Shipped up and on its way to the Isle of Man, we can finally now see more than test shots of the Mugen Shinden Ni and get its basic racing specifications. The electric superbike that John McGuinness will ride in the 2013 TT Zero race at the Isle of Man TT, the Mugen Shinden Ni represents that evolution of the Japanese firm’s design, having now a TT race under its belt. Like its main competitor MotoCzysz, Team Mugen is eyeing a 110 mph lap around the Mountain Course, which would be a pretty remarkable one-year advancement for either team. With Mr. McPint at the helm, and seemingly brimming with on-board energy, Mugen is a serious contender.
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.
This remind anyone else of the ill-fated MT-01?
First of all, that is NOT a cruiser. If they’re trying to steal customers away from the Harely camp, they’re going to have to try harder. The bike is too tall, and not raked back enough to fit into the American cruiser “mold”. In this state, it’s just a Monster on steroids (not that it’s a bad thing). I think it’s a pretty good looking bike, but it’s not going to steal any Harley customers.
To steal any Harley customers they are going to have to add some chrome to that thing too. The riding position isn’t nearly as relaxed as most Harley riders are use to.
Epic fail. Makes Terblanche look like Tamburini.
I think the point is that the purpose is the same as a cruiser – sacrifice function for a certain aesthetic, ride to bike nights, bars, shows, look at in the driveway and do other similarly inane things with it. Sorta like the “custom” sport bikes with lots of chrome, fat tires, stretched and lowered… In this category its downright sensible. Don’t know that it’ll sell though. I’d take a SF or MTS over one any day.
I’ll need more pics before I can make up my mind whether its truly ugly or just about as ugly as most current bikes. The mirrors have got to go though!
And how is that much different from a Monster S4R or S4RS?
Figure wise (shape, style, w/e is called) i think is C00L (Please, don’t rake it anymore or extend its wheel base). Don’t get too far from the Monters series Look.
NOW, I think the side exhaust HAS TO GO, HIDE THAT MESS OF TUBING, Buell XB12S Anyone ? Route it like the SV1000N or the Monster 1100, StreetFigther or 1198, PLEASE! Or Streamline IT a little bit more. Looks like a last minute idea some pissed designer decided to tag on a cool design, that BEND at the rear cylinder outlet coming forward can’t be good for performance + BAKED LEGS.
Engine: If they ever got it on their heads selling this as a “Cruiser” in ” Bigger IS ALWAYS Better America” they should do some polling on people about engine size (Yamaha did this with their latest VMAX on the microsite it created then).
1200cc ? Ducati……..REALLY ? If your gonna go out, go out with a BANG, (BANG=1600CC OR +) AFTER ALL, ain’t the VMAX (1670cc) one of its competitors ?
What? Don’t have cases, cylinders, heads, crank, rods & pistons to support such increase in size yet ? Well, cast-machine some new ones then.
Don’t forget Bigger fuel tank capacity than VMAX Please! Some people like to be total Hooligans for more than a 100 miles Range at a time.
And that ugly stacked muffler style has to go, looks BULKY and oldschool. Keep it MT-01 Clean & Simple.
Ok, im done ranting….LMAO.
One more thing, Tire Width is looking a little xcessive and rear shock location looks like a nigthmare to adjust.
This “Mega-Monster” will likely prove interesting once it gets to production, or at least the complete prototype stage. However, if Ducati really wants to get some of Harley-Davidson’s customer base, they should produce a modern version of their own V-4 Apollo. Now that, if done right, could be really cool.
Dr.Gellar: U make an excellent point. Go the Apollo way.
They could take 2 “Old” 1098 Engines and cast them togheter and get a 2.xxxL V-4 rigth there. Im affraid Ducati doesn’t build anything smaller than 1098-1198 to make such V-4 Naturally High Powered.
But i think something of this nature would be ” Too Wide at the Knees ? ” Maybe ?
Im down for a 1600cc+ regular L-Twin
696, 796, 1100 Monster Engines are Air Cooled (Overheating ?) and 2 Valves Heads (Not HP friendly ?). Did i miss any other possibility or candidate to pair for a V-4 ?
I must say, even i don’t have anywhere near the finances to buy such a bike like this i truly want this bike to be a hit, the more choices out there the better, rigth ?
This bike ROCKS! The monster series was too soft, streetfighter a bit too pure in concept (I own one), this bike is beautiful in a brutish hyabusa kind of way…. like a muscle bike should look. VMAX was spot on but no-one would spend that kinda dough on a yamaha… ducati however… I reckon its a winner… as long as they can keep the weight and wheelbase manageable
It’s a Muscle bike… and it looks good for that purpose.
I dont think anybody should right it off until it is launched and we see the final product.
I like the concept. It’s not a Harley, it’s a Ducati version of a muscle bike.