Latest Posts:
Asphalt & Rubber
Author

Jensen Beeler

Browsing
Bikes

Honda Teases Last Sketch of Its V4 Adventure Bike

By 10 Comments

Honda continues to tease its V4-based adventure bike ahead of its unveiling at EICMA next week. Finally showing off the actual lines of the machine, Honda has clearly made a cross between the CB1000R and VFR1200F in this design. Tall and purposeful, the concept clearly has the extra travel to soak-up an uncertain path, but Honda insists the bike is designed for on-road use. We dig the single-sided swingarm, but it will be interesting to see how Honda finishes off the exhaust pipe, and of course the final fit and finish of the design as a whole (the tail, like on the VFR1200F, seems to be an afterthought).

Keep Reading
By
Recall

Recall: Kawasaki Vulcan

By 2 Comments

Kawasaki is recalling some 2009 & 2010 Kawasaki Vulcan cruisers because of a faulty ECU issue. Apparently when riding the motorcycle, if a rider pulled-in the clutch and coasted down the road, some Vulcan’s were stalling the motor because of an improper setting in the bike’s software. Since a stalled motorcycle at speed could cause an accident, Kawasaki is issuing a recall for these affected Vulcan’s, which will see dealers replace the bike’s ECU with one that has the correct software settings.

Keep Reading
By
News

Watch MythBusters Confirm or Bust The BMW Tablecloth Trick Tomorrow Night

By 10 Comments

One of our guilty pleasures here at Asphalt & Rubber is the Discovery Channel’s television show MythBusters, which is coincidentally also shot in A&R‘s stomping grounds of the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re a fairly nerdy bunch here, what with our interwebs, social networks, and weblogs, so the show’s exploration of science through absurdity and heavy handed explosions fits right in with our day-to-day ideals (one certainly doesn’t hurt things either).

On the other side of the coin, we love us some motorcycles here at A&R (this much should be apparent by now). So when we heard that the MythBusters crew would be tackling some of Newton’s finer points on the Laws of Motion by recreating one of motorcyclings great moments this year: The BMW S1000RR Table Cloth Trick, we were pumped. Throw in an EBR-worked Buell 1125R into the mix with a Hyneman on-board, and let the learning begin. Tune in tomorrow night (Wednesday 9PM PDT/EDT) to see if this myth gets busted or confirmed. The original video from BMW is after the jump. Thanks for the tip Doctor Jelly!

Keep Reading
By
News

Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC Official Video

By 4 Comments

Aprilia is launching its RSV4 Factory APRC to the press for the first time in Jerez this week, allowing journalists to get their grubby mitts on the APRC, and see what this performance ride control stuff is all about. For those of us not in attendnace at Jerez, Aprilia has released a video that goes over the Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC’s new features, which we already covered here.

In the video we can see the rider launching the Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC from a dead-stop using the launch control mode. As we described earlier, enabling the launch control requires only selecting the program via the mode joystick, grabbing both of the left-hand side traction control buttons on the handlebar simultaneously to arm the launch control, and then all that’s left is aggressively twisting the grip to full-throttle, and you’re off (sans power wheelies).

Aprilia also demonstrates changing the traction control settings on-the-fly, and the AQS quick shift feature, which allows for clutchless and speedy shifting through the six-speed sequential gearbox. Aprilia goes through the rest of the RSV4 Factory APRC’s features in the video out after the jump.

Keep Reading
By
Banter

Real Ultimate Power!!!

By 14 Comments

If you weren’t a product of the first .com boom, then you probably won’t get this reference (), the BMW S1000RR shows off its mad power yo, and supplants the <<insert Japanese motorcycle name here>> as the bike of choice amongst the burn-out loving stuntah crowd (although, when was the last time you saw a gathering of BMW’s stunting in an industrial park?).

If that’s too much teenage angst for you, then here is a lovely viral video by BMW that uses some light humor to promote its new S1000RR superbike.

Source: Real Ultimate Power

Keep Reading
By
News

Jack Armstrong’s “Million Dollar Harley-Davidson” – Further Proof You Can’t Buy Taste

By 37 Comments

I suffered through four semesters of art history classes in college (thanks general education requirements!) to realize two big things about art: 1) never date a painter or anyone that refers to themselves as an “artiste”, and 2) aesthetics are subjective, and should be internally processed. So with that intro in mind, I hope you’ll see where we’re headed in this article when I tell you that this custom Harley-Davidson comes from an artist who describes his style as “Cosmic Extensionalism”, name drops Any Warhol seemingly at any given opportunity, and boasts of fastly becoming “The Most Famous Artist on the Planet”. Mmmmk…

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Radical Ducati 9½

By 12 Comments

From the guys at Spanish firm Radical Ducati comes the 9½, a Ducati ST2 motor wedged into a Monster 900 chassis, making an Italian beauty that’s part cafe racer, part streetfighter. Drawing inspiration form Ducati’s single-cylinder race bikes from the 1970’s, the 9½ is not only a looker, but is comprised of parts from Ducatis long forgotten past (but perhaps more memorable bikes, if you can handle that oxymoron).

If you look closely you’ll see pieces from not only the ST2, Monster 900, but also from the Ducati 916 Superbike (swingarm and rear-wheel), and 999 Superbike (fuel tank). Some other Radical parts enter the mix as well from its RAD series, and the result is a retro-esque bike that looks scintillating, classy, light, and fast. Keep your eyes trained for more bikes from Radical Ducati, we expect we’ll see some more great pieces (like this Radical Ducati RAD02 Imola) from the firm as they continue their Desmo mash-up. Bunch o’photos after the jump.

Keep Reading
By
News

Ducati Diavel Pricing – $16,995 Base & $19,995 Carbon

By 8 Comments

It’s Monday morning, so that means our friends at Ducati News Today have let loose more details about the upcoming 2011 Ducati Diavel performance cruiser. Showing us what looks like a CAD render of Termignoni’s exhaust system for the Diavel, DNT also tells us that the Ducati Diavel will start with an MSRP base price of $16,995, while the up-market carbon version will hit the wallet with an MSRP of $19,995. Rumored to make around 165hp, the Diavel is based off the same Testastretta 11º motor as the Ducati Multistrada 1200, and weighs 456lbs according to Ducati.

Keep Reading
By
Racing

Toseland’s Fall from Grace – Signs with Satellite BMW Team

By 9 Comments

It wasn’t that long ago (2007 actually) that James Toseland was on top of the world, handily winning the 2007 World Superbike Championship on his Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR. However the British rider has had nothing but a string of bad luck since his WSBK domination, entering MotoGP in 2008 with the Tech3 Yamaha team, and then back into WSBK with the factory-backed Sterilgarda Yamaha squad in 2010. Toseland failed to impress his rookie season in MotoGP, and his second-season toss-up with Colin Edwards over their crew chief swap didn’t seem to help matters much either.

Bumped out of the squad by American Ben Spies, JT was in World Superbike this last season, where many expected to see the part-time pianist play another tarantella of victories in the series. The Yamaha R1 had been the bike to have in the 2009 season, and Toseland was after all a former WSBK Champion; but the results didn’t materialize, and JT finished the season 9th, nearly 100 points behind his rookie Teammate Cal Crutchlow, who will be in Tech3 Yamaha for the 2011 season. The last man left standing in the silly season round of musical chairs, Toseland will see his stature in WSBK further slide into oblivion as he now joins the Italian satellite BMW squad for 2011.

Keep Reading
By