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Asphalt & Rubber
KTM’s Stefan Pierer Gobbles Up 25% of MV Agusta
News

KTM’s Stefan Pierer Gobbles Up 25% of MV Agusta

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The BMW M1000RR Superbike Takes Another Step Forward for 2023
Bikes

The BMW M1000RR Superbike Takes Another Step Forward for 2023

By 9 Comments
The BMW S1000RR Gets Wings and Updates for the 2023 Model Year
Bikes

The BMW S1000RR Gets Wings and Updates for the 2023 Model Year

By 8 Comments
Racing

Are You the 2012 Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP Race Bike?

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Taken during a Yamaha testing session in Japan, these two videos appear to be our first glimpse into Yamaha’s next MotoGP race bike: the 2012 Yamaha YZR-M1. Though MotoGP regulations will be allowing up to 1,000cc in factory team motor displacement, it is still anyone’s guess as to what displacement Yamaha and the other teams will be running. Likely not to reveal that information until the new M1’s formal launch ahead of the 2012 season, we will still get our first official glimpse of the new Yamaha M1 on Monday.

After the race at Brno, Yamaha plans to test its 1,000cc bike with Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies. On-hand will be Honda with its 2012 Honda RC213V, while Ducati will test its 2011 Ducati Desmosedici GP11.1, and not the new GP12. There’s no word yet on what Suzuki will be doing for 2012, though it is widely held that the team will run an updated version of it 2011 machine in a 800cc capacity. A second spy video is after the jump, and though the video quality is poor, the sound of the new M1 is crisp.

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Products

Moto-Grip: Because Not Everyone Has Love Handles

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I’m on the fence with this product. There’s an element with the Moto-Grip “passenger safety harness” that strikes you with one of those “now why didn’t I think of that” moments. The idea is a simple harness that a rider wears, which provides hand grips on the rider’s chest and back that a passenger can hold onto as they are performing their various pillion duties. Looking like one of those baby backpacks that helicopter parents employ to lug their child around in, the Moto-Grip is fairly straight-forward with its $179 design.

Banter

Anne Hathaway + Catwoman + Batpod = Awesome

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For Christopher Nolan’s last installment of his Batman trilogy: The Dark Knight Rises, Hollywood hottie Anne Hathaway will don the leather bodysuit (no word yet on the leather whip) of Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. Exactly where in Catwoman’s tumultuous relationship with Batman will Hathaway’s character stem from is uncertain, but it looks like her feminine wiles managed to get her Batman’s motorcycle, the Batpod. Filming is currently going on in Pittsburgh, and confirmed from this photo, Pennsylvania is a no-helmet state. If this feels like a shameless attempt to get photos of Anne Hathaway dressed in leather on the pages of Asphalt & Rubber, then you’d be right.

Bikes

Up-Close with the BRD RedShift SM Electric Supermotard

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After launching its electric equivalent of a 250cc four-stroke supermotard, A&R spent a little quality time with the BRD RedShift SM at its future production facility in San Francisco. That’s right, not only is BRD hoping to tackle gas bikes head-on (we hear they only want to race in gas events), but the company, thanks to some clever design work, will be producing its electric motorcycles in the otherwise expensive SF/Bay Area. Instead of using a chassis architecture that would require hand or machine welds (the latter being far more expensive to setup for small production), BRD is using a combination of a casting and milling build process to create a motorcycle frame that is dependent more on machine operation, than worker labor. This means labor costs will be low, and production is limited only by how many milling machines the small startup can keep running at anyone one point in time.

Opinion/Editorial

An Analysis of the Troubles with the Ducati Desmosedici

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With the now infamous quote from Burgess that the GP10 could be sorted out in about 20 seconds still resonating in the MotoGP paddock, we stand now well over half of the way through the current MotoGP season, and it’s apparent that the Desmoproblema requires more than a quick-fix. The solution to fixing the Ducati Desmosedici can be broken down into three camps, and depending whose opinion you solicit, you’ll get one of the following causes for Ducati’s uncompetitive season: the motor, the chassis, or the rider. Walking us through that analysis is our good friend David Emmett, who may not be the most astute automatic transmission driver we’ve ever seen, but when it comes to comprehensive MotoGP analysis, the man is second to none.

News

Video: “Solus” by Lossa Engineering

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After we brought you Barry Munsterteiger’s “Escapism” short, we got an email from Jay LoRossa at Lossa Engineering, sharing with us his company’s “Solus” film, which also takes us back to the original question as to why we ride motorcycles, and begs an answer to our postulation as to why OEM promotional videos are not this well done. Featuring Lossa Engineering’s Yamaha SR500 Café Racer, “Solus” is a movie about a man who finds the only moments of solitude in the busy city occur at night.

Bikes

2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 Spotted in the Wild

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It didn’t take long for a “spy photo” of the 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 to emerge from Bologna, and it looks like Ducati wants to tease out the yellow paint job it plans to bring to the smaller displacement Streetfighter. The five-bolt arrangement on the rear-wheel hub is a give away to the fact that an 848 motor lurks in the Streetfighter shown, as the current Streetfighter 1098 uses a six-bolt pattern because of the more powerful 155hp motor. With the Ducati Superbike 848 EVO motor making 140hp (and also sporting a five-bolt rear hub pattern), we can expect that the Ducati Streetfighter 848 to lose 10-15 ponies from its superbike compatriot.