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.
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.
Hummm but a 848 with ohlins… I’d bet it’s a 1200cc
Probably a lot of 1198 motors they need to get rid of?
Mmm…looks like Marzocchi front to me, and likely a Sachs rear. Gone are the days when a yellow spring meant Öhlins underneath.
hope they make bigger gas tank at least 5 gal.
I’d much prefer the 1100 air cooled variants of bikes like the Hypermotard and Monster. Sure the S4RS was cool, but the air cooled stuff has way more patina and ‘cool’ than the watercooled. I feel they’re changing with the times, when it may be better not to, and have that niche.
I’m confused about what Ducati is planning for their water cooled middle-weights. They are putting the 848 engine in new models (streetfighter and now this) but at they same time they are looking to replace the original 848evo itself. Ducati is usually trying to consolidate it’s line to fewer engines for easier inventory management in the factory. Assuming that the 848evo’s replacement will have a new engine that just adds another to a line that already has the 848, 1198, and 1199 in various configurations. Why are they using the engine from a model that seems slated for replacement?
Next “must have” Ducati accessory -> fanny pack
Would a Hypermotard 848 and Streetfighter 848 really be different enough to justify two separate models? I’m not familiar with the Hyper’s chassis; is it significantly different from the Streetfigher?
I believe the different ergonomics justify having both the new Hypermotard 848 and the Streetfighter 848.
Very excited to see a new Hypermotard. The current Hyper is just plain unattractive in my opinion… I honestly believe this class of bike is ideal for having fun around town and on the back roads.
I don’t think its a Hypermotard at all. Ducati has the 796, it makes little sense for an 848 model. I think it’s an 848 Multistrada in disguised.
The rear spring and shock is at an angle consistent with the Mutistrada design opposed to the vertical positioning of the Hypermotard…
If, as people suspect, motorcycle manufacturers are moving away from air cooled motors in order to satisfy emissions requirements then the model that’s really under threat from the SF848 is the monster range. The HM is nothing like the SF.
A 848 EVO Motor hypermotard with 15,000 mile adjustment intervals? That would be awesome as long as they keep the weight down. If they turn the mid range so it will behave better on crappy roads than the street fighter that would be awesome. It even looks like you could fit someone on the pillion, which is a no-go for the street fighter.
When I crashed my aprilia a few months ago, I went and looked at the 796 Hyper Motard, a 1050 Speed Triple, a 2012 Fireblade and the KTM RC8R. I liked the RC8R the best, but wasn’t in the mood to drop $16k. Oddly enough I liked that little 796 Motard almost as much. I would have bought it, but a local dealer got in a low mileage mint condition 2005 RC51 Sp2, so I bought that for short money instead.
If they come out with a 848 Liquid Cooled Motard for a price lower than the streetfighter, this could be my new “do anything” bike of choice, especially if it doesn’t have any poofy traction control.
I had a Hypermotard 1100 and it was a great bike. I’m not so sure about this new bike, because the Hyper is a fun bike for any speed between 25 to 85 mph, but it’s not much fun any faster than that as it can get twitchy and the windblast gets tiring.. The air cooled DS1100 engines were great because of the low end torque they delivered, and they wouldn’t rev past 8K. That was okay, as it was keeping in character with the 25 to 85 mph philosophy. But the 848′s motor wants to rev and rev and go faster and faster, not sure how well that will go over with a bike like the Hypermpotard.
What I want to know is where I can get one of those fanny packs.
Yeah he may be wearing a fanny pack but that guy still has my dream job! Ducati test rider, seriously how do you even get that job?
Before doing anything “new” they should address the real problem at hand:
FUEL CAPACITY.
And this right here, http://motowheels.com/i-6922470-over-sized-hypermotard-fuel-tank-kit.html
is not the solution, UNLESS you are are ROLLING ON MONEY.
Or even better, concentrate on something different, more of a cash cow…like what u may ask ?
Hell, i don’t know…but something else. (^_^)
Looks like a dorsoduro 1200!