Jensen Beeler, Author at Asphalt & Rubber

Lifestyle

And Now for Something Completely Different…

By Jensen Beeler 10/08/2013 17 Comments

Motorcycling has been serious stuff lately, thanks mostly to the shenanigans afoot in New York City with the Hollywood Stuntz Doofus Crew, and that’s ok…it’s ok to be serious from time-to-time. I try it myself occasionally.

I bet dollars to donuts though that most of you got into motorcycles because they are fun, because motorcycles are an escape from this very serious life. Thanks to the folks at See See Motorcycles, we return you to that lost world. Enjoy, and get your Wednesday on with renewed vigor.

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Bikes

HRC Shows Off the 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally Race Bike

By Jensen Beeler 10/08/2013 17 Comments

HRC already showed us its 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally race bike earlier this year at Mugello, during the Italian GP. Announcing a five rider team, Helder Rodrigues (Portugal, age 34), Sam Sunderland (U.K., 24), Javier Pizzolito (Argentina, 33), Paulo Goncalves (Portugal, 34) and Joan Barreda (Spain, 29) will race for Big Red in the 2014 Dakar Rally and other rally events.

Improving on its 2013 design, which in-turn was based off the Honda CRF450X enduro, HRC says that the 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally has improved engine output, aerodynamic performance, durability, and maintenance requirements. It will be campaign by the Team HRC factory team, and also be made available to other rally teams as a production racer.

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Bikes

Ducati 1199 Panigale S Senna – For Brazil Only

By Jensen Beeler 10/08/2013 18 Comments

While all the talk for 2014 is about the Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera (say that three times fast), the Bologna Brand has another version of the Panigale superbike for us to gawk at: the Ducati 1199 Panigale S Senna.

A limited edition model to commemorate the passing of F1 star Ayrton Senna, only 161 of these special edition Panigale S superbikes will be sold (one for each of Senna’s GP race starts), and they will only be available in Brazil.

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MotoGP

Here’s the New Configuration of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Infield Track for MotoGP

By Jensen Beeler 10/08/2013 14 Comments

For 2014, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has reconfigured its infield track for its hosting of the Indianapolis GP for the MotoGP Championship — this much you should already know. I won’t rehash details, but the three-bullet primer to the changes afoot is that the track is slightly longer, has improved passing zones in three reworked areas (highlighted in yellow), and will be made of one consistent asphalt layer.

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MotoGP

Video: Casey Stoner Testing the Honda RCV1000R

By Jensen Beeler 10/08/2013 12 Comments

We have already brought you the report of Casey Stoner testing the 2014 Honda RC213V and HRC’s “production racer” machine, the Honda RCV1000R. And, we have already brought you a bevy of photos from that test. Well now, we are bringing you another little video action from Stoner’s recent GP test at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit — just for good measure.

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Bikes

119 Hi-Res Photos of the BMW R1200GS Adventure

By Jensen Beeler 10/07/2013 1 Comment

The new BMW R1200GS is a capable off-road machine, something we discovered on our Broventure trip out to Moab, Utah. But what if you want something that’s really built for the trails, along with the road that gets you there? Well that’s where the BMW R1200GS Adventure has always come into play.

A new model from BMW Motorrad for the 2014 model year, the R1200GSA is finally here, and we’ve got a bunch of photos of it — 119 high-resolution photos, to be precise. Check them out after the jump.

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Bikes

The 2014 BMW R1200GS Adventure is Finally Here

By Jensen Beeler 10/07/2013 30 Comments

Earlier today, I was thinking of writing a story that would be titled “The Four Obvious Bikes that BMW is about to Debut” or something like that.

While that list would include the spied water-cooled BMW R1200RT, BMW S1000R, and BMW NineT machines, at the top of that list would be the BMW R1200GS Adventure, which is predictable extension of the new GS, which debuted last year. BMW, it would seem, has beaten me to the punch.

Officially official, the 2014 BMW R1200GS Adventure has broken cover now, and is ready for you to ADV on until your heart is content. Not only does the new R1200GSA do away with the oddities in BMW’s 2013 lineup, where the old “air-cooled” GSA sat next to the new “precision-cooled” GS, we really wish this bike had been available for A&R‘s recent Broventure.

C’est la vie, as the French would say. We’ve got all the changes, photos, and so forth for you after the jump.

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Bikes

Are You The Ducati Monster 1200?

By Jensen Beeler 10/07/2013 9 Comments

At the German Auto Show, the Boys from Bologna debuted the Ducati 899 Panigale, a “super-mid” version of the Italian company’s superbike platform. A bit too big to be a supersport class machine, the 899 Panigale should however be fun on the track, in a vein that is similar to the Suzuki GSX-R750 and MV Agusta F3 800.

That premise will have to remain as conjecture for us though, as while Ducati’s chosen few are currently gathered in Bologna right now for the press launch of the 2013 Ducati 899 Panigale, Asphalt & Rubber was not among those who crossed the pond for the launch and test ride. Not to worry though, we should start hearing the initial impressions from journalists shortly.

Meanwhile, we can turn our attention to the machines that Ducati has yet to debut to the public, though will be shortly. A&R broke the news last week about the upcoming Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera, and we have already seen spy photos of the Ducati Scrambler (said to be a 2015 model, if it gets the production nod), and a liquid-cooled Ducati Monster 1200.

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