BMW Motorrad is already playing around with the idea of its electric future, teasing us with electric scooters and fancy futuristic concepts that practically ride themselves, but what if the company’s future actually rested in its past?
Take for instance this electric sidecar concept by Spanish transportation design student Iago Valiño. Drawing off-road inspiration from the El Solitario troupe, the concept is a nod to BMW’s sidecars from the WWII era, but with an obviously modern flare.
It makes sense that Yamaha would be readying a new version of the venerable R6 supersport for us…finally. The current iteration has been essentially the same bike that originally debuted in 2008, though it saw mild updates in 2010 that sacrificed top-end for midrange power.
The Japanese OEMs are slowly getting back to their old selves though, when it comes to product design and new model debuts, and last year saw the Yamaha YZF-R1 get a major overhaul. It’s time for its 600cc sibling to do that same.
And, that seems to be the case, as rumors out of Japan and Europe are swirling about an all-new Yamaha YZF-R6 debuting later this year, as a 2017 model year machine.
The bulk of the rumors come from Japanese magazine Young Machine, which is famous for the new model concept renders that it publishes, but not so famous for their accuracy.
A&R has heard plenty of chatter about this bike outside of other reports though, so where there’s smoke…
We’re really enjoying the work of Tamás Jakus, better known as Jakusa Design. If that name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, we’re sure his recent work on the zeffed-out Triumph Tiger 800 will surely strike you as familiar. This time, Jakus has imagined a Ducati-powered car.
That concept is already in our headspace, thanks to the engineers at Volkswagen making the Volkswagen XL Sport, but Jakus’ version is far more appealing to us.
Extruding the distinctive intake of the Panigale across the trellis frame of an Aeriel Atom type oversized go-kart – complete with pigeon-toed three spoke wheels, just like the superbike – there are enough Ducati design elements to link the car to the brand to make the exercise convincing.
Leave your thoughts and your best Volkswagen emissions jokes in the comments section.
Taking a superbike off-road isn’t the dumbest thing we’ve ever done, but too many it certainly is sacrilegious. The truth is, the Venn diagram of motorcycles and their capabilities for different uses has a lot more overlap than riders are willing to admit.
That’s why when we see our friends at Holographic Hammer working on a scrambler model based off a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R we get a little excited. With enough suspension travel, bash plates, and right-handed traction control, there’s no reason that a ZX-10R can’t be the basis for a fun dual-sport.
And naturally, the talents at HH are going to make the project look amazing, so what’s the rub? Think differently, and have a brappy day – we say!
The first images of the Lotus C-01 hyperbike have hit the internet, MCN and has the “exclusive” on the 200 horsepower machine’s images. The first images are in fact renders of the final design, though they look the part and clearly show the Lotus C-01’s lines.
Said to have a KTM RC8R v-twin engine beneath its carbon fairings, the Lotus C-01 hits a lot of the right numbers on the technical sheets, though visually the machine it is less enthralling. This surprises us, since the bike’s designer Daniel Simon (creator of the new Tron Lightcycle, and author of Cosmic Motors), is one of our favorite designers.
If you ask us, the BMW R nineT is a pretty big deal for the business of motorcycling, as its modular design allows for the air-cooled standard to be modified extensively and easily. BMW Motorrad designed the R nineT that way so tuners and customers alike could put their own stamp on the machine that celebrates the German motorcycle maker’s 90th year of business.
Whether your taste is along the lines of the heavily modified BMW Concept Ninety, which Roland Sands had a hand in making, or something more stock from the BMW parts catalog, the BMW R nineT can abide. So, it probably shouldn’t surprise us to see that Nicolas Petit has inked another build for German parts maker Wunderlich.
Drawing both a fully-faired and a more bare-boned version of Wunderlich BMW R nineT cafe racer, Petit has once again made a lurid proposition. We think those who love the classic lines of BMW’s past will enjoy these concepts, and if anything Petit’s work shows the versatility in the R nineT’s modular design.
We here at Asphalt & Rubber are big fans of the work that Bottpower is churning out, and whether your particular poison is the Bottpower M211 Moto2 race bike, the Bottpower BOTT 1000 Morlaco street bike, or Bottpower XR1 street tracker, the small Spanish company has a little something for everyone.
Next up for Bottpower is a cafe racer, which is based off the company’s latest creation, the XR1 (track day porn: here). Though the first iteration is almost ready for a customer, so far Bottpower has only given us some renders of the rolling chassis for public consumption.
Like the XR1, a donor Buell XB is used for its engine, brakes, and suspension (the first XC1 will use only a Buell motor however), which makes this machine more of a do-it-yourself kit for the mechanically inclined.
If Bottpower’s other work is any indication, we can’t wait to see how this project comes out. Also, note the custom swingarm, in orange, that Bottpower is building as well. Tasty.
It seems like a no-brainer, right? Take the existing Triumph Daytona 675 supersport package, drop in the 1,050cc three-cylinder motor found in the Triumph Speed Triple (with a higher state of tune, of course), and call the beast the Triumph Daytona 1100 superbike. Boom. Done. It’s so easy Triumph, so why haven’t you done it already?!
The answer of course is that the superbike segment is extremely competitive and expensive to enter — just ask BMW Motorrad. A small manufacturer with a rich brand history, Triumph also has a propensity to zig when others zag, which is how the Speed Triple came about in the first place. However, the timing might be right for Hinckley to put some effort into a superbike project.
Overall, our impressions of the 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 was that the new baby Fighter from Ducati, is a well-improved upon successor to the original Ducati Streetfighter 1098. Helping differentiate the SF848 from the higher-spec, though otherwise identical, Streetfighter 1098 S, the Streetfighter 848 takes the geometry from the Ducati Superbike 848, which means it gets a much-better handling 24.5° rakes. Ducati has also brought over the Testastretta 11° engine, which made its first debut on the Ducati Multistrada 1200, and then found its way onto the Ducati Diavel.
Smoother and easier to operate, the new Streetfighter’s 849cc motor may be down on power compared to its Superbike counterpart (132 hp at its peak, compared to the Superbike 848 EVO’s 140hp), but the SF848 has a much flatter torque curve and a power band that extends into a more useable range for urban and aggressive street riding. When compared to its predecessor, just about the only thing we don’t like about the Ducati Streetfighter 848 is the foot clearance issue with the shotgun exhaust, which limits the movement of a rider’s right foot on the Streetfighter’s peg.
Releasing these CAD drawings at the 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 US press launch, maybe some eagle-eyed industrial designers can come up with a solution for this reporter’s kneecap. CAD renders after the jump.
When the Moto2 Championship was conceived, the racing public was pitched the idea of exotic prototype racing machines that would be built around production-based motors. Immediately the idea of a grid full of Bimota-like machines began to tickle our fancy, however the reality has been that Moto2 chassis designs have been far-more grounded in their approaches and configurations.
Though we did see Bimota build a Moto2 racer with the Bimota HB4, it is motorcycles like the Vyrus 986 M2 that we really want to see filling the Moto2 grid. Of course with the spec-engine rules, races are being won and lost by just the smallest differences in chassis specifications, making the use of exotic designs a venerable game of Russian roulette. Don’t tell any of this to Rondine though, as the Italian firm is working hard on a unique Moto2 design of its own.
Ducati has been hogging the news the past few weeks, thanks in large part to the debut of the most important motorcycle the Italian motorcycle manufacturer has ever released. With Ducati up for sale and being valued at €1 billion, the Ducati 1199 Panigale sets the record straight that Bologna has not strayed from its sport bike and racing heritage with the release of bikes like the Hypermotard, Multistrada 1200, and Diavel. With Ducati hosting the Panigale’s international press launch in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit (click here to let Ducati know that you wish A&R had been invited to this launch), the initial reports from the assembled press is that all the concerns about Ducati, its frameless chassis design, and its future can be laid to rest.
With a hybrid chain/gear-driven camshaft, titanium valves, a wet slipper clutch, a ride-by-wire throttle, rider-selectable “riding mode” system, and 15,000 mile major service intervals, the Superquadro v-twin motor alone is a major step for Ducati with its Superbike engine design. And, if you add in the first full-LED headlight on a produciton motorcycle, the first electronically-adjustable suspension on a sport bike, the first motorcycle engine braking control system, as well as the first GPS-assisted data acquisition system for a production motorcycle, the total package of the 1199 redefines the word “superbike” and takes the next logical technological step forward in this market segment…and we’ve got over 160 images of the Ducati 1199 Panigale waiting for you after the jump.