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.

WSBK: Race 2 is Action-Packed in Assen

04/26/2010 @ 6:03 pm, by Jensen Beeler2 COMMENTS

With Race 1 seeing a number of worthy riders vying for the victory, there was little doubt that Race 2 would provide similar close-rider racing on the Dutch circuit. With each manufacturer with a horse in the race, Assen proved to be not only a venue where opportunities could be created, but it also seemed destined to shake up the World Superbike Championship Standings.

Taking the double was Johnny Rea on the Ten Kate HANNspree Honda, but the victory didn’t come easily for Johnny. First off the line was the BMW of Troy Corser, who had another great race on the S1000RR, but unfortunately could not go the distance again and make a podium out of it.

Race 2 saw the return of points leader Leon Haslam to the forefront of the race. Haslam finished second in Race 2 and swapped a number of passes with Rea, while James Toseland pursued the pair, butwas nearly two seconds behind Haslam, and four seconds behind Rea at the finish line. Despite the intense action at the beginning and middle of the race, the last remaining laps of Race 2 saw both Rea breaking away from Haslam, and Haslam distancing himself from the rest of the pack.

Picking up the table scraps was James Toseland, who podiumed for the second time this weekend. JT was just out of reach of Max Biaggi, who continues to have a strong season on his Aprilia RSV4. Of course Troy Corser was the surprise finish, with another fifth place spot for the BMW crew. The pack of contenders was rounded out by Checa and Smrz respectively, both having good races, but unable to push further up into the field.

The good new stops there here though, as both Xerox Ducati riders failed to make an impression in Race 2. Fabrizio finished 12th while Haga found himself in DNF land after technical problems sidelined his Ducati 1098R. Race 2 at Assen was also a miserable showing for the Kawasaki Crew, as Team Green made up three of the bottom for spots at the finish.

With the race weekend concluded, Haslam continues to lead in the points standings, with a 20 point gap over Max Biaggi. Johnny Rea was the real winner though, as his double victory launched him into 3rd place overall, 38 points back from Haslam.

World Superbike Highlights from Race 2 at Assen, Netherlands:

Results from Race 2 of World Superbike at Assen, Netherlands:

Pos	No.	Rider	Country	Bike	Diff
1	65	J. Rea	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR
2	91	L. Haslam	GBR	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1.942
3	52	J. Toseland	GBR	Yamaha YZF R1	3.928
4	3	M. Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.	4.067
5	11	T. Corser	AUS	BMW S1000 RR	4.176
6	7	C. Checa	ESP	Ducati 1098R	4.525
7	96	J. Smrz	CZE	Ducati 1098R	4.682
8	67	S. Byrne	GBR	Ducati 1098R	7.698
9	76	M. Neukirchner	GER	Honda CBR1000RR	9.903
10	111	R. Xaus	ESP	BMW S1000 RR	11.465
11	99	L. Scassa	ITA	Ducati 1098R	15.489
12	84	M. Fabrizio	ITA	Ducati 1098R	23.604
13	50	S. Guintoli	FRA	Suzuki GSX-R1000	29.085
14	77	C. Vermeulen	AUS	Kawasaki ZX 10R	35.401
15	15	M. Baiocco	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	44.330
16	95	R. Hayden	USA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	50.830
17	23	B. Parkes	AUS	Honda CBR1000RR	58.819
RET	2	L. Camier	GBR	Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.	2 Laps
RET	35	C. Crutchlow	GBR	Yamaha YZF R1	11 Laps
RET	41	N. Haga	JPN	Ducati 1098R	16 Laps
RET	57	L. Lanzi	ITA	Ducati 1098R	-
RET	66	T. Sykes	GBR	Kawasaki ZX 10R	-

Tagged under: Assen, Dutch, Holland, James Toseland, Johnny Rea, Leon Haslam, Race 2, The Netherlands, video, world superbike, WSBK

Comment:

Asphalt_Rubber says:
April 27, 2010 at 1:03 AM
WSBK: Race 2 is Action-Packed in Assen – http://bit.ly/9K7mNd #motorcycle
MotorcycleFans says:
April 27, 2010 at 1:07 AM
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: WSBK: Race 2 is Action-Packed in Assen – http://bit.ly/9K7mNd #motorcycle

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