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.
A 400cc version could be sold within Japan and worldwide…
Well Duh! Why has Honda been sitting on the sidelines for decades on this CBR500? To me, it’s a no-brainer. Every young rider wants a cool, modern looking bike. But they all don’t want/need top spec performance and price. For years the smallest Honda sportbike was a 600. Ridiculous. At least the 250-600 spread was a bit more reasonable.
It seems that every other manufacturer has figured out that a mid-spec, mid-displacement motorcycle is a good idea: Ninja 250/500, SV650, GS500 etc. etc.
Come’on Honda, just do it already.
[wishful thinking]
Maybe it’s a 2-stroke 500!!
[/wishful thinking]
What about Yamaha, I want to see 250, 300-400, or 500 machines from them…
Bring back the 500 V4!!!
New Product……..and yet………..WHAT’S WITH THE ANCIENT First Gen CBR600RR Front End ?
W/e happened to using the Cylon Face of the VFR1200F and CBR250R ? I liked it, it was different yet modern looking.
I like the “Cone Can” on the CBR250R better than the Bazooka on these 500′s.
500cc ? Two (2) CBR250R engines slapped togheter ? Hope so, not a fan of Monos. And while at it make it a 270* Crank…no ANEMIC flat bottom-mid range response 180* Crank here, please. This is not a repli-racer that needs to make 100hp at 18k rpm. Leave that to Kawasaki.
Honda seems on track here, T-Trees, Fork, Caliper, Wheel seem like the same items on the NC700S…hell, even the front Brake M/C and Hose could be the same Items.
How about they drop in the Aluminium Swinger from the CRF250L in this 500 ? Steel swing arms SCREAM BUDGET…IMHO.
And lastly……….i hope it makes it to the U.S of A. We need more “rea$onable” yet aesthetically pleasing choices when it comes to the small bike sector here…and we know it…(^.^)
Any word on the 2013 CBR 1000RR??????????? Repsol version????? New features???? A totally new bike???? I’m DIEING over here!!!!!!!!! Anyone? Anyone??
@Paulo:
Play the Lottery…u have a way better chance of getting it before a NEW CBR1000RR, specially after been refreshed so recently ( last year was it ? )
BNG ? Maybe they’ll give u something there, maybe that Repsol replica u want. New features ? Like i said, if u are lucky a new paintjob or graphics. LOL.
@MikeD
I am on board man, I hope this ends up being a 500cc twin. Is they keep it a light agile sportbike with manageable power and great gas mileage, this could be a rockin little bike. I love the hell out of the CBR250R we got for the wife.
The fact that this bike will be awesome means we probably wont get it in the states.
Enough already with the crap brakes, crap suspension approach to UJM
Don’t go for the horsepower number, engineer the motor to have a personality (like the Nuda)
Corporate same-same won’t make the numbers Honda, wake up.
@David Greenfield
You might want to wake up, the CBR250R is the number 1 selling bike for Honda right now and they are obviously looking to build on that success with this new intro model.
The little 250cc actually has plenty of character, I am guessing you haven’t ridden one? I haven’t seen one person get off a CBR250R that doesn’t have a smile on their face and I am sure this bike wont be any different.
Oh and Nuda…seriously? It may have character, but talk about overpriced for performance value. Try to even see one of those in person in North America, let alone buy one.
“but also creates an interesting question of whom Honda sees buying this motorcycle”
The same crowd who bought the Ninja 500 and GS500 (F). People who want arRelatively tame sensible bikes with semi-upright ergos and decent power. A CBR500 would be a step-up for a not-so-newbie-anymore- rider, a perfect bike for those who have outgrown or never suffered from penis envy race replicas, for experienced woman riders, for older but not over-the-hill riders getting back into riding or just anyone looking for a modern semi-aggressive styled bike. I think this covers an array of prospective buyers.
OK, about 5 years too late but we’ll see …. finally they are waking up.
” …… from the Honda CBR250R which just looks very sport in its diminutive package”
The CBR 250 R looks like sh*t. I know because I own one. Nothing wrong with
the bike though but for the weight and looks. Will swap it against a Duke 350
next year.
If you really want a fun bike that’s not too serious like a modern 600 but more than a 250, get an old Honda Interceptor 500 like my ’86. Makes about 70hp and weighs about 400lbs dry. Handling is razor sharp and that V4 sounds awesome!!!!