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.
So how does the founder of his own company get a pink slip?
He loses control of the BOD, likely from giving up more than a majority share in stock.
I wasn’t aware that Zero was a public company yet, when did that happen?
It’s not a publicly traded company, but privately held companies can still have a board of directors, stock offerings, etc.
Correction, I guess you don’t need to be a public company to sell shares in a company.
Taking venture capitol money is like selling your soul to the devil. You use their money to develop a product or idea you are passionate about and as soon as the income potential arises you are out on the street. Usually it is about the integrity of your idea or your passion to make something better and the investor seeing a chance to make a buck. And sure as hell they got majority control of your company in exchange for the funding. Great ideas and products are littered with this tragedy. Remember Eric Buell? There is a reason that the “venture” as in venture capitol sounds suspiciously like “vulture”.
Corporate greed wins again and the rest of the good guys suck wind.
@Bruce – There is no reason to be suspicious about the similarity of sound of “venture” and “vulture.” Venture’s origin is from aventure – risk of loss. Vulture is supposedly from the Latin vellere, “to pluck and tear.” Without VC money, none of these companies would have gotten much farther than showing prototypes of designs… or rendered drawings of prototypes. I don’t even think it’s fair to consider VCs as a necessary evil. Necessary? Sure. Evil? No – they are the ones who are risking the loss of their money. What’s the alternative? Federal or other public grants? They come with strings attached, too.
The hope, of course, is that the product will be successful in the marketplace and the investors will get paid back, earn a profit on their investment, and invest some more to keep the ball (or the bike) rolling. What’s wrong about the VC “seeing a chance to make a buck”? Would you invest in a company if you knew there was no chance to make your money back? That’s not venture capitalism, that’s charity.
Well put brammfan! I agree with you totally. I hope this dream lives on and the only way that can happen is if the company shows some profit.
Looking forward to an official statement on this.
I’m also wondering where Neal will end up next.
@brammofan
Spoken like a lawyer.
Funny, it always sounds so reasonable when lawyers speak. But words like ethics, trust, faith, belief, the words that are behind the great accomplishments of our civilization, never seem to come out of the mouths of lawyers….except in their own defense…..
@Will Spoken with the ethics, trust, faith and belief of an anonymous poster during a drive-by attack on an entire profession. What, specifically, do you disagree with in my post about venture capitalism? Surely you didn’t drop in just to slander lawyers.
Sad news. While I had my critiques of Neil’s approaches, he was first to market and a true innovator. Every electric motorcycle to follow owes him a debt. It’s upsetting to see him forced to leave his own creation. I wish both him and Zero the brightest futures.
@Will & @Brammofan:
It’s caveat emptor when dealing with institutional money like venture capital and private equity funds. Sadly in entrepreneurship, like things regarding law, the unexperienced and naive usually end up getting eaten by the meat-grinder of veteran players.
There’s a joke in here somewhere about how it’s not possible to slander (libel?) a lawyer with derogatory words, only positive ones. ;) This of course coming from someone who has worked in venture capital, and holds a law degree.
@jensen
Well spoken.
Looks like a good point in the conversation to start a rumor:
Neil Saiki has left Zero to work for Honda!!!
How does a founder get a pink slip? The only way I know is by selling too much of the company to others. It happens….ask Erik Buell.
Sounds promising. Regarding the mediocre advances of Zero towards the market so far, there might be a chance to improve things at Zero. The product is superior, the service inferior.
It’s a pity. But sometimes I really wonder: who has taught the guys at Zero marketing and sales. They do have a great product, so it is very hard to understand why they do not succeed. Maybe that low margins for sales people and demo bikes, long delivery times even on spare parts, lack of financing for dealers and an overpriced product are just not the right way to get fast results. Hopefully the start to rethink their approach to the market.
What a pile! A 500 two stroke twin would be much lighter and hellaciously more powerful. I’m sorry, but this electric bike crap does “Zero” for me and I long for lightweight and Fxxking fast two strokes. Yamaha, can you please bring back the TDR but in 350, or better yet, 400 cubic centimeters? Please? Put direct injection on it so it will not “destroy” the environment like big diesels do and the tree huggers should not complain too much. Hell, Al Gore (if he is a motorcyclist) might even buy one!
We shall see if a rubber-band drive train and some silly plastics make or break them this year…. pretty typical upper management blame here”we all screwed up…. lets blame the brain”.
Neal has some good things locked in his head…. to bad the newbies at Zero didn’t care to show him respect. These Ex Failing Gas MC Company Execs rolled in and think they know how to reinvent the wheel.
Good Luck Neal EVMC Builders owe you big time!
neal – good riddens!
it is about time – 1st his wife, now neal!