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Jensen Beeler

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Californian motorists should brace themselves, as the Golden State is poised to let autonomous vehicles onto its roadways, en masse. Announcing that it will begin taking applications for driverless vehicle licenses starting in July, California will begin granting autonomous vehicles access to its roads in September of this year.

The decision is part of a larger nationwide push for autonomous vehicles, a topic we have covered at length here on Asphalt & Rubber, and accordingly something that the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) and American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) have finally taken an interest in participating on an advisory level.

It’s not a good start to festivities over at the Isle of Man, as the 2014 Isle of Man TT has seen its first day of practice washed out by the rain. Saturday’s opening day was called by Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson, as rain hit the small nation island in the evening.

As such, Saturday’s schedule will be added to Monday’s, with the newcomers speed-controlled untimed laps for solo riders starting at 18:15, with the sidecar newcomers starting their first lap at 18:30. The sessions originally slated for Monday (Superbike, Superstock, and Supersport) will get underway at 18:45, as was originally planned.

The 2014 Isle of Man TT is finally underway…sort of. With heavy rain on the Isle of Man today, the scheduled practice sessions had to be abandoned for safety reasons. The weather for Sunday is looking better though, and thus tomorrow will likely mean the practical start for what we consider to be motorcycling’s greatest event.

This year US fans will be able to follow the Isle of Man TT on the Velocity channel. If that’s not a part of your TV package, don’t worry; we’ve got some great TT coverage coming your way, straight from the Isle of Man. So stay tuned to Asphalt & Rubber for the latest on the Isle of Man TT sessions and happenings.

To aid in planning your sleep schedule, please find the provisional schedule of sessions after the jump.

The Ducati 1199 Superleggera is finally here, Ducati’s exclusive 500 customers are starting to receive their bikes, and Ducatista around the world are acting like its Christmas in May. We can’t blame them; after all, the Superleggera is a rolling showcase of what the engineers at Borgo Panigale can do with a street-legal machine.

Our friends at Moto Corsa were lucky enough to get three fine specimens in the first wave of deliveries — the Portland, Oregon shop will receive nine Superleggeras in total — a pretty sizable sum when you consider that less than 200 will make their way across the pond to US soil.

Naturally Arun and his cohorts took the opportunity to examine up-close what $200,000 worth of carbon fiber, titanium, and aluminum looks like. Even better, they documented the experience, for our viewing pleasure of course.

For a foreign language in school, I took French — nine years of French, to be precise. Knowing the “Language of Diplomacy” doesn’t help one too much in the motorcycle industry, which is dominated by Spanish and Italian speakers, and it certainly doesn’t help one when dealing with the newest release from BMW Motorrad.

Like the Alsace-Lorraine in 1940, we were surprised today by a secret that the Germans had been keeping from us, the BMW Concept Roadster. A boxer-twin powered streetfighter (125hp / 92 lbs•ft), BMW says that the Concept Roadster is an expression that “motorcycling is much more than just perfect function.”

Equipped with a single-sided swingarm, driveshaft, LED headlight, and tubular steel frame, the BMW Concept Roadster sounds on paper a lot like the BMW’s we are used to, but one look at the styling of the concept betrays that thought, and we like that.

The latest and greatest from Bologna might be the Ducati 1199 Superleggera, but our heartstrings still find themselves tugged hardest by the Ducati Desmosedici RR.

Based off Ducati’s MotoGP racing machine, there is just a certain street-worthy craziness that comes from the Desmosedici RR, which the production-based Superleggera lacks. They’re both fine machines, to be certain, but that’s just where we find ourselves in the hyperbike category.

Taking that crazy to a whole new level is this “Black Polygon” Desmosedici RR by Death Spray Custom. A simple, yet effective departure from the Rosso Corsa found on the original D16, the desaturated and angular work by DSC is a stark contrast to what came out of Borgo Panigale.

Small affordable video cameras are changing the way motorcycle enthusiasts record their two-wheeling adventures, and one name has dominated the market: GoPro. The San Francisco Bay Area company is looking now to continue that growth; and to help achieve that goal, GoPro is searching for $100 million in capital.

According to documents filed on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), GoPro will look for that money with an initial public offering (IPO).

Planning to be listed at GPRO on the NASDAQ exchange, GoPro disclosed $985 million in revenue last year, up 87% from 2012; while net income topped $61 million, nearly double the $32 million GoPro earned in 2012.

The wait is finally over, as the Yamaha YZF-R25 has been revealed to the world, at a press launch in Indonesia. Based aroun a fuel-injected 249cc parallel-twin engine, which makes 35.5hp and 16.7 lbs•ft of torque, the YZF-R25 is Yamaha’s response to the newly revived 250cc sport bike category, which Honda and Kawasaki have been dominating, as of late.

Built in Indonesia, and being released into that market in July of this year, Yamaha sees 12,000 units being sold worldwide in the next 12 months for the R25 — a number we suspect will grow as more markets added.

World Superbike fans may, or may not, be pleased to hear that beIN Sports will continue televising WSBK for the American market, through the 2015 season.

As was the case previously, beIN Sports will continue as the sole-television provider for the American and Canadian television markets, while the beIN Sports online streaming service will operate alongside World Superbike’s own internet property.

It’s with sad news that we begin this Monday’s coverage, as we regret to report that popular road racer Simon Andrews has succumb to the head injuries he sustained in a crash during the North West 200.

Andrews was racing with the Penz13.com BMW team on Saturday, when he had a horrific crash during the NW200 Superstock race. The crash occurred during the fourth lap of the race, near the Metropole corner in Portrush.

Airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, reports on Andrews’ condition seemed to improve on Sunday, as the 29-year-old had been taken off life support and was breathing on his own, but Andrews unfortunately passed away this morning from his injuries.