Mission Motors tweeted out something interesting just a moment ago, a link to a new website for Mission Motorcycles. Teasing there a photo of the Mission R, it would seem that the electric superbike that does competitive AMA Supersport lap times at Laguna Seca, is finally set to come to production. It seems we won’t know everything about the new Mission Motorcycles project until June 3rd, though we can speculate pretty accurately on what the A&R Bothan spy network has been telling us. Expect to see the Mission R electric superbike in street legal trim, honed even further than when we rode the machine back in August last year.
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.
Ducati Desmosedici Gets Wings for Sachsenring – http://aspha.lt/16f #motorcycle
Sure as hell didn;t slow them down, or stop the wheelies! It was an amazing race to watch and the Red Flag came out on lap 9 for an RdP, Bautista and Espargaro crash. RdP broke his left Tib and Fib, and his bike lit up with flames.
Rossi and Casey rode like there was a demon chasing them the way they were over taking one another in the later stages of the restart and once Dani got past Lorenzo it was OVER!!!
Astonishing race, wonderful to watch, why can’t it be like that ALLL the time!
I didn’t think I was watching an F1 race; there was overtaking and excitement.
I wondered how long it would take before aerodynamic downforce starting playing a factor in GP
Aerodynamic downforce is not usefull on bikes because when you lean, the center of downforce would be next to the tyres adding even more pressure thus reducing grip.
Another issue would be: how to you “unstick” the bike from the downforce to straighten it out?
You would need movable aerodynamics to do that. And that’s against the rules.
G
While i agree on the excitement factor this week, it just sucks that it had to involve ppl breaking bones. i hate to see that but yeah, and awesome race over all
Wings only create noticeable downforce once you reach a fairly high speed. I would imagine wings of this size probably have little to no effect on the ride in curves because they’re not going fast enough for them to make a meaningful amount of downforce. Frankly, I can’t imagine those wings are anywhere near big enough to combat the wheelies created by the torque. Quieting the air going in/around the fairings though; that I can see.
I would have to argue, personally, that downforce is probably more or less worthless on a bike. First look at how big wings are on cars (like in F1). Then consider how far over a MotoGP rider leans going around a curve. Your wing then becomes very limited size wise on a bike; after all you can’t have that thing dragging the pavement. Where would even you put a wing on a bike to increase your speed around a curve if you were at full lean? Not to mention wings slow you down down the straight.
I like it!
Aerodynamic downforce is very useful on a bike, just like on a car. The trouble is keeping the downforce, DOWNforce because as noted the force vector changes with the bike’s lean angle.
I wonder if the racing regulations would allow for movable aerodynamic panels? If so, I think we will see before long deployable “wings” on the sides of the bikes that operate primarily when the bike is at a significant lean-angle.
As for the wings, they could easily generate a few lbs of downforce at speed and positioned out front like that even say 10lbs could make a significant difference in keeping the front end plated. At the speeds the bike will reach they may well generate quite a lot more force than that I’d guess.
The winglets on the Ducati are similar to what we’ve been using on the Fischer MRX
After looking a them and had a nice long coffee (black, strong, one sugar) this is my two cent worth:
It’s not a down force system… It’s a vortex splitter.
The air moving down with the wheel hits air going backwards on the lip of the mud guard, this creates a vortex that hits the bike where the wing is.
This vortex probably climbs into the low pressure zone behind the rider. This probably does no hinder the bike when going straight (even adds speed by lowering drag). But leaning over it probably has a moment of instability when compressed by the ground. The vortex probably switches going over then under the rider being first a “air cushion” then “ground effect” thus loading and unloading the front wheel = high speed unstability.
Actually, making a serrated edge on the front mud guard would be more effective…
In this age of super computers, modelling and calculated fluid dynamics, the punter sometimes forget that some aero problems cannot be modeled or the computer gets it plain wrong. Buffeting chief amongst them.
How do i post a 2 cent picture of what should be done to that mudguard?
G
It’s no good Jen… Jen talk to me.
haha
So much for Top Gun!
The Yamaha YZR 500cc bikes had wings too in ’99.
Didn’t help Gary McCoy btw. or was he traveling to much sideways?
The authority on motorcycle downforce is Tony Foale As a lot of people sugggested you need movable aerodynamics please take a look at the second half of this article http://www.tonyfoale.com/Articles/Aerodynamics/AERO.htm
RT @Asphalt_Rubber #Ducati Desmosedici Gets Wings for Sachsenring – http://aspha.lt/16f #motorcycle
I picked up on these winglets too, Toby Moody told me they were not for downforce simply to reduce lift on the straights.
I drew a quick pic to highlight the detail…
http://scarbsf1.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/motogp_ducati.jpg
and these pics to highlight the different approaches teams take to their fairings
http://scarbsf1.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/motogp_array.jpg
Thank you for the interesting story, even though it did take quite a long time to understand. (English is not my first tongue) Can I ask where you got your sources from? Many thanks!