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.
looks to be a better movie all around than Biker boyz was.
Look better then both Torque and Biker Boyz.
It stuck me funny that an Asian film has a BMW as the star.
Koreans hate the Japanese (with good historical reasons) so a BMW should not be surprising.
Probably couldn’t get a Hyosung to hold up to all that speed.
will her head explode if they go under 50mph?
this flick looks so bad it might actually go around the bend and be good
Reminds me of my visit to Seoul a few years ago. Looks like normal Seoul traffic. I have been in many countries and I can say Korea is the scariest place I have ever driven. Bunch of crashes and overturned cars is normal stuff.
Holy Shit Batman… That was so BAD it might just turn out great…(O_o )
*adds to watch list* That was fun.
Could be the funniest,most explosive,high speed,feel good movie to come out of Korea.No, cant think of any others,so yes it probably will be.Just expect everything to explode or roll spectacularly and dont hold your breath waiting for anything more complex than a comic book and you,ll love it I should imagin.
ok so its all been said. I’m ready to watch the movie lets roll!!
i love it
/ great concept and wonderfully over the top !!
WTF……
Ladies and Gents. There’s a sub version on youtuuuube. Search ‘Quick korean movie Eng Sub full’. Its quite funny. Some silly stunts as usual.
It’s “The Transporter,” instead on a motorcycle, Korean style. I hope there’s some Korean martial arts (Judo, Taekwondo, Aikido) in there other than the Asian babe screaming in that guy’s ear the whole movie
Want to really go fast, get a turbo Hayabusa.
Not sure about Korea traffic, but from another life I do remember the scariest ride in an Okinawa taxi with three other Drunk Marines Screaming “Banzai” on the main drag…….
Odd. My wife is from Okinawa and I’ve been there many times. Traffic there, within the last 20 years at least, is about as tame as you can get and still consider yourself to be driving in a city. Times change, I guess. :)
@Mildly Unhinged
Of the martial arts you listed only Taekwondo is actually Korean. (Sorry to be nitpicker)
I agree this is a “so crazy bad” it is great film. Kinda like Machine Girl if you ever get a chance to see it.
I’ll bet it’s the best motorcycle centric action film anyone has seen…
I’m not sure how it works in Korea, but I got the impression that, the Traffic Police are a completely separate entity than the Police, with a lower budget. It seemed like the equivalent of a gang from the parking authority trying to stop a rich kid from speeding…
Looks fun. Definitely on my “to watch list…”
From Madonna getting bounced around in the back of a BMW 5 series to this Korean chick getting bounced around on the back of a BMW S1000RR, the entertainment factor is almost worth the high cost of keeping one of the BMW’s adequately maintained.
Yes, but the bike doesn’t transform into a robot. How can it possibly succeed!?
Well I Just watched the movie, and it’s better than Biker Boyz & Torque, though it has a couple of scenes reminiscent of the latter… Actually it’s more like a tamer version of the bike scenes from Ultraviolet…
It’s got a “Speed” like plot, with a twist. The movie is more on the comedic side of an action drama. It won’t win any oscars , but it was entertaining. Oh, and besides the BMW, there are Hondas, Yamuda, and Hyosungs too…