Mission Motorcycles: The Mission R Lives??!

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.

Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

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.

Q&A: Yukio Kagayama Talks About the Upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour with Kevin Schwantz & Noriyuki Haga

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.

KTM RC4 Concept by Luca Bar Design

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.

Q&A: Claudio Domenicali Talks Frameless Chassis, Sacred Cows, & The Future for Ducati

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.

Is Yamaha Using A Seamless Gearbox? The Data Says No

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.

OCC Coming Back to TV? — Universe Collapses in on Self

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.

Alstare Superbike Concept by Team Alstare

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.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

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.

2014 Suzuki GSV-R Spotted Again

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.

MotoGP: Qualifying Heats Up Under the Catalan Sun

06/14/2009 @ 2:41 am, by Jensen Beeler1 COMMENT

MotoGP: Qualifying Heats Up Under the Catalan Sun jorge lorenzo qualifying catalunya 560x401

It was a close qualify session in the outskirts of Barcelona today, but at the end of the day Jorge Lorenzo pulled a squeaker of a session on Valentino Rossi to take the pole in front of his home crowd.

Wearing special livery for the day, which paid homage to Barcelona FC (the local soccer team), Lorenzo lapped a 1’41.974 on the Catalan track, just .013 seconds quicker than Rossi’s best effort. This news surely pleased Team Fiat-Yamaha, as once again they’ll have a 1-2 start on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Lorenzo can expect a strong fight from Rossi who has never been off the podium at the Circuit de Catalunya (of course, he’d never lost at Mugello in the last 7 years either). Lorenzo can also expect Casey Stoner, who qualified third, to be a factor on Sunday as well. Stoner was only half a second behind Lorenzo in the qualifying session.

Randy de Puniet must have found the extra motivation he needs from the Playboy bunnies. Ever since the start of the season, where Playboy made their sponsorhip with LCR Honda, the French rider has looked very strong on the track, and has been the fastest Honda more than once. De Puniet will start just ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who crashed midway through the MotoGP qualifying session.

Pedrosa has been recovering from a hip injury, and will require pain-killer injections before the race in order to ride. We wouldn’t count Dani out. With his rabbit starts, the Repsol Honda rider could easily overcome his third row start, and we all know the Spaniard will feel the extra energy to perform well in front of his countrymen. If Pedrosa finds his way to the front of the pack in the first lap, he could very well give the other riders a run for their money, and take the day.

PosNo.RiderBikeTimeDiffDiff. Prev.
199Jorge LORENZOYAMAHA1’41.974--
246Valentino ROSSIYAMAHA1’41.9870.0130.013
327Casey STONERDUCATI1’42.4260.4520.439
44Andrea DOVIZIOSOHONDA1’42.5940.6200.168
524Toni ELIASHONDA1’43.1391.1650.545
65Colin EDWARDSYAMAHA1’43.1681.1940.029
714Randy DE PUNIETHONDA1’43.1751.2010.007
83Dani PEDROSAHONDA1’43.2071.2330.032
952James TOSELANDYAMAHA1’43.2331.2590.026
1036Mika KALLIODUCATI1’43.3361.3620.103
1165Loris CAPIROSSISUZUKI1’43.3651.3910.029
127Chris VERMEULENSUZUKI1’43.4111.4370.046
1369Nicky HAYDENDUCATI1’43.4141.4400.003
1415Alex DE ANGELISHONDA1’43.4221.4480.008
1559Sete GIBERNAUDUCATI1’43.7141.7400.292
1672Yuki TAKAHASHIHONDA1’43.7771.8030.063
1733Marco MELANDRIKAWASAKI1’43.7921.8180.015
1888Niccolo CANEPADUCATI1’43.9912.0170.199
1941Gabor TALMACSIHONDA1’45.8333.8591.842

Top 5 Related Posts:

  1. MotoGP: Qualifying from the Catalan GP
  2. MotoGP: Yamahas vs. Hondas During Qualifying at MotoGP
  3. MotoGP: Yamahas vs. Hondas at the Catalan GP
  4. MotoGP: One Last Qualifying for the King of Phillip Island

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Comment:

  1. Asphalt_Rubber says:
    June 14, 2009 at 6:41 AM

    MotoGP: Qualifying Heats Up Under the Catalan Sun – http://tinyurl.com/la6yjp #motorcycle