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 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.
I heard a rumor MotoCzysz bikes will stand upright without kickstands starting this year. ;)
Glad Czysz has a sponsor and didn’t have to sell his Ford GT and Desmocedici!
That picture above is hilarious, I’m seeing those guys being easily picked off and falling backwards off their Segways.
All I can say is, if a squad of black-clad, gun-toting dickheads are ever coming after me, I dearly hope they are mounted on Segways. Can you imagine actually releasing that image to the press???
Deeply sorry that Segway owner Jimi Heselden, quote in above press release, won’t be on the IoM because… he… rode a Segway off an embankment on his estate and drowned.
That’s why I don’t write fiction; you couldn’t make that up.
But seriously folks… My friend Tony Foale was working at Segway for a couple of years and then was forced back to Europe after his visa ran out. Shame he couldn’t provide input on the Czysz effort. We might break out of the tyranny of sport bike conventionalism.
I predict Segways-a-plenty at Laguna Seca. Maybe they’ll announce the new Czysz-way – with 30% more blinking lights than the existing Segway.
Picture needs moar more war dogs.
Sun Tsu, “he who makes his enemy laugh may weaken him to attack or diplomacy” or something.
As for Czysz, I hope his fans forgive him for this little bit of selling out. Because I’m having trouble with it myself. On the bright side, those guys at Segway have some seriously good software engineers and I begrudgingly admit it could be a great hook-up on the tech front. But man does it leave a bad taste on the American motorcycle mythic of MotoCzysz.
Myself…I’m glad to see MotoCzysz pick up the Segway sponsorship. Good for them! Not really seeing the sell out part of this. What’s the big deal?
It’s equally cool that MotoCzysz will have the services of Michael Rutter for the TT Zero next month. I’m was disappointed though to find out that only Rutter will actually be on a 2011 E1pc, while Mark Miller will be riding an upgraded 2010 E1pc…rather than both riders on new 2011 machines. Nonetheless, hopefully both riders will do well.
Where did you hear that Dr. G?
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=44505
Michael Czysz might be selling out Motoczysz integrity, but on the bright side, its the only thing his company has actually sold in its existence.
@Tom
That is not true, they have sold more than their integrity. They sell T-Shirts.
You’d prefer MotoCzysz sold bikes like the Brammo Enertia or Zero S?
MotoCzysz has one of the most compelling electric race motorcycles in the industry. It doesn’t surprise me that they can attract sponsorship from a brand name company that also has a vesting interest in electrics.
Jensen, we’d prefer that Motoczysz sell something real to justify its never ending hagiographies. Its been SIX YEARS and there is nothing of substance from them. We want them to succeed but we want something there to succeed. So far in its existence, for Motoczysz there is no there there.
We all know Czysz was never going to make a production motorcycle. Sure he meant well at first and got plenty of press for it. We all ate it up…this brass balled sonobich was living our dream, build the all American motorcycle, etc., etc. Then there was the MotoGP bid, then this electric bike thing…I’m still a fan mind you. But hold my breath for a Motoczysz 150kW RR for the 2015 model year…I don’t think so.
Marketing 101, as practiced by Motoczysz
1. Pick a name your potential customers can’t pronounce.
2. Quote Pierre Terblanche’s wisdom on design in your corporate philosophy.
3. Partner with a sponsor that builds also two wheel vehicles… for people too lazy to walk, and too uncoordinated to ride a motorcycle, or bicycle.
Actually singletrack, it’s quite easy to Segway up an incline at 20km/hr – which is not really achievable when walking for the average person. Even those of us who are fine on m-bikes or bikes.
Also great for people with mobility problems (ie a disability) like my gf.
You should try one sometime… or are you too frightened you won’t look macho in front of your bogan mates. :)
Well Warren G., my comments were tongue-in-cheek, but using a Segway as a replacement for walking is just stupid. Even uphills. For mobility enhancement, for those that can’t walk, or have real difficulty – absolutely.
But the Segway has been touted as a mode of transportation for the masses.
- Walk if you can ( 1 mile or less)
- 1- 10 miles – Ride a bicycle and get some exercise. Or use an e-bike. Both are cheaper and faster than a Segway.
- 10+ miles – use a scooter or motorcycle. Cheaper and faster .
Segways on sidewalks are dangerous for others. Segways on roads are dangerous for themselves. Segways are only a solution for those who can’t walk, or for security detail in malls/airports. Nothing to do with manly-ness