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Jensen Beeler

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Imagine if you will that the first Ducati, the Ducati Cucciolo, and the most modern Ducati, the Ducati Desmosedici, had a child — what would it look like? That far-fetched question nagged Mexican designer Alex Garoli, so he decided to build a concept of the machine.

At the core of the Ducati Desmosedici Cucciolo is the V4 powerplant of Italy’s MotoGP race bike, and around it Garoli has imagined a modern steel trellis frame that mimics the bicycle frame look of the post-WWII motorized bicycles that pulled Italy out of deep recession.

Of course the most interesting thing about Garoli’s concept is the fact that it’s a ~12:1 scale model. The work is pretty exquisite, even if you don’t agree with the concept’s ethos. Check out the photos after the jump.

After Yesterday’s fateful round, the 2015 Dakar Rally was back in action today with Stage 4, Chilecito to Copiapo. The stage would lead the riders out of Argentina and into Chile, for the first time this rally raid.

A mixture of sand dunes, rocks, and high elevation, the day was the second longest overall (909km), but featured only a 315km timed special stage.

Answering yesterday’s KTM 1-2 victory, Honda’s Joan Barreda set out to maintain is top spot in The Dakar standings, though would have to contend with KTM’s Marc Coma, who stuck to him like glue once the two were riding together.

While Barreda’s lead over Coma was increased by a couple of minutes, Coma’s spot on the overall time sheets is now second, and well within striking distance of the HRC rider — especially with two marathon stages left to contend with.

When the provisional MotoAmerica calendar for the 2015 season debuted, a single date was left to be determined. Now the folks at KRAVE media are able to confirm that Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park will be featured on the rebooted American road racing series’ debut.

Miller Motorsports Park will host MotoAmerica June 26th thru 28th, which will help add more of a Western United States presence to the road racing series’ schedule.

A popular venue for fans and racers, Miller Motorsports Park is just a stone’s throw away from the Bonneville Salt Flats and is flanked by the picturesque Rocky Mountains, making for iconic imagery and a tour of two-wheeled racing history.

The Isle of Man TT and the Dakar Rally are two events we cover here at Asphalt & Rubber where we know statistically we will have to report a racer’s death each year.

Unfortunately, those numbers hold true for the 2015 Dakar Rally, as Polish competitor Michal Hernik died while racing Stage 3 of the course, between San Juan and Chilecito.

Hernik’s body was found at kilometer 206, roughly 300 meters off the course’s path. Tests performed later by doctors suggest that Hernik succumbed to dehydration and hypothermia.

In response to a difficult Stage 2, Dakar officials shortened Stage 3 of the 2015 Dakar Rally, but the picturesque course was still enough to shake up the standings a bit. Winning the stage was Dakar newcomer, MX3 World Champion Matthias Walkner — the first Austrian rider in The Dakar since the 1990’s.

“I already had a good feeling when I got to the finish because I knew I had a good day. But at the end I was a bit tired and wasn’t concentrating so well and I made some small mistakes,” explained stage-winner Walkner.

“It is an amazing feeling to win the stage and for sure I didn’t expect this. It will be difficult to open the piste tomorrow. Now for the rest of the rally I just want to enjoy every kilometer, to learn and to stay focused on the road book so I don’t make many mistakes.”

A Factory KTM rider, Walkner added some orange to the stage podium, and was joined by KTM’s Marc Coma, who finished second for the day, 40 seconds behind his teammate. Managing the gap though, Honda’s Joan Barreda finished the day third, only a minute and change behind Walkner.

As such, Barreda stays in control of the overall standings, but Coma is within a comfortable 11-minute gap of the HRC rider.

BMW Motorrad USA has finished the books on 2014, and the American subsidiary is able to report one of its best sales years in the past decade. Up 5.4% over 2013’s sales figures, BMW Motorrad USA saw strong sales from is S-Series of bikes (S1000RR and S1000R), which were up 80% with 254 units.

The R-Series was another strong performer, up 17% with 477 units sold. The 2014 BMW R1200RT was BMW Motorrad USA’s best-selling motorcycle as well, despite the tourer’s suspension issues, which kept the bikes sidelined for several months.

Hosting the second longest special stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally (518 miles), Stage 2 between Villa Carlos Paz and San Juan was especially grueling because of the added heat; and as such, The Dakar has already started to separate the top riders.

To that end, the HRC riders find themselves weighed and measured at the top, thus far. Joan Barreda rode to a solid stage win, and finishes the day with over a four-minute interval to his closest competitor.

“In the end we set off with a game-plan to not make any mistakes and arrive safely at the finish-line,” said Barreda. “The result has been amazing. In the first part, Sunderland and Coma pushed really hard and I overtook Paulo to try and stop them running away with the stage.

“In the end, it was more about survival than anything else. We had to measure the pace and keep focused on the navigation as there were some extremely tricky spots, plus another stretch towards the end, that really put a strain on the body,” he continued.

Signs of life are starting to trickle out of Hamamatsu, as Suzuki finally seems to be working on new models for our riding pleasure. First, it was the news that the turbocharged Suzuki Recursion concept is likely to go into production, and now it’s that the Japanese OEM is reviving iconic names from its past: Katana and Gamma.

Suzuki has re-registered the Katana name & logo with both the European and American trademark offices, while the Gamma logo has been re-registered in the EU. What this means precisely in terms of future models is up for debate.

The first stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally started from Buenos Aires this weekend; and as usual, the day was a relatively easy affair that allowed riders to check their machines and get into the groove of what will be a grueling competition.

As such, a 144km liaison ride was made through the Argentinean countryside before the competitors reached the 175km timed “special” stage. Another long (519km) liaison section ended the day, and everyone bivouacked in Villa Carlos Paz.

Because of the short special stage, the riders are packed close on the standing, with less than six minutes separating the Top 20 riders. KTM’s Sam Sunderland drew first blood with the stage win, with teammate Marc Coma 1’12 behind in third.

The One Show could be best described as equal parts lumberjack initiation party, bad tattoo exhibition, and 12-step program for the “I’m 18 and angry at my father” — it’s just that hipstertastic.

If you look past the Bialetti espresso cans, the very Portlandian motorcycle show brings the interesting premise that if you only had one motorcycle to fullfil your tw0-wheeled needs, what would it look like? The results to that question are as varied as the people who submit their work.

Taking place February 13-15th, in Portland, Oregon, it should be a good time out (we enjoyed last year’s snow-filled event)…especially considering the attached promo video.