Mission Motorcycles: The Mission R Lives??!

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.

Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

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.

Q&A: Yukio Kagayama Talks About the Upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour with Kevin Schwantz & Noriyuki Haga

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.

KTM RC4 Concept by Luca Bar Design

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.

Q&A: Claudio Domenicali Talks Frameless Chassis, Sacred Cows, & The Future for Ducati

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.

Is Yamaha Using A Seamless Gearbox? The Data Says No

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.

OCC Coming Back to TV? — Universe Collapses in on Self

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.

Alstare Superbike Concept by Team Alstare

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.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

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.

2014 Suzuki GSV-R Spotted Again

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.

2013 BMW R1200GS Priced at $15,800* for the USA

02/20/2013 @ 10:11 am, by Jensen Beeler1 COMMENT

2013 BMW R1200GS Priced at $15,800* for the USA 2013 bmw r1200gs 635x423

Adopting a liquid-cooled 1170cc boxer engine for its next generation adventure-touring bike, BMW Motorrad is hoping to continue the magic with the 2013 BMW R1200GS, and has finally release North American pricing on the newest GS: $15,800 base.

Of course, BMW Motorrad’s package pricing game is well at hand here, and several trim levels and feature packages are available on the new R1200GS. We break them down for you after the jump, but as you can expect, you have to pay a princely sum to get a machine from zie Germans with all the bells and whistles.

2013 Moto Morini Granpasso & Scrambler Get Price Cuts

02/12/2013 @ 12:35 pm, by Jensen Beeler12 COMMENTS

2013 Moto Morini Granpasso & Scrambler Get Price Cuts 2013 Moto Morini Granpasso 1200 Travel Yellow 03 635x423

After a tumultuous bankruptcy, Moto Morini is alive an kicking in 2013, albeit with a very familiar model lineup. Touching some new paint to its models, and adding some “human components” accessory pieces, Moto Morini has created three special offerings so far for the new year.

Calling its new pieces the 2013 Moto Morini Scrambler 1200 Military Green, 2013 Moto Morini Scrambler 1200 White Queen, and 2013 Moto Morini Granpasso 1200 Travel Yellow, Moto Morini is obviously trying to move some bikes and clear out its inventory with some factory specials.

While you will either love or hate what Moto Morini has going on with the aesthetics of its Scrambler and Granpasso bikes, the bevy of free gear (both for the bike and the rider), along with the new lower price points (€12,500 for the Granpasso and €10,900 for the Scramblers), are two points that are certainly going to be attractive to would-be owners.

Will the fresh paint and low prices help get Moto Morini back in black? Only time will tell. However, leave a note in the comments if you think the Italian brand should bring its wares across the pond.

2014 Honda CTX700 & CTX700N Coming Soon

02/08/2013 @ 11:26 am, by Jensen Beeler24 COMMENTS

2014 Honda CTX700 & CTX700N Coming Soon 2014 Honda CTX700 635x396

Continuing to blur the lines between established motorcycle segments, Honda has teased out another pair of unique motorcycles, which will formally go-down as 2014 model year machines. Available in Spring 2013. The 2014 Honda CTX700 & 2014 Honda CTX700N use the same 670cc parallel-twin engine found in the NC700 series, which was an engine designed to be a sensible and practical urban power plant for city bikers.

Building something that looks the cross between a street-standard and a cruiser, Honda is offering ABS brakes and an automatic dual-clutch transmission (DCT) as an available $1,000 option. The hope is clearly that the Honda CTX700N & Honda CTX700 will be an approachable and affordable motorcycle for new motorcyclists, and with prices at $6,999 & $7,799 respectively ($7,999 & $8,799 with DCT and ABS), Honda seems to have achieved that goal.

Correction: Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 Priced at €134,900

02/08/2013 @ 10:14 am, by Jensen Beeler6 COMMENTS

Correction: Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 Priced at €134,900 Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 correction 635x423

Numbers are tough, and depending on where you leave a digit off, they can mean very different things. Such is the case with the price we reported on the Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13.

Available only to professional race teams for €134,900, and not €34,900 (Seriously, you people need to stop calling Ducati Corse thinking you can buy one — that’s just cray), the RS13 is the building block bike that you’ll see racing in superbike classes around the world, but most notably in WSBK with Carlos Checa onboard.

So again the take-home message here is you can’t buy the RS13, you probably can’t afford it, and don’t trust everything you read on the internet. Mea culpa.

HRC Boss Reveals Details of Honda’s Production Racer: Conventional Valves, Standard Gearbox, & 1 Million Euros

02/07/2013 @ 11:44 am, by David Emmett23 COMMENTS

HRC Boss Reveals Details of Hondas Production Racer: Conventional Valves, Standard Gearbox, & 1 Million Euros 2012 HRC Spanish GP Jerez Friday Scott Jones 11

The production racer version of Honda’s RC213V is another step closer to reality. At Sepang, HRC Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto spoke to reporters and the MotoGP.com website about the new bike, and the progress being made on the machine, which will take the place of the CRT machines from 2014 onwards. The bike is delayed, Nakamoto said, but it will be ready in time for the tests at Valencia, after the final race of the season in November.

Nakamoto gave a brief rundown of the specifications of the production RC213V – a bike which, given the amount of publicity it is going to be generating over the next few months, badly needs a new name – though the list contained few surprises.

The bike will have conventional valve springs, as opposed to pneumatic valves on the factory machine. It will not have the seamless gearbox used by the prototypes – again, not a surprise, as maintenance on the gearbox is still an HRC-only affair. This was not a matter of cost, Nakamoto said, claiming the seamless gearbox now costs almost the same as a standard unit.

Aprilia USA Makes You Re-Think Your Next Sport Bike Purchase – Gets Serious with 2013 Pricing Too

02/06/2013 @ 4:25 pm, by Jensen Beeler16 COMMENTS

Aprilia USA Makes You Re Think Your Next Sport Bike Purchase   Gets Serious with 2013 Pricing Too Aprilia Tuono V4 R headlight wink 635x422

We already told you that Aprilia USA was getting very aggressive with its pricing on the leftover 2012 stock, and now that the Italian brand has released its 2013 price list, we can see that the trend continues on. Adding ABS to its RSV4 sport bikes for 2013, Aprilia has drastically undercut its main rival Ducati on pricing with the 2013 Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC ABS (previously known as the Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC ABS SBK), which is $3,000 cheaper than the similarly spec’d Ducati 1199 Panigale S.

Additionally the 2013 Aprilia RSV4 R ABS gets an aggressive MSRP of $14,999, which puts it also $3,000 under the base-model $17,995 Ducati 1199 Panigale, and into a price category that was previously only open to the Japanese OEMs (though recently joined by BMW). At only $500 more than say a 2013 Yamaha YZF-R1, Aprilia is going to make some price-sensitive sport bike buyers think twice about their purchases. We like it.

Aprilia USA Slashes Prices on 2012 RSV4 & Tuono Models

01/31/2013 @ 2:38 pm, by Jensen Beeler20 COMMENTS

Aprilia USA Slashes Prices on 2012 RSV4 & Tuono Models Aprilia Tuono RSV4 R Jensen 635x422

Aprilia is getting serious with its sport bike offerings here in the United States, as we just got an email from Aprilia USA announcing massive price reductions on its 2012 model year Aprilia Tuono V4 RAprilia RSV4 R APRC, and Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC, to the tune of $2,000, $3,000, and $4,000 respectively. That’s right, you can get a Tuono V4 R for $12,999, an RSV4 R APRC for $13,999, and an RSV4 Factory APRC for $18,999 MSRP. Boom goes the dynamite.

Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 Priced at €134,900

01/31/2013 @ 1:03 pm, by Jensen Beeler5 COMMENTS

Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 Priced at €134,900  Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 635x423

Correction: The article originally stated that the price for the RS13 was €34,900, when it is in fact €134,900. And for the love of god, don’t call Ducati Corse trying to buy one. They won’t sell a Rs13 to you.

Unless your name rhymes with Tarlos Techa, the chances of you owning a Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 are non-existent. The professional racer-only version of the Ducati 1199 Panigale R, the Panigale RS13 is stripped of all the lights, mirrors, reflectors, and other assorted running gear that you would need to pass an inspection from the DOT, and becomes a motorcycle solely dedicated to the art of going fast.

Before any comparisons are made, it is important to note that the Ducati 1199 Panigale RS13 is not exactly what ends up on the starting grid on any given Sunday, but instead is the starting point for each racing team’s development program, which sees the end result often being a 200+ hp monster on two wheels.

Getting one isn’t cheap though, as the price tag is pegged at a cool €134,900 ($180,500). A hefty price increase over the street-going Panigale R, though with all the added suspension, brakes, wheels, etc that come with the RS13 race bike, the price seems somewhat reasonable — if you can say such a thing about a nearly $180,500 motorcycle.

MV Agusta Motorcycles Get More Expensive for 2013, Again

12/31/2012 @ 11:15 am, by Jensen Beeler5 COMMENTS

MV Agusta Motorcycles Get More Expensive for 2013, Again MV Agusta Brutale 800 04 635x425

It hasn’t even been two months since MV Agusta debuted it line-up of motorcycles for the 2013 model year, but the Italian company is already revising its European pricing ahead of the 2013 bikes’ debut in the coming spring. With most models getting a €200 to €300 boost in MSRP, the only MV’s unaffected by this strange price increase are the base model MV Agusta Brutale 1090 and base model MV Agusta F4.

The three-cylinder MV Agusta F3 and MV Agusta Brutale 675 machines get a €200 kick across the board, while the four-cylinder machines get the €300 price increase. No word as to why MV Agusta is increasing the price (though we can guess that the Varese brand is looking for some more euros on its bottom line).

The price change is an especially strange move after releasing its 2013 line so recently, and shows MV Agusta second-guessing itself on one of the company’s more important decisions. It is not clear at this time how this news will affect pricing in North America, if at all (we suggest contacting your dealer). A full breakdown of the price changes is after the jump.

2013 Triumph Daytona 675: 126hp for $11,599

11/13/2012 @ 3:58 am, by Jensen Beeler5 COMMENTS

2013 Triumph Daytona 675: 126hp for $11,599 2013 Triumph Daytona 675 02 635x423

As we saw with the 2013 Triumph Street Triple, the 2013 Triumph Daytona 675 supersport gets a slew of modifications for the next model year. Reworking the Daytona 675′s three-cylinder motor, Triumph has been able to coax an additional 2hp and 2 lbs•ft of torque from the British-born sport bike. Revising the frame and bodywork, Triumph has also shed 3 lbs from the 2013 Triumph Daytona 675.

Accordingly, the Triumph Daytona 675 is now good for 126hp @ 12,600 (redline is 14,400 rpm), while power has been improved throughout the rev range. One of the more obvious changes to the 2013 Triumph Daytona 675 is the adoption of a GP-style low-slung exhaust, in favor of the previous undertail unit. Certain to offend some purists, we think the change has been tastefully done, and it helps to centralize the mass on the three-cylinder track weapon.