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.
Confirming what we already knew, Brammo’s plans to race at Laguna Seca just got outed by a press release issued by their partner ESX Motorsports. Discussing the company’s partnership with Brammo, ESX motorsports let it slip that it will be the promoter behind Brammo’s presence at Laguna Seca…as Brammo races at the e-Power Championship race. As a marketing company, you’d think they’d know better than to pre-empt their client’s own press releases.
Asphalt & Rubber took a lot of flak last month when we speculated about Brammo working on an electric sportbike. Armed with more than a hunch at the time, we have been told from multiple sources that Brammo is set to debut a TTR-based electric sportbike. For added measure, we’ve also been told that Brammo intends to race the bike, which we’d expect will have various configurations, at the e-Power Championship round at Laguna Seca later this month.
Brammo has hit the sales floors of Best Buy with their electric motorcycle the Enertia. Debuting in the Portland Oregon area, instead of the previously rumored San Francisco/Bay Area, you can expect to see the green machine trickle its way down the west coast throughout the year’s time.
Right now, Brammo has their TTR race bike from the TTXGP on display at the Cascade Station Best Buy in Portland. Videos and pictures after the jump.
First to arrive on the Isle of Man, Brammo has been the most photogenic of the TTXGP contestants from the United States. If IOM gossip is to be believed, the team has been spotted swinging the occasional wrench in between pub hosted team meetings.
Today on the Isle, Brammo was out testing the TTR on a 40 mile circuit. While they haven’t been out on the full Mountain Course yet, they were able to test the TTR over the 40 miles at a continuous race pace, with a focus on the increasing the endurance of the electric race bike. They were kind enough to shoot a couple shots of Roy Richardson putting the TTR through its paces. Photos after the jump.
With bullet cams in hand, the Brammo crew headed out to the forrested roads of Oregon to conduct some road tests on the Brammo TTR race bike in preparation for the upcoming TTXGP. Video after the jump.
Today is a double Brammo day. Earlier this morning we teased you with a picture of the Brammo TTR in race trim. You may have noticed two things. 1) The bike is green…kind of like the Hungry Hunter, and 2) Best Buy is sponsoring it. We don’t mess with giant men that have brussels sprouts growing on them, so this article will solely focus on the latter of the two observations. More pictures after the jump.
With the TTXGP only a handful of days away, and with many of the competitors already crating and shipping their race bikes to the Isle of Man, we are starting to see more press releases and updates. This one from Brammo, we are admittedly a little late to, but its important none-the-less.
At the IOM TTXGP, Brammo will be fielding, not one, but two Enertia TTR’s in the event. So far this would seem to be the only team that is fielding a 2-bike team. Cocky or Confident, time will be the judge. Brammo has also released specs and deminsions on its Enertia TTR, you can find them after the jump.
A recent Racer X interview of Craig Bramscher, CEO of Brammo, uncovered some interesting information about the electric motorcycle company. Including never before seen pictures of the Brammo TTR with race paint and Best Buy logo.
Craig Bramscher is sitting next to a computer monitor displaying a rendering of the TTXGP machine. It looks a lot like the race bikes of today sans exhaust pipe. Recent renderings of the Motoczysz and pictures of the Mission Motors TTXGP entries have a slightly more futuristic design and are somewhat street legal with lights mounted.
Later in the interview Bramscher also gave new information on the target market for the Brammo Enertia and why Best Buy is Brammo’s choice for distribution.
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