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2014 Ducati Monster 1200 Mega Gallery

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The 2014 Ducati Monster 1200 has officially debuted for the world press, which means we get a bevy of hi-res photos of the street-naked on location at the Canary Islands.

Fitted now with Ducati’s water-cooled Testastretta 11° engine, the new Monster 1200 gets a significant power boost over its predecessor — 135hp for the base model and 145hp for the S model, compared to the Monster 1100 EVO’s 100hp.

While the classic Monster lines have been retained, Ducati has updated the Monster 1200 to a more modern aesthetic; and the new Monster even uses its own version of Ducati’s “frameless” chassis design, with the subframe and headstock bolting directly to the v-twin engine’s cylinder heads.

A very clean look in person, even all 196 of these high-resolution photos don’t do the Monster 1200 justice. You have to see it in person; but until then, enjoy the photos after the jump.

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Bikes

Pierobon Ducati 1199 Panigale Streetfighter by Krax Moto

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Do you remember the Pierobon frame kit for the Ducati 1199 Panigale that we showed you back in November? If you’re a loyal reader, you should — it was one of our most popular articles that month.

An answer for those who think that the Panigale’s “frameless” chassis is affected by the same woes as the MotoGP project, Pierobon’s steel-trellis frame replaces the load-bearing headtube/airbox design from Ducati.

While we wait to hear back from the folks at Pieroban about how their creation goes around the race track, the clever Photoshoppers at Krax-Moto have takien the Italian fabricator’s photos, and used them to ink a very impressive streetfighter / café racer concept.

A little headlight here, and little leather seat there — it’s really surprising how little need to be tweaked to make the design work. If the Pierobon folks are sharp, they’ll include Krax Moto’s changes in a kit for customers. Would you take this over a Ducati Monster 1200 S? We would.

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Bikes

Ducati Multistrada 1200 Toubkal by Affetto Ducati

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Today is Valentines Day, and if you haven’t found that special someone to love and pamper tonight, don’t worry A&R has a date all lined-up for you. A sexy redhead, the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Toubkal by Holland’s Affetto Ducati is perhaps one of the cleanest MTS1200 build we have seen in a long while.

Tastefully done with metallic red, black, and silver paint, the Toubkal looks like something that could have come from Borgo Panigale, had the Italians dared to build a bike with such flash.

Equipped to go where the sidewalk ends (Toubkal is the highest mountain peak in the Atlas Mountains of Southwest Morocco), the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Toubkal features tubeless spoked wheels, proper panniers, and heavy duty crash protection.

Affetto Ducati gets bonus points for the subtle meshing over the vents, stunning paint job, and carbon fiber windscreen, which add a bit of “show” to the Multi’s already stout “go” — we might be rethinking our V-Day plans after seeing this, how about you?

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Lifestyle

The One Motorcycle Show 2014 – A Moto Snowmageddon

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By the time you read this, I will hopefully be on my way out of Portland, Oregon — having just attended The One Motorcycle Show. I say hopefully because the Polar Vortex dumped a bunch of cold fluffy white stuff on the ground on Friday, and the Portlandians have been calling it a snowmageddon ever since they slowly began littering the streets with stranded vehicles.

The weather may have been wreaking havoc on the highways and in town, Portland is after all where Volvo station wagons go to die, but it didn’t keep the hordes of motorcycle fans away from the show — in fact, some intrepid souls even road their way to the packed two-floor exhibit.

As one can expect from the Portland motorcycle scene, the atmosphere was hipster-chic, and laden with PBR cans, form fitting jeans, and epic beards.

Not exactly our cup of tea here at Asphalt & Rubber (I wore my best plaid shirt in an effort to blend with the natives, but was easily called out for my blasé attitude towards free-trade coffee), but that’s just fine — we like motorcycles just as much as the next guy or girl, and that’s what it is all about. Right?

For those who aren’t familiar with the concept behind The One Motorcycle Show, the idea is pretty simple and centers around the idea of that one motorcycle that fits all your tw0-wheeled needs and lusts.

It is about bikes that incorporate maybe the best aspects of all the other motorcycle you have ever owned, and represents everything about your two-wheeled life. Needless to say, the resulting builds had some interesting crossovers in style.

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Bikes

Hero Hastur 620 Concept – A Streetfighter with EBR Inside

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The Hero MotoCorp news keeps coming. Last week we reported on the Hero HXR 250R 250cc lightweight sport bike and the impressively practical Hero RNT diesel scooter.

This time, it’s a 620cc streetfighter concept called the Hero Hastur 620. With a parallel twin putting out around 80hp, and claimed weight of only 352.7 pounds wet, the Hastur definitely has a few of key ingredients needed for success.

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Bikes

2014 Honda CBR650F Coming to America Too

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With the introduction of Honda’s 500cc bikes last year (Honda CBR500R, Honda CB500F, and Honda CB500X), Honda provided newer and experienced riders with a practical and cheap option in an otherwise relatively polarized motorcycle market. While those bikes were sensible choices indeed, they were commonly criticized for their relatively modest power.

So here comes yet another color in the choice spectrum from the Japanese maker: a middleweight faired sport bike, with street-centric aspirations, and a palatable price tag. So if the Honda Interceptor is too rich for your blood, the inline-4 Honda CBR650F might just be the bike for you.

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Bikes

Video: Ducati 1199 Superleggera – The Power of Lightness

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I don’t have a good excuse as to why I want to post this video up on the site, other than the Ducati 1199 Superleggera is probably the most awesome motorcycle to come out in the past decade (apologies to any Honda DN-01 owners in the crowd).

An exercise in engineering prowess, which saw Borgo Panigale drop shed some serious weight from its venerable superbike, it should come as no surprise then that the 155kg (dry) Superleggera was a model put forth by Claudio Domenicali, a man who rose from engineer to CEO at Ducati Motor Holding.

That being said, I’m not sure we need a good excuse to fawn over the Superleggera. A magnesium monocoque frame, forged magnesium Marchesini wheels, carbon fiber rear sub-frame and bodywork (with integrated R-spec aero-kit), lithium-ion battery, titanium exhaust system with stainless steel headers, titanium bolts and fasteners…I’m sorry, what was I saying?

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Bikes

Energica Ego Electric Superbike Now Coming in 2015

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With electric motorcycles seemingly popping up everywhere, it comes as a surprise to no one that the Italians would eventually want a piece of this pie.

Originally the Energica Ego was scheduled to be released in 2014 but, as we have seen with many electric motorcycle companies that decide to venture into uncharted territory, innovation comes at a cost.

According to the Energica, the Ego produces nearly 135 hp and 143 lb-ft of torque with a top speed of 149 mph. Range is said to be 93 miles on a single-charge, and the starting price will be $25,000. This puts the Energica Ego out ahead of the competition but, numbers on paper are just that, numbers on paper.

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Bikes

Tech Specs of the MV Agusta Brutale 800 Dragster

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The 2014 MV Agusta Brutale 800 Dragster finally broke cover today, if you haven’t already seen the bevy of photos we published earlier. We won’t belabor the fact that the Dragster borrows heavily from the established Brutale 800 platform, and differs primarily in aesthetic and purpose.

So down to brass tacks it is, the key technical specifications of the 2014 MV Agusta Brutale 800 Dragster are the following:

  • In-line three-cylinder engine, 798 cc
  • Bore 79.0 mm, stroke 54.3 mm
  • Maximum power 125 HP-EC (92 kW) at 11,600 rpm
  • Maximum torque 81 Nm at 8,600 rpm
  • Limiter at 13,000 rpm
  • Dry weight 167 kg
  • Power-weight ratio 1.34 kg/HP
  • Tyres Pirelli DIABLO Rosso II 120/70 – ZR 17 front, 200/50 – ZR 17 rear
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Official Photos of the MV Agusta Dragster 800

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It’s been a long tease with the MV Agusta Dragster, with Giovanni Castiglioni hinting at the machine’s debut as far back as the 2013 EICMA show. We still expect the machine to debut any day now, but MV Agusta has dropped some more details by adding scenes to its “Metallica” promotional video.

A few official studio photos have also leaked out of Varese, which if nothing else confirm the lines we have been seeing these past few weeks.

Borrowing heavily from the Brutale 800 platform, the Dragster 800 defines itself really with a lower seat height, a chopped tail section, and it 200 width rear tire. Will those differences be enough to distinguish the Dragster from the Brutale? We don’t think so.

As fanciful as the turbo rumor was, it at least created a reason for the Dragster to exist alongside the Brutale. It’s an attractive motorcycle, like all MV Agustas, but we suspect that it will serve only to cannibalize sales from the Brutale line.

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News

Did Nissan Just Make the Ultimate Motorcycle Engine?

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Nissan Motor Company is better known for its four-wheeled vehicle pursuits, so it might surprise you to see its name mentioned here on Asphalt & Rubber. To front load the answer to your most pressing question, no the Japanese marque is not getting into the two-wheeled universe.

However, Nissan has been doing some interesting work, ever since it took over the DeltaWing project. In a nutshell, the Nissan DeltaWing was a failed IndyCar replacement race car project that aimed to push the boundaries of light, aerodynamical, and efficient vehicle design.

It found new legs in the endurance racing arena though, and participated in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans — however it didn’t finish the iconic race, when a competitor crashed into it 75 laps into the race.

Nissan and the DeltaWing team have since parted ways collaboratively, but the Japanese car maker has clearly learned something from the process. Returning to Le Mans for the 2014 season, Nissan will field a very similar design, which it has dubbed the Nissan ZEOD RC.

A hybrid race car (Nissan hopes to complete its first lap at Le Mans solely on electric battery power), what tickles our fancy most is the 1.5 liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine, which weighs a featherlight 88 pounds. Twenty inches tall, eight inches wide, the Nissan DIG-T R engine is small, though mighty. How does 400hp grab you?

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