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Officially Official: Aspar Switches to Honda RCV1000R, Signs Guy from Owensboro

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As expected, the Aspar team today announced they would be switching from Aprilia to Honda for the 2014 season in MotoGP. The team has signed a two-year deal with HRC to race the Honda RCV1000R production racer, and will field 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden on one of the bikes.

The reasons behind dropping Aprilia and their highly successful ART machine are simple: after the departure of chief engineer Gigi Dall’Igna, the future of Aprilia’s MotoGP program is in severe doubt. American Honda had lobbied hard to have Hayden back on a Honda, and his signing came with the blessing and support of HRC.

Having a top level rider on the production racer – and one with many years of experience on a factory bike – should help to develop the bike, providing valuable input for HRC. American Honda’s financial contribution in getting Hayden on the bike was also a key factor.

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Bikes

Here is the 2014 Erik Buell Racing 1190RX

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Debuting today at the AIMExpo in Orlando, the 2014 Erik Buell Racing 1190RX superbike is already the talk of the event. Based off the company’s uber-pricey EBR 1190RS racing machine, the EBR 1190RX is the RS’s more affordable, yet still potent, street bike sibling.

Featuring 185 peak horsepower in a 419 lbs bulk (sans fuel), Erik Buell Racing is posting some impressive numbers with the EBR 1190RX, though we think the $18,995 is the figure that will really get people excited. Putting the Erik Buell Racing 1190RX in “Ducati territory” for potential buyers, EBR is now a serious street bike company for enthusiasts to consider.

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Banter

Insane Video of a Bikejacking at Gunpoint in Brazil

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This might be the most intense video we have ever seen, which says a lot considering the recent events in NYC. Riding through traffic in São Paulo on his Honda CB600F Hornet, this Brazilian motorcyclist gets a surprise as he merger into a new lane, as pair of hijackers pull-up next to him on another bike, grab for his handlebars, and demand to have his motorcycle at gunpoint.

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Bikes

Photo: This is the Ducati 1199 Superleggera

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Yesterday we brought you the first detail photos of the Ducati 1199 Superleggera, Bologna’s ultra-exclusive superbike, and before that we showed you the magnesium, titanium, and carbon fiber parts that would comprise the Superleggera, and help the machine drop a rumored 40 lbs from its already anorexic body.

Now, we have the first clear photo of the 2014 Ducati 1199 Superleggera, taken apparently at Ducati’s dealer meeting in New Orleans. Only 500 of these beasts will be built worldwide, and first dibs are going to Borgo Panigale’s best customers. Cost is said to be in the $65,000 range for US buyers, €60,000 for Europeans.

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Bikes

Leaked: Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera Detail Photos

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The leaks from Ducati keep coming in, and now we have our first photos of the Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera and its tasty details. Stripped of its carbon fiber fairings, we can see where all those magnesium, titanium, and carbon pieces reside on the Superleggera’s rolling chassis.

Asphalt & Rubber has gotten its hands on 16 detail photos of the new Ducati Superleggera, and they are waiting for you after the jump. Our apologies in advance for the insane watermarks, but some people just don’t understand the internet. Other publications should feel free to use our photos, provided they cite their source and link back to Asphalt & Rubber — easy, right?

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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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Bikes

Are You The Ducati Monster 1200?

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At the German Auto Show, the Boys from Bologna debuted the Ducati 899 Panigale, a “super-mid” version of the Italian company’s superbike platform. A bit too big to be a supersport class machine, the 899 Panigale should however be fun on the track, in a vein that is similar to the Suzuki GSX-R750 and MV Agusta F3 800.

That premise will have to remain as conjecture for us though, as while Ducati’s chosen few are currently gathered in Bologna right now for the press launch of the 2013 Ducati 899 Panigale, Asphalt & Rubber was not among those who crossed the pond for the launch and test ride. Not to worry though, we should start hearing the initial impressions from journalists shortly.

Meanwhile, we can turn our attention to the machines that Ducati has yet to debut to the public, though will be shortly. A&R broke the news last week about the upcoming Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera, and we have already seen spy photos of the Ducati Scrambler (said to be a 2015 model, if it gets the production nod), and a liquid-cooled Ducati Monster 1200.

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Rumors

Coming Soon: Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera

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Ducati has gone to great lengths so that you won’t know this, but our sources have confirmed to us that in about a month’s time, the Bologna Brand will debut perhaps the most ostentatious machine ever to come from the Borgo Panigale factory, the Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera. An ultra-exclusive version of the Ducati 1199 Panigale R, the Superleggera edition is exactly what its Italian name suggests, a super-light version of the Panigale R.

With the Panigale R already the lightest sport bike to ever come from Ducati, the Panigale R Superleggera goes even further, employing titanium, carbon fiber, and magnesium throughout the machine to drop its curb weight by an additional 40 lbs. Ducati isn’t stopping there though.

Heavily reworking the 1,199cc Superquadro engine, the engineers at Bologna have bumped the bike’s peak horsepower figure, somehow finding a way to shoehorn 220hp into the Ducati 1199 Panigale R Superleggera.

It’s ok if you need to take a minute to readjust yourself in your chair before reading further — we’ll wait.

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Banter

Range Rover vs. New York Motorcyclists – Seriously, WTF

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With the advent of cheap wearable cameras, the internet has become awash with road rage videos, which unsurprisingly sometimes feature motorcyclists. Sometimes these cameras catch acts of two-wheeled stupidity, and sometimes these videos highlight the dangers motorcyclists must face on the open road.

That brings us to our latest edition, where a large group of motorcyclists in New York are caught on film having an altercation with a Range Rover Sport.

We come into the incident after it begins, with a pack of motorcycles enveloped around the SUV on the West Side Highway, and a couple riders already gesticulating with the driver, Alexian Lien. One motorcyclist pulls in front of the Range Rover, brake-checks the four-wheeler, and is subsequently rear-ended…things then spiral out of control from there.

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Bikes

Spy Shots: BMW NineT Spotted in the Wild

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At the EICMA show last year, BMW Motorrad announced that it would make another air-cooled model, in order to commemorate the 90 years that the German OEM has been producing two-wheelers.

Expected to be the production version of the company’s LoRider concept, we got our first taste of what BMW had in store for us with the BMW Concept Ninety — which had its retro goodness co-developed with America’s own Roland Sands.

Now seemingly ready for a true production model, BMW Motorrad has been caught testing the BMW NineT street bike inside the Lake Garda region in Italy.

Obviously fitted with the venerable 1,200cc air-cooled boxer twin that has made the GS and RT such steady steeds, the NineT uses classic motorcycle aesthetics, mated to classic BMW design pieces.

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News

Bosch MSC – Anti-Lowside Technology

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Rider aids like traction control and ABS continue to prove the notion that electronics are the new horsepower, and with the US debut of the KTM 1190 Adventure R just a couple months away, we learn that the hot new adventure-touring machine will debut the new Bosch Motorcycle Stability Control (MSC) system.

An extension of the venerable Bosch 9+ME ABS package, whose dual-channel setup has become the benchmark for OEM-equipped ABS units, the Bosch MSC is the next iteration of that standard. Integrating the ability for riders to brake into corners with a reduced risk of low-sliding, the Bosch MSC system is the next evolution in braking with its anti-lowside technology.

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