For many, this will come with a sigh of relief. Ducati VP of Marketing, Diego Sgorbati, has confirmed that Ducati has no intentions of making a cruiser motorcycle…for the time being. Long rumored to appear at the upcoming EICMA expo, the Ducati Vyper concept has stirred a few imaginations, as well as a few stomachs. Reported in various forms, we still like to visualize it with the renders that Luca from Bar-Design provided us with last year.
The big news for Monday is that Buell has updated its model line-up for 2010. While we could probably make this an at length post, detailing everything new and great about the true American Sportbike brand, in reality it boils down to just marginal increases in the products look, feel, and general performance.
However, there are a couple points of interest we would like to point out. The 1125CR now has the color white (which does look rather good), and an integrated battery tender plug.
We’re not quite sure if this is because the bikes sit at the dealership for so long waiting to be sold, or if they get relegated to the back of the garage while their owners ride something else. Either way, Buell clearly seems to expect their bikes to sit around and do nothing for a while.
Ask, and yee shall find. Within a couple hours of posting the rumor that Aprilia releasing a “base” model RSV4, we get word of spy shots of the rumored bike. Photos confirm Showa forks relpacing the Öhlins units up front, and that the RSV4 looks damn sexy in all black. More news as we get it. Big ups to Michel!
RSV4 R “Base” Model in the Paddock:
The Aprilia RSV4 hasn’t even reached dealers in the US yet, and there’s already speculation for what’s to come next year. With BMW finally spilling the beans on its pricing structure for the S1000RR, it should seem clear that Aprilia is going to have a lot of trouble hocking the long awaited RSV4 at the likely $6,000 price surplus that the RSV4 is going to have over the Japanese and new BMW.
To combat this, there is speculation starting to go around that Aprilia will release a “base” model (they don’t like calling it a base model, but that’s what it is) later in 2010, in order to compete with the cheaper models. Rumors peg the base model price to be about $4,000 less than the Factory model, which is due to come out later this year.
As we get closer to the unveiling of Ducait’s Multistrada replacement in Novemeber, the spy shots of the “GS killer” are becoming more apparent. After trolling the interwebernet, we’ve found two more shots that reveal some more detail about what the Strada Aperta (no word if that’s the official name, but it does seem to keep coming up) will look like from the side and front.
French magazine, MotoRevue, has speculated and rendered up what they believe to be the upcoming GSR750. Expecting the bike to hit the streets in early-2010, the render borrows heavily on the lines of the B-King, and is expected to be Suzuki’s answer to the growing 750cc standard bike market. As such the GSR will have stiff competition from the Kawasaki Z750, Aprilia Shiver/Mana, Triumph Street Triple, etc.
Powering the bike will be a detuned GSX-R750 motor, which you can expect to make power south of 120hp. No word on what markets the bike will enter into, but don’t hold you breath to see it on American soil. Considering the GSR series has traditionally been a European/Asian market bike, we expect the 750cc version to be available only abroad as well.
Source: MotoRevue; Photochop: Jérôme Vannesson
If you have any hopes of seeing Aprilia in the upcoming Moto2 series, you may have to be get over them if early reports are to be believed. While official word is expected later this August, it would appear that Aprilia will not develop a custom chassis and compete in the Moto2 series, which is scheduled to replace the 250GP next year.
Jorge “Aspar” Martinez had been linked to the team earlier as possibly being on board with the Italian company to continue his involvement in the middle-tier GP series. This rumor now seems to be denied, as there has been no movement in the Aprilia camp towards developing a chassis around the Honda CBR 600cc powerplant the new series is slated to use.
Convinced they had cracked the code of the cork screw, Bridgestone arrived at the US GP with a single compound tire. Relying on data from last year’s GP, the tire manufacturer was only expecting a marginal variance in tire temperature between the left and right sides of their racing slicks. As such, they did not develop an asymetrical tire compound like they did for the Catalan GP.
As we now well know from the high-sides of Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, as well as the plethora of riders that ended up in the gravel that week, this single-compound design wasn’t up to the task of handling the track that many riders described as “one big turn”.
Ducati has released its official photos of the 2010 Ducati 848 Nicky Hayden Edition, which was unveiled this weekend at Laguna Seca. For more on the unveiling, . Ducati has also released a video of Nicky talking about his 848, view that above.
Source: Ducati
Rumors are flying as to whether Kawasaki will be on the MotoGP grid come 2010. If the Italian press is to be believed, Hayate Team Manager Andrea Dosoli has already declared that Hayate will be a no-show for next season.
However, an interview with Marco Melandri at Laguna Seca, by reliable MotoGP Matters, suggests that Kawasaki has yet to make a decision on MotoGP, and could be holding judgment until after the next round at the Sachensring .
MCN is reporting that there will be no new ZX-10R debuted this year, as Kawasaki is breaking out of their 2-year production cycle in order to focus on a WSBK killer for the 2011 season.
You’ll have to scroll all the way down the 18th spot in the World Superbike Championship standings if you want to seen Team Green represented. Even BMW with their brand new bike, and first entry into true sportbike territory, has found greater success in the world production motorcycle racing venue (currently 16th & 17th in the WSBK standings).
We’re not sure how accurate this rumor is at this point, but it is clear that if Kawasaki wants to be a “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” company, they have room for improvement.
Source: MCN