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First Photos of the 2014 KTM 450 Rally Race Bike

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These are the first photos of the 2014 KTM 450 Rally factory race bike that Marc Coma, Kurt Caselli, and Ruben Faria will ride in the upcoming Dakar Rally in three-months time (factory rider Francisco Lopez will be on the 2013 machine). The 2014 race bike is a completely new machine from the ground up, and will make its racing debut at the OilLibya Rally of Morocco.

With the goal of winning its 13th Dakar in a row, KTM has some stiff competition for this upcoming Dakar, as former-rider Cyril Despres has defected to the Yamaha Racing team, and HRC has recently debuted its brand new 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally race bike as well.

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Bikes

Crighton Racing CR700P – Because Pistons Are So Passé

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At 300 lbs dry and producing 200hp, the Crighton Racing CR700P should catch your attention right away. Diving deeper into the machine, the CR700P’s 700cc twin-rotor rotary engine should further pique your interest — and then of course there is the Crighton Racing’s interesting past.

Astute observers will note that the Crighton Racing CR700P looks exactly like the Norton NRV588, and that is because of the involvement of Brian Crighton in both projects. A continuation of the project that started out in the Norton Motorcycles R&D laboratory in 1986, the Crighton Racing CR700P is the realization of Crighton’s dream to build a rotary-powered motorcycle that can top the very best racing bikes in the world.

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Bikes

HRC Shows Off the 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally Race Bike

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HRC already showed us its 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally race bike earlier this year at Mugello, during the Italian GP. Announcing a five rider team, Helder Rodrigues (Portugal, age 34), Sam Sunderland (U.K., 24), Javier Pizzolito (Argentina, 33), Paulo Goncalves (Portugal, 34) and Joan Barreda (Spain, 29) will race for Big Red in the 2014 Dakar Rally and other rally events.

Improving on its 2013 design, which in-turn was based off the Honda CRF450X enduro, HRC says that the 2014 Honda CRF450 Rally has improved engine output, aerodynamic performance, durability, and maintenance requirements. It will be campaign by the Team HRC factory team, and also be made available to other rally teams as a production racer.

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Bikes

119 Hi-Res Photos of the BMW R1200GS Adventure

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The new BMW R1200GS is a capable off-road machine, something we discovered on our Broventure trip out to Moab, Utah. But what if you want something that’s really built for the trails, along with the road that gets you there? Well that’s where the BMW R1200GS Adventure has always come into play.

A new model from BMW Motorrad for the 2014 model year, the R1200GSA is finally here, and we’ve got a bunch of photos of it — 119 high-resolution photos, to be precise. Check them out after the jump.

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Bikes

The 2014 BMW R1200GS Adventure is Finally Here

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Earlier today, I was thinking of writing a story that would be titled “The Four Obvious Bikes that BMW is about to Debut” or something like that.

While that list would include the spied water-cooled BMW R1200RT, BMW S1000R, and BMW NineT machines, at the top of that list would be the BMW R1200GS Adventure, which is predictable extension of the new GS, which debuted last year. BMW, it would seem, has beaten me to the punch.

Officially official, the 2014 BMW R1200GS Adventure has broken cover now, and is ready for you to ADV on until your heart is content. Not only does the new R1200GSA do away with the oddities in BMW’s 2013 lineup, where the old “air-cooled” GSA sat next to the new “precision-cooled” GS, we really wish this bike had been available for A&R‘s recent Broventure.

C’est la vie, as the French would say. We’ve got all the changes, photos, and so forth for you after the jump.

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MotoGP

26 Hi-Res Photos of Casey Stoner Testing the 2014 Honda RC213V & Honda RCV1000R Production Racer

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Here at Asphalt & Rubber, we miss Casey Stoner racing in the MotoGP Championship. That may not be the most popular opinion, especially with MotoGP fans, as the Australian never really warmed up to being in the spotlight, dealing with the prying questions of the press and demands of fans. Casey called things the way he saw it, and always strived for more on the track — and this ruffled many, as they viewed his words as complaints instead of his pursuit of perfection.

As critical of himself as he was of the machinery, tracks, and other riders, Stoner raced on a different level. There is an understanding of motorcycle racing dynamics in the two-time World Champion’s mind that few GP racers can match, and the proof of that is in Stoner’s results. It is this understanding the HRC hopes to tap into whenever they have they Aussie test a machine for them.

Taking to the Twin Ring Circuit in Motegi, for yet another test with Honda, Stoner rode back-to-back an early iteration of the 2014 Honda RC213V as well as the 2014 Honda RCV1000R “production racer” that non-MSMA teams will race next season. We have 26 high-resolution photos of Casey on these bikes after the jump, for your viewing pleasure.

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Ducati 1199 Terracorsa by MotoCorsa

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The Ducati 1199 Panigale is a formidable machine on the track, something I witnessed first-hand with the at the international press launch for the Ducati 1199 Panigale R at the Circuit of the Americas.

Between the Panigale’s frameless chassis design, high-revving Superquadro motor, and bevy of electronics, Ducati has refined its superbike offering to consumers, and really honed in on making the best street bike possible.

But what if your calling takes you off of the asphalt? Enter the Ducati 1199 Terracorsa by MotoCorsa — yes, the same crazy bastards that made the SeDUCATIve and MANigale calendar photo shoots.

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Bikes

2014 KTM Super Duke 1290 R Finally Revealed

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The countdown clock is at zero, and that means the wait is over for the 2014 KTM Super Duke 1290 R. At EICMA last year, they called it “The Beast” and with 177hp (132 kW) coming from the 1,301cc v-twin engine, we are inclined to agree.

As svelte as it is powerful, the KTM Super Duke 1290 R tips the scales at 417 lbs dry, and comes with a ride-by-wire throttle control system, along with traction control and ABS that can be disengaged, as A&R also predicted.

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