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.
Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.
Appalachian State University graduate Tom Miceli put together the ultimate resume when he built his all-electric Ion Sportbike for his Industrial Design graduate project. There are many folks putting together electric motorcycles, but many seem to overlook an important detail of the package. Good looks sell and we enthusiasts demand them. And if you can make it look unique at the same time even better.
Taking cues from the Ducati Monster, Olivier Henrichot has put his photoshop skills towards creating a Ducati & Fila branded athletic shoe that takes the Monster’s frame and fuel tank visuals, and incorporated them into the shoe’s design elements.
While the internet as a whole was resistant to the idea of an Italian bred street chopper, Italian firm Cafe Racers & Superbikes has picked up where Ducati may have left off.
After spending the last two years sprinkling Italian styling in the cruiser segment, the CR&S DUU (we think the name needs some work still) is finally taking a more clear shape, and will use a traditional chopper-esque American born 2.0L v-twin motor, surrounded by modern styling that takes its inspiration from the sportbike scense.
Motor manufacturer and tuner, Ilmor Engineering, has branched out from its Indy Car, Formula One, NASCAR, and MotoGP duties, and produced what they call a five-stroke motor. With dual camshafts and an asymetrical three-cylinder configuration, the Ilmor is more than intriguing with its design, and promises to bring real benefits both to the race track, and to road-use. Most notably is a 10% increased fuel efficiency, and 20% weight reduction in power-plant weight.
It is a well established fact that all bad things either come from German or Florida. In an effort to fix this rule of thumb, German design agency Zoom has invisioned a “hobby racer” that the firm hopes to build after securing financing. Called the Rih (arabic for wind), the concept bike will incorporate a few very interesting technologies (like lungs), while at its core, there is an Aprilia RSV4 motor.
News surrounding the new VFR have been swirling around the internet, with various concept drawing and CG renders making the course. Fueling the fire, Honda has been keeping their cards close to their chest when it comes to the new VFR, which is rumored to come out in 2010.
Now we have the latest image to hit the net, done by Vanjey Design. The render looks clean, and influenced with Honda’s current design progression with the 1000cc CBR. There is speculation that the new VFR will see a bump in displacement to 1000cc, up from its current 782cc. However, there has been no indication so far from Honda that this might be true. As always, time will tell.
Source: Visordown
Ducati has released the second part of a multipart documentary on the design and development of the Desmosedici RR. While the first video was a little content light, this next installment should delight the engineering inclined. Those with a social sciences degree we suggest noding, as if you understand what the hell is going on. We sure did. Watch the video (broken into 3 smaller parts) after the jump.
Norwegian site MC24 has gotten its hands on some of the sketches used in the process of designing the Ducati Streetfighter. While the drawings show a glimpse into the process of what it takes to bring a motorcycle to fruition, you can also see the evolution of the design itself. From rough polygons and shapes, to the detailed and shaded sketches, and finally the CAD drawing of the finished design, one can see the refinement and process that must be going on in the artists heard.
Ducati has released the first part of a multipart documentary on the design and development of the Desmosedici RR. This first episode is light on content, but heavy on quick edits, and video effects. The start of this video series seems to be timed well with Aprilia’s release of further information on the RSV4. Coincidence? Perhaps. The less than usual spit and polish on the series so far would seem to suggest time, not quality, was the issue at stake here. Watch the video after the jump.
On December 31st, Massimo Tamburini will be retiring from his position of design chief at MV Agusta. With this news it will be interesting to see who at MV (or should we speculate Harley-Davidson?) will step in to fill possibly the most important role to MV’s future.
Massimo Tamburini has been the hand behind some of the most cosmetically important motorcycles in the industry’s history, those are some big shoes to fill, and it will be the first test of Harley-Davidson’s management of their new brand. Read more for MV Agusta’s official press release.
