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.
Yes, but why does it look just like a GSR600/B-King?
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Stick to English if you don’t understand French…
Matthew, If you’re not familiar with the Benelli TNT or it’s 1130 Cafe Racer, you should check it out. The styling has been similar since about 03 or so when the TNT came out as essentially a Naked version of their Tornado Superbike. I’m the first to admit that the design is a Love/Hate affair. Much like said BKing, it’s definitely aimed at the crowd who appreciates the styling of angular muscle wrapped around brutish torque. And as far as the “headlights that cut-out at traffic lights due to over-heating”… This author needs to educate himself on the finer points of the Benelli Design structure. The Headlight cuts out when the computer senses that the engine has been at an uninterrupted idle for in excess of 5 seconds. The headlight is then disabled to save charging voltage from the VERY limited charging system on the bike. As soon as the throttle is blipped or manipulated, the headlight comes back on, as the computer assumes you are now about to return to riding. Hope I’ve saved some face on Benelli… even IF they are an *ahem* ITALIAN manufacturer with CHINESE ownership. That’s like saying that Jaguars arent British any more because Ford owns them… Pish…
CarbonWarrior,
I’m fully educated about the TnT, after nearly buying one for my personal transport. I’m EXTREMELY leery of a company that in my own words “paints over” a serious problem, and in the process creates another. The TnT does have charging issues, as well as cooling issues. In a prolonged stop the bike will begin to heat-up causing the fans to kick in, this draws power from the battery which isn’t being recharged sufficiently from the rectififier.
So instead of fixing the charging issues, or the cooling issues (harder to do here because of the basic design of the bike), Benelli decided to half-ass it, and cut the headlight out when stop. Yes, it does come back on when you blip the throttle, but that doesn’t change the fact that at night your visibility is potentially reduced. It also doesn’t change the fact that you’re not address the underlying problem in the first place. That’s not good engineering in any book.
For the amount of money one purchases a Benelli for, I hope one would expect a better quality product. I for one love the look of the Benelli, and wish they’d get their act together with their quality and the business side of their operations. But, I’m not going to give them a “get out of jail free” card because of it.
This brand has amazing potential, but I’m still waiting to see if they can realize it with Qianjiang Motors backing them. I hope so, I really do.
Educated about TNT’s you might be, but the backstab of the C word is pretty low class. Nobody called Ducati an american company when TPG owned them. You are right about the headlights cutting out, that is dangerous at night. But there is a fix available. My Tre 1130 has been reliable so far.
I wish bike journalists stopped the tongue in cheek / “dont mention the germans” routine. In a different vain, Chinese put a man in orbit, a feat eclipsed only by their ability to feed all one billion of them in a time span of 20 years, famin having been the rule for millenia.
They known they would kill their property if there was only a hint of fundamental involvement. Instead of moving engine assembly from Morini Motori to China, they moved it back to Pesaro. Shocks, calipers, chassis, engine … all are Italian, with exception of minor parts. What more can they do to stop the inuendo’s ?
It’s a pity you didn’t buy the TNT. You would’ve loved it.
I own a benelli tre-k and I am waiting for someone to get out of their car and hit me. this is due to the headlights going off when in traffic when the power is required to run the fans don’t believe that this done for your benfit as a rider this is so they do not have to upgrade the under powered charging system and battery as this only happens when the temp raises and the fan need to kick in . true they do come on when you turn the thottle but still not safe if headlights go out at night.
build is cheap and cheerful love the bike but what a load of cheap skates build is worst than some of the bikes from china Em maybe that is where the problem lays 5000 miles rust appearing grips look like they have done 50,000 miles paint chips very easy love the bike but can see long term issues with the bikes appearancee see how it goes