When we saw that Yamaha had a sport-tourer based off the FZ-09, we had some worry for fans of the Yamaha FZ1. The venerable “Fazer” is certainly long in the tooth, and one doesn’t have to have an overly active imagination to see the FZ1 being replaced by an FZ-09 variant.
Applying for CARB certification this week though, Yamaha seems content to sell the four-cylinder Yamaha FZ1 within the borders of the Golden State in 2015, presumably along with the rest of the United States.
The Confederate X132 Hellcat Speedster is the newest motorcycle from the venerable “Southern” brand, and that’s enough of a pedigree for the machine to grace the pages of Asphalt & Rubber, but this latest incarnation of the Hellcat line also happens to be the first work by a certain Pierre Terblanche, who became Head of Design at Confederate not too long ago.
Based around the same 132 cubic inch (2,163cc) v-twin engine as the previous Hellcat models, the Speedster is good for 121hp and 140 lbs•ft of torque. The styling is true to the Confederate canon, though Terblanche’s touches can certainly be seen in the details of the machine.
I’m not complaining, but it’s been a busy week for Asphalt & Rubber’s Editor-in-Chief. Monday was spent getting back from the Indianapolis GP, where Dan and Tony once again proved how they are some of the most amazing photographers in the business, David as usually decrypted the paddock and wrote what should be considered the gold standard of daily summaries, and I…well, I tried to stay out of everyone’s way.
Finally back in California, Tuesday saw the hard drive in my laptop give up the ghost, and thus was spent knee-deep in nerdom with Scott — who knew that a #6 pentalobe screwdriver would be so difficult to find?! Wednesday was spent at the Honda CBR300R press launch, which for reasons beyond comprehension I drove to, instead of flying. Thursday meant swimming through the 800 or so emails that I neglected throughout the weeks’ activities, which just leaves me to say how is it Friday already?
Again I’m not complaining, but thank goodness it’s the end of the week. Anyhoo, I’m sure everyone has had their share of busy weeks, especially as summer is beginning to wind down. To help lighten the load, here’s a video of a giraffe that really loves himself some BMW motorcycles. If anyone asks, I’m saying a reader sent this to me…yeah…a reader…that’s what happened…
No sooner has Google built its first autonomous car, and been granted its autonomous vehicle driving license in the State of California, than the Silicon Valley company has begun paving the way for autonomous two-wheeled transportation.
Writing an email to the State of California to do away with legal wording that restricts autonomous vehicle licenses just to cars, Google’s Ron Medford hopes to allow driverless/riderless trucks and motorcycles on city streets, provided they prove the same safety standards as with Google’s autonomous car program.
“It is certainly possible that future testing could include motorcycles or larger commercial vehicles,” said Medford in his email. “If some innovator can demonstrate that testing autonomous technology on such vehicles is safe, then they should be allowed to test.”
British website Visordown is reporting that KTM UK has confirmed the recently spied KTM 1290 Super Adventure as a 2015 model, saying that adventure-tourer will sit alongside the company’s current 1190 Adventure models, as a more premium offering of the ADV bike.
Fitted with what we presume will be a variant of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R’s engine, the 2015 KTM 1290 Super Adventure boasts a larger engine displacement, as the name suggests, which accounts for the larger air vents on the bike’s bodywork as well.
KTM UK says that the machine will have more luxury than the current Adventure bikes, likely similar to how the Ducati Multistarda 1200 Granturismo sits in Ducati’s lineup.
Trademark applications with the European Union have revealed a new sport-tourer model from Yamaha, which uses the FZ-09 / MT-09 three-cylinder standard as its basis, and looks very similar to the old Yamaha TDM models.
The model seems to be very similar to what was envisioned by designer Oberdan Bezzi, which saw the MT-09 / FZ-09 platform turned into a pair of convincing adventure-touring motorcycles, with a TDM variant as well.
Yamaha has made no secret about its plans to develop more three-cylinder machines, as the Japanese company tries to breath life back into its sales figures and model lineup, post-economic meltdown. With this new sport-touring triple now out of the bag, could the writing be on the wall for loyal FZ1 owners?
There has been so much smoke lately about Dorna doing something in the American market for road racing, that surely there must be some fire. Our sources, and the consensus in the MotoGP paddock is that Carmelo Ezpeleta has his eyes on a North American Championship, of sorts — a move designed to side-step issues with DMG and AMA Pro Road Racing.
With the France family perhaps responsible single-handedly destroying American interest in motorcycle racing, it should not be too surprising that the often unliked entity that is Dorna Sport, is being hailed as a possible savior of the sport in the United States. Whatever you think about those two entities, it is clear that something has to give.
Talking to Fox Sports 1, Ezpeleta tipped his hand on what he envisioned for the US market, saying that he has been talking to “relevant people” to create a program that will develop American riders for the Grand Prix Championship. Helping him spearhead that plan is none other than a certain Mr. Wayne Rainey.
It’s that time of year again, when the devote followers of velocity congregate at the alter of speed, and make their pilgrimage to the Bonneville Salt Flats. For the Southern California Timing Association though, this month’s Bonneville Speed Week was a wash, literally.
Getting heavy rain in the Salt Lake City area, the Bonneville Salt Flat course is under water this week, unfortunately causing the SCTA to cancel Speed Week, and what would have been the 100th anniversary of the first land speed record at the iconic venue.
It seems the rumors out of Indianapolis were true, as Colin Edwards’ role at the NGM Forward team has come to awkward end. Officially “retiring early” Edwards will continue to ride for the team by “doing some wild cards,” according to the team press release. The only round confirmed by the team is Silverstone, though Edwards says he will ride at Valencia as well.
“It has been a great weekend here at Indy with lots of support from the family, the friends and the team,” said Edwards. “I’m not 100% certain about how many races I will do till the end of the season but for sure I will be in Silverstone, weather [sic] I will be racing or not.”
“I have a big fans support there and I cannot miss this appointment. I am thinking about my future, the different possibilities. I’m happy and I look forward to the second part of my life,” concluded the Texas Tornado.
It appears that reports of a 2015 Suzuki GSX-S1000 debuting later this year are true, as we bring to you a couple photos of the streetfighter in the flesh.
Based off the Suzuki GSX-R1000 platform, the Suzuki GSX-S1000 features the same chassis and four-cylinder engine (likely in a different state of tune than the one found in the superbike), though with a more upright sitting position.
From what we can see in the photos, the GSX-S1000 will continue the aggressive styling we’ve seen coming out of Japan lately, especially in the liter-bike naked segment, and it seems Suzuki has opted to continue to partner with Brembo for its braking components.
Other features are rumored to include ABS and traction control, with the wheel-discs for those electronics are visible in the photo above.
Since we are a bunch of stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herders, it seems only appropriate that we conclude this already slightly absurd string of articles about the size of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the only way we really know how: using equally absurd Star Wars references.
So, in the narrow overlap that occurs in the Venn diagram of MotoGP factoids and outright nerdiness, we ask you to ponder which is bigger: the IMS oval or the Star Wars universe’s iconic spaceship, the Imperial Star Destroyer?Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I’m talking about the big Corellian ships now.