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.
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.
looking forward to watching tomorrow on SPEED…late and not live. Which is a pity iirc wsbk, motogp and ama are what they started with.
Wasnt a wsbk race at Philip Island canceled in 2000 due to torrential rain? RIP Oscar. At least he died doing what he loved
Godspeed. *sigh*
All the best to you… You are gone, but all the best and God’s Peace to your family who now lives without you. RIP!
WSBK: Superpole at Phillip Island Cancelled After Tragedy – http://t.co/ySWH6wXC #motorcycle
At the Age of 17, no matter how one dies or whether he loved it, seems irrelevant… At that age, no one expects to die, and for an activity that that seems like everyone is doing it, no one ever expects it to happen…
Out of respect, I can wait a week.
I know it will cost WBSK more money, but then maybe it will put the focus more on actual prevention of such an incident. I know this may not apply to this situation, but I for one think the grid should not have more than 20 pilots.
Even in MotoGP, I’m OK with there being only 17 bikes on the track. I get why Bradl is there, he is a champion, I get why Barbara is there, He could easily have been one too if not for the the people that did win.
But when you have people that are there who have never been in real contention for a championship, then that simply pollutes the integrity of the talent, and the overall sport as well…
To Westward,
I have to say you have some good points as far as the number of riders who should be on the grid. I however must disagree with you all together when you mention who these field of riders should consist of. Just because a rider is not as popular as others, and maybe because you never heard of them does not mean they do not have the talent to be on the grid. This sport is very unforgiving, you go down , you can die, we all know this. At the speed of this sport a split second can and can’t mean life and death. AGAIN a split second can and can’t mean a Championship. Oscar McIntyre obviously had the talent to be a Champion in the series he was in or he would not be there, He didn’t buy or find his license, He EARNED them. R. I. P. Oscar , Just my own opinion, I mean no body any disrespect.
Mike Morton
Oscar’s death will not share the strangle hold on the news that Marco’s did. He was no less of a person than Marco, just less famous. I for one thought the endless coverage of Marco’s death was a bit much.
@MIKE MORTON
Never said anything about a persons popularity. I only mentioned talent. Example, Alex De Angelis has more talent than Karel Abraham, yet Abrahams is in Moto1, not because he is better, but because he can afford it.
Put Abrahams on a factory Honda, I bet De Angelis, Barbara, and Edwards still beat him on Satellite Hondas…
I know nothing about McIntyre, I think he is an Australian, and the race was at Philip Island. I am also not very well versed in my SuperStock600 knowledge. But, I do know that countries like to pad the grid with their countrymen at home circuits.
As for popularity, pilots become so, based on a display of talent recognized by the audience. Hence the reason you may have heard of Marquez or Maverick Vinales…
Again, I can’t comment on McIntyre qualifications or talent, for the same reason I can’t comment on anything regarding AMA. I just am not aware of either…
All I can say, is that he was taken way too soon, just like Simoncelli…
To Westward:
My Bad , I took it wrong ,I thought you were saying the man didn’t have enough talent to even be out there, and Like I was saying ,no disrespect meant to anybody .
Very sad. :(