could chop off the back cylinder and reduce overall weight and rotating mass by about 25%. Monster is one of the lightest bikes out there, but it still feels like an obese, clag-spitting lump of crap on tight roads.
An announcement that Supermonos are returning to WSBK would be a welcome announcement as well. Racing series from AMA to BSB to MFJ are clamoring for production supermono classes. The first manufacturer to jump will probably sell a lot of bikes to racers.
please, please, please: Supermono
or please, please, please: Supersport 1100
Streetfighter 848, possibly enlarged slightly (Streetfighter 916??), with redesigned exhaust and chin fairing…
I hope.
In reality? Some sort of race rep with hideous $1000 sticker kit.
A new Superbike with extreme short stroke V-Twin & aluminium monocoque chassis?
I think the “new model that will have class-leading performance” is actually Valentino Rossi himself, not an actual bike. My guess for the “four very excited guests to whom this new model means quite a lot” are:
1. Gabriele Del Torchio – Ducati Motor Holding CEO
2. Claudio Domenicali – Ducati Corse CEO
3. Vittoriano Guareschi -Ducati MotoGP Team Manager
4. Not sure- I was thinking Marlboro or FIAT managment, or maybe Nicky Hayden?
That makes more sense to me than a new bike…
what ? A&R can’t break the news as usual ?
are you in holidays ?
where’s the scoop that we all are waiting for ?
come on A&R !
Hold on, lemme call the A&R Bothan spies.
I prefer that !
see you there…
The mega monster cruiser would be a mistake at Laguna, but would make some sense at Indy (only to the extent that Indy is in the flat heartland & the US is still cruiser-crazed, unfortunately.)
A mono would be incredible.
What about a 4 cylinder motor for WSB entry in 2011?
joe – dream on ;-)
dave – 100 points
jaybond – 80 points
danoh + toby – 50 points
i think we’ll see a scooter ;-)
Ah, Ducati totally played us. They leaked those Vapid…er….Vyper photos to distract us form the real story…that no one has a clue about. Maybe they are taking a page from the Rossi “Zig when they are looking for zag” playbook.
it’s an 848 evo
YUP, Like Mick said…. Ducati 848 EVO, 140HP-72Ft/Lbs… MonoBlock Calipers from the 1198 sibling.
Available in Dark Stealth and Red (red more $ ). Same prices as outgoing 848… at least on U.K.