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Husqvarna’s 900cc Street Bike Motor

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The rumors are true, Husqvarna is set to bring out a street bike (or five if you believe some reports) in the coming months (expect a November unveiling). Accordingly the Swedish brand, which operates out of Italy and is owned by a German company (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego anyone?), has released some photos and details about its 900cc parallel twin motor that takes more than a couples cues from its BMW counterpart.

Announcing that it will bring out a road-oriented concept vehicle, Husqvarna will focus on fun, power, and versatility for its first street machine. A sort of vague statement yes, but we do know that parent company BMW is heavily involved with the project, and helping its subsidiary to create a peppier 900cc-ish motor with more horsepower and torque than the BMW lump originally provided.

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News

Lightning Motors “Flying Banana” Drops 150lbs, Adds 50hp

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We just got an update from Richard Hatfield at Lightning Motors about his team’s progress on the 2011 “Flying Banana” (there’s no escaping that name Richard), and without having seen all the bikes for this racing season, we would peg Lightning’s as the one to beat.

When we talked to Lightning at the end of last season, the stated goal for the 2011 bike was to remove 150 lbs, and add 150hp to the machine. With the parts coming together, Hatfield informs us that the team is on-track to achieve that goal – translation: this bike is going to be wicked fast and agile…and of course, yellow.

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Bikes

MV Agusta Brutale 990R for 150 Years of Italian Unification

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MV Agusta is helping Italy celebrate the 150 year absence of Italian city-state fiefdoms with, you guessed it, a custom-painted limited edition motorcycle. A fairly standard operation procedure from old MV Agusta that seemingly has found its way into new MV Agusta, it’s things like this that make us weary as to whether the Italian motorcycle manufacturer has a little bit of a history re-repeating problem.

Now that we’ve gotten that rant out of our system, the MV Agusta Brutale 990R that the company has done up with a special 150 Year Unification paint job is quite stunning, and all the appropriate drool-worthy remarks should be made about its tri-color aesthetic.

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Bikes

Brammo Engage – Electric MX & Supermoto from Ashland

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A part of Brammo’s announcement that it will be entering the electric dirt bike scene, the Brammo Engage is the cornerstone of the Ashland, Oregon company’s off-road line. Featuring the S.M.R.E. designed Integrated Electronic Transmission (IET), Brammo is not only getting into the dirt bike and supermoto scene with the Engage (going squarely after players like Zero and Quantya), but is raising the ante by offering a six-speed transmission specifically designed for electric motors.

Details and specifics are still coming together about the Brammo Engage, and even the photos given to the press are of pre-production machines that are based-off S.M.R.E. prototypes. However, early speculation is that the IET system will also feature regenerative braking, another first for the Oregonian company. Photos, video, and more after the jump.

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Bikes

Brammo Encite – Electric Mini Moto MMX Racer

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Another model announced during Brammo’s intention to get into the electric dirt bike scene is the Brammo Encite. Like its larger cousin the Brammo Engage, the pre-production Encite is based off the S.M.R.E. prototype electric motorcycle, which features the six-speed Integrated Electronic Transmission (IET). Seemingly designed with racing in mind, Brammo will be entering its Encite MMX into the upcoming AMA Mini Moto SX event being held in Las Vegas — a story we broke last week.

A purpose-built race bike, there is no word on pricing yet for the pint-sized Encite, likely due to the fact that Brammo wants to gauge interest on the machine, and perhaps judge whether the mini-moto can be built in an affordable enough manner. Despite this setback, interested buyers can pre-order a Brammo Encite from the company’s webpage — Christmas is only seven months away after all.

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Dirt

Brammo Launches Dirt Bike Product Line – Features Integrated Electronic Transmission (IET)

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Well it didn’t take us long to get to the bottom of the reason as to why Brammo will be racing at the AMA Mini Moto SX in Las Vegas this week, as we speculated the Ashland-based company has got dirt bikes on the mind, and today is launching its dirt/supermoto line of electric motorcycles. Debuting with the full-sized Brammo Engage MX & Supermoto, along with the Brammo Encite MMX mini moto, Brammo has a robust off-road offering to its name now.

Behind the new product launch is another big step in the electric motorcycle industry, as the Oregonian company is debuting its new Brammo Engage and Brammo Encite motorcycles with an Integrated Electronic Transmission (IET). Developed by Italian engineering firm S.M.R.E., the IET is basically a six-speed gearbox designed specifically for use on electric motorcycles, and should help lure current ICE rides to the dark side of electrification. With today’s news, we think someone just put Zero Motorcycles on notice.

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Racing

Mission Motors Racing at Infineon with Steve Rapp*

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More news from the Asphalt & Rubber Bothan Spy network (that’d be a great spin-off site by the way…if George Lucas wouldn’t bullseye us like womp rats from a T-16 for our copious use of Star Wars references in our posts), as we’ve gotten word that Mission Motors is gearing up to go racing at the TTXGP season-opener at Infineon Raceway in two weeks’ time. At the helm of the gorgeous Mission R electric superbike will be AMA Pro Racing’s Steve Rapp.

The caveat to this news is that it all is contingent on Mission Motors getting its race bike ready to race in time for the event. The Bothans go on to tell us that the bike’s battery pack still needs to come together, which is something we’ve heard for some time now, but could suggest that the team has advanced its tech further and is upgrading the Mission R for even more on-board energy/power. As always, time will tell.

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News

Rok Bagoroš Meets the KTM 125 Duke

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We thought we had the good life here at Asphalt & Rubber, blogging in our pajamas until noon, no rent, and mom making us an endless supply of cookies. This was of course before we got an email from KTM Factory stunt rider Rok Bagoroš. The young Slovenian probably has the dream job of more than few motorcyclists. Traveling the world, riding bikes all day, and teaching Spanish cops how to wheelie are just some of the perks of his job.

Now that Bagoroš has a gig with the KTM squad, he’s taken possession of the company’s latest motorcycle, the KTM 125 Duke. Tasked with making the entry-level Duke appeal to its target market, KTM has marketed the 125 Duke mostly as a hooligan machine for teenage boys, which is like trying to sell a magnifying glass to a 14 year-old sitting on an ant hill. Enter Bagoroš with his bag of tricks, and the list of things we’d probably break trying to replicate them (getting old is tough).

Anyways…check the videos after the jump, and keep counting the days until KTM releases are larger displacement model of the new Duke to the American market.

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Racing

Video Highlights from the Bol d’Or Endurance Race

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If you missed one of the twenty-four hours of the Bol d’Or endurance race held at Magny-Cours this year, don’t fret because the FIM has your back with this short highlight video. The famous French race is the first stop on the 2011 FIM World Endurance Championship, and once again the top podium spot has gone to Suzuki. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) completed 814 laps with Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray, and Anthony Delhalle at the helm of the Suzuki GSX-R1000 race bike.

Endurance races are a special bread of motorsport, with strategy and consistency playing a huge factor in the final outcome. Throw in constantly changing track conditions, the absence of the sun, and rider fatigue, and you’ve got a sport that tests man just as much as machine. As a side note, it is also a little strange to see a race bike with headlights, which just further adds to the mystique of this historic event. Check it out, along with photos and results, after the jump.

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Marc Coma Proves the KTM 450 Rally Really Can Fly

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KTM rally racer Marc Coma took to the air after winning his fifth Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. In the deserts of the UAE, Coma tried his hand at launching the 140kg 2011 KTM 450 Rally bike over the sand dunes with help from X-Games gold medal winner Ronnie Renner.

The two riders had some fun swapping between Coma’s rally bike and Renner’s freestyle motocrosser — a weird experience for both, with Coma making a 15 meter long, 6 meter high, jump on the usually terrestrially grounded rally bike. Photos after the jump.

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Bikes

Lito Green Motion Sora Electric Motorcycle

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Our French-speaking cousins to the north have apparently been toiling away designing a 185 mile electric street-naked motorcycle. While we only have CAD renderings right now, Lito is set to debut the Sora at the June 12th Formula 1 stop at Montreal. The French-Canadian company says its electric motorcycle features “the best design elements of Bobber and Café Racer/Street Fighter bikes”…whatever that means. Perhaps Lito is waiting to see how the bike is received before putting a label on it, which is fine by us since words aren’t stopping us from digging the look of the Sora.

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