Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013. Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know. While we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque, and we’ve got the digits after the jump.
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.
Italian news site MotoSprint has stumbled upon perhaps the best photo yet of the new Ducati power cruiser, which has been dubbed the “Mega Monster”. From the side we can get a better glimpse on the bike’s overall lines and stature, which at leasts makes us more comfortable with how the bike’s final aesthetic will come to be. Love it or hate it? Let us know in the comments.
Source: MotoSprint via Ducati News Today
I just threw up in my mouth.
It’s probably better than other long wheel-based, heavy motorcycles… Not my cup of tea though.
Kinda has a Buell look to it.
When will I wake up from this nightmare?
I think it is great to see them branching out. It seems to mirror some of the lines of the V-rod.
Power cruser wise it’s not too bad. My biggest gripe is the rads on the side. But what are you going to do?
Looks like a catfish from the bayou!
I am a Super Sport rider but I absolutely LOVE that! And I predominantly HATE cruisers!
The only way this will be cool is if it has the Desmosedeci engine…
Aside from the relatively comfy looking ergos I can’t see one redeeming quality in this bike. The entire thing looks at odds with itself; as if it were cobbled together from all the left over bits not used on their other development projects. There is no flow or cohesive, singular theme to the design and no amount of sexy red paint is going to cover that amount of ugly.
It’s a good thing for the people that want the sport bike ride and the cruiser feel. All the others of it’s type don’t handle for crap and only have limited power. And yes I do know and it has prevented me from owning them. We all know Ducati knows how to make a twin unlike the other guys and will have a six speed unlike the other guys.
A Better Look at the Ducati Mega Monster – http://aspha.lt/16t #motorcycle
RT @Asphalt_Rubber: A Better Look at the Ducati Mega Monster – http://aspha.lt/16t #motorcycle
you guys are sick, that’s one hot ride, cant wait to see the final look :)
This is a mistake … The person riding it must be paid really well to be seen in public on such an ugly motorcycle?!? I Don’t like it.
I am not into long, heavy, muscle bikes.. but if it corners like a Ducati.. then I’d love to take it for a ride!
hmm u are already mocking a bike which is barely complete…
im sure there is much more than meets the eye people
give ducati a break… think that everyone was thinking the same thing when they saw the streetfighter!
anyway this too has the streetfighter bottom panel look to it… im sure there will be much mroe bling on the mega monster but have to say.. it aint looking half bad.. a mix of a cruiser/streetfighter beast me thinks!
Urgent message to Ducati: B-King was a total failure and the V-Max is an overpriced project bike form Yamaha – a mistake Yamaha won’t make again in the US market (at least not without another division head replacement).
There are two major motorcycle categories in the US – Sport Bikes and Cruisers. Design, develop and manufacture one or the other for the US market.
“There are two major motorcycle categories in the US – Sport Bikes and Cruisers. Design, develop and manufacture one or the other for the US market”
and yet Ducati’s best selling bike over the last 20 years is the Monster, which is neither.
This bike isn’t my type, I ride a Multistrada and what I’d like to see next is a 350 lb Hypermotard… but I predict that Ducati will sell a bunch of them.
Monster is a sport bike. It’s naked, air cooled, but sport ergos and handling.
For those of you thinking this will handle “like a Ducati”, it doesn’t matter what the badge says if the rear tire is over 200 and the wheelbase is 10 feet.
****
This bike isn’t my type, I ride a Multistrada and what I’d like to see next is a 350 lb Hypermotard… but I predict that Ducati will sell a bunch of them.
****
They already have Hyper 796 which is close to it. Getting lighter means it has to be more based on a dirt bike and significantly smaller engine ….
I think i like it. I Wanna Ride it.
And I would place the Monster, FZ1, Z1000 in the “just a bit more comfortable” sport bike category. All of which sell far better in Euro than here in the US. But all great products (I’ve owned two FZ1s)!
I agree with JT and rossisucks. except for your name, rossisucks. of course.
come on guys, why are we discussing aesthetics of what is most likely an ENGINEERING PROTOTYPE meant for TEST PURPOSES? Take this pic w/ a grain of salt…
then again, sitting around like sheep and agreeing w/ one another (and the author) is fun, too…lol
I dont Know if there is more than One prototype but in other pics ive seen this new Duc looked awful . In this side photo though it looks good .
Not bad. Will be good to see it fully finished out. I’m sure it’ll have more power than the other power cruisers–and better brakes, better handling, be lighter and with that single-sided swingarm, it’ll be sexier.
At 52, I think about getting something a little more sedate than my Speed Triple… but this ain’t it. I’m still inclined towards a Thunderbird or a Rocket III Roadster.
But not for a few years yet… I ain’t DEAD, y’know?
But I just LOVE the camo spots on the mufflers… will that be standard?
I hate this bike b/c it is so blatantly outside their area of expertise and their brand identity. Ducati aren’t branching out, they are making a greedy lunge at a giant pile of gold in the form of the US cruiser market. Their making themselves look foolish in the process.
If they had taken the 1100 Desmodue and built a flattrack sport-cruiser with a beautiful SSS, what is Harley’s response to that? The Ducati would have more power from less displacement, and it would weigh about 200lbs less than the XR1200. What could Harley do but cry and hope that their brand identity and their signature sound is enough to make the new Duc fail.
You don’t attack your opponent’s strength with your weakness. You attack their weakness with your strength.
Christ it looks like a Harley V-Rod and they are a piece of crap and do not sell. Even the loud pipes save lives Harely fags think the V-rod is girlie bike. Yamaha and Kawasaki already have bikes like this in the V-Max and B-King. They do not sell enough units to make them worth producing so why this ugly thing?
Going by some of the comments posted (on this site and others); do you guys even realize this is a development bike and not the final production bike? In other words, its not finished yet! At least wait for the production version before making your final judgement.
…and yeah, I know many don’t like the overall concept so it won’t matter if the bike looks ‘good’ once finished.
For what it is, it looks good. It has an attractive profile and stance, and I’m sure will be more sporting and rideable than the direct competition (V-Rod, B-King, VMax). Can’t blame Ducati for going after a customer that is looking for a portable penis extender… they’ll pay piles of cash to try to pick up tube-topped girls 20 years their junior. As long as the other models continue deliver on the brand promise, I don’t see much risk to their cache.
@ML and JT: Yes, I understand what we are seeing here. I understand this is not the ‘final’ version. I understand they purposely hit it over and over with the ugly stick (i.e. the sketchy paint on the tank and exhaust) to keep us from forming a proper picture of the bike. Keeping all that in mind, I must still respectfully disagree. Based on the pic’s we’ve been seeing and the design sketches A&R provided earlier I don’t believe it’s going to get much better. Look at the bike’s ‘bones’–the wheelbase, rake, frame components and hard parts that are unaffected by paint and aesthetic tweaks–and maybe you’ll understand why I feel this one is just a big ‘ol plate of ugly served with sides of impending failure and misspent development dollars.
@wayne: I totally understand where you’re coming from, too. However, I still see much room for ‘cleaning up’ the bike for production. I guess we all have no choice but to wait till its done.
I still have hope! =)
In a tough time for the motorcycle industry, Ducati and putting money into developing new models and taking risks to stimulate the industry.. not just releasing last years model again and again.
I am with the “think positive” guys.
This is the unfinished prototype. There are obvious parts missing (radiators covers etc).
Let’s wait until the Milan show before it is decided what the concept is.
reserve your judgements until the bike is launched.
The Ducati Apollo has be resurrected:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducati_Apollo
*been
damn it.
DUC designers have lost thier minds! Now we have DUC DEVILS…..and Tripple 9′s…
The DUC Engineers forgot to put the DUC DIAVEL emblem or logo on the bike! “666″!!!
A devil is not supposed to be pretty, and I guess this guy has the look of a MOTO DIAVEL!!!!
I’ll stick with my ST2…..this bike is ugly as sin, and my personal opinion…..I agree with the pukie guy, Cru Jones. . . but I’m afraid mine went past my mouth! (Hah!)
CALLING ALL PRIEST??? FAST!!!!!!!! URGENT ~~~ This bike, Engineers, and all of Ducati need to be blessed!~ Have faith, it’ll get better!