2013 Mugen Shinden Ni (神電貳) Revealed

Shipped up and on its way to the Isle of Man, we can finally now see more than test shots of the Mugen Shinden Ni and get its basic racing specifications. The electric superbike that John McGuinness will ride in the 2013 TT Zero race at the Isle of Man TT, the Mugen Shinden Ni represents that evolution of the Japanese firm’s design, having now a TT race under its belt. Like its main competitor MotoCzysz, Team Mugen is eyeing a 110 mph lap around the Mountain Course, which would be a pretty remarkable one-year advancement for either team. With Mr. McPint at the helm, and seemingly brimming with on-board energy, Mugen is a serious contender.

Ducati Q1 2013 Sales Drop 5% – Audi Dishes the Details

Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013. Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know. While we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque, and we’ve got the digits after the jump.

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.

MotoGP Sepang Test – Day 4: Quid Pro Status Quo

02/06/2013 @ 12:38 pm, by David Emmett1 COMMENT

Dani Pedrosa topped the timesheets once again on the second day of prototype testing at Sepang, the Repsol Honda man getting off to a flying start and cracking into the 2’00s early in the session. He was joined there by Jorge Lorenzo, the Factory Yamaha rider once again shadowing Pedrosa, ending the day just two hundredths behind the Repsol rider.

Marc Marquez confirmed his first day times were no fluke, the only other man to post a lap in the 2’00s, though the rookie was a quarter of a second slower than his teammate on Wednesday, losing a fraction of the ground.

Valentino Rossi once again took 4th spot, the Italian still just under half a second off the two title favorites. The Honda men continued to work on engine durability, while Yamaha riders Lorenzo and Rossi had new engines with more acceleration to test, and a new chassis aimed at curing the pumping from the rear wheel of the bike.

Cal Crutchlow took over the best satellite rider spot, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha man ending three quarters of a second behind Pedrosa, but a respectable quarter of a second off the pace of Rossi.

Stefan Bradl continued to impress on the LCR Honda, nabbing 6th today, a fraction behind Crutchlow, and over a third of a second ahead of Alvaro Bautista, the Go&Fun Gresini rider continuing to work on the Showa suspension the team has elected to use instead of the Ohlins used by nearly the entire rest of the field.

Bradley Smith’s second full day of testing went a lot better than his first, the Tech 3 rookie wiping 1.5 seconds off his time from Tuesday, and closing in on Bautista.

The fortunes of the Ducatis also radically improved. Both Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso took over a second off their times from Tuesday, and improved to 9th and 10th, ahead of the Honda and Yamaha test riders, which should elicit a huge sigh of relief in Bologna. The gap to the fast men is now back to 1.5 seconds, about the same as it was for Hayden at the first Sepang test last year.

The Pramac satellite riders also improved, Ben Spies took two-whole seconds off his time from yesterday, continuing to struggle with his weak shoulder and getting to grips with the Desmosedici. Andrea Iannone took 1.3 seconds off his time from yesterday, setting the 15th time, 2.6 back from Pedrosa.

The work of dialing in the spec-ECU continues for the CRT teams, and progress is rapid. Danilo Petrucci is getting closer to the Aspar ART bikes of Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet, with the FTR Kawasakis of the Blusens Avintia team now not far behind. Irish rookie Michael Laverty put in an impressive performance, slashing a second off his time from Tuesday, and closing on Karel Abraham on the ART machine, as well as the two Avintia bikes.

The weather held up well almost until the end, the rain only falling in the final hour of the test. A large number of riders took advantage of the rain to get some time in on rain tires. The forecast for the final day of testing on Thursday looks less promising, with rain looking likely all day. But at least the MotoGP men now have two solid days of testing under their belts.

Results from Day 4 of MotoGP’s Test at Sepang, Malaysia:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Team	Time	Diff.	Prev.
1	26	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	2:00.549	-	-
2	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory Racing	2:00.568	0.019	0.019
3	93	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	2:00.803	0.254	0.235
4	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha Factory Racing	2:01.038	0.489	0.235
5	35	Cal Crutchlow	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:01.311	0.762	0.273
6	6	Stefan Bradl	LCR Honda MotoGP	2:01.369	0.820	0.058
7	19	Alvaro Bautista	Go & Fun Honda Gresini	2:01.729	1.180	0.360
8	38	Bradley Smith	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:01.931	1.382	0.202
9	69	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Team	2:02.110	1.561	0.179
10	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	2:02.379	1.830	0.269
11	72	Kosuke Akiyoshi	HRC Test Team	2:02.526	1.977	0.147
12	T2	Katsayuki Nakasuga	Yamaha Factory	2:02.701	2.152	0.175
13	11	Ben Spies	Ignite Pramac Racing Team	2:03.002	2.453	0.301
14	T1	Wataru Yoshikawa	Yamaha Factory	2:03.156	2.607	0.154
15	29	Andrea Iannone	Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team	2:03.169	2.620	0.013
16	41	Aleix Espargaro	Power Electronics Aspar	2:03.251	2.702	0.082
17	14	Randy de Puniet	Power Electronics Aspar	2:03.791	3.242	0.540
18	9	Danilo Petrucci	Came IodaRacing Project	2:04.284	3.735	0.493
19	37	Takumi Takahashi	HRC Test Team	2:04.559	4.010	0.275
20	7	Hiroshi Aoyama	Avintia Blusens	2:04.786	4.237	0.227
21	8	Hector Barbera	Avintia Blusens	2:04.989	4.440	0.203
22	17	Karel Abraham	Cardion AB Motoracing	2:05.028	4.479	0.039
23	33	Michael Laverty	Paul Bird Motorsport	2:05.417	4.868	0.389
24	71	Claudio Corti	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	2:05.721	5.172	0.304
25	68	Yonny Hernandez	Paul Bird Motorsport	2:05.837	5.288	0.116
26	5	Colin Edwards	NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team	2:06.205	5.656	0.368
27	67	Bryan Staring	Go & Fun Honda Gresini	2:06.898	6.349	0.693
28	52	Lukas Pesek	Came IodaRacing Project	2:30.243	20.963	14.614

Lap records and 2012 Sepang 1 times:

Pole Record	2012	Jorge Lorenzo	2:00.334
Lap Record	2007	Casey Stoner	2:02.108
2012 Sepang 1	Day 1 fastest	Jorge Lorenzo	2:01.657
2012 Sepang 1	Overall fastest	Casey Stoner	1:59.607

Source: MotoGP; Photo: Honda Racing

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

Comment:

nohatejusttruth says:
February 8, 2013 at 5:27 AM
well the combined test results are in for the last test of 2013 and the season is about to start again.
dont hate on me for this cuz I’m from the states and I know there will be lots more of the same excuse’s we heard last year…ben spies cranks out 48 laps for the whole test while everyone else was past 100 and his main rivals all did 145 or so….and ben comes in 17 overall with his teamate and a few crt bikes ahead of him……I dont care what the excuse is he had all off season to be at the top of his game and so did the team for this most crucial test especially for him…..really ben you should have went back to wsbk that is were you shine sir…you do not have the work ethic it takes to compete at motogp level in any consistent manor and your taking the spot of people who do…I site mark marquez aproch to “getting his head in the game” no distractions no hambuger startups no music headphones all the time no cell phone texting or reading every 30 minutes no silly dumbass videos ! just work ! cuz ben at this level it’s hard work very hard work and you like to sleep in man.

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