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Jensen Beeler

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“Taking Performance to New Heights” – The Story of SBK Factory Racing at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

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I have been patiently waiting for this video from OnTheThrottle.tv to show up in my inbox, ever since I saw Chris Matye filming the project at the 2013 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, as there is a great story to be told about the pair of Kawasaki ZRX1224RR superbikes that SBK Factory campaigned at the latest Race to the Clouds.

Riding the two Kawasakis were Jake Holden and James Compton, and both riders put down impressive times up the 12.42 mile Pikes Peak course — Holden was the third quickest motorcycle up the mountain overall, and Compton sixth. The pair were second and third fastest in their Exhibition Powersports class, behind only the current record holder, Carlin Dunne.

With now four installments to the series, “Taking Performance to New Heights” features two men who found themselves the victims of the new economy that is currently at play in AMA Pro Road Racing, and follows their quest to race then at Pikes Peak.

The videos also tells the story behind the development, building, and racing of a very special and unique pair of race bikes, and I can tell you from examining these ZRX’s up-close in person, and watching them race at Pikes Peak, SBK Factory’s Kawasaki ZRX1224RR looks as good as it goes (Holden’s bike is for sale, by the way).

If you planned on getting any work done today, you should probably not continue reading this post. We have all four installments of SBK Factory’s Pikes Peak story on video for you here.

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Lifestyle

Video: Roland Sands Design’s “Art of the Machine”

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A little something to end the week with, Roland Sands Design has put together a video called “Art of the Machine” that is a bit different from the usual fare you find in the motorcycle industry, even from the exceptional creative types at RSD.

Using a kaleidoscope treatment on a series of fabrication and riding clips, the short film has an eerily dark and deep feel to it. You don’t have to be a fan of RSD’s work in order to become enthralled by the mesmerizing visual and audios here, and while we’re not quite sure why we like it…we know that we just do. Obey.

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Opinion/Editorial

It’s Not a Matter of If, But When Ducati Builds a Scooter

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The rumors about a Ducati Scooter for the next model year are hitting the internet hard lately, and that is perhaps unsurprising. Ducati’s sales stalled in the third quarter of this year, and the Italian motorcycle company at this point in time is simply trying to finish 2013 on par with its 2012 success.

There is also the fact that Audi AG now owns Ducati Motor Holding, and would like to see the ~44,000 unit company bump its figures into the six-figure territory, and help its German owner take a certain Bavarian brand head-on in the two and four-wheeled industries.

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Lifestyle

KTM’s 12 Days of Christmas

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It is that time of year again, where the Christmas season takes over the motorcycle industry, and gives us all a good excuse to get drunk with our moto-loving co-workers. Huzzah!

First up to help us with the holiday cheer are the good folks at KTM USA, who certainly don’t get paid enough to be mining this sort of internet gold, but yet did it all the same for our holiday enjoyment.

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MotoGP

Regarding the Jorge Lorenzo’s Barcelona ‘Crib’ Video

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For those MotoGP who live a rich life on the internet, you probably already know what I am referring to in this story’s headline, but for those of you who prefer to live your lives in the real world, I will give a quick primer to this off-season MotoGP story. Late last week, Monster Energy’s “Dirt Shark” video series featured Jorge Lorenzo’s home in Barcelona, Spain on its website and Monster’s YouTube channel.

The “Dirt Shark” show is a bit more “MTV Cribs” than it is “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” in its approach. It only focuses on Monster’s sponsored athletes, and aims to glamorize their homes and lifestyles — along with an obligatory shot of their Monster-chocked refrigerator. However, the video on Lorenzo’s house appeared briefly on Monster Energy’s YouTube channel, as well as on DirtShark.com, before it was taken down.

It was removed because of harsh criticism in Spain for its showing, though it’s not clear if Lorenzo asked for it to be removed, or it Monster buckled to the public pressure — it’s probably a little bit of both, and frankly doesn’t really matter.

It didn’t take long though for low-quality web-rips of the video to circulate through social media sites though, and beyond Lorenzo’s stunning vistas, immensely large gym (where he says he works out three to four hours a day), the video is littered with young women tanning by Lorenzo’s pool, lounging in his hot tubs, and dancing in his miniature discotheque (so awkward).

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Bikes

Ducati 1199 Superleggera Tricolore Nero by Tessoart

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As we look back in hindsight, the Ducati 1199 Superleggera has to be one of the more compelling bikes to come out of 2013. A motorcycle built with the unilateral approach of making the lightest sport bike possible, the Superleggera doesn’t disappoint from a technical point of view.

However, judging from some of the reactions of its debut, some readers would have liked to see Ducati stray away from the Corse inspired livery, which had already been featured on the Ducati Desmosedici RR — Ducati’s previous halo bike.

We understand that sentiment, after all not everyone is into the more-orange-than-red “Flouro Rosso” paint job that Ducati’s racing machines now wear in the premier class. That is where the Ducati 1199 Superleggera Tricolore Nero by Tessoart comes into play.

A continuation of the Tricolore Nero paint job for the Panigale, which we showed earlier this year, Tessoart shows us that maybe Ducati made a mistake in its color choices for the “super light” Panigale. After all black is supposed to be slimming, right?

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Reviews

Video: An Honest Review of the Triumph Bonneville

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Is there truth in motorcycle reviews? That seems to be a debate that crops up time and time again, as it is hard to believe the journalistic veracity of publications that are entirely dependent on the dollars that flow forth from the major motorcycle OEMs. The conflicts of interest are high, the deadlines are tight, and there is of course the small matter of people having a difference of opinions, which all leads to public mistrust.

So it is refreshing when we see a frank motorcycle review that is free from the entanglements of typical motorcycle assessments — you know, a real honest impression of how a motorcycle is built in the factory and rides on the open road.

With a review as honest as this about the Triumph Bonneville, our protagonist has almost assured himself of a short career in motorcycle journalism. Still, it certainly provides some worthwhile entertainment, as long as you are not easily offended. It is possibly not safe for work as well — not that you read A&R from the confines of your office chair of course.

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Bikes

KTM 390 Duke Based Supermoto Spied Testing

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When KTM’s product road map leaked onto the internet, it showed that three small-displacement motorcycles would be built by the Austrian brand (with some help from its Indian shareholder and partner Bajaj). The first of these machines was the KTM 390 Duke and its progeny, and the second of these machines was just released: the KTM RC390 (along with the RC125 & RC200).

A third model was teased on that now infamous powerpoint slide, a bike that was simply labeled as an “Enduro 350” model, though sources since then have described the bike to be more like a supermoto or small adventure bike. It seems today we have our first glimpse of the machine, as a supermoto based off the Duke platform has been spotted in Austria by a forum member at  KTMForum.eu.

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Bikes

Iron Lung by Icon 1000

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Oregon’s favorite motorcycle apparel brand has a custom motorcycle build for the holidays, the Icon 1000 “Iron Lung” Sportster. An homage to the bikes that Harley-Davidson used to build in the 1970’s, you know when the Bar & Shield brand did real racing, and was fairly good at it too.

Based around a 1991 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 engine, the Iron Lung sees its lump bored out to 1,200cc, with a Supertrapp exhaust helping things breathe a bit better as well. The front-end has been lowered and widened with wide-glide forks and custom triple clamp. Similarly, the rear features a custom subframe with Progressive 970 shocks.

To make Iron Lung work visually, Icon widened the fairings, which gives the machine a bulldog like stance: low and wide. Fitted with the company’s own variety of Portlandian hipster chic, the Iron Lung sports paint by Garage 31 and a custom seat by New Church Moto — two local outfits in Portland, Oregon.

The design isn’t really our usual fare here at Asphalt & Rubber, but you have to appreciate the honesty in Icon’s retelling of the Iron Lung’s performance assessment:

“Once completed, we headed down to an oval in Southern Oregon and kicked ‘er in the guts to be featured along side of our Spring 2014 ICON 1000 apparel collection – coming soon. Her handling was as questionable as the grandstand snacks, but she bore the brunt of torture with aplomb. It wouldn’t be an ICON 1000 bike without a true trial by fire. In Iron Lung’s case this was literal as she burst into flame after her initial shakedown run just a few weeks prior.”

We find that worryingly appealing. Party on boys and girls.

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News

KTM Claims It’s the “Fastest Growing Motorcycle Company” in the United States for 2013

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After posting a 49% sales gain in November of this year, KTM USA says it is up 29.8% in year-to-date sales, which according to the Austrian brand, makes it the “fastest growing motorcycle company” in the US for 2013.

There is no word of course on how much volume KTM USA has actually moved, which makes the claim a bit specious, but it does show that there is some momentum behind the “ready to race” brand.

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News

More on Kawasaki’s Supercharged Motorcycle Engine

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The tease of 2013 has to be Kawasaki and its supercharged four-cylinder engine, which the Japanese OEM debuted at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show. Showing the engine, and giving virtually no information about the intended uses of the supercharged power plant, we have been left to speculate over what Kawasaki’s intentions are in the two-wheeled forced-induction realm.

Diving through the Google’s database of patent applications though,  we see that over the years Kawasaki has published a number of patents that relate to adding a supercharger to a motorcycle. Not only has Kawasaki been thinking about how to fit a supercharger into a motorcycle for some time now, but the OEM has some clever tricks up its sleeve in order to optimize its designs.

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