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KTM Set to Acquire Up to 50% of KISKA

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KTM has been on a phenomenal track for the past eight years, seeing record set each successive annum.

Part of the secret sauce to that success has been KTM’s partnership with KISKA, the Austrian design firm that is largely responsible for making KTM’s bikes look good, both in real life and in the media.

As KTM ramps up its lineup of two-wheelers, and continues to push into new markets and segments, the motorcycle manufacturer is looking to secure its stake is KISKA, announcing plans to take its ownership position from 26% to 50%.

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Lifestyle

Here’s Your Chance to Make Your Mark in the Motorcycle Industry

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Do you have an interest in shaping the future of the motorcycle industry, and playing an integral part in deciding what new motorcycles come to market? Well, here is your chance.

Our friends at KISKA sent over this job position opening, in the hopes that there is an Asphalt & Rubber reader out there that wants to be part of the future for the KTM and Husqvarna brands.

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Lifestyle

Here’s Your Chance for a Real Career in Motorcycles

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If you are a young motorcycle enthusiast, looking to start a real career in this industry, the perfect time might be now. KISKA, the design firm responsible for the KTM and Husqvarna brands, is looking for a Product Management Intern in its motorcycle section. 

An amazing opportunity, this six-month internship is open to students or recent graduates, with fields of studying in marketing or product management. You must be willing to relocate though, as KISKA’s main base of operations is in Salzburg, Austria (one of the most beautiful cities in Europe).

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Bikes

A New Lambretta L70 Vendetta Scooter Is Coming

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The folks at Kiska are better known for their work with KTM and Husqvarna, but the Austria-based firm has several other majors clients it works with as well, one of which is Lambretta.

We don’t normally post a lot of scooter stories on Asphalt & Rubber, but the iconic Italian brand is teaming up with one of the industry’s hottest design firms – that feels like something worth sharing.

Lambretta is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, and to help with that commemoration, the company is launching the Lambretta L70 Vendetta scooter.

It will be interesting to see where Kiska takes this fabled marque – those Vespa owners have been strutting around like they own the place.

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Bikes

Some Thoughts on the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701

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This story has no timely reason, other than I was working my way through Husqvarna’s media site for a different story, and noticed that there were finally some well-lit shots of the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 concept available for download.

The Husqvarna Vitpilen 701, as you may remember, builds off KTM’s Husqvarna’s 690cc platform, but uses the “Vitpilen” neo-café racer aesthetic. The result is what you see here, and it blew the doors off the EICMA show in Milan when it debuted late last year.

With these high-resolution photos, that thankfully were not taken in the dark this time, we can finally see the details of the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701, which were such a highlight when it debuted.

More importantly though, we can get a greater appreciation of where KISKA is taking Husqvarna, both in terms of separating the brand visually from its sister company KTM, but also on how the brand will sit apart from the rest of the motorcycle industry as a whole.

While I have no doubt that we will continue to see more conservative shapes and graphics on Husqvarna’s going forward, especially from Husqvarna’s dirt bike offerings, the Vitpilen segment is very intriguing as it brings a completely fresh take on a very tired-out market segment.

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Bikes

Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 Concept Helps Define the Future

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Ever since Stefan Pierer bought the Husqvarna brand, we have been curious to see how “Husky” would fit within the KTM family.

As of late, Husqvarna models have been little more than recycled KTM motorcycles, with a few minor changes and some cosmetic tweaks seemingly being the only thing that separates the Swedish brand from its Austrian owner.

Part of this is a necessary evil, as it takes time to design and build new models, with the current overlap at least serving to update the Husqvarna line until actual new models can be released.

In 2017, we will see the first truly new Husqvarna models come to market, the Husqvarna 401 Vitpilen & Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen. Now we can see a third model, which further defines how we will understand Husqvarna in the future, its called the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 concept.

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Bikes

Husqvarna 401 Vitpilen Concept

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In addition to debuting the Husqvarna 701 supermoto, the Swedish brand had two street concepts to unveil at the EICMA show. First up is the Husqvarna 401 Vitpilen concept, which is a café racer inspired model. With a 373cc single-cylidner thumper at its core, the Vitpilen (Swedish for White Arrow) sports an attractive and clean design.

A modern riff on the 1953 Husqvarna Silverpilen, the idea behind the Husqvarna Vitpilen is that less is more. Making a modest 43hp, the Vitpilen weights a paltry 297 lbs (135kg).

Clever details abound on the Vitpilen, and we particularly enjoy the high-tech LED meets retro-scrambler headlight design that sits prominently at the front of the bike. The design is clean and minimal, and true to Husqvarna’s roots both as a motorcycle brand, but also as a member of Scandinavian minimalism.

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Banter

Video: The Genesis of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R

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The Austrians refer to the KTM 1290 Super Duke R as “The Beast” whenever possible, and as our trained crash test dummy Iwan found out first hand, the name is appropriate for the 180hp streetfighter. The first motorcycle from KTM with traction control, the new Super Duke R is mighty, but pliable…and for good reason: KTM designed it that way.

It may not have as robust of an electronics package as the Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS, but the 1290 Super Duke R has unsettled the Italian bike as the sport-naked to have in your garage…that is, if you can afford it.

How did The Beast come to be from its RC8 R roots though? Never fret, KTM has put together a short video, which tells the genesis story of this monster machine.

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Bikes

Video: Developing the KTM Super Duke 1290 R

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In order to develop the KTM Super Duke 1290 R, KTM employed ex-GP racer Jeremy McWilliams to put The Beast through its paces, and make it the asphalt terrorizing machine that it is.

Helping go over those developments with us, McWilliams is aided by Toby Moody (his voice may sound familiar to MotoGP fans of a Eurosport persuasion), as the duo speaks from what looks like Kiska’s design studio.

The six-minute video is a PR piece of course, but it is interesting to hear McWilliams’ thoughts on the machine.

He and Moody spend quite a bit of time going over the Super Duke 1290 R’s electronic systems, with the clear intention of addressing the concerns of motorcycling’s Luddite contingency — we think they succeeded in this regard. KTM, just stop teasing us and take our money already!

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Bikes

KTM Adventure 1290 Spotted in the Wild

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Caught testing in the wild by the folks at Infomotori, these “spy photos” of the KTM Adventure 1290 are the first good glimpse we have gotten of the Austrian brand’s upcoming revamped adventure bike. Expected to hit the North American market in the 2014 model year, the 2014 KTM Adventure 1290 features a water-cooled v-twin motor, which will likely be shared with the 2013 KTM Super Duke R 1290.

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