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.
Yamaha refuses to sell their 125 or any suitable learner in Canada ensuring a new generation of riders will skip their marquee as a 1st purchase. The CBR125 is Honda’s best selling machine here and I suspect the new CB500 series will clinch it those riders choices for 2nd bike as well.
Ya think they’re happy to have the illustrious Valentino Rossi back within their ranks?
I think that Rossi isn’t going to make a lot of difference to Yamaha’s sales until they start producing motorcycles that their customers want. BMW had very good year despite their complete absence from MotoGP, and Ducati had actually very strong year as well, despite Rossi’s performance on their machines which was anything but illustrious. In short, Rossi might be a charismatic rider but he is not a miracle worker – if you think that Rossi alone can reverse Yamaha’s fortunes, you are dreaming.
Seems like Yamaha is loosing it in the emerging 250cc class. No alternative to the Ninja 250 or the CBR 250 R.
Each Japanese company seems to have produced 1 or 2 great bikes through modern history. Honda the RC30 & Blade, Suzuki the GSXR 1000 (recent) and the R1. Other than that they seem unwilling to be adventurous and better at copying other established names. They upstaged the Bonny, made reliable cruiers, eventually decent sports bikes.
There seems to be little innovation & trying to access new markets for the Japanese. Triumph, BMW, Ducati, KTM & Aprilia are all nibbling market share from the Japanese. Their usual advantage with quality now fading into the background. Even Ducati now have similar service intervals to the fast Jap bikes.
To be honest after 30 years of domination, happy to see the Japanese (no offense to Japan) not doing that well. The offerings of the companies above are just better, more interesting & priced accordingly.
About time the Europeans got their act together and they have. Even MV seem to have got the point now that to survive they need to sell bikes.
“There seems to be little innovation & trying to access new markets for the Japanese.”
last i checked, the japanese (Well to be precise, yamaha and honda more or less exclusively) were the only ones really giving a damn about making and selling quality but affordable motorcycles in the new emerging markets (india, southeast asia and south america)..and i am not talking merely about simple commuter bikes for the local people that cant afford a CBR or a YZF-R…i mean smaller capacity versions of their flagship series (YZF-Rs, FZs, fazers, CBRs, CBFs) or related…none of the european companies except KTM (duke 200) have anything for these markets so far, except their ultra-costly 600s or 1000s that are really unsuitable for these markets..
the japanese(yamaha and honda only. kawasaki and suzuki are comparatively non-existent in the smaller cc markets as well) havent been concentrating on the european market anymore, hence the lack of updated R1, R6 or CBR1000..they seem to be concentrating much more so somewhere else where the europeans effectively havent even arrived in any proper form.
the european companies have been nibbling the market share from the japanese only in europe (and maybe a little bit in north america?). not so much anywhere else really. and those “anywhere else” places are where most bikes get sold increasingly every year… for once it’s good the european manufacturers are able to overshadow the japanese more so than ever in their own markets.
@Andrew
It was question not a statement, nor was it serious. But since you brought it up, you’re delusional if you think that Rossi won’t have a positive impact on the fortunes of Yamaha. Notwithstanding bitterness over past events – it’s a good thing that Yamaha favors a healthier approach to racing and marketing matters.