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.
Can it win?
Without special rules to help it?
We’ll see.
Bob the Builder can you fix it!
i just keep thinking crash bill, head light / taillight track crash, everything hinges off the motor. Even a little road bingle hitting an object on a slide……
this thing is like a supermodel wearing a summer dress with no Reg Grundies (Australian for underpants)
John, there must be a cultural difference here. I’ve never complained about a supermodel in a summer dress with no knickers on….
John I think this Duc just might fair alittle better than the XX98 / Streetfighter frame design in regards to the street. Remember the existing frame included tabs off the frame in which the rearsets mounted to, these tabs are extremely easy to bend in a simple lowside or crash. The catch thats part of the frame, your insurance company totals the frame that second. This means in most cases the bike is totalled. Honestly in the event of any normal crash on a Fully faired Ducati its going to be tough not having the bike as a complete writeoff because of the bodywork cost alone.
Interesting the air looks like directly through the headpipe area in the center, strange because the intake in the fairing are split like the xx98 under the headlamps. Normally the most direct method is the most efficient. I again agree this is the direction of production streetbikes of the future. When the 2nd most expensive element of a production bike is removed or reduced like this and integrated in existing structures it means reduced cost, the Japanese are watching closely. Whether it will race remains to be seen, just remember there are plenty of models that dont need to race.
I’m torn between liking the Buell-like practicality of the low exhaust and the traditional “twins under the tail” as on my 1198 SP, what I have long considered a signature look for Ducati. One thing for sure, the seat temperature should improve with the 1199.
I wonder what Rossi has to say, he had an incredible year with its big brother….
76 says:
Interesting the air looks like directly through the headpipe area in the center, strange because the intake in the fairing are split like the xx98 under the headlamps. Normally the most direct method is the most efficient.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, u gotta thank for that all the “traditionalist Ducati critics” affraid of “too much change to handle at once on our little bike darling”.
They couldn’t possibly handle/cope with so much “Averting from the righteous traditional path” in one “swift total redesign”.
Silly cry babies.
I still say, SCREW FORM…GIVE ME FUNCTION & THEN BEAUTY…(think Concorde airplane) unless we are talking about girls or else.
I too would like to see on the future how “the others” take on the “frame-less” Saga unfolds and new ideas they bring to the table.
P.S: 3 isuess i see here…
How big is the filter going to be, where xactly it goes and AirBox HEAT Saturation anyone ?
Someone help the blind guy…me. LOL.
Get it to the US put it in the dealerships gives a test ride we’ll talk then…
I’m a little concerned about the clutch line that appears to be running right through the rear shock mount(reference picture 2)….oops :P. Damn draftsman!
That’s a “feature” ;)
Yes- its a lubricated shock bushing! genius
For those that appreciate a little nudity… http://t.co/kH3VTZHz
Ducati 1199 Panigale Naked http://t.co/XasU18lm
This is for Mr. Crowly…. last time i checked the 1198 beat the inline fours straight up in SS. By the way the twins WSBK carry more weight , intake restrictors, and a stock motor unlike the four cylinders machines with reworked heads with more compression. Yes the twins run 1200cc but with two less cylinders only advantage the Duc. has is rideability, great front end and Carlos Checa!!! Look how good Nori and Fabrizio did on factory against the 4′s.. P.S. im a racing fan with a 999R, a Desmo, RSV4, and a GSXR600… Last thing i want is a bunch of inline fours racing each other … love to see KTM, Triumph and Benali back in WSBK…
For those that appreciate a little nudity… http://t.co/kH3VTZHz
beautiful engineering through & through on this bike. it would be interesting to see how this mantra of frame design would apply to I4′s…
@Jensen – the headstock appears to pull off both front and rear cylinders, with the subframe mounting to it and the rear cyl. +1 on the supermodel…must be an Aussie thing
@MikeD – Airbox heat saturation would certainly be an issue I’d address with liberal use of aluminized fiberglass insulation on a frame-up AMA racebike build (1/2 hp just ain’t worth the effort at the club level), but on the street it may not be as much of an issue. Seems like a tradeoff between heat soak & airbox volume
@Jensen,
my reference to a supermodel with no undies was to imply, that a hot supermodel which the 1199 is and no undies meaning she’s much more likely to get fucked quite readily…..a pun of sorts.
I don’t understand how this “design” is really all that different from the 851/888 bikes besides the obvious difference in material used for the mainframe. same for the monsters too, only the engine case connects the steering head and the swingarm pivot—-there really is nothing new under the sun