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.

Kevin Schwantz Returns to Motorcycle Racing – Enters the Suzuka 8-Hours with Team Kagayama

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.

Brammo Anti-Scooter in 60 Days

09/21/2009 @ 10:00 am, by Jensen Beeler9 COMMENTS

Brammo Anti Scooter in 60 Days Brammo anti scooter 560x311

Just a few weeks ago, Brammo began rolling-out their program to sell Enertia electric motorcycles at Best Buy’s along the west coast. Most companies would be content to rest on this accomplishment and catch their breath, but not the folks in Ashland, Oregon. Maybe it’s all that clean-air they’re breathing, or there’s something in the water; either way, we’re happy to report that in the nexy 60 days or so, you’ll see a new product announcement from Brammo, secretly dubbed “The Anti-Scooter”.

Called the Anti-Scooter internally, the next electric-powered two-wheeled creation from Brammo will aim to be a scooter replacement, which will not require a motorcycle license (or in some states, an easier to get M2 license) in order to be ridden. Continuing on Brammo’s goal of bringing new consumers into the world of motorcycling, this Anti-Scooter (official name yet to be determined) hopes to get new people on tw0-wheels, who have yet to get their motorcycle license.

In order to get non-licensed riders on the new motorcycle, Brammo will impose a speed restrictor on the new motorcycle that will mimic the displacement restrictions that various states have set in-place for mopeds and motorized bicycles. Normally this would be a difficult task for a manufacturer, since laws vary from state-to-state, but since electric motorcycles can impose this restriction via software, the variance is easy to make.

We got a chance to glimpse the Anti-Scooter on our way through Oregon this week. The Honda Ruckus inspired bike sits low to the ground and hopes to be an electric alternative to the Vespa scooter, which have become increasingly popular here in the US. Brammo hopes to show the public the Anti-scooter in the nexy 60 days, and based on customer feedback, proceede with the final design process. We were told few technical details, but it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that with a top-speed of 30 mph, the Anti-Scooter could match the Enertia for range, even with smaller battery packs. Stay tuned for more information as we get it.

Top 5 Related Posts:

  1. Brammo Acquires Electric Dirt Bike Park Company Quantyaparx – Aptly Renames it BrammoParx
  2. zecOO: An Electric Maxi-Scooter from Japan

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Comment:

  1. John Adamo says:
    September 21, 2009 at 7:16 AM

    Ruckus inspired Brammo scooter soon. RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Brammo Anti-Scooter in 60 Days – http://bit.ly/LTCz7 #motorcycle

  2. Brammofan says:
    September 21, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    RT @Asphalt_Rubber: Brammo Anti-Scooter in 60 Days – http://bit.ly/LTCz7 #motorcycle

  3. Brammofan says:
    September 21, 2009 at 12:54 PM

    Three things:
    1. Great scoop on this, Jenny!
    2. Never realized that Honda would design something so fugly.
    3. At least Brammo has 60 days to pretty it up.

    Wow. I can’t stop looking at the Enertia logo on the picture. It burns my eyes.

  4. Peter Lombardi says:
    September 21, 2009 at 1:37 PM

    i want a ruckus sooooooo damn bad!!! hahaha it’s a sickness….

    anyhow, i see an opportunity for an electric aftermarket devise in there somewhere ;)
    -peter

  5. Stacy says:
    September 21, 2009 at 2:06 PM

    If the speed restrictor is software based, it’ll be just as easy to remove it. Get ready to flash some firmware, kids.

  6. Asphalt_Rubber says:
    September 21, 2009 at 2:00 PM

    Brammo Anti-Scooter in 60 Days – http://bit.ly/LTCz7 #motorcycle

  7. Cheap Cycle Parts says:
    September 22, 2009 at 7:12 AM

    Brammo follows up on Enertia success with Anti-Scooter http://tinyurl.com/mjbsc3

  8. Asphalt_Rubber says:
    November 23, 2009 at 5:06 PM

    @BrammoCraig According to my calendar it's been 60 days. When are we going to hear more about the Brammo anti-scooter? http://bit.ly/LTCz7

  9. Gloria Gannon says:
    June 7, 2010 at 8:49 AM

    I am looking for a scooter that I will drive on a daily basis about 100 miles round trip. I did some research and figured I would need a 150 cc at least. I went to the places here that sell them and some online scooterdepot, safewholesale and atvdeals those companies are at least 1/2 of what the local companies sell. The dealers up here said that they don’t sell quality scooters. So I need to know if anybody can give me any advice?