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.

BMW F800GS Adventure – Germany’s Middleweight ADV

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.

Times from the World Superbike Portimao Test

01/25/2009 @ 2:41 pm, by Jensen BeelerComments Off

Times from the World Superbike Portimao Test shakey byrne ducati

The weather has been grim around the Portimao race track in  for the past few days. The last day of World Superbike Championship official testing at Portimao was once again affected by adverse weather conditions, and thus the absolute best times of the entire test were largely set on the second day, leaving Shane Byrne as the new track best pace setter on his private Sterilgarda Ducati. American Ben Spies posted the second fastest lap time over all, showing that he has what it takes not only to race in World Superbike, but perhaps MotoGP as well.

 

“I didn’t expect to be fastest in the test to be honest but I’m not surprised” declared ‘Shakey’. “The bike’s working really well and the relationship and feedback with the team and my engineer is great. This Superpole formula is not new for me, we tried something similar in the last few BSB races. It’s really exciting and spectacular and I’m sure it’ll look good on TV as well”. 

Only two top riders improved their weekend times today, Troy Corser, who was finally ranked an impressive 11th on the all-new BMW four-cylinder, and Max Biaggi on the RSV Aprilia, who went 18th.

With new rules in place for both Superpole qualifying and flag-to-flag races each was given a trial run today. In Superpole there will now be 20 riders in the qualifying group, which then drops to 16, then eight in the final 12-minute session, which determines the pole setter. The top 20 riders from this weekend’s sessions went forward to practice this discipline today, with great success, and the new format of final grid qualifying is anticipated with relish by all.

The flag-to-flag practice was included in the very last practice session of all three days, with riders coming in to change to their spare bikes when the signal was given, without any interruption of the simulated race session.

Many of the top teams now leave Portimao to get to Phillip Island well in advance of the race, to undergo their own private test sessions before the start of the season, in just over one month’s time.

 

1.Byrne S.GBRDucati 1098R1’43.874
2.Neukirchner M.GERSuzuki GSX-R 1000 K91’43.965
3.Rea J.GBRHonda CBR1000RR1’44.144
4.Haga N.JPNDucati 1098R1’44.157
5.Haslam L.GBRHonda CBR1000RR1’44.217
6.Corser T.AUSBMW S1000 RR1’44.261
7.Kagayama Y.JPNSuzuki GSX-R 1000 K91’44.586
8.Laconi R.FRADucati 1098R1’47.057
9.Checa C.ESPHonda CBR1000RR1’49.387
10.Fabrizio M.ITADucati 1098R1’52.340
11.Nakano S.JPNAprilia RSV41’56.553
12.Biaggi M.ITAAprilia RSV41’56.643
13.Spies B.USAYamaha YZF R11’44.119
14.Smrz J.CZEDucati 1098R1’45.182
15.Sykes T.GBRYamaha YZF R11’45.624
16.Kiyonari R.JPNHonda CBR1000RR1’45.931
17.Parkes B.AUSKawasaki ZX 10R1’46.181
18.Salom D.ESPKawasaki ZX 10R1’46.260
19.Polita A.ITADucati 1098R1’46.849
20.Roberts B.AUSDucati 1098R1’46.897

 

Overall best times from the three day session, all of which were set on Saturday:

 

167 Byrne S.GBRDucati 1098R1’43.294
219 Spies B.USAYamaha YZF R11’43.484
341 Haga N.JPNDucati 1098R1’43.487
466 Sykes T.GBRYamaha YZF R11’43.546
57 Checa C.ESPHonda CBR1000RR1’43.657
676 Neukirchner M.GERSuzuki GSX-R 1000 K91’43.674
796 Smrz J.CZEDucati 1098R1’43.767
884 Fabrizio M.ITADucati 1098R1’43.951
965 Rea J.GBRHonda CBR1000RR1’44.115
1091 Haslam L.GBRHonda CBR1000RR1’44.170
1111 Corser T.AUSBMW S1000 RR1’44.261
1271 Kagayama Y.JPNSuzuki GSX-R 1000 K91’44.425
1355 Laconi R.FRADucati 1098R1’44.546
149 Kiyonari R.JPNHonda CBR1000RR1’44.610
1523 Parkes B.AUSKawasaki ZX 10R1’44.704
1653 Polita A.ITADucati 1098R1’45.108
1756 Nakano S.JPNAprilia RSV41’45.179
183 Biaggi M.ITAAprilia RSV41’45.199
1924 Roberts B.AUSDucati 1098R1’45.278
2025 Salom D.ESPKawasaki ZX 10R1’45.393
21100 Tamada M.JPNKawasaki ZX 10R1’45.446
2236 Lavilla G.ESPHonda CBR1000RR1’45.672
2333 Hill T.GBRHonda CBR1000RR1’45.679
2499 Scassa L.ITAKawasaki ZX 10R1’45.820
25111 Xaus R.ESPBMW S1000 RR1’46.128
2644 Rolfo R.ITAHonda CBR1000RR1’46.916
2777 Iannuzzo V.ITAHonda CBR1000RR1’46.971

 

For comparison, the fasted race lap was set by Troy Bayliss in November 2008, clocking in at 1’43.787 

Source: World Superbike & MotoGP Matters

Top 5 Related Posts:

  1. Time Comparison: AMA Superbike vs. World Superbike
  2. Redux: AMA Superbike vs. World Superbike at MMP
  3. WSBK: Superpole at Phillip Island Cancelled After Tragedy
  4. WSBK: “Wet” Superpole Qualifying at Assen

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