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.
What you see above is the Millepercento Alba sportbike, a custom street machine made from a Moto Guzzi twin-cylinder, four-valve, 1200cc motor. Millepercento started out life as a dealership, specializing in Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, Benelli and MV Agusta motorcycles. After a sordid history the dealership found new management in 2005, and rekindled its presence as a Moto Guzzi race tuner. The bi-product of that rekindling of course is the Alba sportbike model shown here.
We suspect there’s a Moto Guzzi PR agent homeless in the streets of Milan right now, after not one, but two mix-ups have occurred. First, there was the debacle of press information stating the Moto Guzzi V7 Clubman Racer was a production model. And second, there’s what appears to be a naming mix-up between the Moto Guzzi V12 X concept and Moto Guzzi V12 Strada concept.
The Moto Guzzi booth at EICMA was full of eye-candy, unveiling their V12 concepts (V12 LE, V12 Strada, and V12 X) to a packed crowd and much fan-fare, Moto Guzzi hardly hyped the little gem that is the Moto Guzzi V7 Clubman racer. The bike caught our eye, and the concept has a little something for everyone: a longitudinql v-twin motor, a catching color scheme, and cafe racer styling. Click past the jump for more details and photos of the V7 Clubman racer up-close.
Moto Guzzi’s second concept from EICMA is the Moto Guzzi V12 X (also check out the Moto Guzzi V12 LM & Moto Guzzi V12 Strada). Also built around the Mandello 1,200cc v-twin motor, the X is shorter and reminds a lot of the aptly named Aprilia Mana X with its banana seat and snubbed nose. Photos and more after the jump.
The last in Moto Guzzi’s trio of Mandello based concepts is the Moto Guzzi V12 Strada (also read about the Moto Guzzi V12 LM & Moto Guzzi V12 X). While the LM separates itself from the group with its design, the V12 X shares very similar cues with the V12 Strada. Whereas we thought the Strada was more minimalist, the X seems to have more meat on its bones.
Moto Guzzi has made three concepts for this year’s EICMA show, all based around the Mandello 1,200cc v-twin motor. Unveiled en masse, the Moto Guzzi V12 Le Mans (LM), Moto Guzzi V2 X, and Moto Guzzi V12 Strada are all striking concepts, but the V12 LM was the star of Moto Guzzi’s unveiling, and shows the brand’s aggressive designs and focus for the future. Photos, details, and an official “description” after the jump.
The Piaggio Group has annouced that it has devised a new business plan for its subsidiary, Moto Guzzi. According to Roberto Colaninno, President of the Piaggio Group, the new business plan will ensure that Moto Guzzi releases a new line of motorcycles during the 2011-2012 model year.
Helping fuel this product line extension will be the investment of €12 million that the parent company plans to dump into Moto Guzzi’s coffers, but the money comes attached with some interesting strings from the European Investment Bank. More on this after the jump.
Filippo Barbacane woke up one day displeased with the Moto Guzzi Griso 8V, so he did something about it. The result of his labor is this “diamond” in the rough, the Moto Guzzi Diamante 1400, which Barbacane will be producing in a limited run of 30 motorcycles. Pictures and more after the jump.
