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Bottpower BOTT XR1 is Finally Ready for Street Track Duty

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For almost two years now, we have been waiting for Bottpower to finished its BOTT XR1 custom motorcycle. Starting with an air-cooled v-twin motor from a Buell XB, the BOTT XR1 is the perfect intersection of old-school flat tracking and high-tech street shredding — we’re not sure if we should strap on a steel shoe, or get some fresh knee pucks. Available as a stand alone machine from Bottpower, the Spanish firm also plans on making a kit for XB owners.

Built with an ample amount of carbon fiber, Bottpower used the stock eight-piston Buell 1125R Brake system (with ISR levers for the front brake and clutch). For the rear suspension an Öhlins shock has been implemented, while the under-slung exhaust is from Torque Hammer. The flat handlebar is by Easton, while the gauges are from Motogadget. If don’t have a street tracker on your holiday wish list, we suggest a revision. Tasty photos after the jump.

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Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Tricolore by Motovation

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We have to admit, we’re sort of a sucker for the tri-color paint scheme on the Ducati 1199 Panigale S Tricolore, and it broke our hearts seeing one of these $28,000 bikes hit the dirt during our track day this weekend. Classy and understated, the Italians constantly remind us that less is more, but why should the Panigale get all the fun? The folks at Motovation Accessories seemingly agree, and have dressed up their Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring in the Tricolore’s paint — naturally, we likey.

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Frak Me: Starbuck’s Classified Moto KT600 Custom

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Asphalt & Rubber may be known for the over-enjoyment of a certain sci-fi dynasty that started in 1977, but we are group of equal opportunity geeks/nerds/virgins here, and have just as much room in our hearts for the toaster-fraking good times that were provided by the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series.

While we stayed up late at night, wondering if Kara “Starbuck” Thrace was in fact a Cylon, it turns out that Katee Sackhoff, who played the rebellious Viper pilot on the hit show, was instead probably dreaming of her next two-wheeled toy: Classified Moto’s KT600.

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Ducati Multistrada Biuta by Carlo Roscio

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It is hard to believe that the “Biuta” began life as Ducati Multistrada, as it really looks nothing like the air-cooled Terblanche-penned bike. Getting more of Streetfighter meets Monster look and feel than the lines of the Multi, the Biuta is one hot looking machine, no matter which flavor of Desmo you prefer. Made by Carlo Roscio and his brother, the two brothers from Pavia, Italy spent over two years getting the Biuta right — and get it right they did.

Not too ostentatious, and not too sublime, the reincarnated 2003 Ducati Multistrada 1000DS looks great in powder blue, and has a tasteful mix of parts that allures to both the form & function crowds. We particularly like the custom Zard exhaust and side-mounted radiator, though we would hate to have to be the one to make all those many, many perfect welds. The only thing we don’t like? The far-too-tiny photos found after the jump.

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More Photos of the Confederate X132 Hellcat

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The Confederate X132 Hellcat is the latest creation from the boutique southern motorcycle brand, and continues the Hellcat lineage’s custom-roadster aesthetic. Like any machine produced by Confederate, the real beauty of the new Hellcat comes down to the bike’s detail finishes, which for the X132 includes a motor casing that was built out of two pieces of billet 6061 aircraft grade aluminum.

Officially spec’d with “sufficient” power and torque figures, the  2,163cc v-twin motor on the X132 is more than eye-catching, and should propel you down the road just fine with its estimated 132 peak horsepower and 150 lbs•ft of torque.

With Confederate only expected to make 162 units of the X132 Hellcat, as usual the name of the game is exclusivity. Pricing has jumped from the initial $44,550, and now is $49,500, with another price increase of roughly $5,000 expected after July 4th. Fifteen more photos of the Confederate X132 Hellcat are after the jump for your viewing pleasure.

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Sbay Jerry – Fine Art Meets Motorcycling

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While the United States has always been a center for custom motorcycle fabrication, a biker renaissance is currently underway on Spanish soil. It shouldn’t surprise us that one of the largest and most rabid places for motorcycling is fostering some of the most beautiful motorcycle masterpieces in the world, this is after all the same country that brought us Dalí, Goya, & Picasso.

Of course you have seen Madrid’s Radical Ducati gracing our pages, but some of our most favorite work comes from the folks over at Sbay. Truly two-wheeled artistry, our love affair first started with the Sbay Flying 1800, but we find ourselves in serious motorcycling lust with the firm’s latest creation: the Sbay Jerry.

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Update on the Bottpower BOTT XR-1

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It is sad to say, but the Harley-Davidson XR1200X is just about the only thing from the Milwaukee brand that intrigues me. And what kills me the most is that Harley-Davidson could really add something more to its product line up if it just explored the flat-tracker aesthetic in greater detail with its brand. Instead of bringing to market twenty or so variations on the same cruiser shape, Harley-Davidson could really bolster its brand with younger riders if it simply tapped into the street-tracker/scrambler movement that is percolating underneath the “looks like a Power Ranger” street scene.

Wake up Milwaukee, because the emo-teenger, full of high school angst, has matured into the “college is for pussies” hipster scene, which is comprised of an eclectic group of people that have been collectively displaced out of the 1940’s and into the new millennium + 10 years. Building a brand off the 1% rebel perception, I don’t know why its such a hard concept for Harley-Davidson to understand that it can latch onto these new-age bohemians, and create a similar bond with them as it did with the Baby Boomers so many years ago. After all, there is already great symmetry between the two cultures, as both Harley-Davidson and the hipster elite seem forever-fixated on a period in time that is far enough removed from our parents’ generation to be considered cool again.

What the hipsters wouldn’t like of course is the Bottpower BOTT XR-1. A racier and more custom version of the Harley-Davidson XR1200X (The BOTT XR-1 is actually based off a Buell motor), Bottpower has done such a good job making the Buell look Alana Blanchard hot that the Voltron generation will forget all about the reasons their didn’t like the Bar & Shield brand in the first place, and instantly liquidate their pre-IPO Facebook stock in order to make room for Bottpower’s work in their marina-view apartments. Needless to say, I like what’s going on here.

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1979 Honda CB650 by Trillion Industries

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Here at Asphalt & Rubber, we don’t feature too many bikes that subscribe to the “modern-take on the retro look” hipster theory of motorcycling. Maybe it’s because we prefer to go fast rather than look cool, or maybe it’s because we don’t own any form fitting denim pants — honestly, it could go either way on that one. That being said, we know what we like, and more importantly when know what we like when we see it, and that pretty much sums up our thoughts on the 1979 Honda CB650 by Trillion Industries.

Beginning life in the mundane, the Honda CB is a crowd favorite with the retro-turned-hipster crowd for making modern takes on the café racer design aesthetic. Don’t get us wrong, we have seen plenty of café racers that we like, and the market segment enjoys a small but militant following of motorcycle enthusiasts. However, rarely does a Honda CB, no matter how much beauty school it has attended, floor you in your seat. This work by Derek Pauletto however, would be the exception to that statement.

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KTM RC4 690R Supermono by Mototech

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A two-wheeled speeding ticket made in Austria, I’m still bitter that the 2012 KTM 690 Duke isn’t coming to American soil. With all the dressings of a bare-knuckled hooligan machine for the street, the new Duke will surely live up to its heritage of angering elderly women, but a German company has thought up a more refined role for the big-displacement thumper. Adopting the bike into a more superbike trim, German suspension tuners Mototech have created what they call the KTM RC4 690R…and I like it.

We’ve seen KTM Supermono’s before, with perhaps one of the best examples coming from some KTM engineers who built a SuperDuke 690 sport bike on their own time. Don’t let those words discourage you from Mototech’s work though, as the team’s RC4 690R looks like it rolled out of the KTM factory floor this morning. You’ll either love or hate the dual-projector headlight setup, while the tail section remains very true to the lines of the original Duke 690. Everyone will be a fan of the 125kg (275 lbs) quoted weight figure

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Enigma 1050 – Britain’s Kit Motorcycle

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Former British moto-journalist Jim Lindsay is behind one of the more intriguing motorcycle projects in the UK right now. Working from the list of contacts he’s made covering the motorcycle industry, Lindsay and his crew are building the Enigma 1050, a Triumph Speed Triple-powered custom sport bike.

Collaborating with the minds that bring us Tigcraft, K-Tech Suspension, Promach , and Dymag, the pedigree behind the Engima 1050 is already a promising one, but what intrigues us the most is that the Enigma crew is considering offering the bike as a kit build, in addition to a finished ready-to-ride motorcycle.

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Pierobon X60R – Your Xmas Wish List Just Got Longer

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One of the nice things about actually going to motorcycle events, instead of phoning it in like many publications seem to do these days, is that you get to see all the treasure trove items that didn’t find their way onto some press release mill for mass consumption.

Such is the case of the Pierobon X60R, a custom sportbike that will surely cause some revisions to your Christmas wish list to Santa. We’ve featured Pierobon’s work before, with the Bologna company’s Pierobon F042 causing quite a stir earlier this year.

Like the F042, the Pierobon X60R features an air-cooled Ducati v-twin power plant, and the tuning firm’s own proprietary chassis design. There are plenty of performance parts and carbon fiber to drool over, and the design strikes as one that would have occurred had Ducati made a true air-cooled sportbike.

With Pierbon’s extensive experience in the racing scene, we can imagine how much fun an X60R would be on the track, we’ll just have to wait and see if a street model also makes a debut. If you’re a Ducatista and want to stand out from the cappuccino crowd, there are some photos after the jump that might interest you.

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